Colleton Clerk Becky Hill denies Murdaugh jury tampering allegations, co-author speaks out

Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill and her co-author are beginning to address serious allegations of jury tampering leveled recently by criminal defense attorneys representing convicted murderer Richard "Alex" Murdaugh.

Hill, a first-term elected official who oversaw day-to-day courtroom operations during Murdaugh's internationally publicized, six-week double murder trial and who read the guilty verdicts on March 2, has been accused in court filings and during a public press conference of having improper communications with jurors, which may have helped remove some sympathetic jurors and sway others.

On Thursday, Hill maintained her innocence and denied all allegations to The Hampton County Guardian, but declined to comment further on the matter.

However, her co-author Neil Gordon has been vocal. After appearing on Court TV and a couple of podcasts, Gordon sent a statement to The Guardian which he says represents his opinions alone, and does not speak for Hill.

Following the highly publicized trial, Hill teamed up with Gordon to write a book about her experiences as Clerk of Court during this historic murder case, and her experiences with the Murdaugh family. Murdaugh's attorneys cited pages from that book as evidence supporting their claims against her, but Gordon disputes those claims.

Murdaugh jury tampering allegations: SLED investigating, familiar attorneys involved

"Overall, I would ask anyone following these alleged 'jury tampering' allegations to please reserve judgement until all the facts come out and all interviews are conducted by the proper, objective law enforcement authorities," stated Gordon. "Please remember in our society people are innocent until proven guilty. That basic tenet of our judicial system was there for Alex Murdaugh during his double-murder trial and should be in place for Becky Hill for accusations of jury tampering."

Hill put in "extensive work" for months as a court official preparing for the trial, Gordon's statement points out, and her "professionalism was highlighted in the courtroom after the trial by key members of the legal community" and there are "no known official complaints or reprimands of Ms. Hill for her extensive work on the trial."

Gordon's statement addressed several allegations:

In addressing Murdaugh's attorney's claims that Hill pressured jurors ― "The word “pressure” was used multiple times in the affidavits and in the news conference by Alex Murdaugh’s defense attorney. I have spent a lot of time with Becky Hill for six months and have found her to be a very-soft spoken person. I’ve never observed her raising her voice, let alone 'pressuring' anyone to do anything. I’ve received hundreds of unsolicited comments from visitors and media who were at the trial or who came back to do a tour at the Colleton County Courthouse. They describe her as the quintessential Southern woman of hospitality and grace.”

In addressing allegations that Hill influenced a guilty verdict in order to obtain a "book deal," ― "On Sept 5 at the defense team’s news conference to request a hearing, Mr. Hartpoolian suggested Becky’s motive to allegedly tamper with the jury was to help secure a guilty verdict to obtain a 'book deal.' While several authors arranged advances and book deals from national publishing houses, Becky and I did not approach even one. We decided to self-publish the book at great expense to our families."

Gordon added that he and Hill did not even meet to discuss or plan the book until after the trial, and after doing so Hill reached out to a media attorney and the S.C. Ethics Commission before writing the book.

Hill is being represented by Justin Bamberg, a Bamberg, S.C. attorney who also represents several of Murdaugh's alleged financial crime victims, and Will Lewis, a former assistant U.S. District Attorney known for prosecuting high-profile white-collar cases.

The S.C. Attorney General's Office has ten days to respond to this motion, and no hearing date has been set.

What is the basis of Alex Murdaugh's jury tampering allegations?

On Sunday, a spokesperson for Murdaugh announced that his attorneys, Richard Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, would be hosting a press conference on Tuesday, Sept. 5, at 2:30 p.m. on the south side of the South Carolina State House grounds, near the Court of Appeals, to discuss a newly filed motion for a new trial based on new "discovered evidence," but did not release details of that motion.

On Tuesday morning, Harpootlian and Griffin revealed their hand, and their new legal cards are shocking.

"Today, we filed a petition based on newly discovered evidence with the SC Court of Appeals to stay Alex Murdaugh’s appeal while a hearing is held on a motion for a new trial," said Murdaugh's attorneys in a joint statement attached to the legal filings.

"Concurrently, we have sent a request to the South Carolina U.S. Attorney to open a federal investigation into the violation of Alex Murdaugh’s civil rights.

"The serious allegations in the petition filed today speak for themselves but we believe they explain a number of peculiarities in the six-week trial. We request that SLED stand down on initiating any investigation of these allegations since they are heavily invested in maintaining Alex’s conviction. We suggest that they wait for the Court of Appeals to rule and receive direction from the trial court, if the Court of Appeals remands the case for an evidentiary hearing. We also would request that those in the media and the public respect the privacy of those included in this filing.

Murdaugh was convicted of two counts of murder in the 2021 deaths of his wife and son during a six-week trial in Walterboro, S.C., that concluded on March 3, 2023, with Judge Clifton Newman sentencing him to two life sentences. Within days, his attorneys had filed a notice of appeal of that verdict and sentence.

In the motion for a stay of that appeal and a new trial filed with the S.C. Court of Appeals Tuesday, Murdaugh's legal team make several serious allegations against a public official embedded into the heart of that trial – Colleton County Clerk of Court Hill, who read the verdict and later published a tell-all book about the historic murder case.

What is Colleton County Clerk Becky Hill accused of?

In their 65-page motion with attachments, Harpootlian and Griffin make the following allegations of jury tampering against Hill, alleging Hill:

• Asked jurors not to believe Murdaugh's testimony or any evidence presented by his defense;

• Pressured them into reaching a quick guilty verdict, tell them that their deliberations "shouldn't take them too long;"

• Misrepresented information to Judge Newman in a campaign to have a juror believed to be favorable to the defense removed from the jury;

• Told jurors not to be "misled" by Murdaugh's evidence or "fooled" by his testimony;

• Had frequent private conversations with the jury foreperson, including a private chat with her during the jury's field trip to Moselle, the scene of the crime;

• Asked jurors for their opinions about Murdaugh's guilt or innocence;

• Invented a story about a Facebook post on the "Walterboro Word of Mouth" group to remove a juror who might not vote guilty;

• Prior to Murdaugh's own testimony on the stand, instructed the jury to “watch him closely,” to “look at his actions,” and to “look at his movements,” which at least one juror understood to mean that Murdaugh was guilty;

• Told a juror that "the Murdaughs" had "got to" her ex-husband;

• Denied jurors a smoke break until they reached a verdict;

• Told the jurors they would be famous and handed out reporters's business cards to them after the verdict;

• Pressured a group of jurors to do an interview with a network news show after the verdict, but before the sentencing;

• Traveled with the jurors to New York City to appear on "The Today Show."

The motion indicates that Murdaugh's team has interviewed several jurors and obtained affidavits with statements supporting their claims.

The motion also claims that Hill "did these things to secure for herself a book deal and media appearances that would not happen in the event of a mistrial," and that "Ms. Hill betrayed her oath of office for money and fame."

Attached to the motion were affidavits from jurors, the ex-husband of a juror, copies of Facebook posts and pages of Hill's book, "Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders."

Also submitted along with the motion is a letter to United States Attorney Adair Ford Boroughs asking for an "urgent federal investigation" into Hill's conduct during the trial, and asking the Federal Bureau of Investigation, not the S.C. Law Enforcement Division, to investigate these allegations.

On Thursday, Sept. 7, SLED announced it was investigating the allegations.

Hampton County Guardian Editor Michael DeWitt, the Greenville News and USA TODAY Network will continue to follow the ongoing criminal and civil cases surrounding the Murdaugh crime saga. Follow DeWitt on Twitter at @mmdewittjr and support his local and national journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Clerk Becky Hill denies jury tampering charges, co-author speaks out