Just four days after Alex Murdaugh’s murder convictions were overturned in connection to the deaths of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and their son Paul Murdaugh, the former lawyer has sued county clerk Rebecaa “Becky” Hill over claims that she rigged the trial against him so she could write a book about the case and financially benefit.
Alex, 57, argued that Hill secretly worked jurors during his 2023 double-murder trial and pushed them to find him guilty of the murders, according to a federal lawsuit obtained by TMZ and filed on Sunday, May 17. Hill has been accused of telling the jurors to not be “fooled,” “confused” or “convinced” by Alex’s defense team with the goal that he would ultimately be convicted.
In the filing, Alex claimed that Hill repeatedly pulled the jury’s leader aside for private conversations during the trial. Additionally, Alex alleged that Hill encouraged jurors to closely study his body language when he testified.
Hill has also been accused of pushing jurors to wrap the trial up quickly, allegedly telling them that the deliberation process “shouldn’t take us long” and implying that they may become famous following the verdict.
The complaint went on to allege that Hill was financially motivated to sway the jury because she allegedly believed a guilty verdict would help sell more copies of her book. After the trial concluded in March 2023, Hill and Neil R. Gordon released their book about the trial, Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders, in August 2023.
The lawsuit also noted that Hill resigned from office in 2024 and she 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.
Alex argued in the lawsuit that Hill’s actions cost him at least $600,000 in legal fees, as well as destroyed his right to a fair trial.
Hill’s attorney, Will Lewis, did not immediately respond to Us Weekly’s request for comment regarding the lawsuit.
Alex filed the lawsuit shortly after the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned his murder conviction regarding Maggie and Paul’s deaths in June 2021. On Wednesday, May 13, the court announced they overturned the guilty verdict because they believed the original trial was damaged by Hill’s “improper” influence.
“Although we are aware of the time, money and effort expended for this lengthy trial, we have no choice but to reverse the denial of Murdaugh’s motion for a new trial due to Hill’s improper external influences on the jury and remand for a new trial,” the justices wrote in a 5-0 vote, per CNN.
During the trial, Alex denied that he killed Maggie and Paul. However, he did admit to committing financial theft and said he lied to investigators about his whereabouts in the hours before his wife and son were killed.
Once the trial concluded, Alex was given two life sentences for the murder charges. He was also handed concurrent state and federal sentences of 27 and 40 years after he pleaded guilty to dozens of financial crimes.
