Oct. 28 (UPI) — Disgraced former attorney Alex Murdaugh has officially filed a motion for a new trial in South Carolina after being found guilty of the murders of his wife and adult son.
Murdaugh, who filed the motion on Friday in Colleton County, S.C., was convicted of murder in March for the 2021 shooting deaths of his wife Margaret and adult son Paul after a trial that highlighted details of Murdaugh’s financial crimes against clients and extensive drug use.
Through it all, he maintained his innocence in the slayings.
In the filing, Murdaugh’s attorneys claimed that jury tampering in the case necessitated a new trial.
“When those facts are proven, the court must grant a new trial,” they wrote in the motion.
Murdaugh, who hails from a prominent South Carolina legal and political family, said jurors were pressured into making a quick guilty verdict while a juror believed to have been favorable to him was removed.
Defense attorneys, who have appealed the convictions and double life sentence, asked that the appeal be put on hold until they could argue their new trial motion. Earlier this month, a South Carolina appeals court granted the appeal pause.
In September, Murdaugh entered guilty pleas to 22 federal financial fraud counts involving clients, his law firm and others who trusted him over 10 years, totaling millions of dollars.
He was accused of sending funds to his own accounts without his clients’ approval and also collected attorney’s fees on non-existent annuities. In May, federal authorities charged Murdaugh with bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering for allegedly redirecting settlement funds.