Alex Murdaugh sues Becky Hill in federal court for jury tampering at SC murder trial

Alex Murdaugh, the disbarred lawyer whose double-murder conviction was overturned last week, has filed a lawsuit alleging his civil rights were violated when clerk of court Rebecca “Becky” Hill tampered with the jury at his trial.

The 17-page lawsuit was filed in federal court in Columbia, S.C., on Monday morning. It has already been assigned to U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie.

The Supreme Court’s ruling means that without any doubt Murdaugh was deprived of his “right to a fair trial” and Hill was the person — because of her jury tampering — who deprived him of that right, attorney Jim Griffin told some two dozen reporters at a press conference in Columbia after noon Monday.

“As a result, we have to do it all over again, which nobody wants to do,” said Griffin, flanked by colleagues defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Phil Barber outside Harpootlian’s downtown Columbia law offices.

Murdaugh, 57, is seeking $600,000 and other compensatory damages, Griffin said.

“None of this money that is recovered will go to him personally,” Griffin said, acknowledging that Murdaugh’s history of stealing millions from clients while a lawyer in effect disqualifies him from getting any money from a lawsuit.

In any case, Murdaugh is currently in state prison serving a 27-year state sentence for embezzling funds in state prison. When that sentence finishes, he will be transferred to federal prison, where he will finish out a 40-year sentence for fraud, money laundering and other crimes. He is not expected to be released until he is in his mid-80s or 90s.

In all, Murdaugh is estimated to have stolen more than $10 million from clients and his law firm.

The ongoing Murdaugh legal saga, with its overtones of dynasty, millions in embezzled client funds and political and social power, is one of the nation’s most sensational criminal cases this century, replete with shocking deaths and unscrupulous dealings. With the filing of Monday’s lawsuit, the case has taken yet another surprising twist.

In the lawsuit, Murdaugh seeks to hold Hill accountable “for her wrongful conduct under color of state law and to recover compensatory and punitive damages as provided by law,” his lawsuit said.

“No right touches more the heart of fairness in a trial” than the right to an impartial jury,” the lawsuit said. “That right was stolen from Alex.”

In 2023, Murdaugh was convicted of murdering his wife, Maggie, and son Paul by a Colleton County jury after a six-week trial. The jury deliberated less than three hours.

“Acting under color of state law and abusing the power and authority of her elected office, Ms. Hill made repeated, improper extrajudicial communications to jurors in which she urged them not to be “fooled,” “confused,” “thrown off,” or “convinced” by Murdaugh and his defense,” the lawsuit says.

“In so doing, Ms. Hill ‘became a character witness on behalf of the State, encouraging the jurors to question Murdaugh’s credibility,’ and ‘essentially implored the jurors to find him guilty, the ultimate issue in the case’,” the lawsuit says.

In her position as the elected Colleton County clerk of court during the trial, Hill had extraordinary access to jurors, making sure they got meals and snacks and had proper rooms in which to take breaks and, at the end, to deliberate Murdaugh’s fate.

Next to the judge, Hill was the second-highest ranking court official in the courtroom during the trial. She also worked with prosecutors, defense attorneys and law officers providing security.

Hill had a winning personality, was liked by all who dealt with her, and one of her fans was Attorney General Alan Wilson, leader of the prosecution team, who affectionately called her “Becky Boo” in a triumphant press conference following the jury’s guilty verdict.

But she was secretly writing a book about the Murdaugh trial to make money and become famous, the lawsuit said. Hill did publish the first book on the Murdaugh trial, “Behind the doors of justice,” several months after the trial finished. But it had to be withdrawn from publication because she plagiarized parts of it from a draft of a BBC reporter’s story on the trial.

SC high court voids conviction

Last Wednesday, May 13, 2026, the S.C. Supreme Court unanimously reversed Murdaugh’s murder convictions and called for a new trial. The five justices held that Hill’s jury tampering violated Murdaugh’s constitutional right to a fair trial by an impartial jury.

Hill “placed her fingers on the scales of justice, thereby denying Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury,” and “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,” the justices wrote in their 27-page ruling.

Prosecutors have said he shot his wife and son to death in June 2021 to distract from questions that were being raised about missing money, questions that would have exposed his secret life of financial crimes.

Last December, Hill pleaded guilty to various criminal charges — perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct — involving the misappropriation of public money while she held the clerk of court’s position in Colleton County. She was sentenced to probation.

However, now that the State Supreme Court has categorically said in its ruling that Hill tampered with the Murdaugh jury, that ruling would apparently bolster the chances of a successful civil lawsuit, or even a criminal charge, against Hill. Jury tampering is a crime in South Carolina.

Will Lewis, Hill’s attorney in her criminal case, said he no longer represents her and declined other comment.

This breaking news story was updated with coverage from the Murdaugh lawyers’ press conference and other sources.

This story was originally published May 18, 2026 at 11:44 AM with the headline "Alex Murdaugh sues Becky Hill in federal court for jury tampering at SC murder trial."