Murdaugh lawyers seeking new trial, cite clerk’s influence
Jury tampering alleged in filing
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Attorneys for convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh want a new trial, accusing the court clerk of improperly influencing the jury.
They’re accusing the court clerk at his double murder trial of telling jurors not to trust him when he testified in his own defense. They say she also had private conversations with the jury foreperson, and pressured jurors to come to a quick verdict.
The request filed by Murdaugh’s lawyers on Tuesday also accuses Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill of giving jury members business cards from reporters. After the verdict, she traveled to New York City with three of the jurors to do interviews. She also wrote a book after the trial called “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders.”
“Ms. Hill betrayed her oath of office for money and fame,” wrote Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian.
Ms. Hill and prosecutors did not immediately respond to emails from The Associated Press.
Murdaugh is asking the appellate judges to order an evidentiary hearing on their allegations where jurors would be questioned under oath, and once they have more information on the record, to grant Murdaugh a new trial. The 55year-old disbarred attorney is serving life without parole after being convicted in the shooting deaths of his wife and son.
The request for the new trial centers around Ms. Hill, the clerk of court elected in 2020.
Ms. Hill had private conversations with the jury foreperson, both inside the courthouse and when jurors visited the crime scene at the Murdaugh’s property, according to sworn statements from three jurors included in Murdaugh’s appeal. The filing didn’t include any statement from the foreperson.
The jurors told Murdaugh’s lawyers that Ms. Hill told them “not to be fooled” by the evidence presented by the defense, and to watch Murdaugh closely as he testified and to “look at his actions,” and “look at his movements.” One juror said they understood it to mean Murdaugh was guilty.
The appeal also says Ms. Hill lied to the judge during the six-week trial about a Facebook post that led to the dismissal of a juror. Ms. Hill said the juror’s ex-husband posted that she was talking about the case and about what the verdict would be.
Ms. Hill never presented the post, only showing the judge an apology from what she said was the ex-husband’s account. But the apology post did not come from the ex-husband’s account, and the defense said an analysis of his Facebook account shows he made no post that day, the attorneys wrote.
Other jurors said Ms. Hill told the jury, which started deliberating late in the afternoon on March 2, that they would be taken to a hotel if they didn’t reach a verdict by 11 p.m., which upset the jurors who didn’t pack for a possible overnight stay. Ms. Hill also refused to let jurors to take a smoke break until they reached a verdict, according to the appeal.
“I had questions about Mr. Murdaugh’s guilt but voted guilty because I felt pressured by other jurors,” Juror 630 wrote in a sworn statement, adding that Ms. Hill pressured the jurors to talk to reporters after the trial.