British stone. MATTHEWS, S.C. (AP) — A former South Carolina court clerk who assisted attorney Alex Murdaugh in the murder trial pleaded guilty Monday to criminal charges for showing sealed court exhibits to photographers and lying in court.
Former Colleton County Clerk of Courts Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill pleaded guilty in Colleton County Circuit Court to four counts — obstruction of justice and perjury for showing photos of sealed court exhibits to reporters and then lying about them — and two counts of misconduct for accepting bonuses and using public office to promote a book she wrote during the trial.
Judge Heath Taylor sentenced Hill to one year of probation. The judge told Hill her sentence would be harsher if prosecutors found she had tampered with the Murdough jury.
Hill read a brief statement asking the judge for a chance to do better.
“There is no excuse for the mistakes I made. I am ashamed of them,” she said.
Hill tended the jury, supervised exhibits and helped the judge during Murdaugh’s six-week trial, which culminated in a conviction for the murders of his wife and son. The case involves power, danger, money and privilege, and a lawyer whose family has dominated his small South Carolina county for nearly a century.
Hill played an important role in Murdough’s appeal of his conviction and life without parole sentence. His attorneys said Hill tried to influence jurors to vote guilty and that she was biased by Murdaugh’s book.
At Monday’s hearing, attorney Rick Hubbard told the judge that a reporter told investigators that Hill showed graphic photos of the crime scene to several members of the media. He did not name the reporter.
Murdaugh was also sentenced to decades in prison separately for pleading guilty to stealing millions of dollars from settlements of clients who suffered serious injuries or deaths, as well as from his family’s law firm.
Murdough’s lawyers initially appealed, but their appeal was dismissed. But Judge Jean Toll said she was unsure whether Hill was telling the truth about her dealings with jurors and was “seduced by the allure of celebrity.”
Some of Hill’s charges relate to Murdough’s murder trial. The warrant alleges Hill violated a judge’s order not to release the photos to the public. The second arrest warrant alleges that Hill lied to Toll during a hearing in January 2024, when the judge asked: “Are you allowing anyone in the media to view the sealed exhibits?”
One of the charges – misconduct in office – involves money that investigators say Hill took for himself. That includes nearly $10,000 in federal funds aimed at improving child support collection and about $2,000 from the clerk of courts’ office, they said.
An arrest warrant on a separate misconduct charge alleges that Hill used her public role as a court clerk to promote her book about the Murdough trial on social media.
Last May, Hill was also charged with 76 ethics violations. Officials said Hill allowed photos of Murdaugh in the holding cell to promote her book about the trial and used county money to buy dozens of lunches for her staff, prosecutors and vendors.
Hill also struck a deal with a documentary filmmaker to use the county courtroom in exchange for publicity for her book about the trial, which she later admitted contained plagiarized passages, according to the South Carolina Ethics Commission complaint.
Hill resigned in March 2024 during the final year of her four-year term, citing public scrutiny of Murdaugh’s trial and a desire to spend time with her grandchildren.
