COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Alex Murdaugh has filed a lawsuit against the court clerk whose behavior during his murder trial led the South Carolina Supreme Court to overturn his convictions and life sentence for the deaths of his wife and son.
The suit filed Sunday in federal court accuses former Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill of violating Murdaugh’s right to a fair trial and seeks punitive and compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees. Murdaugh spent $600,000 on his trial defense, according to the suit.
In a unanimous ruling Wednesday, the state Supreme Court said Hill “egregiously attacked Murdaugh’s credibility” by suggesting to jurors during his 2023 trial that the once-prominent lawyer was guilty and that his testimony could not be trusted.
Murdaugh has denied killing his wife Maggie and younger son Paul since he found their bodies outside their home in 2021.
Murdaugh’s lawsuit accuses Hill of “reckless or callous indifference to Mr. Murdaugh’s federally protected right to trial before an impartial jury” and says her behavior was motivated by “evil motive or intent.”
Hill’s attorney, Will Lewis, did not immediately return a call and email Monday seeking comment.
An attorney for Murdaugh, Jim Griffin, said at a news conference Monday the lawsuit seeks to hold Hill accountable for her behavior and reveal the “entire scope of her conduct.”
“She’s yet to be thoroughly investigated by the state, and she’s not been held accountable by the state,” he said.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, whose office prosecuted Murdaugh, said in a news release that the “Becky Hill matter was previously referred to and reviewed by an independent prosecutor.”
Griffin said Murdaugh got emotional when they talked about the Supreme Court’s decision.
“’I’m reading it. I see it says reversed but I still have a hard time believing it,’” Griffin recalled Murdaugh saying.
A few jurors said Hill, assigned to oversee evidence and the jury during the trial, told them to watch Murdaugh’s body language when he testified in his own defense and to not be fooled, confused or thrown off by what he might say.
The South Carolina Supreme Court said Hill’s motivation was the “siren call of celebrity” and her goal was to increase sales of her book on the trial called “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders.” It was pulled from publication after plagiarism allegations were made.
Hill has pleaded guilty to lying about what she said and did during the trial, including showing graphic crime scene photos to several media members.
Prosecutors say they plan to retry Murdaugh, which likely means there will be another lengthy trial. The case became a true crime sensation with several streaming miniseries, bestselling books and dozens of true crime podcasts.
Investigators said Murdaugh was addicted to opioids and his complex schemes to steal money from clients and his family’s law firm were starting to unravel so he killed his wife and son to divert attention and buy time to find a way out of his problems.
Murdaugh remains in prison. He pleaded guilty to stealing around $12 million from his clients and is serving a 40-year federal sentence at the same time as a 27-year state sentence for his financial crimes.