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Former Colleton County, South Carolina clerk of court Becky Hill – whose jury tampering is likely to give convicted killer Alex Murdaugh a new trial – is reportedly facing a perjury charge in connection with her testimony at last year’s high-profile evidentiary hearing related to those allegations.
According to sources familiar with the status of the ongoing investigation, Hill could be arraigned on the perjury charge as early as this Wednesday (May 14, 2025).
Hill, 57, of Walterboro, S.C., has been the focus of multiple ethics and criminal inquiries in the aftermath of Murdaugh’s 2023 double homicide trial – a six-week spectacle which drew an international audience and exposed all manner of institutional corruption within the Palmetto State.
Hill’s office managed Murdaugh’s trial – which was held in Walterboro, S.C. from January 23 through March 3, 2023. In fact, she was the one who read the guilty verdicts to a waiting world on the evening of March 2, 2023.
The most significant allegation against Hill? That she tampered with the jury that found Murdaugh guilty of murdering his wife, 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh, and younger son – 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh – on the family’s hunting property near Islandton, S.C. in June of 2021.
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According to multiple sources familiar with the status of the investigation, Hill is alleged to have lied when she testified under oath last January that she did not provide certain members of the media with sealed exhibits during Murdaugh’s trial.
It appears investigators with the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) – working in cooperation with S.C. attorney general Alan Wilson‘s statewide grand jury and S.C. eleventh circuit solicitor Rick Hubbard – believe they have assembled sufficient evidence to prove Hill did, in fact, improperly disseminate such material.
FITSNews first reported on Hill’s potential exposure to a perjury charge in an expansive report last February.
Under questioning from former S.C. chief justice Jean Toal, Hill was repeatedly asked about sealed exhibits – specifically images from the crime scene and from Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh’s autopsies – and whether she allowed members of the media to view these sensitive records.
“Did you ever allow anyone from the press to view these sealed exhibits?” Toal asked Hill.
“No ma’am,” she responded.
Toal asked the question again as she grilled Hill about her process for safeguarding these graphic images.
“Were any press people ever allowed to view the exhibits – even the sealed exhibits that you had on file?” Toal asked.
“No ma’am, no ma’am,” Hill responded.
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RELATED | EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH DICK HARPOOTLIAN
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While a perjury rap against Hill would certainly represent progress in what critics contend is a deliberately stalled investigation, it only highlights the problems confronting prosecutors vis-à-vis Murdaugh.
Murdaugh’s defense team – Dick Harpootlian, Jim Griffin, Phillip Barber and Maggie Fox – filed a 132-page brief with the S.C. supreme court on December 10, 2024 which laid out their arguments for why the convicted killer should receive a new trial. State prosecutors have yet to respond to that document, submitting multiple requests for delays.
Those requests have prompted Murdaugh’s lawyers to accuse them of stalling – complaints which have been echoed by other attorneys linked to the case.
Lurking beneath the jury tampering allegations is the more odious charge that Hill was part of a conspiracy to rig the Murdaugh jury.
As FITSNews reported last summer, juror Myra Crosby – who was unceremoniously (and decisively) removed from the panel on the same day the verdicts were entered against Murdaugh – claimed she was the focus of “an orchestrated effort to have me and my undecided vote removed for a guilty vote.”
Crosby has claimed investigators and prosecutors are not serious about investigating the alleged jury rigging, claiming they “lied to not only remove me from the jury but to keep me from ever talking to a judge about the widespread tampering” associated with the Murdaugh verdicts.
FITSNews reached out to SLED, the attorney general’s office and the S.C. eleventh circuit solicitor’s office as we were compiling this report. As of this publication, none of those entities had any information to provide regarding the status of the investigation into Hill.
Stay tuned in the event that changes…
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UPDATE |
? Following up on our exclusive #Murdaugh report from yesterday, former Colleton County clerk of court Becky Hill surrendered to authorities at the county detention center at approximately 7:30 a.m. EDT this morning (5/14/2025). No word yet on the charges.
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) May 14, 2025
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UPDATE 2 |
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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