By Ray Sanchez, CNN
(CNN) — Disgraced former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh’s dramatic downfall was sealed following a sensational six-week 2023 trial in which he was convicted of murdering his wife and son.
But the long-running saga involving the scion of a prominent and powerful family of local lawyers and solicitors took an unexpected turn this week when the South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the murder convictions.
Saying the trial was marred by the “improper” influence of the county clerk, Becky Hill, the court ordered a new trial for Murdaugh in the killing of his wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul, in June 2021.
While the US Constitution’s double jeopardy clause generally forbids subsequent prosecutions after an acquittal, it does not apply if a defendant’s conviction is later overturned, according to legal experts.
“It’s a do-over,” Jill Konviser, a former New York State Supreme Court justice, said via email.
The 5-0 ruling also vacated the two life sentences Murdaugh had received for the murder convictions. Still, he has separately pleaded guilty to dozens of financial crimes and will remain behind bars on concurrent state and federal sentences of 27 and 40 years.
Attorney General Alan Wilson said his office plans to retry Murdaugh on the murder charges “as soon as possible.”
Wilson told reporters his “hope is to get this case retried by the end of the year,” but noted the window is still open for his team to ask the South Carolina Supreme Court to reconsider its decision or to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Double jeopardy clause is not violated
The double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment prevents trying a defendant again for a crime after a verdict of not guilty.
“The Double Jeopardy Clause is not violated by a second trial in these circumstances, where the new trial is necessitated by errors in the first trial that are the grounds for a defendant’s successful appeal,” Jessica Roth, a former prosecutor and professor at the Cardozo School of Law in New York, said in an email.
“The Double Jeopardy Clause would bar a second prosecution by South Carolina for the same offense had Murdaugh been acquitted at the first trial, or had the appellate court found there was insufficient evidence to support a guilty verdict,” Roth added, “but that is not what occurred in this case.”
In the Murdaugh case, the experts said, double jeopardy is not at issue in a second trial due in large part to what the South Carolina Supreme Court called “shocking jury interference” by the court clerk who oversaw jurors.
“Double jeopardy doesn’t apply because it’s the same case,” Konviser said. “It’s a continuing matter, it’s still pending, it’s not final.”
Konviser said the decision this week “effectively wiped the slate clean” by remanding the case for a new trial.
“The answer is that double jeopardy applies one way and one way only, and that is that if the prosecution tries you and they don’t succeed, it’s over. They can’t come back at you,” CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson said.
“If a defendant loses and petitions for a new trial, that’s another story … If I get convicted, and I file an appeal and that murder conviction is overturned, it’s not double jeopardy be