According to an article by FITSNews, the South Carolina Supreme Court has made the decision to keep files regarding the last-minute dismissal of a juror from Alex Murdaugh’s double homicide trial sealed. Even more puzzling, they have also sealed a motion from attorney Joe McCulloch, who is seeking to have these very files unsealed.
That’s right—the effort to make these files public has been sealed by the court itself. Crime and Cask reached out to Myra Crosby on this issue and asked her is they’re (the state), trying to hide the truth, “Creighton Waters flat out refused last time. We will see what happens now that the South Carolina Supreme Court has the motion. The State has 10 days to respond,” said Crosby.
Those hoping for any transparency from the state’s judicial system have been left out in the cold. However, the Supreme Court has indicated that it intends to move swiftly on the matter, giving attorneys for both Murdaugh and the state ten days to respond to McCulloch’s motion as Crosby told us. Joe McCulloch, representing former juror Myra Crosby, filed this petition earlier this month after an initial attempt at the circuit court level. While his previous motion wasn’t formally denied, McCulloch elevated the issue to the Supreme Court in response to Murdaugh’s appeal for a new trial.
McCulloch has been vocal, stating that “the public has a right to see what happened behind the scenes” during Murdaugh’s first trial, which took place under immense media scrutiny from January to March 2024 in Walterboro, S.C. He mirrors exactly what Crosby feels about this situation.
Before this, McCulloch and Crosby had requested the limited unsealing of the files for review by legal counsel, with strict prohibitions on their public release. That request was approved by Judge Clifton Newman in November 2023. Now, McCulloch and Crosby are pushing for full public access to these records.
Although McCulloch’s filings with the Supreme Court weren’t publicly available, his earlier circuit court motion noted that Murdaugh’s defense had consented to unsealing the records. The state, however, led by the office of Attorney General Alan Wilson, refused.
So, why won’t the state release the files? What is the State hiding?
The attorney general’s office, which prosecuted Murdaugh for the murders of his wife and son, cited “ongoing matters” in declining to support the release. According to insiders, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters denied McCulloch’s request outright, which included access to all documents related to SLED’s investigation into the allegations against Crosby.
“Why won’t they unseal the records?” one source close to the matter asked. “Because it would show they were not being truthful,” according to FITSNews.
Crosby, famously known as the “egg juror” due to taking a carton of eggs with her when she was dismissed, was removed on the morning the jury reached its verdict. At the time, sources told FITSNews that Crosby had been resolute, saying that Murdaugh was “not guilty” and that no one could change her mind. “She would have hung the jury,” another source claimed.
But Crosby herself, however, has recently stated that she told Clerk of Court, Becky Hill was undecided when grilled by Hill in an unknown office the week of her dismissal, and to Judge Newman when he asked her in chambers. in her new book, Because Enough is Enough, Crosby maintains that she never told anyone about Murdaugh’s guilt or innocence, and that her son didn’t know she was on the Jury.
Her dismissal followed an investigation by SLED—the same agency that investigated the murders themselves, including at least one SLED agent who investigated Murdaugh. FITSNews founder Will Folks has previously raised questions about SLED’s involvement in the case and their objectivity, especially since they are also investigating allegations of jury tampering against former Colleton County clerk of court Becky Hill. Why send a SLED Murdaugh investigator to see if a Juror spoke about the trial? Also, who authorized and directed the SLED agents to go to Crosby’s tenants?
Interestingly enough, SLED is also in charge of investigating those allegations as well.
Here at Crime and Cask, we first broke the news about this juror’s dismissal on TikTok in June and were the first to report on the sealed documents not being released by the Attorney General’s office on July 11th. We will stay up to date on this story as it continues to enchant South Carolina and the world.