Murdaugh quest for a new murder trial just got harder, veteran SC attorney says. Here’s why

A veteran South Carolina defense attorney said Alex Murdaugh’s quest for a new trial got harder Tuesday when the judge said she will only hear evidence on what jurors heard the clerk of court say and whether it affected their guilty vote.

Jack Swerling, who watched the hearing in court, said, though, the true test will come later this month when Judge Jean Toal questions the jurors.

Swerling said he believed it’s unlikely Murdaugh will get a new trial unless one of the jurors testifies that Hill’s comments made them change their vote.

“It’s not as clear this afternoon as it was this morning,” he said Tuesday evening.

Some lawyers in the courtroom Tuesday felt the defense had a slam dunk case until Toal ruled, he said.

Swerling is a longtime defense attorney based in Columbia who has handled more than 200 murder cases and is a former law partner of Dick Harpootlian, one of Murdaugh’s attorneys.

Harpootlian and co-counsel Jim Griffin sought to have alternates and a dismissed juror testify about what they say Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill said.

Affidavits submitted to the court have alleged Hill told some jurors a guilty verdict would drive up her book sales and warned them to watch Murdaugh on the stand to judge his credibility.

Toal said that is extraneous information. What matters is whether a juror was influenced by what Hill allegedly said. Hill has denied making those statements.

She said Hill is not on trial. The hearing on Jan. 29 should remain focused on whether Murdaugh got a fair trial.

Hill will also be questioned by Toal.

Swerling said he’s known Toal since he was a first-year law student at the University of South Carolina in the 1970s.

Toal practiced law for 20 years before being elected to the South Carolina Supreme Court in 1988, the first woman to serve on the court.

She was also the first female chief justice, serving a 10-year term from 2004-2013 and portions of two other terms beginning in 2000 and 2014. She retired in 2015 from full-time judicial service.

Swerling said he has appeared before her while she was a full-time judge and has tried cases with her.

Swerling said she is highly effective as an interrogator and will dig for the truth.

“She is going to pepper you with questions,” Swerling said.

She does her homework and will keep control of the proceedings.

He said he believes her decision to limit the scope of the hearing took both the defense and the prosecution by surprise.

“Her decision took some of the wind out of the defense’s sails,” he said.

Murdaugh was convicted last March of murder in the deaths of his wife Maggie and son Paul at their Islandton estate in June 2021. He was sentenced to two life terms. In addition, he pleaded guilty in federal and state courts to stealing millions from clients and his law firm.

A scion of a legal dynasty in the Lowcountry, Murdaugh lost his law license as his crimes unraveled after his wife and son were killed — Maggie with an assault rifle and Paul with a shotgun blast at close range.

This story was originally published January 17, 2024 at 5:30 AM.