Not a murder trial, but nothing remotely like this happened when I was a juror.
Court staff went out of their way to avoid even having eye contact with jurors outside of the court chamber.
And that’s the way it should be.
In this particular case, the juror heard something said by the clerk to her judge in open court, which is a mistake.
Apparently the clerk is accused of doing much more.
The defendant probably is guilty, but especially in a murder trial, the defense is going to use anything it can.