COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. () – The co-author of Becky Hill’s book said he was shocked by the former Colleton County Court Clerk’s arrest, but not totally surprised.

Hill was charged with three misconduct charges in Colleton County and a perjury charge in Richland County.

According to South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) documents, Hill received $9,880 in financial bonuses from Title IV-D Incentive Funds, which is federal funding that’s used for child support services.

Hill is accused of personally receiving a $2,000 check from the clerk of court office just before she resigned.

SLED investigators also accused Hill of showing sealed evidence photos to a media person during Murdaugh’s murder trial in 2023.

The perjury charge is connected to her testimony in Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal in January 2024. Murdaugh’s legal team has accused Hill of jury tampering following his guilty verdict.

Hill was a key figure in court during Murdaugh’s entire murder trial in 2023. After the trial, she wrote a book on her experiences “Behind the Doors of Justice.”

Hill’s co-author for that book was Neil Gordon. Gordon talked to after Hill’s arrest.

“I was very surprised when it happened,” said Gordon. “Shocked like a lot of people. I saw her mug shot and I didn’t really recognize her. Not the smiling, bubbly, happy go lucky lady that I spent several months with writing a book.”

Gordan was asked if he believed Hill had been writing or planning a book during the six-week trial, and while still on the job.

“After the trial she had the idea, the germ of an idea in her head, and she talked to some people about wanting to write a book. But I do think she was pretty focused on the job at hand,” Gordon said. “Then after the trial broke, she was definitely looking for some help to be the first one in that would put out a book on the high-profile trial. That idea that she was looking at those jurors somehow and saying a conviction would help my sales. I never bought into that.”

Hill and Gordon worked closely for months, not just writing a book, but filming content that would eventually become a documentary, “Trial Watchers.”

Gordon said the two didn’t just become colleagues, but friends. He believed this book would be a best seller.

“This truly, Andrew, was a memoir, a journey,” Gordon told ‘s Andrew Davis. “I mean, she’d known the Murdaugh family for decades. She was charged with almost being the operations manager of the trial. And so, we just tried to chronicle what her duties were taking care of the attorneys and having situations with the judge and the media, and the gallery and I don’t know that she had a whole lot of extra time. It’s a shame. It really is, because it was one of the most unique perspectives in a major trial that there could be.”

Soon after the book came out, Hill was accused of plagiarizing some of the passages. It was eventually pulled from shelves.

There are many questions about Hill’s role in the verdict. Whether she may have talked to jurors to sway their opinions on the trial.

Gordon told that he was interviewed by SLED a few months ago.

Gordon said after he saw the charges against Hill, he remembered part of his documentary that would connect directly to the allegations against her.

“Episode two is called ‘Oh My God, Becky,’ of our docu series. We actually found a clip of Becky getting interviewed by the Colleton County Chamber of Commerce, and she promoted the book on video in her Clerk of Court office.”

“And Miss Becky Hill, the Colleton County Clerk of Court who had front row seats to the Alex Murdaugh trial,” the interviewer could be seen on camera saying.

“That’s a misconduct charge, making money on company time,” Gordon said. “But is that worth jail? I don’t think so. Perjury. Sure.

Gordon said it’s things like that video and the allegations in court that have him questioning a woman he called a good friend.

“You just kind of question her judgment. And when you start to question somebody’s judgment, their credibility, their integrity, you wonder, well, what else could she have done?”

Gordon said he lost contract with Hill soon after her testimony in that January Murdaugh hearing in Richland County.

“February 12, actually,” Gordon remembered. “I was going to appear on the Dr. Phil Show. And I wanted to just get a sense of how she felt after the evidentiary hearing on January 29th. She told me she went in there very scared. She was intimidated by the judge. She felt like she maybe didn’t have enough preparation, and she didn’t feel like she did a very good job.”

“It was very, very difficult to parse out what the truth was. But I did agree with what Justice Toll said at the very end. Becky, was not very credible in that evidentiary hearing.”

After the plagiarism scandal, Gordon gave proceeds from the book sales to charity.

When asked did he think Becky Hill may be guilty of these charges or of the claims she tampered with the jury to benefit herself, he was torn.

“All that I know is information is power,” Gordon said. “She enjoyed the limelight. She in law enjoyed the authority that she earned as the clerk of court. What she did with that? Nothing would surprise me.”

Becky Hill was released on a total of $80,000 bond on the four charges.

She is expected back in a Colleton County court July 18 for her next hearing.

Gordon has since co-written a book “Trial Watchers: Why we’re obsessed watching true crime from OJ and Casey to the “Miss Becky” and Murdaugh drama.”

The documentary involving his time with Becky Hill, “Trial Watchers” is available on Amazon.