As expected, convicted murderer Richard “Alex” Murdaugh filed an appeal to the South Carolina Supreme Court to overturn his March 2023 double murder conviction and consecutive life sentences, and reactions from those closest to the high-profile case vary.
Murdaugh, a disbarred Hampton attorney who confessed to stealing millions from clients and partners but steadfastly denies murdering his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, in June 2021, filed a 132-page appellate brief on Dec. 10 that asks the high state court to overturn his convictions and sentences based on alleged juror tampering and perceived legal procedure errors during the internationally publicized trial.
Alex Murdaugh was found guilty on all four counts at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro on Thursday, March 2, 2023. Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool
Two jurors-turned-authors—one a deliberating juror and one dismissed before the final verdict—have shared their varied reactions to this ongoing appeal with The USA Today Network – South Carolina.
Amie Williams
Amie Williams, Juror 864: ‘We got it right’
Amie Williams was one of 12 jurors who voted unanimously to convict Murdaugh after a six-week trial in Walterboro in the Spring of 2023. She was one of the few jurors to speak to the national media after the verdict, appearing on the Today show, and last month, she released a book about her experiences, “The Long Road to Justice: Unraveling Alex Murdaugh’s Tangled Web,” with co-author Shana Hirsch.
Murdaugh murder trial juror Amie Williams has teamed up with writer and true crime pundit Shana Hirsch to publish The Long Road to Justice: Unraveling Alex Murdaugh’s Tangled Web.
Williams says she stands by her guilty verdict. “We got it right: he’s guilty,” she declared. “We did uphold our oath. For me, it’s a done deal.”
The firmly convinced juror also takes offense at Murdaugh’s allegations and any notion that she and others on the jury did not uphold their civic duty with integrity.
“Alex Murdaugh has a right to file an appeal, but I feel like he is defaming the character of the 12 people who sat on that jury,” she added. “And if the conviction is overturned, does that mean our service was for naught?”
Williams also discredits any notion that former Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill was able to tamper with the jury verdict. Allegations suggest that Hill, who resigned after also facing ethics violation allegations, had improper contact and made improper comments to jury members in hopes that a guilty verdict would help boost the sales of her book, “Behind the Doors of Justice,” which has since been “unpublished” after plagiarism allegations.
Becky Hill yells down to the attorney general Alan Wilson as he thanks her during a press conference after Alex Murdaugh was found guilty on all four counts at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro on Thursday, March 2, 2023. Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool
“Jury tampering makes no sense to me,” Williams said. “She (Hill) would have had to get all 18 people (jurors plus alternates) on board. She would have needed magic powers. I don’t think he deserves a new trial, and I think Justice Jean Toal got it right when she made it clear there was no jury tampering.
“Becky Hill never said anything inappropriate to me,” she added, “and she could not have influenced my decision anyway. I never felt that she was doing or saying anything inappropriate. If I did, I would have talked to the judge.”
In January of 2024, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Toal, explicitly appointed to conduct a hearing on Murdaugh’s jury allegations, denied him a new trial, an order which prompted the appeal to the Supreme Court.
From left (background) attorney Joe McCulloch, and former Murdaugh jurors Myra Crosby and Mandy Pearce speak out during a Fox Nation interview.
Myra Crosby, Juror 785: Alex Murdaugh deserves a fair trial
Myra Crosby sat on the Murdaugh murder trial jury for almost the entire six-week trial but was dismissed by presiding Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman just before deliberations over allegations that she violated court rules about discussing the case outside the jury chambers.
In interviews, Crosby has stated that she was improperly dismissed and falsely accused because she was a possible “not guilty” vote, and questioned the fairness of Murdaugh’s verdict. She recently co-authored a book on her experiences and viewpoints, “Because Enough is Enough.“
Juror 785, famously known as the “Egg Lady,” is set to release her highly anticipated book, Because Enough is Enough, exclusively on Amazon on Tuesday Aug. 27.
In a written statement submitted to USA Today – South Carolina through her co-author, James Seidel, Crosby said that her sole intentions in coming forward and speaking out were to ensure that Murdaugh received a fair trial.
Crosby said that, in her opinion as a juror, she was “tampered with by a court official” and denied the right to testify at the January evidentiary hearing with Justice Toal because she was not a deliberating juror.
“I feel that the evidentiary hearing was not seeking to uncover the truth but to maintain a guilty verdict at all costs,” Crosby said in her statement. “The clerk committed perjury, witnesses testified to her tampering and Justice Toal found her not credible, yet Murdaugh was denied a new trial, and she (Hill) hasn’t been prosecuted. I sincerely hope that the State Supreme Court looks at this case as it sets a precedence for every citizen of this state and country. I don’t care about the innocent or guilty verdict, what I care about is that every one receives a fair trial. I hope they will give Alex Murdaugh that same constitutional right.”
Crosby added that she has spoken out to the media and published her book because “the facts are plain to see: I was severely tampered with and removed as a sitting juror on a double murder trial. People conspired to make me look bad for their own reasons, claiming I talked when I didn’t. My story deserves to be heard.”
The S.C. Law Enforcement Division (SLED) says it is continuing to investigate the jury tampering allegations and others against Hill, and a planned December 2024 hearing on her alleged ethics violations while in office has been postponed pending the conclusion of SLED’s investigations.
Robert Kittle, spokesperson for the S.C. Attorney General’s Office, says that the SCAG has 30 days from the filing of Murdaugh’s Dec. 10 appeal to file its response in opposition or file a request for an extension. After that, it is unclear when the state Supreme Court will consider Murdaugh’s case.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Juror reacts to Murdaugh’s appeal to Supreme Court, ‘we got it right’