Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina lawyer convicted of murdering his wife and son last year in a trial that captivated the nation, will be in a courtroom Monday morning trying to prove a clerk improperly influenced the jury and that because of it, he should be granted a new trial.
Murdaugh, 55, was convicted on March 2 of killing his son, Paul, and his wife, Margaret. The jury took only three hours to find him guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime. The slayings set off a bizarre chain of events that led to dozens of charges accusing him of financial fraud.
If he is granted a new murder trial, he will remain behind bars because he was also sentenced to nearly three decades for stealing $12 million from his law firm and clients in wrongful death and serious injury cases.
Monday’s case hinges on whether a judge finds Rebecca Hill improperly influenced jurors after she allegedly told them not to be “fooled” by Murdaugh’s defense. She is also accused of having private conversations with a juror, as well as claims she told the jury before it began deliberating that “this shouldn’t take us long.”
A state police agency has been tasked with investigating the allegations against Hill, who has not been charged with a crime and has denied most of the complaints against her.
She and some of the jurors from Murdaugh’s murder trial are expected to testify at the Richland County Courthouse.
The jurors will have their anonymity protected and be allowed in through a private entrance. The hearing will be televised, but their faces will not be shown.
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Monday’s hearing is only the start of Murdaugh’s many legal appeals.
His lawyers have raised concerns with the court over the alleged unfairness he faced during his trial, which included the judge allowing jurors to hear testimony of his financial crimes, which they argued allowed prosecutors to paint Murdaugh as a greedy fraudster with evidence not directly linked to the murders of his wife and son.
