ST. MATTHEWS, SC — Former South Carolina court clerk who assisted the defense attorney in a murder case. Alex Murdaugh pleaded guilty Monday to criminal charges of showing sealed 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 counts of obstruction of justice and perjury for showing a reporter photographs that were sealed forensic evidence and then lying about it – as well as two counts of misconduct in office related to accepting bonuses and promoting through her public office a book she wrote during the trial.
Judge Heath Taylor sentenced Hill to three years probation. The judge told Hill that her sentence would have been much harsher if prosecutors had established that she interfered with the Murdo jury.
Hill read a short statement in which she asked the judge to give her a chance to do better.
“There are no excuses for my mistakes. I am ashamed of them, and I will carry this shame for the rest of my life,” she said.
Hill was responsible for caring for the jury, supervising exhibits, and assisting the judge during Murdo a six-week trial that ended with convictions for the murder of his wife and son. The case involved power, danger, money and privilege, and a lawyer whose family dominated his small South Carolina county for nearly a century.
Hill played a prominent role in Murdaugh's appeal of his convictions and prison sentence. life without parole. His lawyers said Hill tried influence the jury vote guilty and that she was biased against Murdo for her book.
Prosecutors said they were investigating allegations of jury tampering. But while three jurors or alternates said Hill told stories that changed how she may have tried to influence them, 11 said she did nothing wrong.
“I'll go to trial with 11 witnesses who will say that everything the state says is not true,” said defense attorney Rick Hubbard.
During Monday's hearing, Hubbard told the judge that a journalist told investigators that Hill showed graphic photos of the crime scene to several members of the media. He did not name the journalist.
The photos were posted online, and Hubbard said the images' metadata matched the time Hill's courthouse key card indicated she was in the locked room where the photos were kept.
Murdaugh is also serving a separate sentence decades in prison for admitting to stealing millions of dollars from settlements for clients who suffered horrific injuries or deaths, and from his family's law firm.
An initial appeal by Murdaugh's lawyers was rejected. But Judge Jean Toal said she was not convinced Hill told the truth about her relationship with the jury and was “attracted by celebrity status.”
Along with showing the sealed exhibits, the arrest warrant said, Hill lied to Toal during a January 2024 hearing when the judge asked, “Did you allow any member of the press to view the sealed exhibits?”
One of the charges, misconduct in office, involved money that investigators said Hill took for herself. On Monday, she brought to court a check for nearly $10,000, intended to pay bonuses from federal money intended to improve child support collections, and about $2,000 from the court clerk's office.
The warrant for another misconduct charge says Hill used her public role as a court clerk to promote her book about Murdaugh's trial on social media.
The judge said he knew Hill had been humiliated more than most people who appeared before him because of all the attention from the true crime world on the Murdaugh case.
“A lot of boats got caught up in the fuss that came out of this trial,” Taylor said. “A lot of people have probably made a lot of money, but you haven’t.”
Hill was also accused last May of 76 ethics violations. Officials said Hill allowed the photo to be taken. Murdo in a holding cell to be placed to promote her book about 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 district courtroom in exchange for publicity for her book about the trial, excerpts of which she later admitted contained plagiarism, according to the South Carolina Ethics Commission complaint.
Hill resigned March 2024 in the final year of her four-year term, citing public attention to Murdaugh's trial and a desire to spend time with her grandchildren.
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This story replaces Hill's sentence with three years probation.
