Becky Hill tampering case transferred to SC Supreme Court as Murdaugh files new attack

South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald Beatty ordered Wednesday that all records in Alex Murdaugh’s appeal of his double murder conviction be transferred from Colleton County to the Supreme Court clerk of court in Columbia.

Beatty indicated there would be a conflict of interest if the case were kept in Colleton County, where Murdaugh was tried and convicted last winter, because a key figure in Murdaugh’s appeal is Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill.

In appeals to the case, Hill has been accused by Murdaugh’s lawyers of tampering with jurors, making statements to try to influence them to convict Murdaugh and other inappropriate behavior. As clerk of court, Hill oversaw court interactions with jurors and was in a position to have contact with them throughout the six-week trial. She has denied wrongdoing.

“Because Defendant’s (Murdaugh’s) motion for a new trial contains allegations related to the conduct of the Colleton County Clerk of Court, I find it would be inappropriate for documents in this case to be filed in Colleton County,” Beatty wrote in a two-page order.

Murdaugh was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison for the 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul. In his appeals, he contends he is innocent.

From now on, all documents, orders, and correspondence related to Muraugh’s appeal should be filed with the Supreme Court, Beatty said.

In other developments in Murdaugh’s appeal Wednesday:

▪ Judge Jean Toal, a former state Supreme Court chief justice assigned to oversee Murdaugh’s appeal, will hold a hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 16, to discuss motions and other details of an upcoming full-fledged appeal hearing on the jury tampering allegations that begins Jan. 29. The Jan. 16 hearing, as well as the Jan. 29 hearing, be open to the public and be held at the Richland County courthouse.

▪ Murdaugh’s lawyers filed a 21-page brief Wednesday with the state Supreme Court outlining the case they intend to make to Toal at the public hearing that begins Jan. 29.

▪ In their Wednesday brief, Murdaugh’s lawyers, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, made it clear that discrediting Hill’s credibility is a cornerstone of their effort to win an appeal.

“Her credibility is the crux of the matter before the Court,” Murdaugh’s lawyers wrote. The purpose of the Jan. 29 hearing “is to allow the Court to decide whether it believes the word of Ms. Hill more than it believes the sworn testimony of one or more jurors. Anything that impeaches Ms. Hill is relevant.”

In the last two months, ”Ms. Hill is alleged to have stolen money, illegally sold access to the courthouse, conspired with her son to conduct illegal wiretaps, and even had her book removed from publication because of her plagiarism,” Murdaugh’s lawyers wrote.

▪ In their brief, Murdaugh’s lawyers also contend that Hill’s actions by her “extensive private communications” with jurors were such that she violated Murdaugh’s constitutional right to a fair trial.

The lawyers also contend that under the law, they don’t have to prove that any juror was in fact influenced by Hill’s improper communications — just that she try to influence them.

Hill — outside the presence of the court, Murdaugh and his attorneys — ”used her official authority to direct the verdict to her preferred outcome. This is, fortunately, a vanishingly rare event, but it is one that requires a new trial,” Murdaugh’s lawyers wrote in their brief.

“Even if every juror were to testify that he or she would have reached the same verdict regardless of Ms. Hill’s tampering, a new trial is required if it is proven that Ms. Hill communicated with jurors about the merits of the evidence presented,” the brief said.

That position contrasts with filings by prosecutors, who contend that Murdaugh must show not only improper contact between Hill and jurors, but also that one or more was influenced by Hill.