Judge orders Clerk of Court Becky Hill to testify in Alex Murdaugh’s bid for new trial

Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill will have to testify at an upcoming hearing on jury tampering that could determine whether convicted double murderer Alex Murdaugh will get a new trial.

But dismissed jurors, prosecutors, defense attorneys and Judge Clifton Newman, who oversaw Murdaugh’s trial last winter, will not take the stand.

Those two decisions in Murdaugh’s bid for a new trial were made by Judge Jean Toal Tuesday morning during an initial hearing two weeks before a full hearing at the Richland County courthouse in downtown Columbia. Toal, a former chief justice of the state Supreme Court, was appointed by the current chief justice, Donald Beatty, to oversee this Murdaugh appeal.

The hearing appeared to be a setback for Murdaugh’s defense team in their bid to win him a new trial.

During Tuesday’s roughly two-and-a-half hour proceeding, Toal established that the Jan. 29 hearing will be a tightly focused event, and Murdaugh’s attorneys’ questions for Hill will be narrowly tailored and not delve into the numerous controversies surrounding Hill. Additionally, neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys will examine the jurors who found Murdaugh guilty.

“I will be doing the questioning of the jurors,” Toal said, adding that she will ask them about “whether improper contact was made to them and whether it affected their verdict.”

All the jurors who found Murdaugh guilty should be called to testify, Toal said.

For the defense to succeed in their bid for a new trial, they would need to show that there was not only improper contact but that it affected a juror’s verdict, Toal said.

Murdaugh’s lawyers contend Hill made improper statements to some jurors during the trial, including before they began deliberating. Hill implied that Murdaugh was guilty and pushed them to a speedy guilty verdict, Murdaugh’s lawyers argue. That violated Murdaugh’s Sixth Amendment rights to a fair trial, they contend.

As part of narrowing the focus of what can be introduced at the Jan. 29 hearing, Toal said she does not intend to let any dismissed jurors or alternates testify. “Our focus will be on the jurors that heard this case.”

Murdaugh’s defense attorneys have argued that they need those witnesses to “corroborate” allegations against Hill.

“Corroboration is not something I need at this time,” Toal retorted. “I think I am also perfectly capable of evaluating the credibility of Ms. Hill.”

Citing South Carolina’s practice of open courts, Toal said all proceedings in the upcoming full hearing should be open to the public, but measures will be taken to ensure the privacy of any jurors who testify. “Everything will be done in open court....everything will be on the record.”

Toal also said she expects to complete questioning of the jurors in one day. She has asked attorneys to submit detailed questions that they want asked, which she will use to craft her own questions.

Tuesday’s procedure was intended to establish the ground rules for the hearing planned for the end of the month that will determine whether Murdaugh, a former Hampton County attorney and member of a four-generation legal and social dynasty, will receive a new trial in the murders of his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul.

High Bar

By telling defense attorneys they must not only prove improper contact was made with jurors, but that the contact also resulted in a biased juror, Toal set a high bar for Murdaugh to clear in his bid for a new trial.

Going into Tuesday’s hearing, defense attorneys had hoped for a lower standard — they would only need to prove Hill made improper statements to one or more jurors. As clerk of court overseeing things like the security and feeding of jurors, Hill was in close contact with them.

Murdaugh’s lawyers also wanted to delve into controversial issues surrounding Hill that they say affect her credibility. Those issues concern allegations of misconduct in office, how much and whether she is involved in wiretapping charges brought by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division against her son, Jeff Hill, and her admitted plagiarism in her insider trial memoir book, published last August.

But Toal made it clear those matters won’t be aired in any depth, or possibly not at all, at the upcoming hearing.

“This is a very focused inquiry on this jury and what impact any contact had on this jury,” Toal said. “I can tell you that I am very, very reluctant to turn this hearing about juror contact into a wholesale exploration of every piece of conduct by the clerk.”

At one point, Toal told defense attorney Dick Harpootlian to stop talking about his allegation that Hill believed a guilty verdict in the Murdaugh trial would drive sales of her book about the trial. Harpootlian said an employee in Hill’s office will testify that Hill made statements to that effect to her.

“I hope that’s the last time you repeat that,” Toal told Harpootlian.

“This is not a trial of Ms. Hill,” Toal also said. “Issues about motive and so forth and possible commission of crimes, are not what this inquiry are about. It is about her contact with any juror and what she said. ”

However, Toal said, she has made no final decisions on what she will allow defense attorneys to ask Hill at the upcoming hearing.

In a potential foreshadow of the state’s case, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters confidently asserted that an independent SLED investigation had found “no impact on the jury” by outside actors.

However, one juror had said that she felt pressured by other jurors to vote guilty, Waters said.

One of the most important issues discussed Tuesday was how to maintain juror confidentiality. Toal has been clear that she intends to have an open courtroom, but stated that there would be no photographs of the jury and that CourtTV, which will broadcast the hearing live, would not show their faces.

Toal also indicated that she was open to renumbering the jurors one through 12. Up to now jurors have been identified by their numbers at trial, such as “Juror 785” or “Juror 630.”

Measures concerning juror confidentiality are necessary to prevent anyone who might try to “backtrace” the identify of the jurors, said attorney Eric Bland, who represents four of the jurors.

“The public has very firm opinions” about the Murdaugh case, Bland told Toal.

Becky Hill’s attorney, Will Lewis, was also in the courtroom Tuesday morning. In response to a request from Harpootlian to interview Hill outside of court, he said that he would “evaluate” the issue.

Former S.C. Attorney General Charlie Condon, who was in court Tuesday as an observer for WCIV-TV in Charleston, said after the hearing that the defense will be challenged to show Murdaugh should get a new trial on the jury tampering allegations.

“This sets a very high bar for the defense. Not only does the defense have to show improper contact with jurors but that the contact would have changed their verdict,” Condon said.

Condon said he’s reviewed records in the case and does not believe the evidence supports the defense’s contentions concerning jury tampering. “I don’t see any way they get a new trial.”

Tuesday’s hearing took place in a third-floor courtroom of the Richland County courthouse on Main Street. Most seats were filled, and reporters from more than 20 media outlets were there.

Murdaugh is serving two consecutive life sentences for the 2021 murders of Maggie and Paul at the family estate in rural Colleton County. He has also been sentenced to 27 years in state prison for financial crimes involving thefts of more than $8 million fromclients, friends, family and his law firm. Thus, even if Murdaugh succeeds in overturning his murder convictions, he will be in prison a long time.

Murdaugh’s murder trial last winter lasted six weeks. The jury took less than three hours to find him guilty. Murdaugh says he is innocent of the murders and the real killer or killers haven’t been identified.

This story is developing and will be updated.