Alex Murdaugh murder trial jury tampering hearing begins: What to expect this week

COLUMBIA, SC — The Alex Murdaugh murder jury tampering hearing began a day early and will resume on Monday, and its outcome could determine if state prosecutors must undertake another murder trial against the most notorious former attorney in South Carolina.

Murdaugh, convicted on March 2, 2023, in the 2021 murders of his wife and younger son and sentenced to double life terms, levied jury tampering allegations against Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill the following September.

Former S.C. Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal has since been appointed to hear those allegations in full and determine if Murdaugh legally deserves a new trial.

While the hearing was originally set to begin Monday, Jan. 29, at the Richland County Judicial Center in Columbia, one juror was questioned in advance on Friday. Here's why, and what's next.

Why did Murdaugh hearing begin early? What happens next?

On Tuesday, Justice Toal announced through media liaison Jay Bender that the court would be accommodating a scheduling conflict for one of the Murdaugh trial jurors by conducting a single juror examination at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 26, in Courtroom 3B of the Richland County Judicial Center.

The questioning of that juror took roughly 15 minutes, and the entire hearing lasted a little more than an hour, until roughly 10:45 a.m. The balance of that hearing was spent with attorneys negotiating the logistics of the hearing, the types of questions, and the possibility of adding other witnesses if needed.

While this brief questioning session was conducted in open court, with media and the public present, Toal allowed no camera coverage and ordered the questions and the juror's answers embargoed until early Monday, when the other jurors could be questioned. The audio of the juror's answers will be made public at 9:30 a.m. Monday.

Attorney remarks and other remarks from Justice Toal were allowed to be published, as attorneys for Murdaugh and the S.C. Attorney General's Office wrangled back and forth before Toal on the exact nature of the questions and format ahead of Monday's hearing.

Toal is now expected to hear from the other jurors on Monday morning, and then question Clerk of Court Hill that afternoon. While Toal stated that she hopes to conclude the hearing on Monday, the hearing is scheduled on the court docket to last until Wednesday, Jan. 31, if needed.

Who will testify in the Alex Murdaugh/Becky Hill matter?

During a Jan. 16 prehearing, Justice Toal outlined the primary witnesses she intends to hear from or question: Hill and the primary jurors.

Despite arguments from Murdaugh attorneys Richard Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, Toal stated that she would be questioning only the 12 jurors who deliberated on the case and reached the guilty verdict — not the alternates, and not jurors who were dismissed before deliberating.

This may prove a damaging decision for Murdaugh's team. Most, if not all, of Murdaugh's arguments, hinge on the testimony and affidavits of an alternate juror and a dismissed juror referred to in the courtroom as the "egg lady" because she asked to retrieve a dozen eggs from the jury room before leaving.

However, Toal indicated that Murdaugh's attorneys are welcome to submit a written proffer in the event they wish to appeal her decisions to a higher court.

Toal indicated she was not inclined to hear testimony from retired Judge Clifton Newman, who presided over the murder trial and who sentenced Murdaugh, or attorneys for the jurors, prosecuting attorneys, and law enforcement officers.

However, she added the court may consider other witnesses once the hearing is underway.

What type of questions will Justice Toal ask the jurors?

Based on the single juror interview on Friday, the jurors will be asked six questions, which will be made public on Monday. The jurors are to respond to these questions with a simple "yes" or "no" answer unless the judge requires more information.

On Jan. 16, Justice Toal outlined the process by which she planned to interview the jurors.

The jurors will be brought in as a group for a briefing to establish the court procedure and then sent out of the courtroom. Jurors will then be questioned individually in open court directly by Toal only to determine primarily if there was improper contact, and if it influenced their verdict. No attorneys will question the jurors.

Once questioned, the jurors would then be seated in the jury box where they may later be questioned as a group, after which they will all be dismissed.

By law, jurors will not be required to answer certain questions that pertain to details of their actual deliberations.

The questions will be on two key areas:

1. Did the juror hear Hill make certain, possibly improper comments?

2. Did those comments impact their decision and the subsequent guilty verdict?

The S.C. Attorney General's Office has submitted a full list of proposed questions, and Murdaugh's attorneys have objected to most of them, submitting a list of their own. Much of Friday's single-juror hearing was spent arguing the exact phrasing of those questions in advance of Monday.

Who will question Becky Hill, and will she testify?

Clerk Hill is expected to take the stand after lunch on Monday. She will be questioned by prosecutors with the S.C. Attorney General's Office and then cross-examined by Murdaugh's attorneys.

Hill has denied the allegations and has signed affidavits to that effect.

During the Jan. 16 hearing, it became clear that Murdaugh's team planned to attack Hill's character and credibility if allowed. In addition to the jury tampering allegations, Hill is also under investigation for ethics complaints that involve the alleged misuse of public office and public money. She also recently admitted to plagiarism when she wrote the now controversial and recently "unpublished" book, Behind the Doors of Justice.

Harpootlian made several comments suggesting that all of these allegations were relevant to "impeaching" Hill as a credible witness.

However, Toal stated that she planned to limit the focus of the Jan. 29 hearing to what happened in the courthouse during the trial only, with a particular focus on interactions between Hill and the jurors.

"This is not the trial of Mrs. Hill," said Toal. "This case is very focused on the jurors and the clerk of court, as I see it."

Hill, who has denied the jury allegations, is expected to take the stand after the jurors are questioned by Toal. She may invoke her Fifth Amendment rights on a question-by-question basis.

What's at stake in the Alex Murdaugh/Becky Hill jury tampering case?

If Justice Toal rules that Murdaugh must be granted a new trial, it will not be held in Colleton County, the site of the first double murder trial. It may not even be held in the 14th Circuit at all.

Regardless of the venue, it will be lengthy and costly. The first trial lasted six weeks and cost the State of South Carolina, and Colleton County, hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars, while disrupting the lives of jurors and citizens.

Meanwhile, Murdaugh is serving back-to-back life sentences for the murders in the McCormick Correctional Institute, and has been sentenced to 27 years in state prison for a multitude of financial crimes — so he is not going to be a free man any time soon.

If Murdaugh is not granted a new trial, his attorneys plan to continue his appeal to the higher courts.

Will Alex Murdaugh get a new trial? Who has the burden of proof?

One of the most important decisions in the case involved the legal standards involved: what was the standard of proof, and who had the burden of proof?

Justice Toal ruled on Jan. 16 that she would be using the legal standard and precedent set by South Carolina vs. Green, a 2020 S.C. Supreme Court decision that requires that actual prejudice must be proven to get a new trial.

This means that improper contact or improper conversations with a juror alone may not be enough to grant a retrial if there is no evidence the juror or jurors in question were prejudiced into making a decision.

The presumption of prejudice by improper contact "is not the way to examine this issue, but with specific evidence," said Toal.

Can I watch the Murdaugh jury tampering hearing live?

Toal stressed that the hearing, including the questioning of jurors, would be conducted in open court, with public and media access. Court TV will broadcast the hearing as a pool source for other media, in addition to pool photographers for "still" photos.

However, the privacy and identity of the jurors will remain protected. The jurors will be referred to by number only, and pool media will be instructed not to show images of the jurors.

Can I go to the Alex Murdaugh/Becky Hill jury tampering hearing?

Adjoining courtrooms 3A and 3B of the Richland County Judicial Center have been set aside for the Murdaugh hearing, and it is open to the public. The actual hearing will likely be conducted in 3A, with 3B to be used as an overflow room with a watch feed, stated Toal.

Visitors are advised to get to the courtroom early. Several streets in the area will be shut down for media access only.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Alex Murdaugh murder trial jury tampering hearing begins: What's next?