Current:Home > MyAlex Murdaugh Slams Court Clerk Over "Shocking" Comments in Netflix Murder Documentary-VaTradeCoin
Alex Murdaugh Slams Court Clerk Over "Shocking" Comments in Netflix Murder Documentary
View Date:2025-01-08 16:42:30
Alex Murdaugh's team is speaking out against a court official who appeared in a Netflix series about his murder case.
Six months after Murdaugh received two life-in-prison sentences for murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul, his attorney called out Colleton County clerk of court Rebecca Hill over allegations she made in season two of Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, which dropped on Netflix Sept. 20.
"I had a feeling from our time together with the jury out at Moselle that it was not going to take our jury long to make the decision in this case," Hill said in the series. "It's just called that women's intuition."
Hill—who released the book Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders in July based on her experience in the courtroom—further alleged that she believes Murdaugh, who had been a prominent South Carolina lawyer, received help after killing his wife and son on their Moselle estate in South Carolina in 2021.
"I do think Alex pulled the trigger, and then I think he had help with cleaning up everything that needed cleaning up," Hill, who is an elected official, said onscreen. "And what we had left was the crime scene that took us to the trial."
In response to her Netflix interview, Murdaugh's lawyer Jim Griffin told NewsNation Sept. 25 that he's "flabbergasted that she is expressing her personal opinion that he murdered his wife and son and had help."
Reflecting on her "shocking" comments, Griffin shared, "I am reacting in real time to that. Frankly, that's the first I've heard of that. There's a code of judicial ethics that applies to all court officials that says no judicial officer should give their opinion about someone's guilt or innocence while the case is pending and pending includes while the case is on appeal."
E! News has reached out to Murdaugh's lawyer, Hill and the Colleton County court for comment but hasn't heard back.
Murdaugh's attorney previously accused Hill of jury tampering in court documents filed in the South Carolina Court of Appeals on Sept. 5 and obtained by Today. The documents stated that Hill was "advising them not to believe Murdaugh's testimony" and "pressuring them to reach a quick guilty verdict." Murdaugh's team said they have sworn affidavits from two jurors about Hill's alleged conduct.
At a press conference that day, Griffin alleged that Hill told jurors not to be "fooled" by Murdaugh's testimony and to "watch out for his body language."
Hill has reportedly denied the allegations and maintained her innocence to The Hampton County Guardian, per local outlets WYFF4 and Greenville Online.
Furthermore, her book co-author Neil Gordon said in a statement, "I would ask anyone following these alleged 'jury tampering' allegations to please reserve judgement until all the facts come out and all interviews are conducted by the proper, objective law enforcement authorities," per Greenville Online.
In March 2023, the jury found Murdaugh guilty on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon in the fatal shootings of Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, by the dog kennels on their Moselle, S.C. property on June 7, 2021.
For his part, Murdaugh has maintained his innocence, saying on the stand that he never shot his wife and son at "any time."
(E! and Today are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
For more true crime updates on your need-to-know cases, head to Oxygen.com.veryGood! (596)
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