A South Carolina judge on Tuesday ordered the court clerk involved in Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial to testify in an upcoming hearing regarding jury tampering.
Murdaugh’s legal team has accused Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill of rushing jurors to reach a guilty verdict for a book she was writing and self-publishing on the trial. While Judge Jean Toal ruled she would testify at a January 29 hearing, The State reported that she denied requests requiring testimony from dismissed jurors, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and Judge Clifton Newman, who oversaw the high-profile trial.
READ: Alex Murdaugh’s Legal Saga
Murdaugh was convicted in March 2023 of killing his wife and son and was sentenced to life in prison. Murdaugh is seeking a new trial — with his lawyer alleging on Tuesday that Hill pushed jurors to a guilty verdict as it would boost book sales. Murdaugh’s attorneys claim Hill’s actions denied Murdaugh’s Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial.
Jurors handed down a guilty verdict in less than three hours.
“[Prosecutor Creighton Waters] told me this morning that one of the assistants that worked for Hill during the trial was told by Ms. Hill during the trial that a guilty verdict would be good for sales for the book,” Murdaugh attorney Dick Harpootlian said, according to the Daily Beast. “Motive: Selling books.”
Harpootlian also asked to question Hill’s assistant if she denies the allegations.
Murdaugh’s team sought to have the three-day evidentiary hearing public, with steps being taken to conceal the jurors’ identities. Not only did Toal, a retired South Carolina chief justice, deny Murdaugh’s attorneys’ request to question the dismissed jurors, but she also stipulated they must prove the unethical conversations occurred and that they resulted in bias.
The judge barred Murdaugh’s attorneys from discussing unrelated wiretapping charges against Hill’s son and plagiarism controversies surrounding her book, “Behind the Doors of Justice,” according to The State.
In addition to two life sentences, Murdaugh was sentenced to 27 years for stealing more than $8 million from clients and his former law firm.
Lead prosecutor Waters said a SLED investigation uncovered no outside tampering of the jury — though one juror said they felt pressured by other jurors to vote guilty. Murdaugh has maintained his innocence.
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[Featured image: Joshua Boucher/The State via AP, Pool]
