Judge sets date to hear Alex Murdaugh jury tampering allegations against clerk Becky Hill

A former South Carolina Supreme Court Justice has set a tentative date to hear the details of jury tampering allegations involving the recent double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh and determine if the twice-convicted killer will earn a new trial.

Judge Jean Toal, who has been selected by the S.C. Supreme Court to hear lower court post-trial matters about Murdaugh's March 2 conviction in the June 2021 killings of his wife and son, has officially announced that a merits hearing on Murdaugh's motion for a new trial is now on her calendar.

Murdaugh, who denied killing his family even as he was sentenced to life on March 3, has filed claims that a court official violated his right to a fair and impartial murder trial.

Judge Toal, who replaces Judge Clifton Newman in presiding over Murdaugh murder matters, told The Hampton County Guardian Wednesday that the hearing is tentatively scheduled to begin on Monday, Jan. 29, at the Richland County Judicial Center, Columbia. The hearing is expected to last at least three days, until Jan. 31.

Toal said her office is working with former S.C. Press Association attorney and First Amendment advocate Jay Bender to accommodate the needs of the media and the public and develop an order detailing media coverage by next week. Bender served in the same capacity during the six-week Murdaugh trial in Walterboro.

Murdaugh, who is currently serving two life sentences in connection with the internationally publicized Murdaugh family murders but has staunchly denied having a hand in the killings, temporarily dropped his higher court appeal and filed a September 2023 motion for a new trial based on jury tampering allegations involving the Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill.

In that motion, Murdaugh's legal team made several serious allegations against Hill, a public official embedded into the heart of that trial who read the verdict and later published a tell-all book about the historic murder case.

In their 65-page motion with attachments that include affidavits from two jurors, Harpootlian and Griffin make the following allegations of jury tampering against Hill, alleging Hill:

• Asked jurors not to believe Murdaugh's testimony or any evidence presented by his defense;

• Pressured them into reaching a quick guilty verdict, tell them that their deliberations "shouldn't take them too long;"

• Misrepresented information to Judge Newman in a campaign to have a juror believed to be favorable to the defense removed from the jury;

• Told jurors not to be "misled" by Murdaugh's evidence or "fooled" by his testimony;

• Had frequent private conversations with the jury foreperson, including a private chat with her during the jury's field trip to Moselle, the scene of the crime;

• Asked jurors for their opinions about Murdaugh's guilt or innocence;

• Invented a story about a Facebook post on the "Walterboro Word of Mouth" group to remove a juror who might not vote guilty;

• Before Murdaugh's testimony on the stand, instructed the jury to “watch him closely,” to “look at his actions,” and to “look at his movements,” which at least one juror understood to mean that Murdaugh was guilty;

• Told a juror that "the Murdaughs" had "got to" her ex-husband;

• Denied jurors a smoke break until they reached a verdict;

• Told the jurors they would be famous and handed out reporters's business cards to them after the verdict;

• Pressured a group of jurors to interview with a network news show after the verdict but before the sentencing.

The S.C. Law Enforcement Division has been investigating the claims, and the S.C. Attorney General's Office, which prosecuted Murdaugh on the murder charges, has filed in opposition to the charges, claiming they have no merit.

Hill, who also faces allegations of ethics misconduct and, most recently, literary plagiarism, has denied the jury tampering allegations.

Murdaugh's legal team claims that Hill "did these things to secure for herself a book deal and media appearances that would not happen in the event of a mistrial," and that "Ms. Hill betrayed her oath of office for money and fame" to co-author the book, Behind the Doors of Justice, which she is now accused of plagiarizing in.

On Tuesday, Hill's attorneys released a statement admitting the plagiarism and adding that Hill took full responsibility for those actions.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Judge sets date to hear Alex Murdaugh, Hill jury tampering allegations