Becky Hill, Murdaugh murder trial’s clerk, faces obstruction, perjury charges
Becky Hill, the former Colleton County clerk of court who oversaw Alex Murdaugh’s 2023 double murder trial, has been charged with two counts of misconduct in office, one count of obstruction of justice, and perjury.
Hill, 57, was arrested Wednesday morning by South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents. She was arraigned before Colleton County Magistrate Jennifer Fishburne and charged with three felonies:
- Misconduct in office. This charge alleges she used her former clerk of court’s office for personal gain.
- Misconduct in office. This charge alleges she misused about $10,000 in S.C. Department of Social Services funds and gave herself a $2,000 unauthorized bonus.
- Obstruction of Justice. This charges alleges she shared information under court seal with a reporter.
Hill was given a $10,000 unsecured bond by Colleton County Magistrate Fishburne.
After the hearing, Hill was transported to Richland County, where she was arraigned before Magistrate Judge P. Van Ellis around 2 p.m Wednesday for a perjury charge. Ellis granted Hill a $50,000 personal recognizance bond with a special condition that allows her to travel out of state for work.
The perjury charge alleges that during a 2024 court hearing she lied under oath to Judge Jean Toal when Toal asked her if she leaked confidential court information to a reporter. The hearing, during which Murdaugh jurors testified, was to determine whether Hill had unlawfully pressured any jurors into voting to find Murdaugh guilty of killing his wife and son. Toal ruled their was no such coercion.
Will Lewis, one of Hill’s attorneys, declined comment for this story.
Hill’s arrest Wednesday was the latest turn of events for perhaps the most controversial clerk of court in modern South Carolina history.
Since the Murdaugh trial ended in March 2023, Hill has gone from being publicly praised by Attorney General Alan Wilson and publishing the first book about the six-week trial to admitting she plagiarized portions of her book, being the subject of a sweeping ethics investigation and resigning her post in disgrace last year.
As clerk of court, Hill had behind-the-scenes access to jurors, prosecutors in state Attorney General Wilson’s office, Judge Clifton Newman and others during the trial. Hill, who has a sociable, friendly personality, also helped manage the numerous reporters and members of the public who were at the trial.
Wilson was impressed with Hill during the trial and publicly praised her courtroom oversight at a press conference hours after the trial. He affectionately called her “Becky Boo.”
But within months of the trial’s end, Murdaugh’s lawyers accused her of tampering with some jurors in order to get them to return a guilty verdict quickly.
After a January 2024 hearing where Hill and Murdaugh’s jurors testified, Judge Jean Toal ruled that no jury tampering serious enough to affect the jury verdict had taken place.
The comment that the charge is based on allegedly was made while she was on the witness stand during that January 2024 hearing, sources said.
Since last year, Hill has been the subject of an investigation by 11th Judicial Circuit Solicitor Rick Hubbard into her numerous alleged ethics violations and whether she tampered with the Murdaugh jury in an effort to influence its verdict.
Hubbard, a veteran of numerous high profile murder trials, was appointed as a special prosecutor to investigate Hill’s alleged violations by Attorney General Wilson.
Wilson did not give Hubbard complete independence, making it clear in a letter that his office is still in charge. In the letter, Wilson said that Assistant Attorney General Ben Aplin “has been assigned to assist you, and, of course, Chief Deputy Attorney General Jeff Young and Criminal Division Deputy Attorney General Don Zelenka will remain involved in any decisions.”
A year ago, the S.C. Ethics Commission announced it had found probable cause in 76 different incidents to believe that Hill repeatedly misused her position to enrich herself and promote her book — “Behind the Doors of Justice” The book was released in mid-summer 2023 just five months after Murdaugh was found guilty of killing his wife, Maggie, and son Paul in June 2021. He is serving two life sentences.
Hill resigned her $101,256-a-year post in March 2024.
This is a developing story. Check back for more details.
This story was originally published May 14, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
