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Our media outlet is providing live coverage of today’s pre-trial hearing in Beaufort County, South Carolina for convicted killer Alex Murdaugh.
As Murdaugh battles for a new trial on his two murder convictions, his attorneys are also preparing to go to trial on more than 100 charges tied to his myriad admitted financial misdeeds.
Today’s hearing in Beaufort is ostensibly related to jury selection matters in Murdaugh’s first state-level financial crimes trial, but there has been significant conversation regarding a possible plea deal between Murdaugh and prosecutors in the office of S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson.
News of the plea discussions was hinted at by our media outlet yesterday …
There has also been significant conversation about the status of S.C. circuit court judge Clifton Newman – who recused himself yesterday from having any further involvement in post-trail motions tied to Murdaugh’s murder charges.
Newman’s recusal was referenced in an order published by the S.C. supreme court after Murdaugh’s attorneys sought to have him disqualified from presiding over any matters related to their client. Their logic? That Newman was a fact witness to the jury tampering allegations at the heart of Murdaugh’s bid for a new trial – and that he also expressed a bias against Murdaugh on multiple occasions after the trial.
No reason was given for Newman’s recusal, and the court left the door open for him to preside over future Murdaugh-related financial crimes trials.
Keep it tuned to our outlet for the very latest Murdaugh developments …
UPDATE | PLEA DEAL REACHED
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven (soon to be eight) children.
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