Murdaugh Oral Arguments: The State Got Hammered — Here's What Happened

The South Carolina Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Alex Murdaugh's appeal today, and Creighton Waters had a rough morning. From the opening moments, the five justices made clear they had serious questions about both the jury tampering ruling and the evidentiary decisions at trial. Justice George James immediately asked whether the court could consider the egg juror's affidavit — the juror Justice Toal refused to let testify in 2024. Harpootlian told the court he couldn't explain why she was excluded. On the Becky Hill issue, Chief Justice Kittredge pointed out that Toal's order didn't even mention the allegation that Hill told jurors not to be fooled by Murdaugh's testimony, and that corroboration between juror accounts and an independent witness was striking. Justice Few asked Waters how you call someone not completely credible when she's now a convicted perjurer. The second phase turned to evidentiary errors, where Jim Griffin argued five categories of trial court mistakes. Kittredge told Waters that South Carolina's Rule 404(b) is a rule of exclusion, not inclusion, and that the gate was left wide open for financial crimes evidence — he couldn't find a single piece that was kept out. 

Waters tried to use a Fargo movie reference to illustrate financial motive and Justice Few shut him down. Defense attorney Phillip Barber argued in rebuttal that the financial evidence was used to paint Murdaugh as a person capable of anything rather than to prove motive. The court took the case under advisement. A decision could come within 60 days. The three possible outcomes: affirm the conviction, order a new trial, or remand for further proceedings. Today's hearing laid bare the fault lines in this case.

#MurdaughTrial #AlexMurdaugh #OralArguments #BeckyHill #CreightonWaters #SouthCarolinaSupremeCourt #JuryTampering #TrueCrimeToday #NewTrial #TrueCrime

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