Alex Murdaugh’s attorneys have filed a movement for a brand new trial and are in search of a federal investigation, claiming a South Carolina clerk tampered with the jury that convicted him of murdering his spouse and son.
In the movement filed on Tuesday in the State of South Carolina Court of Appeals and obtained by Rolling Stone, Murdaugh’s attorneys allege Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill suggested the jury “to not imagine Murdaugh’s testimony and different proof offered by the protection, pressuring them to achieve a fast responsible verdict, and even misrepresenting important and materials data to the trial decide in her marketing campaign to take away a juror she believed to be favorable to the protection,” per the paperwork.
During the trial, Hill allegedly “instructed jurors to not be ‘misled’ by proof offered in Mr. Murdaugh’s protection. She instructed jurors to not be ‘fooled by’ Mr. Murdaugh’s testimony in his personal protection.”
The movement accuses Hill of “frequent personal conversations with the jury foreperson, a Court-appointed substitution for the foreperson the jury elected for itself at the request of Ms. Hill.”
During the trial, the doc alleges that Hill queried jurors about their opinions on whether or not Murdaugh was responsible or not. “Ms. Hill invented a narrative a couple of Facebook put up to take away a juror she believed won’t vote responsible,” the movement additional claims. “Ms. Hill pressured the jurors to achieve a fast verdict, telling them from the outset of their deliberations that it “shouldn’t take them lengthy.”
“Ms. Hill did this stuff to safe for herself a guide deal and media appearances that will not occur in the occasion of a mistrial. Ms. Hill betrayed her oath of workplace for cash and fame,” the movement alleges.
Hill didn’t instantly reply to Rolling Stone’s request for remark.
In March, Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering his spouse, Maggie, and his son, Paul, at the household’s searching compound in June 2021. The disbarred legal professional was additionally indicted and charged with two counts of homicide and two counts of possession of a weapon throughout the fee of a violent crime. Murdaugh was given two consecutive life sentences
The homicide trial is only one of many authorized troubles the disgraced scion of a authorized dynasty from South Carolina’s southern Lowlands has needed to navigate. He additionally admitted to hiring a hitman to kill him in a botched insurance coverage fraud try and was indicted of drug trafficking and money-laundering prices (the alleged hitman, Curtis Edward Smith, was charged in the assisted suicide scheme; Murdaugh’s attorneys claimed Smith was Murdaugh’s drug seller who provided him opioids that allegedly fueled Murdaugh’s two-decade habit). Murdaugh nonetheless faces a couple of dozen lawsuits and greater than 100 felony prices for alleged monetary and drug violations.
Murdaugh’s attorneys are additionally requesting South Carolina U.S. Attorney Adair F. Boroughs open a federal investigation into the violation of his civil rights.
“The severe allegations in the petition filed as we speak communicate for themselves however we imagine they clarify a quantity of peculiarities in the six-week trial. We request that SLED [South Carolina Law Enforcement Division] stand down on initiating any investigation of these allegations since they’re closely invested in sustaining Alex’s conviction,” Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, attorneys for Alex Murdaugh, mentioned in an announcement to Rolling Stone. “We counsel that they wait for the Court of Appeals to rule and obtain course from the trial courtroom, if the Court of Appeals remands the case for an evidentiary listening to. We additionally would request that these in the media and the public respect the privateness of these included on this submitting.”
They added: “Alex Murdaugh maintained and nonetheless maintains his innocence of the homicide of Maggie and Paul and he believes the reality will finally prevail.”
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