On Wednesday, South Carolina’s highest court vacated Alex Murdaugh’s state murder convictions and life sentence in the shooting deaths of his wife and son, pointing to misconduct by a court clerk that the justices said harmed the fairness of his trial. The ruling means Murdaugh now faces a path back to the state court system for a new trial on the murder charges, while he continues to serve time on federal convictions.
The case traces to June 7, 2021, when Alex Murdaugh called police to report that his wife, Maggie, 52, and their son Paul, 22, had been fatally shot near a dog kennel on their property. Prosecutors later described a broader criminal case involving fraud, financial theft, and other allegations that unfolded as investigators pursued multiple lines of inquiry.
In September 2021, prosecutors described a separate episode in which Alex Murdaugh attempted to arrange his own death. The state timeline says that on Sept. 4, 2021, officials alleged a plan intended to secure a large life-insurance payout for Murdaugh’s surviving son faltered when the shot fired by a Murdaugh associate only grazed his head.
The timeline also includes a move by authorities in Florida, where he was arrested at a drug rehabilitation facility on Oct. 14, 2021, on charges tied to stealing insurance settlements totaling more than $4 million intended for the sons of his late housekeeper. That arrest preceded a series of additional criminal filings by prosecutors as the state expanded the case against him.
By Nov. 17, 2021, prosecutors revealed 27 new charges, saying Alex Murdaugh stole nearly $5 million in settlement money. Prosecutors alleged Murdaugh hid money from lawyers who sued him over the death of a teenager killed in a separate incident in which authorities said an intoxicated Paul Murdaugh wrecked the boat he was driving.
On Jan. 18, 2022, additional indictments brought the total to 71 charges, according to the timeline, with prosecutors alleging Alex Murdaugh stole nearly $8.5 million in wrongful-death and wreck settlements from more than a dozen people. The state’s filings continued to expand into other alleged schemes, including a May 4, 2022 indictment of Russell Laffitte, described in the timeline as the former CEO of Palmetto State Bank, accused alongside Murdaugh in a conspiracy involving $1.8 million.
Prosecutors also outlined what the timeline describes as an eight-year money-laundering and painkiller ring in new indictments on June 28, 2022. Then, on July 14, 2022, the state charged Alex Murdaugh with the murders of his wife and son, with the grand jury allegations saying he killed his wife with a rifle and his son with a shotgun.
After years of investigations and filings, Alex Murdaugh went to trial in the double-murder case on Jan. 23, 2023. The timeline says he denied killing his wife and son after taking the witness stand, while also acknowledging that he lied to investigators about when he last saw them alive.
On March 2, 2023, the jury convicted Alex Murdaugh on two counts of murder after a six-week trial, and deliberated for less than three hours, according to the timeline. The next day, March 3, 2023, a judge sentenced him to life in prison.
The timeline shows that Murdaugh later pursued post-trial relief, including a Jan. 29, 2024 denial of his bid for a new trial after his defense team accused a clerk of court of tampering with the jury. Separately, the timeline says he was sentenced on April 2, 2024, to 40 years in federal prison for stealing from clients and his law firm.
On Feb. 11, 2026, Murdaugh asked the South Carolina Supreme Court to throw out his murder convictions. In the court’s decision on May 13, 2026, the justices overturned the convictions and life sentence, and in their unanimous ruling they said the conduct by the court clerk “egregiously attacked Murdaugh’s credibility” by suggesting to jurors his testimony could not be trusted.
After the ruling, prosecutors said they plan to retry Alex Murdaugh on the murder charges, according to the timeline. The news comes as Murdaugh remains in prison on federal convictions tied to stealing millions from clients, even as the state’s case returns to the question of guilt in a renewed proceeding.