Alex Murdaugh is denied new double-murder trial after judge hears jury tampering allegations

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina judge on Monday denied Alex Murdaugh’s bid for a new trial after his defense team accused a clerk of court of tampering with a jury.

Judge Jean Toal said she wasn’t sure if Colleton County Clerk Becky Hill was telling the truth that she never spoke to jurors about the case, saying she was “attracted by the siren call of celebrity.”

But Toal said the 12 jurors who testified all said any comments did not directly influence their decision to find Murdaugh guilty.

Toal said after reviewing the full transcript of the six-week trial, she couldn’t overturn the verdict based “on the strength of some fleeting and foolish comments by a publicity-seeking clerk of court” because they didn’t actively change the jurors’ minds.

All 12 jurors took the 90-mile (145-kilometer) trip from Colleton County to Columbia to give what was typically about three minutes of testimony, mostly yes-or-no questions from the judge’s script. Murdaugh, now a convicted killer, disbarred attorney and admitted thief serving a life sentence, wore an orange prison jumpsuit as he watched with his lawyers.

Hill also testified, denying she ever spoke about the case or Murdaugh at all with jurors.

“I never talked to any jurors about anything like that,” Hill said.

Toal questioned her truthfulness after Hill said she used “literary license” for some things she wrote about in her book about the trial, including whether she feared as she read the verdict that the jury might end up finding him not guilty.

“I did have a certain way I felt,” Hill said.

Murdaugh’s defense later called Barnwell County Clerk Rhonda McElveen, who helped Hill during the trial. McElveen said that Hill suggested before the trial that they write a book on the case together, “because she wanted a lake house and I wanted to retire,” and that a guilty verdict would sell more books.

Under cross-examination, McElveen said she didn’t reach out to the trial judge because she didn’t think any of Hill’s comments or behaviors rose to the level of misconduct.