The South Carolina Supreme Court will consider whether disgraced legal scion Alex Murdaugh will receive a new trial for the murder of his wife and son.
The decision, handed down on Tuesday, means the state’s five justices will take over one of Murdaugh’s two appeals, specifically, whether the jury was prejudiced during his six-week murder trial last year, the Post and Courier reported.
Murdaugh’s attorneys have said he was denied a fair trial due to jury tampering carried out by former Colleton County court clerk Becky Hill. She swayed the jury, they argued, by urging them against deliberating for a long time and asking them about the case before deliberations — all of it part of a bid to profit from a book she wrote about the legal proceedings.
The book, “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders,” was eventually pulled from publication after she admitted to plagiarizing a section, according to WCSC. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has since opened an investigation into Hill over allegations that she used her elected position for personal gain.
“The trial court abused its discretion when finding that the jury’s verdict was not affected by Ms. Hill’s tampering despite a juror’s uncontradicted testimony that her verdict was affected,” the defense said. “And the trial court erred when it held that deliberate jury tampering by a state official seeking a guilty verdict was harmless because, in its opinion, the correct verdict was rendered regardless.”
Murdaugh is currently serving two life sentences for the murders of son Paul, 22, and wife Maggie, 52. They were both found fatally shot on June 7, 2021, near a kennel area on the family’s sweeping “Moselle” hunting estate. Prosecutors have argued he killed them because he knew his financial wrongdoings were about to be uncovered, and he was hoping their deaths would buy him sympathy and time to figure out a cover-up.
While Murdaugh has maintained his innocence in the murders, he has pleaded guilty to a slew of federal and state financial crimes.
