Lawyers for convicted defendant Alex Murdaugh on Tuesday filed an appeal against the verdict, saying improper testimony and allegations of jury misconduct by court clerk Becky Hill “created an unfair trial.” I filed a complaint.
Mr. Murdaugh, 56, Life sentence for fatal shooting Wife Maggie and youngest son Paul on their family's hunting property in Colleton County, South Carolina in June 2021. Prosecutors argued that their murders were an attempt to distract from Murdaugh's growing financial crimes, which were then beginning to become apparent.
In April of this year, the disgraced legal scion was sentenced to two life sentences for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, five counts of wire fraud, 14 counts of wire fraud conspiracy, and He was sentenced to an additional 480 months in prison. money laundering.
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Disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering his wife Maggie and youngest son Paul on their hunting property in June 2021. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier, via AP, Pool, File)
Prosecutors argued that Murdaugh used his power and family influence in the Lowcountry to take on his clients' cases, amassing “significant sums of money” and keeping a significant portion of the proceeds for himself. are.
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But in a 132-page appeal filed Tuesday, Murdaugh's lawyers argue that their client's financial crimes should not have been included in his previous murder trial, saying they were irrelevant and that the jury He said Murdaugh may have been portrayed in a negative light that negatively affected members of the public.
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Court clerk Becky Hill has been accused of tampering with the jury in the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial. (Fox Nation)
The appeal also alleges that former Colleton County Clerk Becky Hill, who resigned amid allegations of jury misconduct in Murdaugh's case, swayed jurors to convict Murdaugh.
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Of the 12 jurors who convicted Murdaugh of murder in March 2023, 11 said Hill had no influence on the verdict. One person said he heard the clerk make a comment about seeing Murdaugh's body language, but that her words did not influence his verdict.
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Alex Murdaugh sits during a new trial hearing at the Richland County Judicial Center on January 16, 2024 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Tracy Glantz/Associated Press, Pool)
Judge Jean Toal ruled in January that the charges against Hill were not sufficient to grant him a new trial in the murder case. Murdaugh's lawyers challenged the ruling on appeal.
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Hill, who has been charged with 76 ethics violations, was scheduled to appear before the state Ethics Commission on Dec. 19. However, that hearing has been put on hold in light of a pending criminal investigation by the Attorney General's Office. The state newspaper reported.
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The appeal also said prosecutors introduced multiple guns into evidence, but there was no evidence linking them to the murder, and no evidence linked bullet residue on a raincoat shown in court to his client. They claim that they are not connected.
Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
