The Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
The South Carolina judge who presided over Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial has recused himself from all future hearings tied to the double homicide case.
Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman requested “a new judge be assigned to handle the post-trial motions involving the murder charges,” according to a Supreme Court order issued Thursday—two weeks after Murdaugh’s legal team filed a motion arguing that Newman cannot be impartial.
Defense attorneys allege that Murdaugh deserves a new trial after Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill allegedly tampered with the 12-person jury that convicted him of murdering his wife and son in June 2021. He was given two life sentences after the February trial and still faces over 100 separate pending charges for other crimes.