Alex Murdaugh's Murder Appeal Explodes After Key Court Official Admits to Lying Under Oath| Crime Alert 6AM 12.11.2025

Reading the Alex Murdaugh guilty verdict made her famous; leaking crime scene photos & lying about it just made her a convicted felon. Now his defense is using the newly minted conviction as ammo for his upcoming appeal. 

A Grammy-winning singer is gunned down, his voice and life silence by his own son. Plus, prisoners in SC feeling crabby after their airborne contraband is grounded! Jennifer Gould reports. 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Crime Alert. I'm Nancy Grace, breaking crimes now. The former
South Carolina Colleton County Clerk of Court on the murder
trial of Alex Murdog Becky Hill, pleads guilty to showing
sealed court exhibits to a photographer and lying about it
in court. Judge Heath Taylor sentences Hill to three years probation,
explaining our sentence would be much harsher if it were

(00:23):
ever proof she tampered with the jury. That has not
been proven. Jennifer Gould has the details.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Nancy, the woman whose distinctive trembling voice delivered the guilty
verdict that sealed Alex Murdall's fate, stood before a circuit
judge admitting she secretly handed a photographer the sealed, blood
soaked photos of his slaughtered wife and son, then lied
about it under oath. Former Collection County Clerk of Court,

(00:53):
Becky Hill, fifty eight, tearfully pleaded guilty to four felonies,
two counts of misconduct in office, obstruction of justice, and
perjury for slipping the graphic kennel crime scene images to
media in twenty twenty three and swearing she never did
it during Murda's failed bid for a new trial.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Circuit.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Judge Heath Taylor spared her a single day though behind bars,
sentencing her instead to three years probation and one hundred
hours of community service, stating, quote, your sentence would have
been much harsher if we had found jury tampering end quote.
Confirming the investigation cleared Hill of swaying the twenty twenty

(01:37):
three jury that convicted Murda of murdering Maggie fifty two
and Paul twenty two. The disgraced clerk's misconduct extended beyond
the courthouse secrets. Hill also admitted to pocketing eleven thousand
dollars in unauthorized county bonuses and exploiting her position to

(01:58):
profit from her rushed out book on the case called
Behind the Doors of Justice. Reading the guilty verdict made
her famous. Leaking the photos and lying about it just
made her a convicted felon. Flanked by her husband and lawyer,
Hill spoke to the court, Listen, there is.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
No excuse for my mistakes.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
I am ashamed of them, and I will carry that shame.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
With me for the rest of my life.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
The conviction immediately drew fire from Murdoch's defense team. Attorney
Dick Harpoutlian fired off a statement questioning the integrity of
the jury tampering hearing, saying, quote, if Becky admittedly committed
perjury in the jury tampering hearing, what else did she

(02:45):
lie about? End quote? The disgraced legal sigh On fifty
six is already serving life without parole for the murders
and another twenty seven years for stealing millions from clients.
His appeal reaches the South Carolina Supreme Court in February,
and Hill's newly minted felony conviction is fresh potent ammunition

(03:08):
for his defense. Hill walked out of the Calhoun County
court room of felon but a free woman as Murdochs
fight rages on. For the latest crime and Justice news,
follow Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on your favorite podcast app.
You can also watch Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on
Fox one and YouTube. Nancy, Thanks Jennifer. More Crime and

(03:30):
Justice news. After this, a world renowned opera singer's voice
that once filled grand halls with spiritual grace fell silent
forever in a shocking family bloodbath. Grammy nominated opera baritone

(03:51):
Jubilant Sykes was found butchered inside his own California home,
allegedly by his own son. Family friend Sammy Murphy spoke
to Fox eleven News.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
And it's sad. It's really sad. It's sad for both party,
especially his sign.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
How why would you shoot your dad? Matt, the seventy
one year old musical icon who earned a Grammy nomination
for his role in Leonard Bernstein's Mass and gracefully commanded
the stages of the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall, was
discovered by police with multiple stab wounds following a desperate
nine one one call reporting an assault in progress. Sikes's

(04:32):
wife alerted authorities around nine to nineteen pm to the
family home on Delaware Avenue in the usually tranquiled Pico
neighborhood of Santa Monica. What officers encountered was a blood
soaked nightmare. Sikes gravely injured and pronounced dead at the
scene by the Santa Monica Fire Department personnel. The suspected perpetrator,

(04:54):
thirty one year old Micah Sikes, was found inside the
home and was taken into custody without incident. This immediate
arrest has done little to quell the profound shock rippling
through the artistic community and the Cavalry Baptist Church, where
Sykes remained deeply connected despite his international acclaim having collaborated

(05:18):
with legends like Josh Groban and Carlos Santana. A weapon
was recovered at the scene, and police have classified the
homicide as an isolated domestic incident. Neighbors told local media
that Micah, who lived with his parents, allegedly struggled with
severe mental health issues. No prior calls to police to

(05:40):
the address have surfaced in public records. The events leading
up to the vicious fatal stabbing remain unclear. Micah Sikes
has been booked for homicide, The accused killer remains locked
up on a two million dollar bail. And finally, someone's
about to be in hot water after cops intercepted a

(06:02):
drone loaded with the makings of an insane crab boil
feast and a side of serious contraband over lee Correctional
Institution in South Carolina. The high flying delivery was packed
with King crab legs, steak, old bas seasonings, two big
bags of weed, and two cartons of cigarettes. A true

(06:24):
surf and turf smuggling operation. If you will officers were
ready and waiting, grounding the aerial delivery just before the
inmates could catch a break with their black market dinner.
The prison equipped the inmates were probably a little bit
crabby after the bust. This illegal air mail service tried
to give the jailbirds a holiday feast, but instead the

(06:47):
drone and its illicit fixens are now simply on ice Nancy.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
For the latest crime injustice needs, go to crime online
dot com and please join us for our daily podcast,
Crime Stories, where we've done our best to fine missing people,
especially children, and help solve unsolved homicides. With this crime alert,
I'm Nancy Grace.