COLUMBIA, S.C. (Court TV) — Days after the South Carolina Supreme Court awarded Alex Murdaugh a new trial, citing bad behavior by a former clerk of court, the defendant has filed a lawsuit against the clerk.
Alex Murdaugh, left, confers with Phil Barber during a judicial hearing at the Richland County Judicial Center in Columbia, S.C., Monday, Jan. 29, 2024. (Tracy Glantz/The State via AP, Pool)
Alex Murdaugh, 57, successfully appealed his conviction and life sentence for the murders of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and younger son, Paul Murdaugh, after jurors in the trial said that then-Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca “Becky” Hill had made inappropriate comments to them during the trial.
“With the South Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling, it has been adjudged as a matter of state law that [Hill] deprived Alex of his constitutional rights,” Jim Griffin, one of Alex Murdaugh’s attorneys, said Monday at a news conference announcing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit cites several occasions when Hill was allegedly heard making inappropriate comments and highlights questionable behind-the-scenes interactions. Juror 826, who was named the foreperson after the juror known as the “Egg Lady” was dismissed, was seen multiple times going “to another room to have private conversations lasting five or ten minutes” with Hill. “Sometimes, they would go into the jury room’s single-occupancy bathroom together.” The lawsuit states the juror has never revealed the content of those conversations. The lawsuit also alleges that when the jury visited Moselle, the site of the murders, Juror 826 and Hill “walked off to have yet another private conversation.” The lawsuit further quotes Hill’s book as saying, “While the jurors viewed the Moselle property, we all could hear and see Alex’s story was impossible. Some of us either from the courthouse, law enforcement, or jury at Moselle had an epiphany and shared our thoughts with our eyes. At that moment, many of us standing there knew. I knew and they knew that Alex was guilty.”
Becky Hill, the Colleton County Clerk of Court, testified at an evidentiary hearing on Jan. 29, 2024. (Court TV)
Arguing that Hill deprived the defendant of his rights under the Sixth and 14th Amendments, the lawsuit asks for compensatory and punitive damages. But that money won’t go to Alex Murdaugh, Griffin said. “None of this money that is recovered will go to him personally. And the purpose of this lawsuit is to hold Becky Hill accountable.”
While Dick Harpootlian, who also represents Alex Murdaugh, said he’d “hoped” the lawsuit would be the only topic of Monday’s news conference, he felt the need to address a report that South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson is considering the death penalty in the case. “Clearly, he’s not talking to the lawyers in his office; he’s probably talking to his political consultants who thought that it was a good soundbite for his governor’s campaign,” Harpootlian said, pointing out the law may not allow for the death penalty. “What does he know today that he didn’t know five years ago? Why is he saying he’s going to seek the death penalty? Is there some new piece of evidence? We’re a little sick and tired, and we’ve seen this process since the beginning of this case, where Alan Wilson plays politics as opposed to playing prosecutor.”
Alex Murdaugh’s attorneys shot down any possibility of a plea agreement to avoid the retrial. “No plea deal, nor will he ever plead guilty,” Harpootlian said. “Off the table. We want a trial. Or they can dismiss it.”
“He’ll never enter to a plea which requires some admission he did something he didn’t do,” Griffin said. “That’s not good enough.”
The next step in the retrial is for the case to be formally remanded from the Supreme Court back down to the trial court, where a judge will be appointed within the next couple of weeks.
