Remind us about the first murder trial and why Murdaugh was granted a new one.

So just to recap, Alex Murdaugh went on trial in 2023 for the murders of his wife Maggie and his youngest son, Paul.

The jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to two life sentences.

Soon after that conviction, his defense team filed an appeal for a new trial.

His appeal was denied, but eventually, it made its way to the South Carolina Supreme Court, and this past May, the justices ruled that Murdaugh would get a new trial.

So Carol, first of all, just remind us what prosecutors say the motive was here.

So prosecutors say this really goes back to this long, bitter custody battle between Jared and his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, over the twins they shared.

Jared had actually just dropped the twins off at Shanna's house right before he was killed.

So

just to recap, Alec Murdoch went on trial in 2023 for the murders of his wife Maggie and his youngest son Paul.

The jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to two life sentences.

Soon after that conviction, his defense team filed an appeal for a new trial.

His appeal was denied, but eventually it made its way to the South Carolina Supreme Court.

And this past May, the justices ruled that Murdaugh would get a new trial.

Carol, what was the point of this pretrial hearing? So on the agenda on this day was the all-important change of venue.

So, Carol, first of all, just remind us what prosecutors say the motive was here.

She really kind of dropped a grenade in the middle of all of this, right, guys?

Well, she did.

She was later accused by the former Chief Justice of South Carolina of, uh, yielding to the siren call of celebrity, because she was the it girl at the trial in the sense that, uh, so many people wanted to see that trial.

She, uh, gave people seats, made sure they could get in.

Uh, she had media from around the world who were pestering her for, you know, favors and attention and, um-You know, I think it was a very heady experience.

We should note that another reason his defense argued Murdaugh didn't get a fair trial is that the prosecution was allowed to refer to those financial crimes at his murder trial.

In their decision today, the Supreme Court did not include the financial crimes issue as a reason for a new trial because they said, essentially, Becky Hill's behavior was enough.

And the interesting fact as we move forward toward a possible retrial is that the financial crimes were key for the prosecution's case as the motive for the murders.

Well, Carol, it's so lovely to have you join us.

Well, thank you so much, and, and this brings back a lot of memories because this story took months and months and months to do, to get everyone comfortable with talking to us.

And o- one thing about Nancy, and Keith is absolutely right, the way she deals with horror is that she makes fun of it.

She doesn't feel it any less.

And one thing to remember is that in that hit packet, the photograph that Aaron was given included their children.

How were you able to do that?

that?...

Well, in South Carolina, once someone is convicted and is put into the custody of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, you can't touch them, you can't interview.

Like, what sort of kept you, uh, working on it for so long?

Um, it was obvious that once she was arrested, Susan SmithDid not have an opportunity to talk about what had happened.

As time went on, I really wanted to interview her.

I thought that she was the center of one of the biggest stories in America, but we didn't know a lot about her.

Was it in Union or was it in Carlisle? So because if she wouldn't have had a car, wouldn't it make a difference to know where the call was placed from?

The Carlisle story was a made-up story that Susan told investigators before she confessed, uh, after Sheriff Wells said, "We...

You couldn't have been in Monarch," which is a part of Union, "because the traffic light situation you report can't happen."