The suit against the former Colleton County clerk of court claimed her interactions with the jury violated his constitutional right to a fair trial.
Those same interactions would later be what caused his 2023 double-murder convictions of his wife and son to be overturned earlier this year. Hill was never criminally charged with jury tampering after the 2023 murder trial. Instead, she was handed felony charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office in 2025.
Murdaugh sought $600,000 in damages from Hill to pay for the legal costs of the first murder trial. The dismissal cites the fact that Murdaugh would have to have paid that money regardless of any wrongdoing from Hill.
“Plaintiff’s [Murdaugh’s] claim contains a fatal flaw,” the suit reads. “...the lack of a causal connection between the funds he expended for his defense in the first trial and Defendant’s [Hill’s] misconduct. Defendant had no role in the initiation of criminal charges against Plaintiff.”
The alleged killer is scheduled to be retried early next year.
