There is a new twist in the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh that will see a major change in the upcoming proceedings. According to Fox News, South Carolina Circuit Judge Clifton Newman will not look over Murdaugh’s bid for a new trial. This happened because of the accused’s defense team.
Murdaugh’s defense team had been asking for a long time to get Judge Clifton Newman removed from all of their client’s future cases. Newman sentenced the alleged murderer to two life terms in prison for the murder of his wife and son. This sentence came after two jurors returned a guilty verdict.
Murdaugh’s defense lawyers are Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian. They filed a motion for a new trial after allegations against Rebecca Hill, a Colleton County clerk, who allegedly tampered with the jurors. They alleged that after the tampering, the jurors convicted Murdaugh.
How did Rebecca Hill respond to the allegations against her in the Alex Murdaugh Trial?
However, Hill claims that the allegations against her are false. According to Fox News, the South Carolina court clerk wrote an affidavit and responded to Murdaugh’s defense team.
She stated in the affidavit that, “I did not tell the jury ‘not to be fooled’ by evidence presented by Mr. Murdaugh’s attorneys. I did not instruct the jury to ‘watch him closely.” She furthermore added, “I did not instruct the jury to ‘look at his actions.’ I did not instruct the jury to ‘look at his movements.’. Also, I did not say to the jury, ‘This shouldn’t take us long.”
In the filing, Deputy Attorney General Creighton Waters wrote, “Indeed, the machinations alleged do not even begin to make sense. Only Alex Murdaugh could conceive of such a confounded gambit as even remotely plausible.”
He ended his statement by writing, “He is projecting his own calculating, manipulative psyche onto a dedicated public servant in an effort to save himself.”
