The South Carolina Supreme Court didn't split on this. All five justices agreed — Becky Hill's comments to the jury during Alex Murdaugh's murder trial were improper enough to reverse the conviction. The court found Hill told jurors not to be fooled by defense evidence, to watch Murdaugh's body language, and that deliberations shouldn't take long. Her motive, according to the ruling: a book deal that needed a guilty verdict to sell. Hill pled guilty to perjury in December 2025 for lying about her actions under oath.

The justices also took apart former Chief Justice Jean Toal's handling of the new trial motion. Toal applied the wrong legal standard, putting the burden on Murdaugh instead of requiring the State to prove the comments couldn't have influenced the verdict. The court said the State failed that test. Toal also improperly questioned individual jurors about whether the Clerk's statements changed their votes — a direct violation of jury deliberation protections.

The ruling sets boundaries for retrial. Prosecutors spent twelve-plus hours on financial crimes evidence the first time around. The court called it excessive and ordered any future trial to limit that material to evidence directly tied to the motive theory. AG Alan Wilson says the State will retry. Murdaugh remains incarcerated on his financial convictions.

At the same time, our ongoing interview with Blanca Simpson — the Murdaugh family's housekeeper for fifteen years — continues to surface details the first investigation apparently had no interest in pursuing. An unidentified truck at the property. A tractor with a digging bucket heading toward the fields. Alex asking Blanca to confirm a shirt she knew he wasn't wearing. And SLED allegedly telling her to get professional help when she tried to share what she saw.

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