What Murdaugh's Lead Investigator Denied Under Oath

**Tony Brueski** (0:00)
This is The Big Breakdown, a long look back at some of the biggest stories we're covering for you at the Hidden Killers Podcast and True Crime Today. This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Brueski and Robin Drake.

**Tony Brueski** (0:17)
Alec Murdaugh, let's talk about old Alec. His case just moved twice in two days. A federal judge has now thrown out Murdaugh's $600,000 lawsuit against Becky Hill, the former clerk whose jury interference got his murder convictions overturned. The next day, his lawyers have filed a motion demanding prosecutors dig back through every file and every agency for anything that could help him before the April retrial through a Brady Giglio motion. Jennifer Coffindaffer, retired FBI special agent is here with us to discuss. Let's talk about the lawsuit getting thrown out. First of all, I found it kind of interesting. $600,000 was at play. It was really never about the money. That was the vehicle to get the lawsuit going. But when studying the argument, you can hate Alec Murdaugh and he can still make valid arguments.
600 grand, he says, he spent out of his retirement accounts to pay his attorneys. And then because Becky Hill screwed up the trial, now he has to do this all over again. So because she screwed it up, that tainted the pool. All that money I spent, even though he lost, well, he's out it. He's already paid it. He should get that paid back since he has to go back and do this all over again. The court said, nope, she wasn't the true cause, the injury, if you will, to this. And you don't get that money back. I don't know. I kind of agree with Alec on that one. She tainted the pool. She should probably pay. But the judge did keep the door open and said, you know, after the next trial, you might still be able to bring this one back and you still might be able to try and get Becky a bill.
What are your thoughts? Was this the right call to toss it out on the grounds that they did?

**Jennifer Coffindaffer** (2:03)
Well, first of all, Alec Murdaugh, it's nauseating to me. No matter what, he has to go to trial. That first trial is happening with or without Becky Hill. So he was going to go to trial no matter what. So the preposterous notion that Becky Hill has to pay for his trial, that he would have had to do no matter what, is just that preposterous. Okay, so just on the face there.
Becky Hill screws the pooch in the first trial, which is also nauseating that she stuck her nose and her mouth and idiotically decided to jab her badly about Alec Murdaugh, ruining that conviction, and now he has to do it again. He should be doing jumping jacks and whistling Dixie that she screwed up.

**Tony Brueski** (3:02)
He's probably whistling Dixie. He does seem like someone who might whistle Dixie from behind bars. Like, what's that sound? It's just Alec. He's whistling Dixie again.

**Tony Brueski** (3:13)
Can you tell him to shut up?

**Tony Brueski** (3:16)
Ten o'clock at night, I'm drowning in sleep.
You can see that being a problem. It's Alex doing Dixie. Yeah, I mean, put it this way. I mean, it's funny to argue this, but if you're having a pool party and Becky Hill decides to show up and pour toxic acid into the pool, and you have to cancel, the pool party gets canceled. You got to drain the pool. You got to bring everybody back. The caterer has to come back. Everything has to be rehired. You got to pay for it all again. She's the one who screwed it up. I think she's liable for that.

**Jennifer Coffindaffer** (3:57)
Well, no matter what, you would have paid for your pool party.

**Tony Brueski** (4:02)
You would.

**Jennifer Coffindaffer** (4:03)
You would.

**Tony Brueski** (4:03)
But you got a case against the person that destroyed it too on purpose.

**Jennifer Coffindaffer** (4:07)
Well, that's the thing. She didn't do it on purpose.

**Tony Brueski** (4:11)
Or does she just have to? She did it on purpose.

**Tony Brueski** (4:13)
No.

**Jennifer Coffindaffer** (4:14)
Her words were on purpose. Yes. I don't think she had any idea the impact that it would have. I really don't.

**Tony Brueski** (4:23)
Because she's an idiot.

**Tony Brueski** (4:24)
You can't fix that part.

**Jennifer Coffindaffer** (4:26)
You can't fix that part. I mean, I was wondering how many other times she decided to song her.

**Tony Brueski** (4:33)
So do I. I think every single case that's ever been near this woman, it should be reviewed for whatever she decided to be a songbird at. But it is an interesting argument. But the argument is, well, she can pay for your second one, maybe, if they want to bring a second suit off of this after the second trial. So she's obviously not in prison, but she's also not even now having to pay $600,000. The big point of the whole thing though, was to get into discovery or to get people in for depositions in ways that they didn't necessarily have the levers of doing through the criminal process. That's why the civil area existed. It's also know why they filed the Brady Gigli motion.