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

Episode Date: December 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.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Crime Alert. I'm Nancy Grace. Breaking Crime News now. The former South Carolina Colleton County Clerk of Court on the murder trial of Alex Murdog, Becky Hill, plays guilty to showing sealed court exhibits to a photographer and lying about it in court. Judge Heath Taylor's sentences Hill to three years probation, explaining her sentence would be much harsher if it were ever proved she tampered with the jury. That has not been proven. Jennifer Gould has the details. Nancy, the woman whose distinctive trembling voice delivered the guilty verdict that sealed Alex Murdo'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 Becky Hill 58, 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 2023, and swearing she never did it during Murdo's failed bid for a new trial. Circuit Judge Heath Taylor spared her a single day, though, behind bars,

sentencing her instead to three years probation and 100 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 2023 jury that convicted murder of murdering Maggie 52 and Paul 22. The disgraced clerk's misconduct extended beyond the courthouse secrets. Hill also admitted to pocketing $11,000 in unauthorized county bonuses and exploiting her position to 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. Blanked by her husband and lawyer, Hill spoke to the court. Listen, there is no excuse for my mistakes. I am ashamed of them, and I will carry that shame with me for the rest of my life. The conviction immediately drew fire from Murdoch's defense team. Attorney Dick Harputtlyan 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 lie about, end quote?

The disgraced legal sigh on 56 is already serving life without parole for the murders, and another 27 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 for his defense. Hill walked out of the Calhoun County courtroom a felon, but a free woman as Murdoch's 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 1 and YouTube. Nancy. Thanks, Jennifer. More crime and 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, Jubilant Sykes was found butchered inside his own California home, allegedly by his own son. Family friend Sammy Murphy spoke to Fox 11 News. And it's sad. It's really sad. It's sad for both parties, especially his son. Why would you shoot your dad, man?

The 71-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 911 call reporting an assault in progress. Sykes' wife alerted authorities around 9.19 p.m. to the family home on Delaware Avenue in the usually tranquil Pico neighborhood of Santa Monica. What officers encountered was a blood-soaked nightmare. Sykes gravely injured and pronounced dead at the scene by the Santa Monica fire department personnel. The suspected perpetrator, 31-year-old Micah Sykes, 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 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 the address have surfaced in public records. The events leading up to the vicious fatal stabbing remain unclear. Micah Sykes has been booked for homicide. The accused killer remains locked up on a $2 million bail. And finally, someone's about to be in hot water after cops intercepted a 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 bay seasonings, two big bags of weed and two cartons of cigarettes. A true 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, quipped the inmates were probably a little bit crabby after the bust. This illegal airmail service tried to give the jailbirds a holiday feast, but instead the drum and its illicit fixings are now simply on ice. Nancy.

For the latest crime and justice news, go to crimeonline.com, and please join us for our daily podcast, crime stories, where we do our best to find missing people, especially children, and help solve unsolved homicides. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an I-Heart podcast, Guaranteed Human. Thank you.