Colleton County Clerk of Court docket Rebecca “Becky” Hill has not but responded to allegations of jury tampering in Alex Murdaugh’s double homicide trial – however her co-author is staunchly defending the clerk he describes as somebody of integrity and real character.
Neil R Gordon appeared on Court docket TV Tuesday night time simply hours after Murdaugh’s defence attorneys filed a movement requesting a brand new trial for the convicted killer on the premise that Ms Hill tampered with the jury as a result of she was pushed by fame and a need to safe a ebook deal.
Mr Gordon and Ms Hill labored collectively for months after the trial on a tell-all ebook titled Behind the Doorways of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders, which was launched on 1 August.
Mr Gordon informed Court docket TV’s Vinnie Politan on Tuesday that he was shocked when he heard in regards to the allegations and what Murdaugh’s attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin believed to be Ms Hill’s alleged motivation.
“I used to be fairly upset at what Harpootlian stated was the motivation Becky had,” Mr Gordon stated. “Final time I checked, Simon and Schuster didn’t ship us a examine for $200,000.”
Mr Gordon defined that his household and Ms Hill’s household collectively forked over their very own cash, about $30,000, to self-publish the ebook.
“We put up our personal cash as a result of we thought it was an fascinating story to inform,” he added.
“We felt prefer it was a narrative that needs to be informed,” including that he doesn’t imagine there could be one other trial like this one in our lifetime.
After six weeks of harrowing testimony again in March, the jury took simply three hours to convict Murdaugh within the June 2021 murders of his spouse Maggie and son Paul. It was Ms Hill who learn the decision.
Now, months later, the defence workforce has accused the court docket clerk of telling jurors to not belief him when he testified in his personal defence, having non-public conversations with the jury foreperson and pressuring jurors to come back to a fast verdict.
The request filed by Murdaugh’s legal professionals on Tuesday additionally accuses Ms Hill of giving jury members enterprise playing cards from reporters throughout the trial. After the decision, she traveled to New York Metropolis with three of the jurors to do interviews.
Ms Hill has not launched an official assertion, apart from a short remark to Court docket TV, wherein she informed the outlet the allegations are “unfaithful.”
Mr Gordon stated he has spoken together with her, and stated the “allegations are so deep” that the court docket clerk has employed authorized counsel and they’re planning to place out a press release within the “close to future.”
“What I do know is that she is going to reply each one in all these allegations in truth.”
Alex Murdaugh’s attorneys demand new trial over allegations of jury tampering
When requested about any attainable conversations Ms Hill might need had with the jury, Mr Gordon stated his good friend, who he described as a “very religious individual”, is thought to wish together with her employees.
And realizing the jury to even be very prayerful, he stated he requested her if she ever prayed with them.
She responded to him, “Oh no no no. No authorized entity is allowed to have prayer with the jury,” Mr Gordon stated.
“It was very clear that there was a line there,” he added.
Mr Gordon and Ms Hill met by his spouse, photographer Melissa Brinson Gordon, who, like many within the space, attended the jury proceedings of the trial that had gripped the nation.
She had requested to take a selfie with Ms Hill which ultimately led to friendship and speak of a mutual need to seize the trial in Ms Hill’s phrases and Melissa’s photographs.
Within the movement filed on Tuesday citing allegations in opposition to Ms Hill, Murdaugh’s lawyer Mr Harpootlian, a state senator and lawyer for 50 years, stated trial court docket clerks “aren’t somebody who ought to even speak to them in regards to the case. I’ve by no means heard of that.”
The movement claims that when Murdaugh took the stand, Ms Hill instructed the jury to “watch him carefully,” to “take a look at his actions,” and to “take a look at his actions” on the stand – one thing at the very least one juror stated they understood to imply that Murdaugh was responsible.
When the defence offered proof, they have been allegedly urged not “to be fooled”.
The movement additionally claims that Ms Hill had frequent non-public conversations with the jury foreperson and repeatedly requested jurors for his or her opinions about Murdaugh’s guilt or innocence.
South Carolina Lawyer Normal Alan Wilson launched a short assertion on the movement, saying solely that “we’re presently reviewing the protection’s newest movement and can reply by the authorized course of on the acceptable time”.
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 known 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 totally out of his cranium.
After killing Paul, prosecutors stated Murdaugh then grabbed a .300 Blackout semiautomatic rifle and opened hearth on Maggie as she tried to flee from her husband.
Through 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.