OAN Staff Lillian Mann
8:05 AM – Thursday, August 6, 2026
A United States federal judge has dismissed Alex Murdaugh's lawsuit seeking $600,000 in legal fees from a former court clerk, whose "shocking jury interference" led to his murder convictions being overturned in May 2026.
Murdaugh sued former Colleton County clerk Becky Hill on the grounds that she had violated his rights to a fair trial over the deaths of his wife and 22-year-old son after a jury found the former attorney guilty in March 2023.
However, the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned his convictions and life sentences earlier this year, ruling that Hill's comments improperly influenced jurors by leading them to believe Murdaugh was guilty and that his own testimony could not be trusted.
In his ruling on Wednesday, Judge Richard Gergel noted that Murdaugh's legal argument falls short because he would have incurred those legal expenses regardless, given that Hill was not the party investigating or prosecuting him.
"Defendant had no role in the initiation of criminal charges against Plaintiff," Gergel wrote in his order filed Wednesday. "Plaintiff liquidated his retirement account to fund his defense, which was necessary without regard to the misconduct of Defendant."
"Plaintiff's claim contains a fatal flaw – the lack of a causal connection between the funds he expended for his defense in the first trial and defendant's misconduct. Defendant had no role in the initiation of criminal charges against plaintiff," Gergel continued. "Simply stated, Defendant's misconduct was not a proximate cause of Plaintiff's need to fund his defense costs, and there is no credible allegation that 'but for' Defendant's actions Plaintiff would not have found it necessary to fund his defense costs in the first trial."
Murdaugh disclosed in court papers that he tapped $600,000 from a retirement account to pay his legal team during his first trial and needs additional funds for his upcoming retrial next year.
However, Murdaugh will not be leaving prison anytime soon. Despite the overturned murder convictions, he is serving overlapping 40-year federal and 27-year state sentences for stealing nearly $12 million from his clients.
Prosecutors also argued that as Murdaugh's opioid addiction and elaborate schemes to steal millions from clients and his law firm began to collapse, he murdered his wife and son to create a distraction and buy time to handle his mounting financial troubles.
The case drew international attention in 2023 when a jury convicted Murdaugh of the June 2021 murders of his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul. Both victims were found shot to death near the dog kennels on the family's rural hunting property in Colleton County.
The high-profile case has spawned a streaming series, "Murdaugh: Death in the Family," on Hulu, a two-part documentary, "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal," on Netflix, bestselling books and dozens of podcasts.
Although Murdaugh was initially viewed as a grieving father after calling 911 to report finding their bodies, investigators uncovering his extensive financial fraud eventually gathered evidence that prosecutors said directly connected him to the brutal killings.
Murdaugh's new trial date is set for April 5, 2027.
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