Alex Murdaugh lawyers file appeal alleging ousted South Carolina court clerk swayed jury

Attorneys for lawyer-turned-convict Alex Murdaugh filed to appeal his sentence on Tuesday, saying improper testimony and court clerk Becky Hill’s alleged jury tampering “infected the trial with unfairness.”

Murdaugh, 56, is serving a life sentence for fatally shooting his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, in June 2021 on their family’s hunting estate in Colleton County, South Carolina.

Prosecutors argued that their murders were an attempt to distract from Murdaugh’s mounting financial crimes, which were beginning to come to light around that time. 

This April, the disgraced legal scion was sentenced to an additional 480 months, on top of his two life sentences, for conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, bank fraud, five counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 14 counts of money laundering. 

Prosecutors allege that Murdaugh used his power and family influence in the Lowcountry to take on clients’ cases, win them “significant funds” and then keep a decent portion of the earnings for himself.

But in their 132-page appeal, filed on Tuesday, Murdaugh’s attorneys argue that their client’s financial crimes should not have been included in his earlier murder trial, stating they were irrelevant and could have painted him in a bad light that negatively influenced jurors. 

The appeal also alleges that former Colleton County Clerk Becky Hill, who resigned over allegations of jury tampering in Murdaugh’s case, swayed jurors to find him guilty.

Of 12 jurors who found Murdaugh guilty of murder in March 2023, 11 said Hill did not influence their decisions. One said he heard the clerk make comments about watching Murdaugh’s body language, but said her words did not influence his verdict.  

Judge Jean Toal ruled in January that the allegations against Hill were not enough to grant the defendant a new trial in the murder case.

Murdaugh’s attorneys argued against that ruling in their appeal. 

Hill, who is accused of 76 ethics violations, was expected to face the State’s Ethics Commission on Dec. 19.

But that hearing is on hold in light of a pending criminal investigation by the Attorney General’s Office, the State newspaper reported.

The appeal also alleges that prosecutors introduced multiple guns as evidence that had no evidence linking them to the murders, and that gunshot residue on a raincoat shown as evidence in court were not linked to their client by any evidence.