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Alex Murdaugh’s defense attorney argued on Wednesday that the South Carolina Supreme Court should overturn his guilty verdict in the June 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul.
Dick Harpootlian, who is representing Murdaugh alongside attorney Jim Griffin, said that former court clerk Rebecca “Becky” Hill’s alleged jury tampering could show cause for the South Carolina Supreme Court to overturn the verdict.
“Before the defense put up their case, Miss Hill told the jurors the defense is about to do their side, they’re going to say things that will try to confuse you, don’t let them confuse you or convince you or throw you off,” Harpootlian said on Wednesday. Harpootlian also noted that jurors said that Hills’ comments to “watch” Murdaugh’s actions and movements influenced their view of the defendant.
Furthermore, Harpootlian accused Hill of being “attracted by the siren call of celebrity,” noting that Barnwell County Clerk of Court Rhonda McElveen said Hill mentioned wanting to write a book and that a guilty verdict could help move more copies off shelves. Harpootlian alleged that Hill made the remark to McElveen, who was assisting with the Murdaugh trial, in December 2022, while jury selection for the case did not occur until January 2023.
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Alex Murdaugh and defense attorney Dick Harpootlian review evidence during his trial for murder at the Colleton County Courthouse on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Walterboro, S.C. (Joshua Boucher/Pool/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Harpootlian had previously told Fox News Digital that the Murdaugh defense team was “cautiously optimistic” that the South Carolina Supreme Court could grant them a new trial.
While Creighton Waters, the lead prosecutor on the case, argued that Hill’s comments to the jury were innocuous, he agreed when South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice John Kittredge said the remarks could be seen as “improper.”
“The circumstances of this issue are not lost on us. In the courtroom, we have an excellent attorney general with a very professional and competent team of prosecutors, including you, Mr. Waters. On the defense side, we have an extremely competent, top-drawer representation. We’ve got a superb trial court judge. And out in the hallway, we have a rogue clerk of court. And even if we accept the truncated version of what you characterize as innocuous statements, even you acknowledge it was improper, perhaps not improper to the point of reversal, but you acknowledge it was improper,” Kittredge said.
Waters responded, “absolutely,” and later elaborated, saying that “I think what you just said highlights and proves my point. When you went through all of the players in this trial and the relative insignificance of Miss Becky.”
“And as I said before, with all of that going on that some jurors really like, ‘Oh, well, you know, Miss Becky said watch his body language,’ that that is going to make the difference. What you just said of all that went on is why, not the truncated version. And I understand your point with that, but what the record reflects and what justice told, found is what really happened. That was the extent of it,” Waters said.
“I don’t mean to imply they were innocuous. What I mean to imply is that they were neutral on their face, not proper, but neutral on their face and not egregious,” Waters added.
Disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh arrives in court in Beaufort, S.C., on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023. Murdaugh appeared publicly as a convicted murderer for the first time at the state court hearing regarding the slew of financial crimes allegedly committed by the disbarred South Carolina attorney. (AP Photo/James Pollard)
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Hill pleaded guilty in Colleton County Circuit Court to four charges — obstruction of justice and perjury for showing a reporter photographs that were sealed court exhibits and then lying about it — as well as two counts of misconduct in office for taking bonuses and promoting through her public office a book she wrote about the trial.
Judge Heath Taylor sentenced Hill to a year of probation. He told Hill her sentence would have been much harsher had prosecutors found that she had tampered with the Murdaugh jury. Harpootlian said Hill’s guilty plea bolsters the defense’s argument that her credibility is irreparably damaged.
“She [pleaded] guilty to perjuring herself, to lying under oath during that hearing,” he said. “I think that goes a long way to showing in appellate court that whatever she said shouldn’t be believed.”
During the evidentiary hearing, multiple witnesses testified that Hill made comments to jurors about Murdaugh’s demeanor and testimony, including statements that defense attorneys argue crossed the line from administration into influence.
Alex Murdaugh sits in the Colleton County Courthouse with his legal team including Dick Harpootlian, middle, and Jim Griffin, right, as his attorneys discuss motions in front of Judge Clifton Newman in a December 2022 hearing. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service)
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Hill has denied trying to sway jurors, but Judge Jean Toal ruled last year that the defense failed to prove the comments affected the verdict. Harpootlian said the defense disagrees with that standard.
“The United States Supreme Court and the Fourth Circuit have indicated we don’t have to show that it actually influenced somebody,” he said. “We just need to show that she said things that reasonably, objectively could have influenced a juror.”
In March 2023, Murdaugh was convicted of murdering his wife and youngest son at the family’s rural hunting estate in South Carolina’s Low Country. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.