SLED confirms it has opened two investigations into whether suddenly-famous Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill acted improperly, or criminally, in the trial of Alex Murdaugh.
SLED's rare public statement says one investigation concerns allegations of improper interactions with the jury during Murdaugh’s six-week trial for the murders of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul.
The Colleton County jury took just three hours to return the guilty verdicts. Murdaugh's defense team accuses her of jury tampering, and the judge of letting her get away with it.
The second investigation probes allegations that Hill used her office for personal gain. Two ethics complaints filed last summer alleges Hill allowed a documentary crew to film in the courthouse and had misappropriated a donation to her campaign fund.
State law does not provide a way to kick an elected clerk out of office, but the governor can suspend her from her hundred-thousand-dollar-a-year job if she's indicted. The jurors wouldn't face any penalties unless they're found to have lied under oath at a hearing, if there is one.
