Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune Information Service by way of Getty Photographs
WALTERBORO, South Carolina—Alex Murdaugh, the exiled South Carolina authorized titan who was already going through a shocking array of legal costs earlier than issues went to a different stage final week when he was charged with murdering his spouse and son, was again in court docket on Wednesday.
He pleaded not responsible.
A Colleton County grand jury final week indicted the 54-year-old former lawyer on two counts of homicide and two counts of possession of a weapon throughout the fee of a violent crime in reference to the June 2021 killings of his 52-year-old spouse, Margaret, and their 22-year-old son, Paul. Authorities say the mom and son have been each discovered fatally shot close to the searching canine kennels on the household’s 1,700-acre property in South Carolina. Murdaugh was the one who referred to as 911.
Prosecutors alleged that Maggie had been killed with an assault rifle whereas apparently making an attempt to flee the scene. Paul had been fatally shot with a shotgun at shut vary.
“The proof all got here again to at least one particular person and that was Alex Murdaugh,” South Carolina Assistant Lawyer Common Creighton Waters mentioned in court docket.
Throughout the bond listening to in Colleton County court docket, Murdaugh sat flanked by his two attorneys as prosecutors argued the previous lawyer ought to be held with out bail. Behind a frail-looking Murdaugh, who had a shaved head and wore a white face masks, sat over a dozen members of the media—and a portrait of his late grandfather who as soon as prosecuted instances in the identical courthouse as a solicitor.
Alex Murdaugh in Colleton County court docket on Wednesday
Jason Ryan
Richard Harpootlian, considered one of Murdaugh’s attorneys, argued for a speedy trial on Wednesday, asking a jury be seated “as shortly as potential.” The request got here after each prosecutors and Murdaugh's attorneys agreed to not focus on the proof of the case in court docket to make sure an unbiased jury pool.
“(Murdaugh) believes he's harmless. He believes the killer or killers are nonetheless at giant,” Harpootlian mentioned after agreeing that his shopper ought to be remanded to jail with no bond as he awaits trial.
Since his spouse and son’s deaths, Murdaugh has been charged with making an attempt to orchestrate his personal homicide in a twisted insurance coverage plot to profit his surviving son, drug trafficking, and a bevy of economic crimes. However no less than till final week, a lot of his alleged misconduct might probably be chalked as much as drug and different issues.
The homicide costs have been poised to vary all of that.
The South Carolina Regulation Enforcement Division (SLED) has mentioned that on June 7, 2021, Murdaugh referred to as for assist round 10:07 p.m. after discovering the 2 close to the canine kennels. On the time, Paul was going through costs in reference to a 2019 boat crash that killed considered one of his pals, 19-year-old Mallory Seashore.
Within the seven-minute 911 name to police, Murdaugh frantically tells an emergency dispatcher his “spouse and baby have been shot badly” and that neither of them have been shifting.
“I’ve been as much as it now. It’s dangerous,” Murdaugh added.
Whereas Colleton County deputies responded to the scene, SLED shortly took over the case and launched a closed 13-month investigation into who killed Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
Murdaugh’s authorized crew has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing, releasing a press release final week insisting that their shopper “needs his household, pals and everybody to know that he didn't have something to do with the murders of Maggie and Paul.”
“He liked them greater than something on the earth,” the attorneys mentioned on behalf of Murdaugh, who was being held in Richland County jail.
Within the months after his household was murdered, Murdaugh discovered himself in large authorized bother after police say he launched the weird try and orchestrate his personal demise for a $10 million insurance coverage payout for his son Buster. Throughout a December bond listening to on costs associated to the scheme, Murdaugh mentioned he solely devised the plan amid grief over the deaths of his spouse and son—and that he was additionally within the throes of a withdrawal from a two-decade dependancy to opioids.
Murdaugh can also be going through 16 state grand-jury indictments, together with 81 counts of economic crimes for allegedly stealing greater than $8 million from purchasers and his former regulation agency. As well as, Murdaugh has been implicated in a number of lawsuits, together with allegations he stole thousands and thousands from a wrongful dealth lawsuit for his former housekeeper and that he conspired to affect the 2019 investigation into the drunken boat crash involving his late son Paul.
A brand new investigation into the 2018 demise of Murdaugh’s former houseskeeper, Gloria Satterfield, on the household residence has prompted authorities to exhume her physique. Murdaugh has not been charged in reference to the demise, however has admitted to funneling thousands and thousands of dollars away from her sons for his personal enrichment.