COLUMBIA, S.C. — The “Egg Lady” won’t take “no” for an answer.

After the South Carolina Supreme Court’s most recent rejection of her request to release a still-secret transcript from the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh — on Halloween, no less — the Egg Lady’s lawyer has filed a motion asking the high court to reconsider its latest refusal, or at least state a reason for the rejection.

The motion is one more peculiar event in the years-long Alex Murdaugh murder saga, known for its unexpected swerves, and it doesn’t look like the secret transcript — sealed by court order — will be made public any time soon.

Attorney Joe McCulloch, who represents the Egg Lady — whose real name is Myra Crosby and is also known as Juror 785 — likely doesn’t expect the Supreme Court to change its collective mind and release the transcript.

But McCulloch has another path in mind.

He wants the state high court to state a reason for its refusal so he can appeal the matter to federal court, which might include the U.S. Supreme Court.

After all, the only thing the state Supreme Court said in rejecting McCulloch’s request to make the transcript pubic was, “The requests to intervene and unseal the record are denied.”

With no explanation by the court as to why it refuses to make the transcript public, McCulloch says he has nothing to base an appeal on.

“The Court’s order did not provide reasoning for its decision and that failure operates as an impediment to appellate review of that decision,” McCulloch wrote on Nov. 15 in his most recent petition to the state Supreme Court.

McCulloch is not certain he will appeal whatever explanation the Supreme Court might come up with.

“I really need an explanation from the court so I can evaluate it. I may conclude that they are right, but I can’t evaluate their denial until I know the basis for their denial,” said McCulloch in an interview.

“It may even be that I don’t agree with the Supreme Court’s logic for (making the transcript public), but I may not feel there’s a viable legal basis to go forward to challenge it,” McCulloch said.

The petition revolves around an out-of-the-blue incident on the morning of March 2, 2023, the last day of the six-week Murdaugh murder trial in Colleton County.

Unknown to the public, in the days before the verdict, trial Judge Clifton Newman had held private meetings in which allegations that Crosby made improper comments about the trial to other people were discussed. Prosecutors and defense lawyers were present. Those meetings, which were recorded by an official court reporter, make up the “transcript” that Crosby is now seeking.

Also possibly included in the sealed transcript are affidavits from supposed witnesses to whom Crosby allegedly made comments about the case.

Jurors sitting on a case are not supposed to discuss the case with anyone, and the judge had repeatedly instructed the Murdaugh jury to keep silent until it began deliberations.

At the end of his nonpublic meetings about whether Crosby had disobeyed instructions to keep silent, Newman said in open court he was excusing her from the jury.

“This juror has had contact or discussion concerning the case with at least three individuals,” Newman told the courtroom.

“Though it does not appear the conversation was that extensive, she did offer her opinion on evidence up to that point in the trial.” Newman said he, prosecutors and defense attorneys spoke with the juror, who denied she had discussed the case. But the other individuals had provided affidavits to their contact with her about the case, Newman said.

Before Crosby left the courthouse, she asked if she could keep a dozen eggs that she had left in the jury room. Newman agreed, and since her name at that time was not made public, she became known as the “Egg Lady,” or “Egg Juror.”

Later that day, the jury heard arguments from defense and prosecution lawyers about whether Murdaugh was guilty of killing his wife, Maggie, and adult son Paul.

That evening, after three hours of deliberation, the newly constituted jury found Alex Murdaugh guilty of both murders.

Since being removed from the jury, Crosby has made her name public and made repeated attempts to ask the court to release the transcript of the meetings that took place behind Newman’s closed doors.

A major reason for making the transcript public is to surface information that would help Crosby rebut some of the negative rumors swirling about her after her highly publicized ouster from the jury, McCulloch said in one of his petitions to the high court.

“Even before she publicly revealed her name, people in the community knew she was the ‘Egg Lady’ and must have done something wrong to get kicked off the jury at that late stage,” McCulloch wrote. “(She) is seeking the right to defend herself in the public forum by making the record of her removal public.”

The transcript would perhaps also shed light on any role then-Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill might have played in getting Crosby kicked off the jury panel. Hill reportedly was the first to bring to the judge’s attention the alleged improper statements by Crosby.

In an August interview aired on Fox Nation, Crosby indicated she might have voted to acquit Murdaugh. “I had a real hard time because there wasn’t more evidence saying ‘okay you did it.’ There was a lot of what ifs, possibly’.”

If she had voted to acquit, she would have produced a hung jury, since the other 11 jurors voted to convict Murdaugh.

Meanwhile, the state Attorney General’s office has filed objections in the state Supreme Court to releasing the transcript.

For one thing, the transcript is part of the appeal of Murdaugh’s 2023 conviction, and Murdaugh’s lawyers have not yet filed their formal appeal of the case, state prosecutors argued. Once Murdaugh’s lawyers have filed their brief, on Dec. 10, “the parties will have a better idea on how to treat this issue,” state prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also pointed out that Crosby and her lawyers won the right to examine the transcript in late 2023, but she and her lawyers agreed not to make public any part of what they learned. That agreement is still binding, prosecutors said.

The filings in the Egg Lady matter are in the S.C. Supreme Court, where Murdaugh is currently appealing his convictions and two life sentences for murder. The Egg Lady’s sealed transcript is part of the Murdaugh trial proceedings, and all matters related to the trial — including the sealed transcript — are handled by the Supreme Court.

McCulloch said Crosby has a constitutional right to the transcript because, now that Murdaugh’s trial is over, it was part of that proceeding. And in the U.S., the public has a right to access criminal court proceedings under the First Amendment of the Constitution, McCulloch argues.

In the meantime, discussions about Crosby and her case are playing out in another court — the court of public opinion.

Earlier this month Croby self-published a book, “Juror 785: Because Enough Is Enough,” in which she asserts that her removal from the jury helped assure a “rigged” verdict.

Hill, the former clerk of court, targeted her for removal from the jury after Hill pulled her out of the jury room near the end of the trial and sounded her out on whether she thought Murdaugh was guilty, Crosby wrote.

“Why on earth is the Colleton County Clerk of Court asking me during the Murdaugh trial which way I was leaning?” Crosby wrote in her book

Hill was behind false allegations that Crosby had made improper comments to others — comments that got her kicked off the jury, Crosby wrote.

“In my opinion, I was targeted for removal from the Murdaugh jury because someone thought I could be that one juror who would stand up and vote not guilty and not budge off it, causing a hung jury and mistrial. Think of the chain reaction a hung jury would be ... possibly millions lost, civil trials dismissed, book deals damaged, podcast ratings drop,” Crosby wrote.

Will Lewis, Hill’s attorney, said this week he had no comment on Crosby’s allegations.

Hill, who resigned her $101,256-a-year post in March, is facing numerous state ethics violations accusing her of repeatedly misusing her position of clerk of court to enrich herself and promote a book she wrote on the Murdaugh murder trial. An ethics hearing in her case has been postponed while the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigates criminal charges against her.

SLED said last January it is investigating allegations of jury tampering and misuse of office by Hill while she was clerk of court.

Hill’s book on the Murdaugh murder trial was withdrawn from publication last December after she admitting plagiarizing a key part of it from the draft of a story written by a veteran BBC reporter.

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