Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / New Trial for Convicted Double Killer Alex Murdaugh? | Crime Alert 05.05.26

Transcript

New Trial for Convicted Double Killer Alex Murdaugh? | Crime Alert 05.05.26 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Crime Alard hourly update, breaking crime news Now. I'm Sidney Silvani.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: As the legal world waits with baited breath for an
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: official ruling from the South Carolina Supreme Court regarding convicted
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: killer Alex Murdau's high profile appeal, the rumor mill has
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: officially shifted into overdrive. We're talking about the June twenty
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: twenty one murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaw, a case
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: that gripped the nation, and we may be on the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: verge of seeing those double murder convictions completely vacated. The
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: latest firestorm began over the weekend when podcaster Mandy Mattney
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: informed listeners a reliable source confirmed a bombshell the state's
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: High Court has reportedly already reached a decision. According to Mattney,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: all five justices have voted unanimously in favor of Alex
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Murda receiving a new trial. She noted that the official
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: opinion should be released any day now, adding that she
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: shared the information as a warning for her audience to
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: be prepared for what's coming. To clarify the legal mechanics, technically,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: the Supreme Court doesn't just order a new trial. The
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: five justices are actually weighing whether to reverse a controversial
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: January twenty twenty four decision made by former South Carolina
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Chief Justice Gene Toll. Justice Toll previously denied Murdaw's request
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: for new proceedings. If the current Supreme Court reverses that decision,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: the entire case is remanded back to the circuit court level. Essentially,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: the case would start from square one. If that happens,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: the ball lands back in the court of South Carolina
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Attorney General Alan Wilson. His Grand Jury Division led the
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: initial prosecution, and it would be up to him to
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: decide if the state has the appetite and the resources
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: to try Alex Murdaw a second time for the debts
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: of his wife and son. Murdaw was once a king
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: maker in the South Carolina Low Country, a prominent personal
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: injury attorney from Hampton County. He came from a legal
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: dynasty that had controlled the local prosecutor's office for general rations,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: but that legacy shattered on the night of June seventh,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. Prosecutors say Murdaw used a shotgun and
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: a rifle to execute his wife, fifty two year old
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Maggie Murdaw and his younger son, twenty two year old
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Paul Murdau, at the family's sprawling seventeen hundred acre hunting
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: estate known as Mozelle. The motive, the state argued that
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Murdaw's life was a house of cards. He was allegedly
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: drowning in millions of dollars of stolen client funds in
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: a decade's long opioid addiction. Prosecutors insist he killed his
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: family to create a sympathy alibi, hoping the tragedy would
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: stall the investigations into his financial fraud. In March twenty
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: twenty three, after a six week trial, a jury took
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: less than three hours to find him guilty of both murders.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: The signs have been pointing to a vacated conviction since
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: February eleventh, when the justices heard oral arguments. During that hearing,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: lead prosecutor Creighton Waters was subjected to intense questioning from
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: the Beans. The justices zeroed in on documented jury tampering
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: and alleged jury rigging, specifically scrutinizing the eleventh hour dismissal
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: of Jurormira Crosby, better known as egg Lady. Many legal
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: analysts believe removing her was the decisive factor in securing
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: that unanimous guilty verdict back in twenty twenty three. Further
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: fueling the fire was the mysterious absence of the Supreme
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Court's advance sheet last week. This is a preview of
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: upcoming decisions, typically published every Wednesday at ten a m.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: When it didn't appear, speculation went into a tail spin.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: While the Court hasn't explained the delay, the timing is
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: certainly conspicuous. At the heart of this appeal is Rebecca
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Becky Hill, the former Colleton County Clerk of Court. Mrdall's
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: defense team argues she improperly influenced the jury, violating the
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: sixth Amendment, while prosecutors argue her actions didn't change the verdict.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: The justices seem skeptical back in February. If these convictions
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: are vacated, it changes every everything. Murda is currently serving
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: two life sentences for murder, but he is also serving
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: decades for a web of financial crimes. If the murder
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: charges are reset, those financial sentences could be revisited as well.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: The implications here are massive. This isn't just about one man,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: It's about how South Carolina handles juror misconduct in the
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Spotlight more crime and justice news. After this, the bizarre
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: and dangerous situations unfolded at Michigan State University. For weeks,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: students and faculty at Wells Hall, the university's largest academic building,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: noticed a strange chemical odor and unknown substances on the floor.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Following a police investigation, thirty one year old Zintong is
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: now facing felony charges for allegedly operating what authorities initially
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: feared was a secret meth lab inside the school. MSU
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: police responded to reports of a suspicious person and used
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: an expired student ID to identify Tongue. Upon obtaining a
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: search warrant for his bags, officers discovered a volatile cocktail
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: of chemicals including sodium hydroxide pellets, hydrochloric acid, methanol, and butane,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: all primary ingredients in the manufacture of methamphetamine. While the
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: university later clarified that a functioning lab was not found
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: inside the building itself, the suspect was in possession of
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: the necessary equipment and chemicals to run one. Wells Hall
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: was evacuated and remained closed for nearly a week, while
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Environmental Health teams ensured the area was safe. Tong is
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: currently held at the Ingham County Jail on a five
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars bond, with a federal hold placed on
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: him by the Department of Homeland Security. For the latest
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: crime and justice breaking news, be sure to tune in
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: tomorrow on your favorite podcast app with this crime alert.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: I'm Sidney Silvanni.