Alex Murdaugh’s defense suffered a blow in court on Tuesday after a judge ruled that he cannot call a juror known as ‘Egg Lady’ to testify in hearings for a new trial.
Murdaugh appeared in a Columbia court on Tuesday for a pre-trial hearing, which would determine what evidence and testimonies the court will hear later this month.
Judge Jean Toal ruled that only the 12 jurors who convicted Murdaugh of his wife and son’s murders, and the court clerk Becky Hill can testify, as the disgraced lawyer seeks a new trial.
‘At present, I see no reason to call the alternates,… I think I’m perfectly capable of evaluating what the jurors tell me,’ Toal said, adding that she could change the ruling if Muadaugh’s team provides supporting documents.
Toal, who is the state’s former chief justice, also decided that the case’s original judge, Clifton Newman, and the attorneys who tried it cannot be brought to the stand.
Murdaugh’s lawyers earlier announced their plans to call juror 785, known as ‘Egg Lady,’ who was dismissed during closing arguments before infamously asking to retrieve a dozen eggs she had left in the jury room.
Murdaugh appeared in Columbia court on Tuesday morning for a pre-trial hearing
Judge Jean Toal ruled that only the 12 jurors who convicted Murdaugh of his wife and son’s murders can testify as the disgraced lawyer seeks a new trial
Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill, pictured with Judge Newman, is being accused by Murdaugh’s defense team of influencing the jury as they move for a retrial
The defense has claimed that a new trial is necessary because Colleton County Clerk of Court Hill engaged in improper behavior that affected the first trial’s outcome by influencing the jury.
The disgraced lawyer was found guilty of the brutal murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul and sentenced to life in prison last March. In November, he was also sentenced to 27 years after admitting to dozens of financial crimes.
The defense claims Hill fabricated a Facebook post that showed juror 785 discussing the case with her husband to get het kicked off the trial.
Attorneys Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian have repeatedly accused Hill of tampering with the jury.
‘We have evidence that she fabricated the existence of a Facebook entry by one of the jurors’ former husbands. Never happened. We’ve got an affidavit from him. He never did it,’ Harpootlian told News Nation last year.
The lawyer, who is also a Democratic State Senator, added: ‘This is unprecedented that the, that the clerk of court went on a … campaign to discredit the defense and discredit Alex Murdaugh’s testimony.’
During the trial Judge Newman ordered Hill to produce a Facebook post that she had seen, claiming that a juror’s ex-husband was ‘saying stuff’ about how his former wife told him the ‘verdict was going to be.’
Judge Newman dismissed the juror after speaking to two of her tenants who he claimed ‘waffled’ about discussing the case with the juror.
The defense also claims Hill repeatedly asked the juror about her feelings on the case.
Murdaugh’s lawyers said in a September filing that the elected official asked jurors whether Murdaugh was guilty or innocent, told them not to believe Murdaugh’s testimony and pressured jurors to reach a guilty verdict for her own profit.
Hill is also said to have flown to New York City to be with three jurors during their post-trial television interviews and allegedly shared journalists’ business cards with jurors during the proceedings.
Hill has denied the allegations in a sworn statement, saying she neither asked jurors about Murdaugh’s guilt before deliberations nor suggested to them that he committed the murders.
Adding to the intrigue is the recent revelation that Hill plagiarized part of her book about the case.
The defense will get to put forth evidence at a three-day hearing expected to begin January 29, according to a tentative schedule shared by a media liaison for the judge.
Toal has been assigned as the judge for the appeal motions and must decide whether to run back a murder trial that lasted six weeks, involved over 70 witnesses and included about 800 exhibits.
The state’s highest court appointed Toal to oversee the weighty matter of a new trial after Judge Clifton Newman recused himself.
Newman, who rose to celebrity in true crime circles for his deft guidance of the highly watched case, is set to leave the bench after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 72.
Jurors, the clerk and even the trial judge might have to testify under oath for the requested new trial’s hearings.