Alex Murdaugh’s bid for freedom: Killer files motion for new trial for murder of wife and son over ‘jury tampering’ claims against clerk writing memoir

Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has filed a motion for a new trial in the murders of his wife and son, alleging jury tampering.

His attorneys filed court papers in Colleton County, South Carolina, on Friday requesting that a judge hold a hearing on the charges against Colleton County Court Clerk Rebecca Hill.

Murdaugh’s legal team has accused Hill of improperly advising jurors to ignore his testimony and pressured them to reach a quick verdict.

“If these facts are proven, the court must grant a new trial,” the motion reads.

Murdaugh, 65, was convicted in March of murdering his wife and one of their sons at the family’s hunting lodge in June 2021, and sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole.

The motion details the allegations made about Hill last month and includes a receipt stamp from her in her role as Colleton County clerk.

It is alleged that Hill tampered with the jury by advising them not to believe Murdaugh’s testimony and other defense evidence, pressuring them to reach a quick guilty verdict, and even misrepresenting critical and material information to the judge in her campaign to remove a suspect. juror that she believed was favorable to the defense’.

Murdaugh won a victory in the South Carolina Supreme Court on October 17 after it granted a motion to stay his appeal against conviction as he seeks a new trial on jury tampering claims.

The Palmetto State Supreme Court has granted Murdaugh’s request to stay his appeal until the court answers his charge to the clerk of his murder case. jurors were pressured to find him guilty.

“The recent ruling to stay the appeal and remand the case to a hearing on Alex Murdaugh’s motion for a new trial is welcome news,” Murdaugh’s lawyers, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, said in a statement to DailyMail. com.

“We intend to move quickly and will seek a full hearing to address the serious allegations regarding inappropriate jury communications by the clerk,” she added.

In court papers, Murdaugh’s defense team has sought to have his conviction vacated, alleging that Colleton County Court Clerk Becky Hill improperly advised jurors to ignore Murdaugh’s testimony and pressured them to quickly to reach a judgement.

Griffin and Harpootlian claim that Hill, 55, was motivated by a desire to land a book deal and media appearances — neither of which would have been possible had the proceedings ended in a mistrial over a divided jury .

The filing alleged that Hill would regularly enter the jury room and ask jurors for their opinions on Murdaugh’s guilt or innocence, and accused her of engineering the removal of a juror who was leaning toward a not guilty finding.

DailyMail.com has contacted lawyers for Hill and Murdaugh for comment.

Murdaugh, 65, was convicted in March of killing his wife and one of their sons.

After a six-week trial, the jurors deliberated for only a few hours before reaching the guilty verdicts.

Hill admitted in her recently published memoir that she feared he would be found innocent, writing, “I knew in my heart he was guilty.”

Shortly after the trial, Hill released her book, ‘Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders,and she is a featured contributor to season two of Netflix’s documentary “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal,” which was released last month.

Murdaugh’s lawyer claims in a filing: ‘Mrs. Hill betrayed her oath of office for money and fame.”

Even if his murder conviction is overturned, Murdaugh won’t be able to escape prison scot-free.

He pleaded guilty last month to financial crimes for stealing millions of dollars from personal injury clients, and settled for the family of his longtime maid who died in a mysterious fall in his home.

Murdaugh is awaiting sentencing in the case and faces decades in prison.

In its ruling Tuesday, the five-judge South Carolina Supreme Court granted Murdaugh’s motion to pause his conviction appeal, sending the case back to the trial court so he could file a request for a new trial.

The ruling will pause Murdaugh’s appeal of the conviction until the lower court can hear his request for a new trial.

If he is denied a new trial, Murdaugh could resume his appeal of his original conviction and sentence, which was pursued on grounds other than the jury tampering claims.

However, Murdaugh’s attorneys Hartpoolian and Griffin now hope to secure a new trial that will make the appeal process moot.

Among the most serious claims in their filing last month to overturn the guilty verdict, the attorneys alleged that Hill “concocted a story about a Facebook post to remove a juror she thought would vote not guilty.” ‘

During the trial, Judge Clifton ordered Newman Hill to post a Facebook post that she reported, in which he alleged that a juror’s ex-husband “said things” about how his ex-wife told him what her “verdict would are’.

But the new documents now claim Hill ‘invented’ the post, with the juror claiming this was not possible as she had not seen her ex-husband in more than a decade.

‘Mrs. Hill has never seen a Facebook post like this before. She made it up,” the newly filed motion alleges.

The former husband also denied allegations that he wrote the message, as well as a follow-up apology, in an affidavit.

Judge Newman ultimately dismissed the juror in question, but said, “Oh boy. I’m not too happy about the clerk questioning a juror instead of coming over and bringing it to me.”

Murdaugh’s trial lasted more than a month and gripped the nation as prosecutors presented their evidence that the former prominent lawyer murdered his wife Maggie and son Paul.

Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, were shot on June 7, 2021, near kennels on the Moselle family property, in Islandton, South Carolina.

Their bodies were found where they fell. Paul, who had been shot twice with a 12-gauge shotgun – the fatal shot blowing his brains out – was found in the feeding room.

His mother, who apparently ran toward her son as he was slaughtered, was shot multiple times with a .300 Blackout semi-automatic rifle.