Latest news with #ColletonCounty
Fox News
5 days ago
- Fox News
Murdaugh lead attorney says jury fix and hidden texts could blow up conviction, force new trial
The defense attorney for convicted killer Alex Murdaugh said newly uncovered evidence of jury tampering may be enough to overturn the disgraced South Carolina lawyer's murder conviction. Dick Harpootlian, a Columbia attorney and former state senator who led Murdaugh's defense, told Fox News Digital that Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill's actions during the 2023 double murder trial tainted the jury and should result in a new trial. "If she had left the jury alone, clearly the worst we would have done was a mistrial," Harpootlian said. "There were two jurors—two—who would not have voted guilty had it not been for Becky Hill's influence." Murdaugh was found guilty of the murders of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and son, Paul Murdaugh, who were shot to death on June 7, 2021 at the family's hunting estate in Colleton County, South Carolina. He was convicted on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in March 2023. Harpootlian said one juror, dubbed the "egg lady," was vocal in the jury room about her doubts and was dismissed just days before the verdict based on information provided by Hill. A second juror allegedly told the defense she was pressured into voting guilty by Hill and other jurors. The defense alleges that Hill attempted to sway the jury to sell more copies of a book she was writing about the high-profile trial. "She told several of her coworkers that a guilty verdict would be good for book sales," Harpootlian said. "She was working them to influence them to convict." Hill has been charged with misconduct in office, obstruction of justice, and perjury for allegedly influencing the Murdaugh jury, leaking sealed evidence and lying under oath during a 2024 hearing. During a 2024 evidentiary hearing, a retired South Carolina Supreme Court chief justice ruled that Hill was not credible and found she had attempted to influence the jury's deliberations. Murdaugh is currently appealing his conviction before the South Carolina Supreme Court. The state's brief is due Aug. 8, and Harpootlian said a ruling could come by the end of the year or early 2026. "We have an appeal based on judicial errors and jury tampering," Harpootlian said. Many believe we have a substantial chance of getting a new trial. If the appeal fails, the defense plans to pursue a federal habeas petition. "If we don't get a new trial, then there's something called habeas or post-conviction relief. And if you find that police or prosecutors have hidden evidence that would have been made a difference, you can appeal on that basis," Harpootlian said. In addition to the jury-tampering allegations, Harpootlian also pointed to newly uncovered text messages between Murdaugh and Curtis "Eddie" Smith, Murdaugh's alleged drug dealer, that may have changed the trajectory of the defense's strategy if they had been disclosed. The messages, revealed by FITSNews, show Smith and Murdaugh communicating in the days leading up to the June 7, 2021 murders of Murdaugh's wife and son. Harpootlian said his team was unaware of the texts during the trial and might have called Smith as a witness had they known. "Those texts—some from the very week of the murder—give us more of the timeline around those drug distributions," he said. "It might have made the difference in us calling him to the stand or not calling him to the stand." The text messages show that Smith and Murdaugh conversed in the days leading up to Murdaugh's murder of his wife and son on their family's hunting estate in Colleton County, South Carolina. "Hey Brother i need to come get the chech (sic) you got one with you or are you going to be around later," Smith texted to Murdaugh on June 3, four days before the slayings. Murdaugh replied that he would be back that afternoon and that he "had to deal with some bulls--- this morning." "Ok Brother just give me a holler," Smith texted, later adding, "Leaving the house now." The day before the murders, Murdaugh texted Smith, "Call me back." Within a span of two minutes the morning after the murder, Smith texted Murdaugh, "Tell me what I heard is not true," and, "Call me please." Those texts went unreturned, and around 6:30 p.m., and Smith cryptically texted Murdaugh, "At fishing hole." After that message was also met with silence, he texted, "803 *** **13 it will not go through on my phone." Harpootlian also questioned why Smith had not been prosecuted, calling it "perplexing" and "unjust." "Eddie Smith, according to the attorney general, is probably the largest distributor of OxyContin in the state's history—and he has not been prosecuted," he said. "Everybody else who was indicted pleaded guilty—except Eddie Smith." The defense attorney also criticized South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who he claims referred to Hill as "Becky Boo" during the trial. Harpootlian said Wilson's relationship with Hill is a conflict of interest and urged him to recuse himself from any future investigation into her conduct. Fox News Digital has reached out to Wilson's office for comment. "There should be a grand jury investigation into Becky Hill's conduct," he said. "But the AG hasn't opened one. Maybe he's waiting to see what the Supreme Court does." If the court grants a new trial, Harpootlian said it will be "a very different case." Since Murdaugh has already pleaded guilty to financial crimes, the prosecution will no longer be able to present weeks of financial evidence. "All that will be left is the forensic evidence and the facts," he said. "And the forensic evidence, I believe, overwhelmingly proves that Alec Murdaugh did not kill Paul and Maggie."
Fox News
15-07-2025
- Fox News
New text messages fuel Alex Murdaugh's push for new trial
Newly uncovered text messages between disgraced former attorney Alex Murdaugh and his alleged drug dealer could have dramatically altered the defense's trial strategy and possibly prevented a conviction, according to lead defense attorney Dick Harpootlian. Harpootlian, a veteran South Carolina defense attorney and former state senator, told Fox News Digital that the texts between Murdaugh and Curtis "Eddie" Smith, revealed recently by FITSNews, were not provided to the defense during the trial. Their absence, he said, may have contributed to a key decision not to call Smith to the stand. "One of the big decisions in any trial like this is who you call as witnesses," Harpootlian explained. "We were not aware of these texts. Had we been, it may have made a difference in our decision. These messages offer new insight into the timeline of drug distributions, some of them happening the very week of the murders." Smith, alleged to have been Murdaugh's primary drug supplier, has not been prosecuted, despite what Harpootlian described as evidence suggesting he may have been one of the largest OxyContin distributors in the Palmetto state. "Everybody else who was indicted pleaded guilty — except Eddie Smith," he said. The text messages show that Smith and Murdaugh conversed in the days leading up to Murdaugh's murder of his wife Maggie and his youngest son, Paul, on June 7, 2021, on their family's hunting estate in Colleton County, South Carolina. "Hey Brother i need to come get the chech (sic) you got one with you or are you going to be around later," Smith texted Murdaugh on June 3, four days before the slayings. Murdaugh replied that he would be back that afternoon and that he "had to deal with some bulls**t this morning." "Ok Brother just give me a holler," Smith texted, later adding, "Leaving the house now." The day before the murders, Murdaugh texted Smith, "Call me back." Within a span of two minutes the morning after the murder, Smith texted Murdaugh, "Tell me what I heard is not true," and, "Call me please." Those texts went unreturned, and around 6:30 p.m., and Smith cryptically texted Murdaugh, "At fishing hole." After that message also went unreturned, he texted, "803 *** **13 it will not go through on my phone." "Those texts, the ones we don't have, indicate a little more of the timeline of those distributions, and some of them are the week of the murder," Harpootlian said. "And we were not aware of those. Had we been aware of these, it may have made a difference in our decision not to call Eddie Smith to the stand." He also expressed concern that Smith had not been prosecuted for his alleged role in selling drugs to Murdaugh. "And he has not been prosecuted. [He's] wandering the streets, I heard maybe out of the state, and we're perplexed why Eddie Smith has been given this preferential treatment when once Alex was convicted, there was no reason not to go ahead and prosecute him," said Harpootlian. "Everybody else has pleaded guilty. Everybody else that was indicted has pleaded guilty except Eddie Smith. Now these texts would have given us additional information we believe, and I've talked to [co-counsel] Jim Griffin. It might have made the difference in us calling him to the stand or not calling him to the stand. So yes, they're important." Murdaugh is already appealing his conviction, based in large part on accusations of jury tampering by Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill. She was arrested and charged with obstructing justice and misconduct in that incident. She was also charged with perjury in Richland County in relation to the case, after allegedly lying to State Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal during 2024 appellate proceedings. "We have an appeal based on errors made by the judge during the trial, and of course, the attempt by — or maybe she did — the efforts by the Clerk of Court, Becky Smith, to fix the jury. And that's a huge issue," said Harpootlian. "Many of the people we've had look at the appeal believe we have a substantial chance of getting a new trial, just based on the jury tampering." He said if they do not win a new trial, there is a possibility that they will file a habeas petition seeking to have the conviction vacated on the same grounds. "The state's brief on the underlying appeal is due Aug. 8," he said. "We have up to 30 days to reply. Then the Supreme Court decides whether to have argument, whether to grant it, whether deny it, and that could take months," he said, adding that if the appeal is granted Murdaugh will get a new trial. Harpootlian says he expects the state's high court to have a ruling on the appeal by early next year at the latest. "And again, there are all kinds of debates about the evidence and how it was allowed in by the trial judge and whether it should have been excluded or allowed in. And those certainly are important. And we think there's several of them, individually, would give us a new trail," he said. "But more important is a judge, former Chief Justice of Supreme Court, had an evidentiary hearing on Becky Hill's conduct in which she found: A) Becky Hill was not credible, and B) that Becky Hill did attempt to influence jurors to convict Alex Murdoch. She told several of her coworkers that she was writing a book, and it would be better for book sales if Alex was convicted. So we think that, and there is no clear state precedent on whether that's enough, but there's a clear federal precedent that we should get a new trial. So again, I think we should hear something before the end of the year or early next year." A retrial would likely look very different, Harpootlian said. With Murdaugh having already pleaded guilty to financial crimes, that aspect would be excluded, narrowing the scope to forensic and factual evidence. The lead attorney believes Murdaugh has a strong defense. "We had a six-week trial last time because of the financial misconduct. That won't happen again," Harpootlian said. "And when you look solely at the forensic evidence, I believe it overwhelmingly proves Alex did not kill Paul and Maggie." The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which led the investigation, and Prosecutor Creighton Waters did not return comment requests.
Al Arabiya
19-06-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Under a hot summer sun, South Carolina's governor says energy law will keep air conditioners humming
Under the hot South Carolina summer sun, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster held a ceremonial bill signing for a law he and other supporters said will ensure the rapidly growing state has the energy to run air conditioners and anything else well into the future. McMaster signed the bill into law more than a month ago. But Wednesday's ceremony was a chance to bring utility executives and other workers together with lawmakers to celebrate the promise from supporters that the law will clear the way to meet the power needs of the 1.5 million people the state has added this century – and its fast industrial growth. 'It is hot and promising to get hotter, so we'll be very quick here. This is, of course, to celebrate a great step for South Carolina,' McMaster said at the ceremony, which lasted less than fifteen minutes before most everyone went back into the air-conditioned mansion. The law has immediate impacts. It clears the way for private Dominion Energy and state-owned Santee Cooper to work together on a 2,000-megawatt natural gas plant on the site of a former coal-fired power plant in Colleton County, as long as regulators give their OK. Utilities now can appeal decisions from those regulators at the Public Service Commission directly to the South Carolina Supreme Court, meaning projects or rate cases won't be in limbo for years as they wind through the courts. Power companies can now ask for smaller rate increases every year instead of hitting customers with what was sometimes a double-digit percent increase to cover inflation and rising costs after four or five years. Also in this session, lawmakers cleared the way for cloud computer companies, utilities, or others to offer to take over the long-abandoned project to build two new nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer site near Jenkinsville. Ratepayers paid billions of dollars on the project, which was abandoned in 2017 well before it generated a watt of power. The feasibility of restarting construction or whether a private entity or a utility could get the licenses and permissions that have lapsed has not been determined. The bill didn't get unanimous support. Some Democrats worried consumer protections and energy efficiency efforts were removed. Some Republicans and Democrats worried the state didn't set limits on data centers and that would allow the computer farms to suck up massive amounts of the new energy and raise costs to homeowners and others while providing few local benefits. But Wednesday was a day to celebrate for someone like Dominion Energy South Carolina President Keller Kissam, sweating in his suit and tie instead of the short-sleeved polo he would prefer to wear. 'With the heat we experience in South Carolina, and you've got to be able to produce twenty-four/seven,' Kissam said. 'Our customers expect when they flip a switch or bump the thermostat there's going to be enough electricity.'
Washington Post
18-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Under a hot summer sun, South Carolina's governor says energy law will keep air conditioners humming
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Under the hot South Carolina summer sun, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster held a ceremonial bill signing for a law he and other supporters said will make sure the rapidly growing state has the energy to run air conditioners and anything else well into the future. McMaster signed the bill into law more than a month ago. But Wednesday's ceremony was a chance to bring utility executives and other workers together with lawmakers to celebrate the promise from supporters that the law will clear the way to meet the power needs of the 1.5 million people the state has added this century — and its fast industrial growth. 'It is hot and promising to get hotter, so we'll be very quick here. This is of course to celebrate a great step for South Carolina,' McMaster said at the ceremony, which lasted less than 15 minutes before most everyone went back into the air-conditioned mansion. The law has immediate impacts. It clears the way for private Dominion Energy and state-owned Santee Cooper to work together on a 2,000-megawatt natural gas plant on the site of a former coal-fired power plant in Colleton County as long as regulators give their OK. Utilities now can appeal decisions from those regulators at the Public Service Commission directly to the South Carolina Supreme Court, meaning projects or rate cases won't be in limbo for years as they wind through the courts. Power companies can now ask for smaller rate increases every year instead of hitting customers with what was sometimes a double-digit increase to cover inflation and rising costs after four or five years. Also in this session, lawmakers cleared the way for cloud computer companies, utilities or others to offer to take over the long-abandoned project to build two new nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer site near Jenkinsville. Ratepayers paid billions of dollars on the project, which was abandoned in 2017, well before it generated a watt of power. The feasibility of restarting construction or whether a private entity or a utility could get the licenses and permissions that have lapsed has not been determined. The bill didn't get unanimous support. Some Democrats worried consumer protections and energy efficiency efforts were removed. Some Republicans and Democrats worried the state didn't set limits on data centers and that would allow the computer farms to suck up massive amounts of the new energy and raise costs to homeowners and others while providing few local benefits. But Wednesday was a day to celebrate for someone like Dominion Energy South Carolina President Keller Kissam sweating in his suit and tie instead of the short-sleeved polo he would prefer to wear. 'With the heat we experience in South Carolina and you've got to be able to produce 24/7,' Kissam said. 'Our customers expect when they flip a switch or bump the thermostat there's going to be enough electricity.'
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Under a hot summer sun, South Carolina's governor says energy law will keep air conditioners humming
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Under the hot South Carolina summer sun, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster held a ceremonial bill signing for a law he and other supporters said will make sure the rapidly growing state has the energy to run air conditioners and anything else well into the future. McMaster signed the bill into law more than a month ago. But Wednesday's ceremony was a chance to bring utility executives and other workers together with lawmakers to celebrate the promise from supporters that the law will clear the way to meet the power needs of the 1.5 million people the state has added this century — and its fast industrial growth. 'It is hot and promising to get hotter, so we'll be very quick here. This is of course to celebrate a great step for South Carolina,' McMaster said at the ceremony, which lasted less than 15 minutes before most everyone went back into the air-conditioned mansion. The law has immediate impacts. It clears the way for private Dominion Energy and state-owned Santee Cooper to work together on a 2,000-megawatt natural gas plant on the site of a former coal-fired power plant in Colleton County as long as regulators give their OK. Utilities now can appeal decisions from those regulators at the Public Service Commission directly to the South Carolina Supreme Court, meaning projects or rate cases won't be in limbo for years as they wind through the courts. Power companies can now ask for smaller rate increases every year instead of hitting customers with what was sometimes a double-digit increase to cover inflation and rising costs after four or five years. Also in this session, lawmakers cleared the way for cloud computer companies, utilities or others to offer to take over the long-abandoned project to build two new nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer site near Jenkinsville. Ratepayers paid billions of dollars on the project, which was abandoned in 2017, well before it generated a watt of power. The feasibility of restarting construction or whether a private entity or a utility could get the licenses and permissions that have lapsed has not been determined. The bill didn't get unanimous support. Some Democrats worried consumer protections and energy efficiency efforts were removed. Some Republicans and Democrats worried the state didn't set limits on data centers and that would allow the computer farms to suck up massive amounts of the new energy and raise costs to homeowners and others while providing few local benefits. But Wednesday was a day to celebrate for someone like Dominion Energy South Carolina President Keller Kissam sweating in his suit and tie instead of the short-sleeved polo he would prefer to wear. 'With the heat we experience in South Carolina and you've got to be able to produce 24/7,' Kissam said. 'Our customers expect when they flip a switch or bump the thermostat there's going to be enough electricity.' Jeffrey Collins, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
