Alex Murdaugh’s attorneys demand new trial, accuse clerk of jury tampering in bombshell new filing

Attorneys for convicted killer Alex Murdaugh have issued a bombshell request for a new trial based on evidence that they claim shows a court clerk “tampered with the jury by advising them not to believe Murdaugh’s testimony” in order to cash in on the post-verdict media blitz.

Colleton County Clerk Rebecca Hill violated the disgraced former attorney’s “constitutional right to a fair and impartial jury” when she advised jurors during the six-week double murder trial “not to be ‘misled’” by evidence presented by the defense, the filing released Tuesday to the South Carolina Court of Appeals alleges.

Hill also warned jurors “not to be ‘fooled’” by Murdaugh’s own emotional testimony, reads the statement from Murdaugh’s lawyers, state Sen. Richard Harpootlian and defense star Jim Griffin.

Murdaugh, 55, was found guilty in March of gunning down his wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul, in the kennels of the family’s sprawling Moselle estate in June 2021.

During the high-profile proceedings, the state alleged Murdaugh killed his wife and younger son in order to cover up a slew of financial crimes.

When Murdaugh took the stand several weeks into the trial, Hill told the jurors to “look at his actions [and movements],” one juror claimed in an affidavit attached to the Tuesday filing.

“I understood [this] to mean that Mr. Murdaugh would lie when he testified,” the individual — who is identified simply as juror 630 — explained in the document.

Hill and the jury foreperson, juror 826, also frequently had “private conversations” that lasted “5 to 10 minutes,” juror 630 recalled.

Olivia Land
https://nypost.com/