A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Alex Murdaugh, who sought to recover $600,000 in legal fees from a former court clerk whose misconduct led to his murder convictions being overturned. Murdaugh had sued Becky Hill in May, alleging that her actions violated his right to a fair trial in the killings of his wife and son.
Murdaugh was found guilty by a jury, but the South Carolina Supreme Court later overturned the convictions and life sentences. The court cited Hill's comments to jurors, which suggested Murdaugh's guilt and undermined the credibility of his testimony. In his ruling Wednesday, Judge Richard Gergel stated that Murdaugh's lawsuit had a "fatal flaw" because the former clerk had no role in initiating the criminal charges against him and therefore did not cause him to incur the defense expenses.
In court documents, Murdaugh claimed he spent $600,000 from a retirement account to pay his legal team for the first trial and anticipated needing additional funds for a retrial scheduled for April. The case has gained significant public attention through true crime media.
Murdaugh remains incarcerated. He is serving a 40-year federal sentence for stealing approximately $12 million from clients, concurrently with a 27-year state sentence for financial crimes. Investigators have linked his financial schemes to an opioid addiction, suggesting the killings were an attempt to divert attention and gain time to resolve his mounting problems.