Court overturns Alex Murdaugh's murder convictions
Fox News correspondent Bryan Llenas reports after the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned Alex Murdaugh's two murder convictions, vacating his life sentences. The court found that clerk Becky Hill improperly influenced the jury, aiming for a guilty verdict to boost her book sales. Despite the overturn, Murdaugh remains incarcerated, serving a 40-year federal sentence for financial crimes.
EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: The woman at the center of the collapse of Alex Murdaugh’s double murder convictions appeared calm and quiet Saturday morning, lounging on a swinging bench outside her South Carolina home after breakfast.
Rebecca "Becky" Hill, who was pictured around 11:45 a.m. on a porch swing drinking from a coffee mug with a small dog nearby, declined to comment on the case Saturday, citing a gag order and pending litigation.
Hill, who is now facing a civil lawsuit from Murdaugh over the scandal, resigned in 2024 after accusations of jury tampering emerged.
FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA CLERK IN MURDAUGH MURDER TRIAL ARRESTED ON MULTIPLE FELONIES
Becky Hill, the former Colleton County clerk of courts in South Carolina, drinks from a coffee mug outside her home on Saturday, May 23, 2026. Hill pleaded guilty last year to obstruction and misconduct charges connected to the murder trial against Alex Murdaugh, whose conviction was reversed earlier this month. He is expected to receive a new trial. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)
She allegedly made prejudicial remarks in front of jurors, including telling them to "watch him closely" so as not to be fooled.
In December 2025, she pleaded guilty to obstruction, perjury and misconduct charges and received a sentence of three years on probation.
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Former Colleton County Court Clerk Becky Hill pictured on a wooden swing in her yard on Saturday, May 23, 2026. Hill resigned from office over allegations of wrongdoing during the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, whose conviction was reversed earlier this month. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)
"There is no excuse for the mistakes I made," she told the court at sentencing last year. "I’m ashamed of them and will carry that shame the rest of my life."
A written opinion from the state's highest court accused her of a "breathtaking and disgraceful effort" to influence the jury and reversed Murdaugh's convictions on May 13.
Former Colleton County Court Clerk Becky Hill closes her eyes with a coffee mug on a swing outside her South Carolina home on Saturday, May 23, 2026. Hill is facing a civil lawsuit from disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh, whose murder convictions in the deaths of his wife and son were reversed earlier this month after Hill allegedly influenced jurors on the case. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)
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The court ruled unanimously that Hill had irreparably tainted the proceedings against Murdaugh in his high-profile trial over the shooting deaths of his son, Paul, and wife, Maggie.
"Both the State and Murdaugh's defense skillfully presented their cases to the jury as the trial court deftly presided over this complicated and high-profile matter," the court wrote. "However, their efforts were in vain because Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill placed her fingers on the scales of justice, thereby denying Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury."
Alex Murdaugh sits in the Colleton County Courthouse with his legal team, including Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, as his attorneys discuss motions in front of Judge Clifton Newman during a December 2022 hearing. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service)
Although Murdaugh will get a new trial, he remains behind bars.
MURDAUGH FAMILY HOUSEKEEPER SAYS WHITE TRUCK ‘HAUNTS’ HER FROM NIGHT OF MURDERS YEARS AFTER
Alex Murdaugh reacts as he addresses the court during his sentencing for stealing from 18 clients at the Beaufort County Courthouse in Beaufort, S.C., on Nov. 28, 2023. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier)
Paul Murdaugh, 22, had been awaiting trial for a deadly boat crash when he and his 52-year-old mother, Maggie, were gunned down on a family property on June 7, 2021.
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Alex placed the 911 call, telling the operator, "It's bad."
"I need the police and an ambulance immediately," he said in a recorded call. "My wife and child were shot badly."
A family photo of Buster, Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh is shown during the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro on March 2, 2023. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier)
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On March 2, 2023, jurors found him guilty of their deaths and he received consecutive sentences of life in prison without parole. After years of appeals, the state Supreme Court reversed those convictions earlier this month.
The former lawyer was separately convicted in state and federal courts of stealing millions of dollars from his own clients.
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Buster Murdaugh drinks coffee on the front porch of his home in Bluffton, S.C., on May 14, 2026. His father, Alex Murdaugh, had his 2023 double-murder conviction overturned by the South Carolina Supreme Court the day before. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
His surviving son, Richard "Buster" Murdaugh," told Fox Nation's "The Fall of the House of Murdaugh" in an interview after the trial that he hadn't been convinced of his father's guilt.
"I do not think that he could be affiliated with endangering my mother and brother," he said. "We have been here for a while now and that’s been my stance."
