All jurors from Murdaugh murder trial must testify in new trial, judge rules
COLUMBIA, SC — A South Carolina judge ruled Tuesday that all 12 jurors from Alex Murdaugh's murder trial will have to testify at his coming jury tampering hearing.
COLUMBIA, SC — A South Carolina judge ruled Tuesday that all 12 jurors from Alex Murdaugh's murder trial will have to testify at his coming jury tampering hearing.
The three-day evidentiary hearing to determine whether Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill tampered with the jury, which is scheduled to begin Jan. 29, could pave the way for Murdaugh — who is serving two consecutive life sentences for the murder of his wife, Maggie, and their son Paul — to get a new trial.
Murdaugh’s defense lawyer, Dick Harpootlian, alleged at the hearing that Hill was motivated to pressure jurors to deliver a guilty verdict to boost sales for a book she was planning to publish about the case.
Former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal — who took over legal actions involving Murdaugh’s appeal last month after the trial’s judge, Clifton Newman, agreed to step down — ruled Tuesday that Hill would be required to testify but warned Harpootlian about the scope of the defense’s questioning.
“This is not the trial of Becky Hill,” Toal said.
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