Alex Murdaugh returns to court to fight for new murder trial

Alex Murdaugh appeared in a Richland County, South Carolina, courtroom Tuesday morning to discuss his request for a new murder trial.

Lawyers for Murdaugh, who was convicted last year of fatally shooting his wife and son in June 2021 on their family hunting estate, argued that Colleton County Clerk Beck Hill engaged in jury tampering before jurors found Murdugh guilty of the double murder.

Murdaugh appeared in an orange jumpsuit beside his attorneys Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian for the pre-hearing procedure. 

South Carolina Justice Jean Toal said Murdaugh's defense must prove allegations of prejudice in order to get a new trial. Harpootlian said he wants all 12 jurors who presided over the Murdaugh trial to testify about what Hill may have told them, and South Carolina prosecutor Creighton Waters argued that they should be questioned in private.

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Disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh was convicted in March of murdering his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, on his hunting estate in June 2021. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool, File)

Toal later ultimately decided that jurors who presided over the double-murder trial should be questioned, on the record, in open court.

"Our focus will be on jurors who heard the case," the judge said.

Attorney Joe McCulloch, who is representing two of the jurors in the case, told Fox News' Chelsea Torres after Tuesday's proceedings that he believes some of the jurors in the high-profile case have come to believe that total anonymity is a "false promise." 

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Justice Toal decided that jurors who presided over the Alex Murdaugh murder trial may testify about alleged jury tampering during his hearing for a new trial. (Gavin McIntyre/The Post and Courier via AP, Pool)

"We now have the parameters. We know how many witnesses, basically, subject to the possibility of change," McCulloch said, adding that "serving on a jury…is always a step out of the norm for people, and we want to encourage and not discourage people" from participating in the justice process by making it as private an experience as possible.

Griffin and Harpootlian alleged in their motion for a new trial that Hill advised jurors not to believe Murdaugh's testimony, pressured the panel to reach a "quick guilty verdict" and lied to the trial judge in a campaign to remove a panelist that was sympathetic to the defense.

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"Ms. Hill did these things to secure for herself a book deal and media appearances that would not happen in the event of a mistrial," the filing says. "Ms. Hill betrayed her oath of office for money and fame."

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The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has opened two investigations into Hill's conduct during Murdaugh's murder trial, including a probe into allegations that Hill used her position as clerk to benefit financially from sales of her book about the case, which she later admitted included plagiarized writing, and another probe into the jury tampering allegations.

Neil Gordon, co-author of "Behind the Doors of Justice," said in a press release that Hill used portions of a BBC article in her writing. Book sales have since been halted.

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Alex Murdaugh speaks with defense attorney Jim Griffin during day 25 of Murdaugh’s double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. (Jeff Blake/The State/Pool)

Murdaugh, 55, was sentenced in March to two life terms for fatally shooting his 52-year-old wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and his son, Paul Murdaugh, 22, in June 2021.

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Murdaugh was also sentenced to 27 years in November for his financial crimes. He agreed to plead guilty to 22 counts — including breach of trust, money laundering, forgery and tax evasion — out of about 100 total counts totaling as much as $10 million in exchange for the 27-year prison sentence.

Murdaugh previously pleaded guilty to 22 counts of financial fraud and money laundering in federal court.

Fox News' Chelsea Torres and Rebecca Rosenberg contributed to this report.