The court clerk in Alex Murdaugh’s murder case pleaded guilty Monday to four charges but avoided jail time.
Becky Hill, 58, got three years of probation and 100 hours of community service, South Carolina newspaper The State reported. She admitted to perjury, obstruction of justice and two counts of misconduct in office.
Judge Heath Taylor said Hill’s sentence could have been much more severe if investigators found she tampered with the jury during Murdaugh’s trial. However, no jurors corroborated the allegations from Murdaugh and his team that Hill had swayed their verdict.
However, Hill still admitted to showing sealed court documents to journalists during the February 2023 trial, then lying about it in court during a January 2024 hearing. The docs included gruesome crime scene photos, investigators said.
Additionally, Hill copped to swiping nearly $12,000 in state funds for unauthorized personal bonuses and using her position as court clerk in an attempt to sell books after the Murdaugh trial. She brought an $11,880 restitution check to Monday’s hearing, according to The State.
Hill’s fate became a surprising subplot after Murdaugh’s closely watched trial, in which the prominent attorney was convicted of killing his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, on the family estate in June 2021.
Following the trial, Hill released a book titled “Behind the Doors of Justice,” but it was pulled from shelves after selling just 14,500 copies because Hill admitted to plagiarizing sections of the story.
Additionally, Hill was accused of 76 ethics violations in May 2024, two months after she had resigned from her job. However, a judge ruled that while Hill’s actions violated the law, they did not violate Murdaugh’s right to a fair trial, and he will remain behind bars on a life sentence.
With News Wire Services
