COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson is asking state police to investigate claims that there was jury tampering in the high-profile murder trial of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh.
Thursday afternoon, Wilson issued a joint statement along with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division announcing that he'd asked the law enforcement agency to investigate claims involving Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill, who worked at the courthouse where Murdaugh's trial occurred earlier this year.
"The State's only vested interest is seeking the truth," the statement read in part.
Earlier this week, Murdaugh's attorneys, Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian, alleged that Hill had private conversations with jurors about the case, asked jurors about their opinions about whether Murdaugh was guilty, instructed jurors not to believe the evidence, lied to the judge to remove a juror who Hill believed was going to vote guilty and pressured the jury to make a decision quickly. They claim several jurors have signed affidavits to back up their claims.
Griffin and Harpootlian put their allegations in an appeal of Murdaugh's guilty verdict and submitted that to the South Carolina Court of Appeals. A S.C. Court of Appeals representative says the State Attorney General's Office has 10 days to respond to the motion. Then, Murdaugh's team has five days to reply.
The lawyers also called for the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI to investigate the case, feeling that SLED was compromised because they investigated the Murdaugh killings. During Murdaugh's trial, the lawyers tried to claim that SLED agents made multiple errors during the trial.
Alex Murdaugh was convicted in March of the June 2021 murders of his wife Maggie and youngest son Paul following a six-week-long trial that drew international attention. He is serving two consecutive life sentences for those crimes and is expected to plead guilty to a host of financial crimes in federal court on Sept. 21.
Last week, it was announced by the South Carolina Department of Corrections that they took away his phone and computer tablet privileges because he made a telephone interview that was released to a media outlet. Corrections policy does not allow inmates to do media interviews.