South Carolina Supreme Court Keeps Murdaugh Juror Files Under Wraps… For Now

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The South Carolina Supreme Court has decided to keep files related to the decisive, last-minute dismissal of a juror from Alex Murdaugh’s double homicide trial under seal. Not only that, the justices have also temporarily refused to release a motion from the attorney seeking to have them released.

That’s right… a request to unseal the files related to this juror’s controversial dismissal has itself been sealed by the court.

For now, anyway…

Those seeking answers – and expecting transparency from South Carolina’s judicial branch – were disappointed and confused by the court’s decision. However, justices signaled their intention to move quickly in addressing the merits of this high-profile issue, giving attorneys for Murdaugh – and the state – ten days to submit responses to the motion to unseal filed by attorney Joe McCulloch on behalf of his client, former Murdaugh juror Myra Crosby.

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(S.C. Supreme Court)

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As our media outlet previously reported, McCulloch filed the petition asking the court to unseal the files earlier this month. That request came on the heels of a previous motion submitted at the circuit court level. While there is no order on record denying McCulloch’s initial request, he filed a separate motion with the supreme court when it decided to hear Murdaugh’s bid for a new trial.

According to McCulloch, “the public should be entitled to see what happened backstage” at the first Murdaugh trial – which was held under an international spotlight in Walterboro, S.C. from January 23 through March 3, 2024.

Prior to the latest round of requests, McCulloch and Crosby asked for the unsealing of the records on a limited basis for review by counsel – with a strict prohibition against the publication or dissemination of any of the files. That request was approved by S.C. circuit court judge Clifton Newman in November of 2023. Now, McCulloch and his client are requesting the records “be unsealed for all public record purposes.”

While McCulloch’s filings with the supreme court were not provided to us, his motion (.pdf) with the circuit court noted “the defense has consented to this request for unconditional unsealing of the records but the prosecution indicates it cannot consent.”

Why won’t the state agree to release these files? Hmmmm…

The office of S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson – which successfully prosecuted Murdaugh for the murder of his wife and younger son – cited unspecified “ongoing matters” in declining to support the information’s release.

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In response to our story yesterday regarding sealed #MurdaughMurders files tied to Juror No. 785 (the "egg juror"), here is the statement we just received from the office of @AGAlanWilson: pic.twitter.com/EANPWNR8TD

— FITSNews (@fitsnews) July 10, 2024

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Sources close to the situation say Murdaugh prosecutor Creighton Waters “flatly rejected the request” from McCulloch, a request which sought – among other things – all documents related to the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED)’s “investigation” into the allegations against Crosby.

“Why won’t the state unseal?” one source stated. “Because it will prove they lied.”

Crosby was the so-called “egg juror” who was booted from the Murdaugh panel on the morning the verdicts were announced (and who took a dozen eggs with her when she left). At the time, sources told us Crosby “was dug in.”

“She said (Murdaugh) was ‘not guilty’ and there was nothing anyone could do to change her mind,” one source said.

“She would have hung the jury,” another added.

Crosby herself says now that she was undecided and was never “dug in.”

Newman removed Crosby following an investigation conducted by SLED – the same agency which investigated the murders. Our founding editor Will Folks previously questioned the impartiality of such an inquiry – as well as the impartiality of those currently tasked with prosecuting former Colleton County clerk of court Becky Hill, who stands accused of of tampering with the Murdaugh jury.

SLED is investigating those tampering allegations, too, incidentally.

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RELATED | THE EGG JUROR CONSPIRACY

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In her new book, Enough is Enough, Crosby discussed the forces she contends were instrumental in her removal – including what she insists was a conspiracy of attorneys, podcasters and others who allegedly doxxed her and “targeted” her for removal because “someone thought I could be that one juror who would stand up and vote not guilty.”

A host of suspicions have already been raised regarding Crosby’s dismissal – including allegations that Hill “invented a story about a Facebook post to remove a juror she believed might not vote guilty.”

In addition to the Crosby’s first-person account, there is a public record of the investigation which led Newman to dismiss her. Those court files are what Crosby and McCulloch have been repeatedly asking South Carolina’s courts to make public.

During an interview with Law & Crime’s Jesse Weber last month, McCulloch discussed the importance of the files becoming part of the public record.

“There had been several days of proceedings backstage – what we call in camera – just the judge, just the prosecution and defense lawyers, and a few witnesses including Juror 785 and some others who gave information to the court,” McCulloch told Weber.

“Once I’d looked at those records, I believed that the public should be entitled to see what happened backstage, to have that information,” McCulloch added.

According to McCulloch, the sealed court files “will be the subject of public discussion” when they are ultimately released.

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QUESTIONS…

In McCulloch’s initial filing to unseal the documents in a limited capacity he noted “the records were sealed to protect the confidentiality of the jurors… however, the only juror affected by the court’s order and sealed documents is Juror #785 (Crosby).”

With the release of her book, Crosby has decided to make her identity known to the public. If there are other identifying details of individuals who prefer to remain unnamed, the option always exists to redact certain portions of a record. It’s a technique often utilized by courts and law enforcement to balance the public’s right to information with the need to protect the integrity of an ongoing investigation. Those following the Murdaugh case will likely recall the heavily redacted incident reports released in the aftermath of the homicides of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh on June 7, 2021.

If the dismissal of Crosby on the morning of deliberations was appropriate, releasing the records should be an easy decision for the prosecution and court. But as she noted in a recent interview with this author, “the state of South Carolina does not want Alex Murdaugh to have a fair trial, they want to keep their dirty, rigged guilty verdict intact.”

“It is abhorrent to me that the attorney general of the state of South Carolina would do and say anything to keep their rigged verdict, a rigged verdict that in my opinion was handed to them on a silver platter by (Hill), who never should have been speaking to us the jury about the trial in the first place,” Crosby said.

Hill’s tampering was first detailed in a bombshell motion submitted on September 5, 2023 by Murdaugh’s attorneys, Dick Harpootlian, Jim Griffin, Phillip Barber and Maggie Fox. It was subsequently documented during an evidentiary hearing held on January 29, 2024 in Columbia, S.C.

In addition to Crosby, at least three jurors testified hearing the former clerk make comments to them about the merits of the proceedings – including one, Mandy Pearce, who stated definitively that Hill’s comments influenced her decision to find Murdaugh guilty.

Pearce made it abundantly clear in an affidavit (.pdf) that she “felt influenced to find Mr. Murdaugh guilty by reason of Ms. Hill’s remarks, before I entered the jury room.”

Did the jury tampering extend beyond Hill, though? And if so, who else was involved?

It’s not clear if the release of these materials will answer those questions… but we will certainly know more about the basis for Newman’s decision to remove Crosby from the jury.

“I have no idea what these requested records will show,” our founding editor wrote recently in reporting on McCulloch’s motion. “Perhaps the state fairly and dispassionately discharged its obligations to Murdaugh under the law. Perhaps not. But whatever information these records contain, it is public information – and must be released. And the state’s refusal to consent to it being released is troubling.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Jenn Wood is FITSNews’ incomparable research director. She’s also the producer of the FITSFiles and Cheer Incorporated podcasts and leading expert on all things Murdaugh/ South Carolina justice. A former private investigator with a criminal justice degree, evildoers beware, Jenn Wood is far from your average journalist! A deep dive researcher with a passion for truth and a heart for victims, this mom of two is pretty much a superhero in FITSNews country. Did we mention she’s married to a rocket scientist? (Lucky guy!) Got a story idea or a tip for Jenn? Email her at jenn@fitsnews.com.

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