Jury tampering allegations like in Murdaugh case are rare in SC, longtime defense attorney says

A South Carolina defense attorney said he has only seen allegations of jury tampering a handful of times in 50 years of practice and never where court personnel have been accused.

Jack Swerling was responding to questions from The State about the court filing Tuesday in which Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill was accused of talking with jurors about the trial of Alex Murdaugh.

Murdaugh’s attorneys are seeking a new trial based on sworn statements of jurors who said Hill offered opinions about the trial. She is accused of saying not to believe Murdaugh and to watch his body language.

Defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin said jurors contacted them after Hill’s self-published book “Behind the Doors of Justice” was released because the jurors felt it was inaccurate.

The lawyers allege Hill wanted to avoid a hung jury so she could go ahead with her book deal.

Swerling, who is a longtime friend of Harpootlian and practiced law with him for a time, said he has seen and been involved in cases where jurors talked with people outside the court, which in itself is unusual.

“The allegation is pretty serious for it to be an officer of the court,” he said.

He said in one prior case a defendant talked to a juror after court, another talked to a member of the media, still another a person in a restaurant said something negative about the defendant to a juror.

None resulted in a judge ordering a new trial, he said, because the judge did not think the actions tainted the jury.

“It’s an uphill battle,” Swerling said.

Murdaugh’s lawyers said they spent weekends on dirt roads of Colleton County attempting to get jurors to tell them what they heard and observed about Hill’s communication with them. Some flatly refused.

Swerling said officials with the SC Attorney General’s Office and State Law Enforcement Division will likely conduct a similar investigation. The Attorney General’s Office has 10 days to respond to the Murdaugh filing.

Judge Clifton Newman, who presided over the original trial, will be responsible for overseeing a hearing into the jury tampering allegation, if warranted.

All jurors will likely be questioned, Swerling said.

It is never appropriate for court personnel to communicate an opinion with jury members, he said. The clerk’s job is to maintain order, handle evidence and make sure the jurors have everything they need and know where to be and when.

“If she said those things, she knew it was inappropriate,” Swerling said.