Alex Murdaugh officially files motion for new trial
By Dianne Gallagher, CNN
(CNN) — Alex Murdaugh on Friday officially filed a motion in Colleton County, South Carolina, for a new trial in the murders of his wife and son.
His attorneys filed the motion asking that a trial judge hold an evidentiary hearing on their allegations of jury tampering by the Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca “Becky” Hill.
“When those facts are proven, the Court must grant a new trial,” the motion reads.
The motion, which details allegations against Hill that were first made last month by Murdaugh’s team, bears a receipt stamp from Hill herself, in her capacity as the Colleton County Clerk of Court.
The motion contains allegations that Hill “tampered with the jury by advising them not to believe Murdaugh’s testimony and other evidence presented by the defense, pressuring them to reach a quick guilty verdict, and even misrepresenting critical and material information to the trial judge in her campaign to remove a juror she believed to be favorable to the defense.”
A request from CNN to Hill’s attorney for comment was not immediately answered.
CNN has also reached out to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office on Friday afternoon.
Murdaugh’s attorneys declined to comment on the new trial motion.
Earlier this month, the South Carolina Court of Appeals granted Alex Murdaugh’s motion to suspend his conviction appeal and sent the case back to the circuit court to consider allegations of jury tampering.
Murdaugh, a now notorious South Carolina fraudster and disbarred attorney, is currently serving two consecutive life sentences after being convicted in March of murdering his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, at the family’s hunting estate in June 2021.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
