{"id":29439,"date":"2026-08-06T05:25:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=29439"},"modified":"2026-08-06T05:25:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:25:29","slug":"federal-judge-wont-make-disgraced-clerk-pay-alex-murdaughs-600000-in-legal-fees-for-1st-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=29439","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge won&#8217;t make disgraced clerk pay Alex Murdaugh&#8217;s $600,000 in legal fees for 1st trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \"><span class=\"oyrPY qlwaB AGxeB  \">COLUMBIA, S.C &#8212; <\/span>A federal judge has thrown out <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/murdaugh-lawsuit-clerk-conviction-overturned-6ad4a3d9205220c8f463ae409d6e9595\">a lawsuit<\/a> by Alex Murdaugh seeking $600,000 in legal fees by the former court clerk whose misconduct led his murder convictions to be overturned on appeal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \"><a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/alex-murdaugh\">Murdaugh<\/a> sued Becky Hill in May saying she violated his right to a fair trial in the deaths of his wife and son.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">A jury found Murdaugh guilty, but the state Supreme Court <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/murdaugh-killings-appeal-overturned-65a2ea0610bdb80763b39838ab4fcdb6\">overturned<\/a> the convictions and life sentences earlier this year saying Hill&#8217;s <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/becky-hill-alex-murdaugh-court-clerk-5e25491cb1dc802f9a0a8e1c0151dda8\">comments to jurors<\/a> suggested the once-prominent lawyer was guilty and his testimony in his own defense couldn&#8217;t be trusted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The problem with Murdaugh&#8217;s legal reasoning is he would have had to spend the money anyway because it wasn&#8217;t Hill who investigated or pursued justice against him, Judge Richard Gergel wrote in his ruling Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cPlaintiff\u2019s claim contains a fatal flaw \u2014 the lack of a causal connection between the funds he expended for his defense in the first trial and Defendant\u2019s misconduct. Defendant had no role in the initiation of criminal charges against Plaintiff,\u201d Gergel wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Murdaugh said in court papers he spent $600,000 from a retirement account to pay for his lawyers in his first trial and will need more money to pay them for his retrial <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/alex-murdaugh-killings-murder-retrial-south-carolina-7df5a916a478c783571c57bbf035ea1b\">next year<\/a> in the case that has become a true crime sensation with a streaming miniseries, bestselling books and dozens of podcasts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Even with his murder convictions overturned, Murdaugh <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/alex-murdaugh-case-timeline-murder-retrial-200b9ee15f35998ffe80f331ec8dafb4\">remains in prison<\/a>. He pleaded guilty to stealing around $12 million from his clients and is serving a 40-year federal sentence at the same time as a 27-year state sentence for his <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/alex-murdaugh-financial-crimes-sentencing-2c9664e2cd7b883a1c575f251a809642\">financial crimes.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">His retrial on the murder charges has been scheduled for April.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">Investigators said Murdaugh was addicted to opioids and his complex schemes to steal money from clients and his family\u2019s law firm were starting to unravel so he <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/alex-murdaugh-murder-trial-sentence-0ad6d424877e0dcd433864d777545cd2\">killed his wife and son<\/a> to divert attention and buy time to find a way out of his problems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>COLUMBIA, S.C &#8212; A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit by Alex Murdaugh seeking $600,000 in legal fees by the former court clerk whose misconduct led his murder convictions to be overturned on appeal. Murdaugh sued Becky Hill in May saying she violated his right to a fair trial in the deaths of his&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/46ff9a09-0db7-4591-a243-79b5d9445582\/wirestory_bf26a3044926f9a2b289d0145ef2243f_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}