Murdaugh attorneys allege jury tampering by clerk of court, request federal investigation

Defense attorneys for convicted killer Alex Mudaugh on Tuesday alleged that Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca “Becky” Hill unlawfully tampered with the jury that found Murdaugh guilty and requested that Murdaugh be given a new trial.

The allegation was made both in a letter to U.S. Attorney Adair Boroughs in which defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin alleged jury tampering, as well as in a 65-page filing in the S.C. Court of Appeals.

“Defendant Richard Alexander Murdaugh... moves the Court for a new trial after discovering that the Clerk of Court 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 land material information to the trial judge in her campaign to remove a juror she believed favorable to the defense,” Murdaugh’s filing said.

Murdaugh’s six-week double-murder trial, which began in January and finished in early March, was perhaps the most notorious criminal trial in South Carolina history. It featured more than 70 witnesses, one of whom was Murdaugh, who took the stand in a fruitless attempt to convince the jury he didn’t kill his wife and son.

The juy took less than three hours to reach its verdict.

The jury gave more weight to evidence other than Murdaugh’s testimony. That evidence included a cellphone video taken by Paul minutes before he was killed that had Murdaugh’s voice on it. Murdaugh had denied being anywhere near the death scene in the hours before the killings.

During his testimony, Murdaugh, a disbarred Hampton attorney from a prominent Lowountry legal family, also confessed to numerous financial crimes involving stealing millions of dollars from his law partners, friends, family and clients who had won millions in legal settlements.

He is scheduled to plead guilty to his financial crimes on Sept. 21 in federal court in Charleston.

Murdaugh, 55, is now serving two consecutive life sentences for murder in the S.C. Department of Corrections. He has no chance of parole. Murdaugh contended other people killed his wife and son but never came up with any evidence to support his charges. The death weapons — Maggie was killed with an assault-type rifle and Paul with a shotgun — have never been found.

On the trial’s last day, state Judge Clifton Newman removed a juror and replaced her with an alternate juror.

Newman said the juror he removed had engaged in improper discussions and had, despite court warnings to the jury not to discuss the case, offered her opinion on evidence to other people.

“This juror has had contact or discussion concerning the case with at least three individuals,” Newman told the courtroom.

Newman had started the trial with six alternate jurors and had to replace four others due to health reasons.

The S.C. Attorney General’s office, which prosecuted Murdaugh, had no immediate comment.

This story will be updated.