Practically three years after disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh was convicted of slaughtering his spouse and son, he’s holding his head down and nostril clear whereas his legal professionals craft an attraction.
The imprisoned scion of a South Carolina authorized dynasty is working a jail job, staying largely out of hassle, and urgent ahead together with his case, in accordance with a report.
Murdaugh, 57, is serving two life sentences with out parole for the June 2021 killings of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
He’s additionally serving concurrent 40-year federal and 27-year state sentences for monetary crimes.
South Carolina Division of Corrections information present Murdaugh has labored as a wardkeeper’s assistant since August 2023.
A wardkeeper’s assistant is accountable for day-to-day operations at a jail, comparable to serving to handle the housing unit the place inmates stay.
That very same month, he was disciplined for feeding info to a documentary crew and barred from cellphone use and canteen purchases for 30 days, in accordance with his inmate document. He has remained infraction-free since.
His lawyer, Dick Harpootlian, mentioned Murdaugh spends a lot of his time targeted on his attraction.
“You may speak to him, in contrast to regular purchasers who don’t have any idea of the appellate course of or how all this works,” Harpootlian advised the Each day Mail. “He’s as a result of he’s a lawyer, so we speak about the place we’re at and what we expect the grave points are with the case and what our weaknesses are.”
Harpootlian mentioned they converse weekly and described his shopper as being in good spirits.
“I feel Alex understands he did a nasty factor in stealing all that cash,” Harpootlian mentioned. “He’s adamant he didn’t kill Paul and Maggie. He all the time has been … and after we get a good trial, I feel the jury will decide he didn’t do it.”
Murdaugh is hopeful a couple of new trial, his lawyer mentioned, however cautioned the inmate is “not assured of something.”
Behind the scenes, the household dynamic seems much more strained.
Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster, and daughter-in-law, Brooklynn, have stayed away, a supply advised the outlet.
The insider mentioned Buster carries “lots of anger concerning the lack of his mother and brother” and avoids discussing the case.
“Whether or not or not Alex killed them, he positively did sufficient to tarnish Buster’s identify endlessly, and he’s indignant about that,” the supply mentioned.
Murdaugh’s attraction heads again to courtroom Feb. 11, when his authorized staff and the South Carolina Legal professional Normal’s Workplace will argue earlier than the state Supreme Courtroom in Columbia.
The attraction facilities largely on allegations that former Colleton County Clerk of Courtroom Becky Hill tampered with the jury throughout Murdaugh’s homicide trial.
Hill pleaded responsible in December to obstruction of justice, perjury, and two counts of misconduct in workplace after admitting she confirmed sealed crime scene pictures to a reporter and lied about it.
She additionally admitted to selling her ebook concerning the trial by her public workplace.
Hill was sentenced to probation. Prosecutors mentioned they discovered inadequate proof to show jury tampering.
Attorneys for Murdaugh argue that Hill’s conduct tainted the trial and jurors shouldn’t have heard in depth testimony about his monetary crimes.
“By the point the jury heard two-and-a-half weeks of testimony about him stealing $12 million from invalids and orphans, he was so vilified it didn’t matter what [Murdaugh] mentioned on the stand,” Harpootlian mentioned.
Prosecutors keep the decision was sound.
Former South Carolina Supreme Courtroom Justice Jean Toal beforehand dominated Hill’s conduct didn’t have an effect on the end result.
Harpootlian mentioned he nonetheless believes two shooters carried out the killings.
“There may be strategic proof to point that’s right,” he mentioned. “Two totally different weapons capturing two totally different folks … The forensics helps two folks [committing the crime].”
