by JENN WOOD
***
Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh’s lawyers are asking the South Carolina Supreme Court to reopen the record in his double-murder appeal — not to re-litigate blood spatter or ballistics, but to bring in a new set of documents they argue go directly to the credibility of the former court official at the center of his jury-tampering claims.
In a motion (.pdf) filed last Friday (January 9, 2026), Murdaugh’s team asked for leave “to supplement the record in this case to include former Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill’s indictment for perjury, sentencing sheet, and transcript of her guilty plea hearing.”
The filing comes just weeks after Hill pleaded guilty in Calhoun County to two counts of misconduct in office, obstruction of justice, and perjury — resolving the criminal case against the “Trial of the Century” clerk while leaving unanswered the larger question that matters most to Murdaugh’s appeal: whether her conduct inside the courthouse tainted the jury that convicted him.
***
WHY THE DEFENSE WANTS HILL’S PLEA IN THE RECORD
Murdaugh’s legal team, led by attorneys Dick Harpootlian, Jim Griffin, Phillip Barber and Maggie Fox, framed the request as a narrow but consequential update to the appellate record: Hill is no longer merely an alleged bad actor whose conduct was litigated in a post-trial evidentiary hearing — she is now a convicted defendant whose guilty plea, they argued, changes the lens through which the Supreme Court should evaluate her testimony.
At issue is Hill’s sworn appearance before retired chief justice Jean Toal during a January 29, 2024 jury-tampering hearing — the proceeding that produced Toal’s order denying Murdaugh a new trial. According to the motion, the perjury charge Hill ultimately pleaded guilty to arose from that very hearing – when Toal asked Hill whether she ever let members of the press view sealed exhibits from the Murdaugh trial.
The motion recounts Toal’s question verbatim: “Did you ever allow anyone from the press to view the sealed exhibits?”
Hill’s sworn answer, according to the defense: “No, ma’am.”
***
***
Murdaugh’s lawyers argued Hill’s denial became the foundation for the perjury indictment and guilty plea — and it is precisely why they want the Supreme Court to formally add Hill’s plea record to the appeal.
“Ms. Hill lied under oath, and later was indicted for and pleaded guilty to criminal activity,” the motion stated — conduct the defense says “severely damages any hint of credibility she may have had.”
The defense also highlighted that Toal, even without the later criminal adjudication, found Hill was “not completely credible as a witness.”
Now, they argue, Hill’s guilty plea supplies the court with “significant probative value” on an appeal where jury-tampering allegations remain the marquee issue.
***
RELATED | BECKY HILL PLEADS GUILTY
***
HILL’S DENIALS ‘CANNOT BE CREDITED’
Murdaugh’s motion did not claim Hill’s guilty plea was direct proof she tampered with the jury. Instead, it argued her criminal adjudication was powerful impeachment material in a case where the Supreme Court must weigh competing accounts about what happened behind courthouse doors.
The defense told the court it would use these documents to argue Hill’s “denials of jury tampering cannot be credited over the sworn testimony of the disinterested jurors who witnessed it.”
That framing dovetails with the posture of the appeal as described in our prior reporting: three final merits briefs were filed in November — the defense’s Final Brief of Appellant (.pdf), the state’s Final Brief of Respondent (.pdf) , and the defense’s Final Reply Brief (.pdf) — and the case is now barreling toward oral argument, with the justices tasked with choosing between two irreconcilable narratives.
This motion is the defense’s attempt to add a fourth, post-brief development into that calculus: a guilty plea that sprang from the same ecosystem of alleged misconduct that the defense says corrupted the trial.
***
RELATED | S.C. SUPREME COURT SCHEDULES ORAL ARGUMENTS
***
WHAT THE SUPREME COURT DOES WITH IT
Procedurally, the immediate question is whether the Supreme Court will allow the record to be supplemented with documents generated after the trial and after the post-trial evidentiary hearing.
Substantively, the fight is simpler: whether Hill’s guilty plea — and the perjury conviction tied to sworn testimony before Toal — matters enough to be considered as the court weighs Murdaugh’s jury-tampering arguments and the integrity of the process that produced his convictions.
Murdaugh’s lawyers are betting the answer is yes — because, in their telling, this appeal is no longer only about what a clerk did or didn’t say to jurors. It is about whether the state can continue to rely on a record in which the central courthouse actor has now admitted to crimes that “even further calls into question any credibility” she possessed at the time.
The S.C. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. EST in Columbia — a pivotal moment that will give justices their first opportunity to directly question lawyers on both sides about jury tampering, evidentiary rulings, and the integrity of the trial itself. With the written record now closed and new filings seeking to supplement it, FITSNews will be in the courtroom and reporting in real time as the justices weigh whether one of the most consequential verdicts in South Carolina history will stand — or be sent back for a new trial.
***
THE MOTION
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
As a private investigator turned journalist, Jenn Wood brings a unique skill set to FITSNews as its research director. Known for her meticulous sourcing and victim-centered approach, she helps shape the newsroom’s most complex investigative stories while producing the FITSFiles and Cheer Incorporated podcasts. Jenn lives in South Carolina with her family, where her work continues to spotlight truth, accountability, and justice.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
1 comment
I have learn a few excellent stuff here. Certainly price bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much attempt you set to make this type of wonderful informative site.