Court clerk who helped with Alex Murdaugh's trial pleads guilty to
showing sealed exhibits
[December 09, 2025]
By JEFFREY COLLINS
ST. MATTHEWS, S.C. (AP) — The former court clerk in South Carolina who
helped out with the murder trial of attorney Alex Murdaugh pleaded
guilty Monday to criminal charges for showing sealed court exhibits to a
photographer and lying about it in court.
Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill pleaded
guilty in Colleton County Circuit Court to four charges — obstruction of
justice and perjury for showing a reporter photographs that were sealed
court exhibits and then lying about it — as well as two counts of
misconduct in office for taking bonuses and promoting through her public
office a book she wrote on the trial.
Judge Heath Taylor sentenced Hill, 58, to three years of probation. The
judge told Hill her sentence would have been much harsher if
investigators had found that she had tampered with the Murdaugh jury.
Hill apologizes for her crimes
Hill read a short statement where she asked the judge for a chance to do
better.
"There is no excuse for the mistakes I made. I’m ashamed of them and
will carry that shame the rest of my life,” she said.
Hill was in charge of taking care of the jury, overseeing exhibits and
helping the judge during Murdaugh's six-week trial that ended with
murder convictions for killing his wife and son. The case involved
power, danger, money and privilege and an attorney whose family had
lorded over his small South Carolina county for nearly a century.
Hill has played a prominent part as Murdaugh appeals his convictions and
a sentence of life without parole. His lawyers said Hill tried to
influence jurors to vote guilty and that she was biased against Murdaugh
for her book.
Prosecutors investigated jury tampering allegations
Prosecutors said they investigated jury tampering allegations. Three
jurors or alternates suggested Hill said things that may have been an
attempt to influence them. Eleven others who were questioned by state
agents said she did nothing wrong. Solicitor Rick Hubbard said that
would have made it impossible to prove a tampering charge.
During Monday's hearing, Hubbard told the judge that a journalist told
investigators that Hill showed graphic crime scene photos to several
media members. He did not name the journalist.
The photos were briefly posted online and Hubbard said metadata from the
images matched up with a time where Hill's courthouse key card said she
was inside the locked room where the photos were kept.
Murdaugh is also serving a separate sentence of decades in prison for
admitting to stealing millions of dollars from settlements for clients
who suffered horrible injuries or deaths — and from his family’s law
firm.
An initial appeal by Murdaugh’s lawyers was denied. But Judge Jean Toal
said she wasn’t sure Hill told the truth about her dealings with jurors
and was “attracted by the siren call of celebrity” status.
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Former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill is
sworn in during a court hearing on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in St.
Matthews, S.C.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Along with showing the sealed exhibits, an arrest warrant said Hill
lied to Toal during a January 2024 hearing when the judge asked:
“Did you allow anyone from the press to view the sealed exhibits?”
One of Murdadugh's lawyers said Hill pleading guilty didn't surprise
him. Attorney Dick Harpootlian said he also wasn't surprised the
same State Law Enforcement Division that investigated the Murdaugh
killings didn't find jury tampering.
“If Becky admittedly perjured herself in the jury tampering hearing
held by Judge Toal, what else could she have lied about?”
Harpootlian said in a statement.
Hill admitted taking money from her office
One of the charges — misconduct in office — involved money that
investigators said Hill took for herself. She brought a check to
court on Monday to pay back nearly $10,000 meant for bonuses from
federal money meant to improve child support collection and about
$2,000 in money from the Clerk of Court’s office.
The warrant on the other misconduct charge said Hill used her public
role as clerk of court to promote her book on the Murdaugh trial on
social media.
The judge said he knows Hill has been more humiliated than most
people who come before him because of all the attention from the
true crime world on the Murdaugh case.
“ A lot of boats got swept up in the hoopla that was at that trial,”
Taylor said. “A lot of folks probably made a lot of money, but you
didn’t.”
Hill was also accused last May of 76 counts of ethics violations.
Officials said Hill allowed a photo of Murdaugh in a holding cell to
be taken to promote her book on the trial and used county money to
buy dozens of lunches for her staff, prosecutors and a vendor.
Hill also struck a deal with a documentary maker to use the county
courtroom in exchange for promoting her book on the trial, which
later she admitted had plagiarized passages, according to the South
Carolina Ethics Commission complaint.
Hill resigned in March 2024 during the last year of her four-year
term, citing the public scrutiny of Murdaugh’s trial and wanting to
spend time with her grandchildren.
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