She was supposed to be neutral. Instead, she told jurors not to be fooled by the defense, coached them to scrutinize the defendant’s body language, and wanted a guilty verdict to sell her book. The South Carolina Supreme Court has unanimously reversed Alex Murdaugh’s convictions for killing his wife Maggie and son Paul, finding that former Colleton County Clerk Becky Hill’s interference denied him a fair trial.
The court’s language is extraordinary. They called Hill’s conduct “breathtaking and disgraceful” and “unprecedented in South Carolina.” They found she was “attracted by the siren call of celebrity” and prioritized personal attention over her duty to the court. Testimony from her own colleague revealed Hill repeatedly discussed her plan to write a book and said a guilty verdict was the best path to selling it. Hill’s December 2025 guilty plea to perjury — for lying under oath about showing sealed exhibits to the press — further undermined her credibility.
The five justices found that former Chief Justice Jean Toal made critical legal errors when she denied Murdaugh’s new trial motion. Toal required the defense to prove prejudice instead of requiring the State to disprove it. She asked jurors whether the comments changed their minds, violating evidence rules that protect deliberation privacy. The Supreme Court formally adopted a federal framework that shifts the burden squarely onto the prosecution once improper outside contact is established.
The opinion also restricts what the State can present at retrial. The first trial featured over twelve hours of financial crimes testimony the court found excessive and unfairly inflammatory. Any second trial must be leaner. AG Alan Wilson says the State will retry. Murdaugh remains imprisoned on financial convictions while the murder case starts fresh.
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