Alex Murdaugh’s lawsuit against the former Colleton County Clerk Becky Hill was thrown out after he claimed she improperly advised jurors when he was on trial for the 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and their son Paul Murdaugh.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel ruled on Wednesday, August 5, that Alex, 58, cannot seek $600,000 from Hill, 58, in order to pay for his legal fees as requested in the lawsuit. Gergel made the decision after he concluded that Hill had nothing to do with the murder charges filed against him.
“Plaintiff liquidated his retirement account to fund his defense, which was necessary without regard to the misconduct of (Hill),” Gergel said, according to NewsNation.
Alex filed the lawsuit against Hill after a jury found him guilty of murdering Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, during a trial in 2023.
Three years after he was convicted, the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned his convictions and life sentences in May. The decision was made in light of Hill’s comments to jurors during the trial that Alex could not be trusted, which could have potentially altered the outcome of the case.
While Alex is expected to go back to trial on the murder charges in 2027, he is currently serving a 40 year sentence after he was convicted of 22 federal financial crimes, which included conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
“Murdaugh’s victims turned to him when they were particularly vulnerable, after suffering serious injuries and losing loved ones,” U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina Adair F. Boroughs said when Alex was sentenced for the financial crimes. “They put their trust in him as their lawyer, and he betrayed them. His crimes were cold, calculated, and brazen, and he earned every day of his 40-year sentence. We hope that it provides at least some closure to his victims.”
Alex filed a lawsuit against Hill just days after his convictions were overturned, in which he claimed that the clerk repeatedly pulled the jury’s leader to have private conversations during his trial. He also alleged that she encouraged jurors to closely study his body language as he testified.
The complaint also claimed that Hill was financially motivated to sway the jury because she allegedly believed that she would be able to sell more copies of her book if Alex was found guilty. Following the conclusion of his trial in March 2023, Hill and Neil R. Gordon released a book about the trial called Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders in August 2023.
After Hill allegedly altered the trial, she resigned from office in 2024. She also pleaded guilty to perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office after she was accused of sharing sealed evidence from the trial with the media.
