Augusta co-author pulls Murdaugh book, accuses clerk of plagiarism

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The publisher and editor of the Augusta Business Daily is scuttling a book on the Alex Murdaugh trial that he co-authored with an embattled South Carolina court official.

Neil Gordon the co-author of “Behind The Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders,” announced the book will be unpublished and sales will end.

He accuses Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill of plagiarism without his knowledge. Besides plagiarism, she’s been accused of jury tampering, an allegation at the center of the Murdaugh defense’s pursuit of a new trial.

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The book focuses on the case in which Murdaugh, long a prominent South Carolina attorney, was convicted of murdering his own wife and son.

Gordon said he discovered the plagiarism while reviewing thousands of pages of Hill’s e-mails released to reporters through the Freedom of Information Act.

Gordon said he came across an email exchange between Hill and a BBC reporter in which the reporter shared a long excerpt from an upcoming article about the Alex Murdaugh trial on pages 1644 through 1648.

Gordon said he realized Hill lifted the article’s text when he compared it to a 12-page book passage in the preface he said was written by Hill.

“When I confronted Becky about this, she admitted she plagiarized the passage due to deadline pressures,” Gordon said. “As a veteran journalist myself, I cannot excuse her behavior, nor can I condone it.”

Gordon said he notified the BBC reporter about Hill’s actions and was told the media outlet’s attorneys are investigating.

“This has blindsided me,” said Gordon. “Journalism has been my life’s work; my credibility and integrity are paramount to everything I do. I can’t be associated with anything like plagiarism and will no longer partner with Becky Hill on any projects. I’d like to apologize to our readers, and publicly to the BBC and the reporter.”

Hill was also accused of tampering with the jury during the Alex Murdaugh murder trial.

Hill, however, denied the allegations.

Hill’s attorneys Justin Bamberg and Will Lewis released a statement Tuesday afternoon on her behalf.

They described her as remorseful “regarding an allegation of plagiarism.”

They said the “pressures of developing additional content under tight time deadlines” resulted in Hill taking material written by BBC reporter Holly Honderich and submitting it to her co-author Neil Gordon as if it were her own words.

“Ms. Hill accepts full responsibility for this unfortunate lapse in judgment and has personally reached out to Ms. Honderich to express her sincere apologies,” the attorneys said.

“Ms. Hill has great respect for the tireless work journalists do every day and sincerely regrets using Ms. Honderich’s words as her own,” they continued.

According to the Augusta Business Daily website, Gordon launched the business after helping the startup Augusta Press with business reporting, sales and marketing.

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