In a significant turn of events in St. Matthews, South Carolina, a key figure in the high-profile murder trial of attorney Alex Murdaugh has admitted to criminal wrongdoing. On Monday, former Colleton County Clerk of Court, Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill, entered a guilty plea to charges stemming from her involvement in the trial. Hill was accused of improperly revealing sealed court exhibits to a photographer and subsequently lying about her actions in court.

Hill faced a total of four charges. These included obstruction of justice and perjury related to her unauthorized disclosure of photographs that were meant to remain confidential. Additionally, she was charged with two counts of misconduct in office for accepting bonuses and leveraging her public position to promote a book she authored about the trial.

Judge Heath Taylor presided over the case in Colleton County Circuit Court and imposed a sentence of three years of probation on Hill. During the proceedings, Judge Taylor emphasized that the consequences would have been more severe had there been evidence of jury tampering during the Murdaugh trial.

Hill apologizes for her crimes

In a brief statement to the court, Hill expressed remorse and sought forgiveness, acknowledging the gravity of her actions. “There is no excuse for the mistakes I made. I’m ashamed of them and will carry that shame the rest of my life,” she stated, reflecting on her breach of trust and the enduring impact of her decisions.

“There is no excuse for the mistakes I made. I’m ashamed of them and will carry that shame the rest of my life,” she said.

Hill was in charge of taking care of the jury, overseeing exhibits and helping the judge during Murdaugh’s six-week trial that ended with murder convictions for killing his wife and son. The case involved power, danger, money and privilege and an attorney whose family had lorded over his small South Carolina county for nearly a century.

Hill has played a prominent part as Murdaugh appeals his convictions and a sentence of life without parole. His lawyers said Hill tried to influence jurors to vote guilty and that she was biased against Murdaugh for her book.

Prosecutors investigated jury tampering allegations

Prosecutors said they investigated jury tampering allegations. But while three jurors or alternates said Hill told stories that changed about how she may have tried to influence them, 11 said she did nothing wrong.

“I would be facing a trial with 11 witnesses coming in to say everything the state is saying is not true,” Solicitor Rick Hubbard said.

During Monday’s hearing, Hubbard told the judge that a journalist told investigators that Hill showed graphic crime scene photos to several media members. He did not name the journalist.

The photos were posted online and Hubbard said metadata from the images matched up with a time where Hill’s courthouse key card said she was inside the locked room where the photos were kept.

Murdaugh is also serving a separate sentence of decades in prison for admitting to stealing millions of dollars from settlements for clients who suffered horrible injuries or deaths — and from his family’s law firm.

An initial appeal by Murdaugh’s lawyers was denied. But Judge Jean Toal said she wasn’t sure Hill told the truth about her dealings with jurors and was “attracted by the siren call of celebrity” status.

Along with showing the sealed exhibits, an arrest warrant said Hill lied to Toal during a January 2024 hearing when the judge asked: “Did you allow anyone from the press to view the sealed exhibits?”

Hill admitted taking money from her office

One of the charges — misconduct in office — involved money that investigators said Hill took for herself. She brought a check to court on Monday to pay back nearly $10,000 meant for bonuses from federal money meant to improve child support collection and about $2,000 in money from the Clerk of Court’s office.

The warrant on the other misconduct charge said Hill used her public role as clerk of court to promote her book on the Murdaugh trial on social media.

The judge said he knows Hill has been more humiliated than most people who come before him because of all the attention from the true crime world on the Murdaugh case.

“ A lot of boats got swept up in the hoopla that was at that trial,” Taylor said. “A lot of folks probably made a lot of money, but you didn’t.”

Hill was also accused last May of 76 counts of ethics violations. Officials said Hill allowed a photo of Murdaugh in a holding cell to be taken to promote her book on the trial and used county money to buy dozens of lunches for her staff, prosecutors and a vendor.

Hill also struck a deal with a documentary maker to use the county courtroom in exchange for promoting her book on the trial, which later she admitted had plagiarized passages, according to the South Carolina Ethics Commission complaint.

Hill resigned in March 2024 during the last year of her four-year term, citing the public scrutiny of Murdaugh’s trial and wanting to spend time with her grandchildren.

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This story corrects Hill’s sentence to three years of probation.