Alex Murdaugh’s defense attorneys seek new trial, citing jury tampering by clerk of court

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Attorneys for convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh say they have filed a petition with the South Carolina Court of Appeals and will seek a re-trial.

At Tuesday’s press conference, Murdaugh’s lawyers Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin say the recent filing describes what they believe to be jury tampering by Rebecca Hill, the Clerk of Court for Colleton County.

Harpootlian and Griffin say the catalyst for their filing was misinformation in the release of Hill’s book called “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders.

“The allegations in the petition filed today speak for themselves but we believe they explain a number of peculiarities in the six week trial,” says Harpootlian.

“When jurors receive private communications outside the confines of a public courtroom, the Sixth Amendment is violated and numerous other constitutional rights are violated,” says Griffin.

Tuesday’s filing made by Murdaugh’s attorneys says after speaking directly with jurors in the trial, jurors told them that Hill instructed some of those jurors to not to be misled by evidence presented in Murdaugh’s defense.

“We never considered the likelihood as reported to us by the jurors that the Clerk of Court would go into the sanctity of the jury room before he (Murdaugh) testified and tell the jurors, ‘Don’t be fooled by his testimony, watch out for his body language,’ and that is what the sworn testimony that we filed in court today says,” Jordan says.

The motion also says Hill told jurors to not be fooled by Murdaugh’s testimony in Murdaugh’s own defense testimony.

They say she also invented a story about a Facebook post to remove a juror she believed may not vote guilty.

“What we have filed today is supported by sworn testimony of jurors is that the clerk of court had improper private communications with jurors. And the subject matter — the subject matter of those communications was the credibility of the defense that the Murdaugh’s legal defense team put up and it was the believability of the defense team’s own testimony,” says Griffin.

Harpootlian says the attorney general’s office has ten days to issue an official response on their petition. On Tuesday afternoon, Attorney General Alan Wilson released the following statement saying “We are currently reviewing the defense’s latest motion and will respond through the legal process at the appropriate time.”

ABC Columbia News has reached out to Hill for comment but she has not yet responded.