Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh has accused a South Carolina courtroom clerk of tampering with the jury at his high-profile double homicide trial – as a result of she was pushed by fame and a want to safe a ebook deal.
The disgraced authorized scion and double assassin filed a movement on Tuesday requesting a brand new trial on the premise that Colleton County Clerk of Courtroom Rebecca Hill allegedly pressured jurors on the case to return a responsible verdict in opposition to him.
Within the movement, Murdaugh’s attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin declare that Ms Hill “tampered with the jury by advising them to not consider Murdaugh’s testimony and different proof offered by the protection, pressuring them to succeed in a fast responsible verdict, and even misrepresenting important and materials data to the trial decide in her marketing campaign to take away a juror she believed to be favorable to the protection”.
Particularly, they declare that the clerk instructed jurors to not be “misled” by proof offered by the defence and informed jurors to not be “fooled by” Murdaugh’s testimony when he took the stand.
She allegedly instructed the jury to “watch him intently,” to “have a look at his actions,” and to “have a look at his actions” on the stand – one thing at the least one juror stated they understood to imply that Murdaugh was responsible.
The movement additionally claims that Ms Hill had frequent personal conversations with the jury foreperson – with the pair typically disappearing to non-public rooms for 5 to 10 minutes at a time.
“In the course of the trial, Ms Hill requested jurors for his or her opinions about Mr Murdaugh’s guilt or innocence,” the movement reads.
“Ms Hill invented a narrative a few Fb submit to take away a juror she believed won’t vote responsible.
“Ms Hill pressured the jurors to succeed in a fast verdict, telling them from the outset of their deliberations that it ‘shouldn’t take them lengthy.’”
Murdaugh’s attorneys declare that Ms Hill “betrayed her oath of workplace for cash and fame” and, off the again of her work on the case, secured a deal for a ebook titled “Behind the Doorways of Justice”.
“She did these items to safe for herself a ebook deal and media appearances that may not occur within the occasion of a mistrial,” the movement claims.
Alex Murdaugh at sentencing
(AP)
A lot of the movement centres round juror quantity 785 – who grew to become notorious when she was dismissed from the panel simply hours earlier than jury deliberations started.
Choose Clifton Newman eliminated the feminine juror from the panel for allegedly discussing the case with at the least three different folks exterior of the courtroom. The lady then prompted some light-hearted – and widely-reported – aid when she requested to choose up her “dozen eggs” from the jury room earlier than she left.
Based on the movement, Ms Hill had gone to Choose Newman on 27 February – the day after Murdaugh testified – claiming that she had seen a submit in native Fb group “Walterboro Phrase of Mouth” from juror 785’s former husband Tim Stone.
The submit purportedly claimed that the juror was consuming together with her ex-husband and, when she grew to become drunk, she expressed her views on whether or not Murdaugh was harmless or responsible.
A follow-up submit from an account referred to as Timothy Stone apologised for the submit saying that he was pushed by “Devil”.
When Ms Hill confronted the juror concerning the posts, the juror stated she hadn’t seen her ex-husband in 10 years, the movement states.
Ms Hill allegedly informed the juror that SLED and Colleton County Sheriff’s Workplace personnel had gone to Mr Stone’s home and that he had confirmed he made the submit.
She then allegedly requested juror 785 whether or not she was inclined to vote responsible or not responsible – to which she stated she had not made up her thoughts.
Murdaugh’s attorneys declare that the unique submit was “fictitous” and {that a} obtain of Mr Stone’s Fb reveals he didn’t make both submit.
After the prosecution’s closing argument on the morning of 1 March, juror 785 stated that the courtroom clerk requested her once more about what her verdict could be.
The Fb submit which was stated to have been posted by a juror’s ex-husband
(THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA Within the Courtroom of Appeals)
When the juror stated she thought prosecutor Creighton Waters’ closing assertion was good however that she had questions as a result of the homicide weapons have by no means been discovered, Ms Hill allegedly informed her “that all the things Mr Murdaugh has stated has been lies and that I ought to overlook concerning the weapons, they are going to by no means be seen once more”.
The juror stated that round 10 minutes later, she was dismissed from the jury.
Throughout her dismissal, she was accused of getting spoken to at the least three folks concerning the case.
Outdoors of the Fb submit and her ex-husband, the courtroom was contacted by a co-worker of the juror’s tenant who stated that the tenant stated her landlord was a juror and had expressed an opinion when delivering a fridge to the property.
The movement from Murdaugh’s attorneys consists of affidavits from juror 785 and her former husband Tim Stone, who has denied ever making the posts.
Sworn statements and knowledge has additionally been supplied by jurors 630, 741 and 326.
The movement goes on to assert that, throughout deliberations, Ms Hill refused to let jurors take a smoke break till they reached a verdict.
Then, simply hours after the jurors returned a responsible verdict, Ms Hill allegedly flew with among the panel to New York to seem on NBC’s At the moment present.
In conclusion, they declare that the courtroom clerk’s actions violated “Murdaugh’s constitutional proper to a good and neutral jury” and that the decide should grant a brand new trial.
The Impartial has reached out to Ms Hill for remark.
Talking at a press convention exterior the appeals courtroom on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Harpootlian stated that they’d filed the petition based mostly on “newly-discovered proof” with the South Carolina Courtroom of Appeals to grant a keep on Murdaugh’s attraction whereas the movement is heard for a brand new trial.
He stated that he additionally despatched a request to the South Carolina Lawyer’s workplace calling for a federal investigation to be opened into what he stated was the violation of Murdaugh’s civil rights.
The proof within the movement “speaks for themselves,” he stated.
He additionally stated that they have been calling for SLED – the company which led the investigation into the murders of Maggie and Paul – to face down on any investigation into the allegations in opposition to the clerk courtroom as a result of the company is heavily-invested in Murdaugh’s conviction.
When requested in the event that they assume the courtroom clerk must be hit with felony costs, Mr Harpootlian rapidly dismissed the query. “No remark,” he fired again.
Mr Griffin stated that they’re “very optimistic” that Murdaugh might be granted a brand new trial over the matter however that it was a matter of time.
“I’m very optimistic that in the end we’ll get a brand new trial. How lengthy that may take, I don’t know,” he stated.
Regardless of the allegations, the attorneys admitted that they didn’t attain out to Ms Hill concerning the allegations, with Mr Griffin saying that they “thought it will be pointless”.
Jurors at Alex Murdaugh’s trial go to homicide scene in South Caroline
The duo – who’re longtime associates of the killer and represented him at his high-profile homicide trial – had introduced on Monday that new proof had come to mild since his March conviction over the brutal 7 June 2021 slayings.
Murdaugh is at the moment behind bars on the McCormick Correctional Establishment in South Carolina the place he’s serving two life sentences for his spouse and son’s murders.
Final week, it emerged that Murdaugh had misplaced a few of his jail privileges after he fed data to a Fox Nation documentary with out permission.
South Carolina Corrections Division officers stated on Wednesday that, throughout a jailhouse cellphone name on 10 June, Mr Griffin had recorded him studying aloud entries from the journal he had stored throughout his double homicide trial.
Mr Griffin had then handed over the recordings to producers engaged on the brand new Fox Nation documentary about his high-profile case titled “The Fall of the Home of Murdaugh”.
Jail coverage prohibits inmates from speaking to the media with out permission as a result of the company “believes that victims of crime mustn’t should see or hear the one that victimized them or their member of the family on the information,” state prisons spokesperson Chrysti Shain stated in a press release.
The media interview violation, together with one other violation for utilizing a special inmate’s password to make a phone name, are jail self-discipline points and never a criminal offense, Ms Shain stated.
Alex Murdaugh in mug shot
(SCDOC)
Consequently, the disgraced authorized scion has had his cellphone privileges revoked and his jail pill laptop confiscated.
Murdaugh additionally misplaced his skill to purchase gadgets within the jail canteen for a month.
He’ll now should get permission from jail officers to get one other pill, which can be utilized to make monitored cellphone calls, watch accredited leisure, learn books or take video courses, the jail spokesperson stated.
Mr Griffin was additionally issued a warning from jail officers that if he knowingly or unknowingly helps Murdaugh violate guidelines once more, he might lose his skill to speak to his consumer.
Telephone calls between attorneys and prisoners should not recorded or reviewed as a result of their conversations are thought-about confidential.
However jail officers stated they started investigating Murdaugh after a warden reviewing different cellphone calls heard Murdaugh’s voice on a name made in a special inmate’s account.
Murdaugh claimed that his cellphone password had not been working. He additionally informed the jail investigators concerning the recorded journal entries, in response to jail data.
Murdaugh’s use of a jailhouse pill beforehand hit headlines when selfie photos he took on the machine have been obtained in a Freedom of Info request by FITS Information.
In lots of the photos, the convicted household killer appeared topless.
South Carolina jail officers later clarified that the images are mechanically taken as an inmate makes use of their pill that’s individually assigned to them – as a part of inmate monitoring.
Alex Murdaugh stands within the courtroom on the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, throughout his homicide trial
(AP)
Now, Murdaugh has misplaced the usage of his pill indefinitely attributable to his unauthorised communication with the documentarymakers – which marks his first media interview of kinds since his conviction.
His eldest – and now solely surviving – son Buster Murdaugh additionally broke his silence talking out in his first TV interview as a part of the three-part sequence.
Within the interview, Buster insisted that he nonetheless believes his father is harmless of the murders of his mom and brother – however admitted that he could also be a psychopath.
Maggie and Paul have been discovered shot useless on the household’s 1,700-acre Moselle property again on 7 June 2021. Alex Murdaugh had referred to as 911 claiming to have discovered their our bodies.
Throughout his high-profile homicide trial, jurors heard how Paul was shot twice with a 12-gauge shotgun whereas he stood within the feed room of the canine kennels on the prosperous household’s 1,700-acre Moselle property. The second shot to his head blew his mind nearly solely out of his cranium.
After killing Paul, prosecutors stated Murdaugh then grabbed a .300 Blackout semiautomatic rifle and opened fireplace on Maggie as she tried to flee from her husband.
In the course of the dramatic six-week trial, Murdaugh confessed to mendacity about his alibi on the night time of the murders however continued to assert his innocence of the killings.
The jury didn’t agree and the disgraced authorized scion was convicted in March of the brutal murders.
Past the homicide costs, Murdaugh, 55, can also be dealing with a slew of economic fraud costs for stealing thousands and thousands of {dollars} from his legislation agency shoppers and his useless housekeeper’s household.
Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh
(Maggie Murdaugh/Fb)
He’s anticipated to plead responsible on 21 September to federal costs – marking the primary time he has pleaded responsible to a criminal offense in courtroom.
Murdaugh can also be dealing with round 100 monetary costs in state courtroom in addition to costs over a botched hitman plot the place he claims he paid an confederate to shoot him useless.
Murdaugh’s high-profile conviction additionally shone a highlight on another thriller deaths tied to the South Carolina authorized dynasty.
Following Maggie and Paul’s murders, investigations have been reopened into the 2018 dying of the Murdaugh’s longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield and the 2015 murder of homosexual teenager Stephen Smith.
In the meantime, on the time of his homicide, Paul was additionally awaiting trial for the 2019 boat crash dying of Mallory Seaside.
