This week on Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: When Court Staff Screw Up
The headlines from a courtroom are usually about whoever is sitting at counsel table. This week the more interesting characters are sitting at the desk along the side of the room, or standing by the door, or in some cases not in the room at all anymore. Three recent stories about court staff who did things that nobody who works in a courtroom is supposed to do.
The first one broke today.
The Clerk Who Wrote the Book
This morning the South Carolina Supreme Court unanimously overturned Alex Murdaugh’s two murder convictions and ordered a new trial. The reason is not new evidence, not a flaw in the state’s case, and not a problem with the jury charge. The reason is Becky Hill, the Colleton County Clerk of Court.
In a 5-0 decision, the court found that Hill made comments to jurors during the 2023 trial that nudged them toward conviction. One juror reported that Hill told them not to be fooled by the defence and to “watch him closely” when Murdaugh testified. The court said Hill “placed her fingers on the scales of justice.” After two years of motions, hearings, and a previous denial of a new trial application, that finding has now blown the murder verdict out of the file.
The reason this one belongs in Weird and Wacky Wednesdays rather than just the news of the day is what Hill was doing on the side. While the most-watched trial in the state was running through her courtroom, she was writing a tell-all book about it. She showed sealed exhibits to a reporter while the trial was live. She used her court position to promote the book after publication. She pleaded guilty in December 2025 to perjury, obstruction of justice, and misconduct in office, and she received three years of probation.
Murdaugh stays in prison for now, serving 27 and 40 year concurrent sentences for a long list of financial crimes. But the murder file is back to the start of the docket. The clerk who was supposed to make sure the trial happened correctly is the reason it has to happen again.
Deleted Because They Hurt My Credibility
On April 29, Raleigh County, West Virginia, suspended its sitting Circuit Court Clerk, Brianne Steele, after she was charged with two misdemeanours: interference and providing false information to law enforcement, and obstruction with threats of harm. The charges trace back to a September 2025 incident in which officers asked her to turn over her phone.
She gave them her phone. She did not mention that she had deleted some messages first.
When officers eventually recovered those messages, they asked her why she had gotten rid of them. According to the criminal complaint, Steele told them she had deleted the messages because, in her own words, they “hurt her credibility.”
That is a refreshingly direct answer. It is also possibly the worst sentence a sworn officer of the court can say out loud to investigators who are holding her phone. Steele is on paid suspension while her case moves through the system. The chief deputy clerk is running the office in the meantime.
The Bailiff in the Hallway
On March 24, in Franklin County, Ohio, a 49 year old woman went to the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court to file a complaint about a court appointed guardian ad litem in her own family law file. She was sent to Judge Monica Hawkins’ courtroom. The bailiff there was Kelli Johnson.
Whatever happened inside the courtroom, the part everybody has now seen is what happened in the hallway. Security cameras caught it. Johnson followed the woman out of the courtroom and pushed her. The woman said she would report her. Johnson pushed her again. The woman pulled out her phone to start recording. Johnson smacked the phone out of her hand.
A bailiff’s job is to keep order in a courtroom. There is no portion of the job description that involves clearing the hallway by hand. Johnson resigned on March 30. She has been charged with disorderly conduct and criminal mischief, and pleaded not guilty in April. Three days after the altercation, Judge Hawkins also stepped down as the court’s administrative judge, although she remains on the bench.
Three different counties, three different desks, three different versions of court staff doing things nobody asks court staff to do.
See you next week.
