Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh may soon be getting a new murder trial after the South Carolina Supreme Court overruled a previous ruling that the jury in Murdaugh’s case was tampered with.
Attorneys for the former lawyer argued that former Colleton County Clerk Rebecca Hill tampered with the jury during the original six-week trial in March 2023, when Murdaugh was found guilty in the murder of his wife and son.
Hill is accused of telling jurors “not to be fooled” by Murdaugh’s own emotional testimony so he could be convicted to help the clerk make money from her self-published book “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders.”
Murdaugh, 56, was convicted of fatally shooting his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and their 22-year-old son Paul at their home on June 7, 2021.
He was subsequently handed two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years for a slew of financial crimes he pleaded guilty to.
Hill’s book was eventually pulled from publication after she admitted to plagiarizing a section, according to WCSC.
She later resigned from her position in March 2024 when the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division opened an investigation after Hill was accused of using her elected position for personal gain, the outlet reported.
In January, former South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal informed the jurors of Hill’s alleged jury tampering but stated there was insufficient evidence for a new trial.
Toal said that after combing through the entire transcript of the six-week trial, she couldn’t overturn the verdict “on the strength of some fleeting and foolish comments by a publicity-seeking clerk of court” because they didn’t persuade the jurors’ minds.
Murdaugh’s lawyers Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin pushed for a motion from the Supreme Court claiming the case had significant public interest and a legal principle of major importance.
“The issue of significant public interest is whether the verdict returned after Mr.Murdaugh’s internationally televised murder trial should be overturned due to unprecedented jury tampering by a state official, the former Colleton County Clerk of Court,” attorneys said in a July filing according to WCSC.
“The legal principle of major importance is whether it is presumptively prejudicial for a state official to secretly advocate for a guilty verdict through ex parte contacts with jurors during trial, or whether a defendant, having proven the contacts occurred, must also somehow prove the verdict would have been different at a hypothetical trial in which the surreptitious advocacy did not occur.”
The South Carolina Supreme Court will now hear arguments for and against a new murder trial before making a decision.
