Alex Murdaugh’s new defense: ‘We have multiple alternative theories’

Summary

• South Carolina Supreme Court reverses Murdaugh murder convictions
• Jury interference by former clerk of court Becky Hill cited
• Murdaugh defense presents multiple alternative theories and suspects
• Prosecution advised to limit financial crimes evidence in retrial

This week’s South Carolina Supreme Court reversal of Richard “Alex” Murdaugh’s double murder convictions has sent the S.C. criminal justice system reeling back five years and forced it into a high-pressure rematch. Now, gearing up for a possible retrial, Murdaugh’s defense team says they will return to court armed with alternative theories and possibly even a list of alternative suspects.

On Wednesday, May 13, the S.C. Supreme Court reversed a post-trial appellate denial of a new murder trial for Murdaugh and remanded the case back to the state’s circuit courts based on reports of jury interference by disgraced former Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill, who has since resigned and pleaded guilty to criminal charges.

While not surprising for many following the case, the decision negates a six-week Colleton County trial that cost taxpayers close to half a million dollars in the spring of 2023 and lifts a pair of life sentences off Murdaugh’s back — at least for now. And Murdaugh, still buried under years of prison time for financial crimes, continues to deny that he killed his wife, Maggie, and adult son, Paul, at their Moselle home in June 2021.

The announcement also sparked an eerie sense of déjà vu for attorneys, media, and the true-crime-following general public as the name “Murdaugh” once again dominated national headlines as it did from 2021 to 2023 — but this time, Murdaugh’s attorneys are telling the media that they have secret courtroom weapons in the form of new information.

But what is this critical new evidence, and is it credible?

Alex Murdaugh‘s attorneys say they have ‘multiple alternative theories’

On Thursday morning, May 14, when asked if the Murdaugh defense team had an alternative suspect, Murdaugh attorney James “Jim” Griffin told FOX News Channel’s FOX & Friends:

“No, we wish we did, but we have multiple alternative theories. After he was convicted the first time, we got a lot of tips, and we suspect that the state got a lot of tips… I can tell you generally, we received tips about where the murder weapons are. We’ve received tips about who was in the area that night and what motives they have. Yes, and so I don’t really want to go further than that. But yes, we have been provided information, a lot of information.”

Griffin added that the team tried to follow up on the tips, but added, “We’re limited with our resources.”

RELATED: More coverage of Alex Murdaugh

Murdaugh’s attorneys say they have ‘a list of other potential suspects’

However, later that day, Griffin told NewsNation’s show “CUOMO” that the Murdaugh team now had a list of alternative suspects, and more evidence might be uncovered during a second trial:

“There were tire tracks driving away from the murder scene that were never followed. In fact, they were trampled over. There was DNA under Maggie’s fingernails, male DNA that was not DNA of Alex or any other family members. That was never put into CODIS. That has never been followed up on. I mean, there’s a lot of things that were not done. And so, and we didn’t have the ability to do any of that. I mean, we don’t have that ability, but now, and I’ll tell you, since the first trial, we have been provided information that gives us a list of other potential suspects.”

The Murdaugh victims were shot and killed at the dog kennel area of the Murdaughs’ Moselle estate in the rural Islandton area of Colleton County, and Murdaugh’s attorneys have argued since 2021 that the prosecution was hindered by shoddy crime scene preservation and the tunnel vision of prosecutors who, they claim, only zeroed in on Murdaugh as a suspect.

“Well, as we pointed out in the first trial, and I tried to point out in my closing, the state law enforcement investigators were singularly focused on Alex Murdaugh and ignored evidence of other potential murderers,” Griffin told NewsNation.

What may be different about a second Murdaugh murder trial?

Other than new evidence and other suspects, what might be different if Murdaugh is tried again for the murders of his family?

During the first trial, the prosecution spent days revealing Murdaugh’s financial crimes as part of its motive for murder, but in its ruling on Wednesday, May 13, the Supreme Court has suggested that, while they believe this evidence is admissible up to a point, prosecutors should tread lightly in a retrial.

This will require the S.C. Attorney General’s Office, which will again prosecute the case, to focus primarily on the actual murder evidence, and Murdaugh’s team welcomes this advantage, which they consider more fair in a murder trial.

In interviews this week, Griffin also told media that the State has little direct physical evidence, including no murder weapons, no reliable ballistics evidence, no blood, DNA, or fingerprints, and continues to argue that the state’s notion that Murdaugh murdered his family to distract from his financial crimes is “ludicrous.”

In a new trial, Griffin told NewsNation that the defense will focus more on evidence that could be disputed, or wasn’t fully explored, such as the mysterious tire tracks leading away from the crime scene, and the unidentified male DNA.

Griffin continues to argue that the state doesn’t have a firm, reliable time of death, no eyewitnesses, and that while Murdaugh was there before the killings and after, “There’s no evidence that he was there at the time of the murder. We don’t even know when the murder happened.”