Alex Murdaugh’s bizarre botched hitman plot can be presented at murder trial, judge rules in reversal

Three months on from the double murders, Murdaugh allegedly paid a hitman to shoot him dead so that his son Buster would receive a $10m life insurance windfall

Testimony about Alex Murdaugh’s bizarre botched hitman plot will be admitted as evidence in his double murder trial, the judge ruled in a reversal of his own decision hours earlier.

The move clears the way for the man accused of being Mr Murdaugh’s co-conspirator and drug dealer to take the stand.

Judge Clifton Newman made his final ruling on the matter at the end of proceedings on Wednesday afternoon in the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.

Earlier in the day, Judge Newman had sided with the defence in determining that jurors cannot hear evidence of the September 2021 roadside shooting because it is a “bridge too far” to the state’s attempt to establish a motive for the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul.

“The financial evidence was allowed on the issue of motive. This evidence, I find, goes beyond motive or is not evidence of motive, but more toward common scheme or plan,” he said on Wednesday morning.

“It does not survive the logical relevancy test. And it goes more toward showing propensity to commit violent acts, which would cause it not to survive [Rule] 403 analysis. I believe that to allow this evidence is a bridge too far.”

Just hours later, Judge Newman changed his mind and agreed to allow the testimony as a result of the defence “opening the door” to the incident in its cross-examination of SLED Special Agent David Owen.

On 4 September 2021 – three months on from the double murders on 7 June 2021 – Mr Murdaugh was suddenly shot in the head along the side of a road in Hampton County.

He survived and called 911, claiming he was ambushed in a drive-by shooting while he was changing a tire on his vehicle.

He was taken to hospital where he was treated for what police called a “superficial gunshot wound to the head”.

But, Mr Murdaugh’s story about the incident quickly unravelled.

One week later on 13 September, he confessed to law enforcement that he had orchestrated the whole saga, paying an alleged hitman to shoot and kill him in an assisted suicide plot so that his surviving son Buster could get a $10m life insurance windfall.

He told investigators that he had paid Curtis “Eddie” Smith – a former law firm client, distant cousin and allegedly his drug dealer – to carry out the shooting.

Both he and Mr Smith were arrested and charged over the incident.

Alex Murdaugh listens to a witness during his double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse (Jeff Blake Photo)

One day before the shooting, Mr Murdaugh had been confronted by partners at his law firm PMPED about stealing millions of dollars from clients. He was forced to resign. A day after the shooting, he then entered rehab for a 20-year opioid addiction.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters wanted to bring evidence of the incident up at the murder trial, saying that it forms part of Mr Murdaugh’s pattern of lying and creating violence in order to make himself a victim.

He pointed to the reaction of previous witnesses to the incident, revealing that they feared the killers of Maggie and Paul were “back” to kill Mr Murdaugh.

“The initial reaction was, ‘Oh my gosh, the real killers are back. The bad guys are back. Now they’re targeting Alex,’” he said.

Defence attorney Dick Harpootlian argued that the incident is irrelevant to the murder trial saying it is linked to his financial crimes but not the killings of Maggie and Paul.

Judge Newman sided with the defence.

While he said this decision may change as the trial progresses, his ruling could now impact whether or not the state calls Mr Smith to the stand.

Mr Smith’s testimony has been hotly-anticipated since the start of the trial after he was listed as a witness for the state.

As well as his alleged co-conspirator in the botched hitman plot, Mr Smith is a former law firm client, distant cousin and allegedly drug dealer of Mr Murdaugh.

He is also charged in connection to Mr Murdaugh’s financial fraud schemes and is accused of helping him with a drug and $2.4m money laundering ring.

Mr Smith is currently awaiting trial on a string of charges involving Mr Murdaugh including assisted suicide, assault and battery of a highly aggravated nature, pointing and presenting a firearm, insurance fraud, and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

Now, it appears unlikely that he will be called as a witness by prosecutors – perhaps less likely given the defence’s eagerness to cross-examine him.

On Tuesday, prosecutor Creighton Waters said that while Mr Smith is on the witness list “I didn’t say we would be calling him.”

Defence attorney Dick Harpootlian laughed and said “the cross-examination of Mr Smith is something I’m looking forward to”.

Prior to the trial, Mr Murdaugh’s attorneys sought to raise questions as to whether Mr Smith may have some involvement in Maggie and Paul’s murders.

Alex Murdaugh seen in bodycam footage on night of murders (Colleton County Sheriff’s Office)

In October, the defence claimed that Mr Smith failed a lie detector test when asked about their murders.

On Monday, prosecutors said that the state was on track to finish its case on Wednesday.

The plot, described as the “side of the road” incident, marked one of the most bizarre twists in the sprawling scandal which has enveloped the disgraced heir to a prominent South Carolina legal dynasty over the past 20 months.

Prosecutors claim that Mr Murdaugh shot dead Maggie and Paul at the dog kennels on the family’s sprawling 1,700-acre estate at around 8.50pm on the night of 7 June 2021.

Mr Murdaugh claims he was asleep at the house and woke up and went to visit his mother. When he returned, he said he found his wife and son’s bodies.

Prosecutors allege that Mr Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his string of alleged financial crimes – at a time when his multi-million-dollar fraud scheme was on the brink of being exposed.

Meanwhile, the defence is seeking to paint him as a family man who could not have carried out the brutal murders because he loved his wife and son.

The brutal double murders brought to light a series of scandals surrounding Mr Murdaugh including unexplained deaths, the multi-million-dollar fraud scheme and the botched hitman plot.

At the time of the murders, Paul was awaiting trial over the death of Mallory Beach – a 19-year-old woman who died in a 2019 crash in the Murdaugh family boat.

Paul was allegedly drunk driving the boat at the time and crashed it, throwing Beach overboard. Her body washed ashore a week later. Paul was charged with multiple felonies over the boat wreck and was facing 25 years in prison at the time of his murder.

The Beach family sued Mr Murdaugh and a lawsuit hearing was scheduled for the week of the murders. It was postponed following Maggie and Paul’s murders.

Days on from the shootings, an investigtion was then reopened into the 2015 death of Stephen Smith, who was found dead in the middle of the road in Hampton County.

The openly gay teenager, 19, had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and his death was officially ruled a hit-and-run. But the victim’s family have long doubted this version of events, with the Murdaugh name cropping up in several police tips and community rumours.

An investigation was also reopened into another mystery death connected to the Murdaugh family – that of the Murdaugh’s longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield.

She died in 2018 in a mystery trip and fall accident at the family home. Mr Murdaugh then allegedly stole around $4m in a wrongful death settlement from her sons.

Mr Murdaugh, 54, is facing life in prison for the murders of his wife and son. He has pleaded not guilty.