Felony Justice
Meddling clerk ‘betrayed her oath of workplace’ in Alex Murdaugh homicide case, new-trial movement alleges
Disbarred South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh was sentenced in early March to life in jail after a conviction in a double-murder trial throughout his sentencing on the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina. He was discovered responsible on all counts. Picture by Andrew J. Whitaker/The Put up and Courier by way of the Related Press.
The elected court docket clerk within the homicide trial of disbarred South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh warned jurors about protection testimony, met privately with a jury foreperson, and “invented a narrative” a few Fb publish that obtained a juror eliminated, in line with allegations in a movement for a brand new trial.
The Sept. 5 motion for a brand new trial alleges that Rebecca Hill, the Colleton County, South Carolina, clerk of the court docket, tampered with the jury in violation of Murdaugh’s proper to a good trial.
Law360, Courthouse News Service, the New York Times and the Washington Post are among the many publications with protection of the movement filed by protection attorneys Richard A. Harpootlian and James M. Griffin.
Murdaugh was sentenced to life in jail in March for the June 2021 murders of his spouse, Maggie, and son Paul on the household’s South Carolina searching property. Murdaugh has denied killing his relations. Prosecutors alleged that the murders had been meant to deflect consideration from Murdaugh’s monetary wrongdoing.
Hill has written a guide concerning the trial known as Behind the Doorways of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders. Hill “betrayed her oath of workplace for cash and fame,” the movement alleges.
Courtroom clerks talk with jurors about administrative issues, however they aren’t allowed to debate the substance of a case, in line with Jessica Roth, a professor Yeshiva College’s Cardozo College of Regulation, who spoke with the Washington Put up.
Amongst Hill’s alleged misdeeds:
- She allegedly informed jurors in the beginning of the protection case, “Y’all are going to listen to issues that can throw you all off. Don’t let this distract you or mislead you.”
- She allegedly informed jurors that they shouldn’t be “fooled by” the protection proof.
- She allegedly had “frequent personal conversations” with the jury foreperson that lasted 5 or 10 minutes, typically in a single-occupancy lavatory.
- She allegedly requested jurors about their opinions on Murdaugh’s guilt or innocence.
- She allegedly informed the choose a few Fb publish accusing a juror of speaking about her seemingly verdict. Hill stated the publish was written by the juror’s ex-husband and later eliminated. As an alternative, Hill allegedly stated, was one other publish through which the ex-husband stated he was drunk when he made the accusation, and he was sorry. The choose dismissed the juror.
- It turned out that the one who made the apology publish had the identical final title because the juror’s ex-husband, however the profile image confirmed a unique individual, the movement says.
- Hill allegedly requested the juror earlier than her removing about her views on the case and allegedly stated every thing Murdaugh stated has been a lie.
- Hill allegedly informed jurors as they started deliberations that, “this shouldn’t take us lengthy,” denied them cigarette breaks, and informed them that they must keep in a single day at a lodge in the event that they deliberated previous 11 p.m. Some weren’t ready for an in a single day keep.
Jurors deliberated about three hours earlier than convicting Murdaugh.
See additionally:
“Ex-lawyer Murdaugh, in prison for murder, is charged with stealing from clients”
