{
  "id": 188626,
  "title": "Federal judge won’t make disgraced clerk pay Alex Murdaugh’s $600,000 in legal fees for 1st trial",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/05/federal-judge-wont-make-disgraced-clerk-pay-alex-murdaughs-600-000-in",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-05T19:53:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Associated Press",
    "slug": "associated-press",
    "url": "https://apnews.com/article/alex-murdaugh-killings-murder-retrial-defense-fees-bf26a3044926f9a2b289d0145ef2243f"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh, who sought $600,000 in legal fees from his former court clerk, Becky Hill. The lawsuit was filed in May, alleging that Hill's comments during Murdaugh's first trial, which led to his murder convictions being overturned, violated his right to a fair trial. However, Judge Richard Gergel ruled in his favor, stating that there was no causal connection between the funds Murdaugh spent on his defense and Hill's misconduct. Gergel explained that Hill had no role in initiating the criminal charges against Murdaugh. Despite the overturning of his murder convictions, Murdaugh remains in prison, having pleaded guilty to stealing around $12 million from clients and serving both a 40-year federal sentence and a 27-year state sentence for his financial crimes. His retrial on the murder charges is set for April.",
  "summary": "COLUMBIA, S.C (AP) — 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.…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": "https://urgent.news/ill/188626.png",
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Hill",
        "title": "Alex Murdaugh's $600K lawsuit against former clerk thrown out",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/06/alex-murdaughs-600k-lawsuit-against-former-clerk-thrown-out",
        "published": "2026-08-06T16:43:32.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}