WALTERBORO, South Carolina –
The once powerful and now disbarred South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murdering his wife and son 13 months ago.
Prosecutors agreed to keep the evidence secret amid media attention. His defense said Murdaugh can’t afford any bail and wants a speedy trial because he “believes the killer or killers are still at large.”
The prosecution said all evidence shows he was responsible for the fatal shootings.
“The evidence in this case is substantial and everything points to Alex Murdaugh. There is forensic evidence as well as other evidence of his guilt for these murders,” said state assistant attorney general Creighton Waters.
“Our response to that is that you are wrong. And that’s why a jury will sit on that jury box,” defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said.
Murdaugh has been behind bars since October, accused of financial crimes and several other crimes that were discovered after the murders of his wife Maggie, 52, and their 22-year-old son, Paul, on the family’s hunting ground. in Colleton County in June 2021. .
Murdaugh, 54, was charged last week with two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
The indictment was not read in court Wednesday, and court documents released to date do not indicate how police linked Murdaugh to the deaths after a 13-month investigation. They also contain no clues as to why a man who had no criminal record and was part of a wealthy and well-connected family that dominated the legal community in the small town of Hampton might have wanted to kill members of his own family.
Authorities have been quiet since the beginning of the investigation. Last year, they released the late-night 911 call in which Murdaugh reported finding the bodies of his wife and son outside the kennels on his property. The coroner said both victims had been shot multiple times. The indictments add a new detail: an allegation that Murdaugh killed his wife with a rifle and his son with a shotgun.
“It was abundantly clear from day one that the police and attorney general prematurely concluded that Alex was responsible for the murder of his wife and son,” the defense wrote before Wednesday’s hearing. “But we know that Alex had no reason to kill them.”
Circuit Judge Clifton Newman presided. He also denied Murdaugh’s bail on the financial crimes charges. A different judge later set bail at $7 million, but Murdaugh was unable to pay it and remained in jail. His attorneys have repeatedly complained that bail was set too high, saying that due to lawsuits and frozen assets, Murdaugh couldn’t even afford to buy underwear at the jail store.
If convicted of murder, Murdaugh faces 30 years to life in prison without parole. Under state law, prosecutors can also choose to seek the death penalty because more than one person was killed.
The four new accusations related to the murders add to a pile of 80 other charges brought against Murdaugh by investigators who have looked at every part of his life over the past year. No trial dates have been set for either case.
Prosecutors said the once-prominent attorney stole more than $8 million in settlements and other money from clients, committed fraud and lied to police in trying to arrange his own death so his surviving son could collect on a life insurance policy. of $10 million. Murdaugh was also charged last month with co-running a $2 million drug and money laundering ring.
The murder charges and other cases are being prosecuted by the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office due to ties Murdaugh has to the local 14th Circuit Attorney’s Office. The office’s jurisdiction includes Colleton County and Hampton County, where Murdaugh’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather were the elected prosecutors for 87 consecutive years.