Murdaugh lawyers look toward appeal after new trial denied

COLUMBIA, S.C. – (WIS) Though disgraced and disbarred Lowcountry attorney Alex Murdaugh’s bid for a new trial came up short, his attorneys say they plan to continue their appeal to the higher courts, and feel confident about their chances.

“This was not going to be the final say so on the law,” Murdaugh defense attorney Jim Griffin said. “That’s going to be determined by the appellate courts, and that’s the next step.”

Murdaugh has alleged that comments made by Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill to jurors during a six-week trial last year led to his convictions for the murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.

FACT CHECK | Clerk of Court Becky Hill’s testimony on Murdaugh trial

A judge denied the defense’s motion Monday but found that Hill was not “completely credible” from the witness stand.

WIS News at Noon is a full hour of news and lifestyle stories Monday through Friday.

Murdaugh’s appeal of the murder convictions was paused during the consideration of the motion for a retrial.

His defense attorneys said they plan to take this case to the South Carolina Court of Appeals, the state Supreme Court and then the federal court if necessary.

Griffin and defense attorney Dick Harpootlian’s optimism about getting the murder convictions overturned is based in part due to some of the comments that retired South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal made in announcing her decision on the motion.

Hill, Toal contended, crossed a line with some of her comments to jurors.

“I find that the clerk of court is not completely credible as a witness,” Toal said from the bench Monday. “Miss Hill was attracted by the siren call of celebrity.”

In a press conference following the ruling, Murdaugh’s defense team asserted that the facts of the grounds for a new trial are on their side.

“The good news is we agree, the court agrees that Becky Hill attempted to influence these jurors, that she made these statements,” Harpootlian said. “With the facts resolved, the only is what is the law? And as Judge Toal said, that is unsettled. It’s going to go through the appellate courts, and we feel strongly that we’ll win.”

Courts have used various standards when weighing allegations of jury tampering in trials.

The standard applied by Toal put the burden of proof on the defendant.

FOX Carolina’s Grace Runkel is fact-checking information from Hill’s controversial answers given under oath.

It required that Hill make improper comments, and that those comments affected the verdict.

South Carolina attorney Mandy Powers Norrell said that the standard could be viewed differently in higher courts, and believes the defense’s best chance is at the federal level.

“I do think they have a good shot at getting it overturned,” she said. “That pains me to say that because I watched this trial, I know how much just blood, sweat and tears went into getting this done. I don’t think the comments changed the verdict, but when she (Toal) found that Becky Hill was not credible, that she (Hill) had made improper comments about the evidence to at least one juror, I think that may be the only box that you have to check under the Remmer standard and under the Cameron standard to get a new trial.”

Remmer and Cameron are two cases the defense had hoped that Toal would use to guide her decision-making on this motion, but she instead followed the precedent set in South Carolina vs. Green.

The appeal process here could take up to four or five years, Griffin said.

Even if Murdaugh is granted a new trial, he would not be a free man.

He is already facing 27 years in prison for a slew of financial crimes.

As for Hill, she is currently under investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division over the jury tampering allegations and whether she used her elected position for personal gain.

Among the arguments Murdaugh’s attorneys have made in their appeal is that Judge Clifton Newman allowed extensive evidence of the defendant’s financial crimes to be itted as evidence during the murder trial, and that his Fifth Amendment rights were violated.

Powers Norrell said she does not believe that they have a good chance at succeeding on this appeal issue.

Toal said on Monday before leaving the bench that after reading the entirety of the six-week trial transcript, she felt the jury rendered a just verdict.