COLUMBIA, S.C. — Attorneys for Alex Murdaugh are arguing his conviction for killing his wife and adult son should be thrown out and he deserves a new trial, alleging that jury tampering that may have affected the verdict in the case.
Murdaugh's attorneys have actually filed separate motions -- one in the South Carolina State Court of Appeals alleging jury tampering in Murdaugh's murder case and request a for new trial, and a second with US Attorney Adair Ford Boroughs requesting a federal investigation into actions of the Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill.
Both filings revolve around the alleged actions of Hill that attorneys Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian describe as jury tampering.
In a statement, Griffin and Harpootlian said, "The serious allegations in the petition filed today speak for themselves but we believe they explain a number of peculiarities in the six-week trial. We request that SLED stand down on initiating any investigation of these allegations since they are heavily invested in maintaining Alex’s conviction. We suggest that they wait for the Court of Appeals to rule and receive direction from the trial court, if the Court of Appeals remands the case for an evidentiary hearing. We also would request that those in the media and the public respect the privacy of those included in this filing."
In the motion at the Court of Appeals, Griffin and Harpootlian state that Hill, as the Clerk of Court in Colleton County "tampered with the jury by advising them not to believe Murdaugh’s testimony and other evidence presented by the defense, pressuring them to reach a quick guilty verdict, and even misrepresenting critical and material information to the trial judge in her campaign to remove a juror she believed to be favorable to the defense."
The document goes on to read "Ms. Hill had frequent private conversations with the jury foreperson, a Court-appointed substitution for the foreperson the jury elected for itself at the request of Ms. Hill. During the trial, Ms. Hill asked jurors for their opinions about Mr. Murdaugh’s guilt or innocence. Ms. Hill invented a story about a Facebook post to remove a juror she believed might not vote guilty. Ms. Hill pressured the jurors to reach a quick verdict, telling them from the outset of their deliberations that it 'shouldn’t take them long.' Ms. Hill did these things to secure for herself a book deal and media appearances that would not happen in the event of a mistrial. Ms. Hill betrayed her oath of office for money and fame."
In the filing with the US Attorney's Office, Harpootlian and Griffin request an "urgent federal investigation of conduct" regarding Hill's actions during the murder trial. They allege "every interaction she had with any juror during the murder trial was under the pretense of authority granted by state law" and they "assert that Ms. Hill's actions deprived Mr. Murdaugh of his rights under the Constitution."
Alex Murdaugh was convicted of the murders of his wife Maggie and youngest son Paul. He is serving two consecutive life sentences for those crimes and expected to plead guilty to a host of financial crimes in federal court on Sept. 21.
Griffin was reprimanded in late August 2023 for facilitating Murdaugh's interview with Fox Nation for 'The Fall of the House of Murdaugh' docuseries that streamed over the past week. Griffin recorded phone calls with Murdaugh and allegedly passed those interviews to the media organization. Murdaugh temporarily lost his phone and iPad privileges as a result of the interviews and was charged with abuse of privileges and unauthorized use of an inmate's personal identification number (PIN).