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Welcome back to another edition of our Week In Review. We had originally planned to take a Thanksgiving break from the show, but events interposed themselves upon us.
One event in particular …
With so many questions swirling around this week’s arrest of Jeffrey “Colt” Hill – son of Colleton County, South Carolina clerk of court Becky Hill – we felt it was important to walk our audience through everything we know about this situation and its potential implications on convicted killer Alex Murdaugh‘s bid for a new trial.
As our Andy Fancher reported earlier this month, agents of the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) were called to investigate allegations of eavesdropping from within the county administration’s technology department. Two weeks after Fancher’s report was published, Jeffrey Hill was arrested by deputies of the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) and charged with a singular count of wiretapping.
Fancher broke that story, too.
“The defendant did willfully and feloniously intercept electronic phone communication,” according to a probable cause affidavit accompanying a warrant for Hill’s arrest. “[He] was employed as the Colleton County information technology director and misused his position to unlawfully intercept, and listen to conversations …”
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Additional charges could be forthcoming, sources close to the investigation confirmed to this media outlet.
As of this writing, Hill’s name has been removed from the county’s website although there has been no official announcement regarding his status. According to sources familiar with the ongoing investigation, Hill was accused of illegally recording conversations involving Meagan Utsey — the deputy administrator for Colleton County.
While no immediate correlation was made between the allegations against Jeffrey Hill and the ongoing Murdaugh saga, Fancher did note in his report that Becky Hill was “forced to surrender her phone to SLED upon the issuance of a search warrant Tuesday evening.”
That revelation has sparked all manner of speculation about this ongoing investigation … and whether it is tied to another ongoing SLED investigation.
(Click to View)
Becky Hill’s office oversaw Murdaugh’s six-week double homicide trial. She was the court official who announced his guilty verdicts to the world on the evening of March 2, 2023. Since publishing her memoir of the trial — Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders — and appearing in a Netflix documentary concerning the proceedings, Hill has been accused of jury tampering by Murdaugh’s attorneys. The allegations by Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, were part of a bombshell motion for a new trial in September.
Hill has denied those allegations – submitting a sworn affidavit earlier this month specifically refuting the tampering claims made by Murdaugh’s lawyers.
In an effort to make sense of how all of this connects, I was joined by research director Jenn Wood – our resident Murdaugh expert. Jenn and I walked through the specifics of Jeffrey Hill’s arrest. We also discussed the search warrant for Becky Hill’s phone – and talked about the potential fallout from these developments on Murdaugh’s bid for a new trial.
In the process, we also dropped a few details even the most zealous Murdaugh watchers probably didn’t know about …
Thanks to everyone who tuned in this week. Once again, your support is what enables everything we do here at FITSNews. If you want to help us continue holding those in power accountable – to continue pushing for reforms that enhance accountability at the institutional level – please consider subscribing today.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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7 comments
Key word-speculation. It is the plan & the design by Murdaugh friendly officials (Duffie Stone, etc) to get AM a new trial. They will stop at nothing, including the character assassination of Clerk Becky Hill & Judge Newman. Bring it-he’s still 100% guilty, but the losers in all of this are the 2 just mentioned & the taxpayers of Colleton County & South Carolina.
Nepotism abound in SC…at every agency.
And let’s guess … he was making in excess of $80k I’ll put my money on that. It’s not what ya know but who ya know. How did he have the ability to work there in the first place, being her son.
I think I read that he makes over $90k for a yearly salary.
My uncle is a prison guard where Alex is being detained. He told me two days ago that Alex is already a fellow inmates'(who is also a high ranking Neo-Nazi), “prison wife.” They’ve been spotted holding hands, making out, & he also walked in on Alex pleasuring said inmate in a supplies closet yesterday afternoon. Nothing was said, & no punishment was doled out to them due to the other inmates high ranking gang affiliation. Also, when it’s just the two of them in a cell together, the inmate has Alex wear skin tight “booty shorts” & wear makeup/earrings. He also only refers to Alwx as ” Alexa.” Apparently, Alex absolutely loves it, & the happy couple are trying to tie the knot to make it official!
I know many people love, admire, and respect Becky Hill. She is innocent until proven guilty.
However, I have known too many people like her. It is a personality type: You would not want to meet one of these people in a dark alley. Stear clear and let SLED investigate.
……..Yawn…..