Murdaugh clerk of court accused of plagiarizing book about murder trial

COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Publication of the book purporting to give an inside look at the Alex Murdaugh Murder trial, “Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders,” was halted Tuesday amid allegations of plagiarism made by the book’s co-author, Neil Gordon.

Gordon released a statement saying the book’s main author, Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill, took passages in the book from a March 3 BBC News article. Gordan said he was unaware of the plagiarism and immediately took action to alert the BBC News journalist from whom Hill stole the text.

According to Gordon, Hill admitted to plagiarizing the passages and blamed “deadline pressures.” As a result, Gordon and Hill decided to “unpublish the book and cease sales.”

“As a veteran journalist myself, I cannot excuse her behavior, nor can I condone it,” Gordan said. He went on to say that he “can’t be associated with anything like plagiarism and will no longer partner with Beck Hill on any projects.”

News 2 has reached out to Hill for comment.

Hill is already under scrutiny after being accused by the Murdaugh defense team of tampering with the jury to push a guilty verdict. Murduagh’s team has requested a new trial as a result and former S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal has been appointed to preside over the matter.

Hill’s son, Jeffrey Hill, is also facing allegations of misconduct related to his former position as the Colleton County Information Technology (IT) Director. Authorities allege that Hill “misused his position to unlawfully intercept, and listen to the conversation” between several people in July 2023.

He was charged with wiretapping and the case was handed over to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office earlier this month.

Editor’s note: This story is breaking and will be updated.