WALTERBORO, S.C. — Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill has resigned her position, months after her actions during the highly publicized Alex Murdaugh murder trial were called into question. As of Monday afternoon, the Governor's Office has confirmed it has received the letter of resignation.
Hill held a news conference Monday morning outside the Colleton County Courthouse where she made the announcement and also said she would not seek re-election for her office.
"After much reflection, I have decided that it is best not to run again for re-election," Hill said to members of the media. "Managing a trial was such importance to the people of south carolina, as well as of the national and international media, interest and public scrutiny and has caused me to reflect upon decisions involving my stay in the office of the clerk of court."
The announcement comes after Hill has faced scrutiny for her role in the Murdaugh murder trial. In March of last year, the disgraced former Lowcountry lawyer was found guilty of murdering his wife and son, but months after Murdaugh’s conviction, his defense team claimed hill talked to jurors during the trial in an attempt to influence them toward a guilty verdict.
In a hearing this past January, however, former State Chief Justice Jean Toal rejected that argument, saying she didn’t believe Hill’s comments caused jurors to change their vote.
Despite that legal decision, Hill is facing two open investigations by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED): One of the probes involves alleged interactions she may have had with the jury in Murdaugh's trial, while the other involves allegations she used her position for personal gain.
"Today is not in response to any new development of some investigation or anything like that," Justin Bamberg, Hill's attorney, said at the press conference. "The resignation is strictly about the people of Colleton. And again, we're not going to get into any of the investigation stuff and all that as things are still open. But the primary and the main focus of today is what is in the best interests of the constituency, the public. And this ended up being the….out of the options that were on the table, for example, just not running again and staying in office through the election etc, like I mentioned earlier, that ran the risk of detracting or impeding the public's ability to get, digest information from candidates about what they want to offer. So that's why the decision was made."
Hill's position is up for election this year, and Bamberg said her decision to step down is an effort to allow other candidates the chance to run without talk of Hill's alleged misconduct disrupting the process.
"While those candidates were campaigning, every time they mentioned something, every time there’s an article, every time there's a forum and candidates are discussing the future that they seek to create for the courthouse behind us, there will be a degree of a cloud over that because it'll be talking about the sitting clerk, etc.," Bamberg said.
For Walterboro residents like Robert Cook, Hill’s decision makes sense.
"I think that's probably a good thing," Cook shared. "Like I say she's been through enough and they weren't going to leave her alone. It just added to the controversy over the election coming up. So I think it's probably better she did. I hate to see her go because they're good people."
In a prepared statement, Hill said, "I look forward to all that the future holds and will fondly remember the true amazing friendships that I have made serving the people of Colleton County."
News 19 reached out ot the State Ethics Commission, which says it has no comment on the resignation. We asked if the comission is conducting an investigation separately from SLED into Hill, and were told, "Commission can neither confirm nor deny the existence of a complaint."
The Governor's Office says McMaster will "make an appointment to fill the vacancy in the coming days."
Murdaugh was convicted of killing his wife and adult son during a six week trial in early 2023. The trial ended with a conviction on the murder charges after jurors took just three hours to deliberate. Murdaugh was subsequently sentenced to life in prison.
But months later, Murdaugh's attorneys came forward to announce that they believed Hill tampered with the jury, making multiple prejudicial remarks during the proceedings. They claimed they heard from jurors who said Hill told some of them not to trust Murdaugh when he testified in his defense. They said the court clerk, in charge of helping jurors and ensuring the trial ran efficiently, also had private conversations with the jury foreperson and pressured jurors to come to a quick verdict.
Those claims ultimately led them to file a motion for a new trial. In January of this year, those claims were heard by former South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal during a one-day hearing. Toal interviewed jurors about what they heard Hill say, and also had Hill take the stand herself.
In the end, Toal denied the motion for a new trial, believing that the any comments made did not directly influence the jurors' decision to find Murdaugh guilty. Toal said after reviewing the full transcript of the six-week trial, she couldn’t overturn the verdict based “on the strength of some fleeting and foolish comments by a publicity-seeking clerk of court." For her part, Hill denied making any comments. But, Toal said she wasn't sure if Hill was telling the truth, adding that Hill was “attracted by the siren call of celebrity."
Last year, Hill's lawyer admitted she plagiarized material in her book about the trial, "Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders," which she co-authored with journalist Neil Gordon. Sales of that book were then stopped. And in November, Hill's son Jeffrey Hill, the former Colleton County information technology director, was charged with wiretapping. In warrants, SLED accused Jeffrey Hill of illegally listening in on a phone conversation he wasn't a part of back in July of 2023. The conversation was recorded, the warrant states, unbeknownst to either of the other parties.