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Disbarred South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh is currently on trial for two homicide charges and accompanying weapons charges. Beyond that, he is staring down nearly a hundred financial charges, drug charges and fraud charges (the latter of which are tied to a bizarre roadside shooting incident from Labor Day 2021).
You can now add a jailhouse contraband charge to the ‘Murdaugh Murders’ crime and corruption saga …
Colleton County authorities have yet to comment on the specifics of the allegation, but Murdaugh is believed by some to be staring down this misdemeanor charge in the aftermath of allegedly receiving contraband material from a family member earlier during the trial. Others are pointing the finger at his attorneys in the aftermath of a jailhouse lunch meeting earlier this week.
News of the Murdaugh misdemeanor was first reported by Avery Wilks of The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier.
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As our audience will recall, on February 9, 2023 this news outlet reported that S.C. circuit court judge Clifton Newman – the man presiding over Murdaugh’s double homicide trial – issued multiple warnings to several members of Murdaugh’s family regarding their behavior in court.
As a result, Murdaugh’s family was instructed to move from its front-row seat at the Palmetto State’s ‘Trial of the Century’ to the back row of seats on the defendant’s side of the Colleton County courthouse.
In addition to improper communication and contact with the defendant, “one family member is alleged to have passed an ‘undisclosed item’ to Murdaugh through a member of his defense team – resulting in a court-ordered drug test of the defendant, whose alleged addiction to opioids has become one of the themes of these proceedings.”
It is not clear whether any other individuals will be charged in connection with Murdaugh’s alleged possession of contraband material.
Murdaugh passed the drug test, incidentally.
(Click to View)
While most of the speculation regarding the contraband charge centered around Murdaugh’s family, sources familiar with the inner workings of the court claimed that Murdaugh’s attorneys were allowed inside a cell with him during lunch on Thursday afternoon.
Such meetings are supposed to take place in a special cell where the lawyers are separated from Murdaugh by a pane of glass, but according to our sources “they went in the cell instead.”
Sources close to the defense disputed that account, however, and the fact the contraband charge is reportedly tied to the incident involving the family member would seem to corroborate that account.
Whatever prompted the charge, Colleton County sheriff’s office deputies had intended to wait until the conclusion of Murdaugh’s double homicide trial to formally submit the paperwork on the misdemeanor but for some unknown reason the warrant was entered this afternoon.
Murdaugh spent the past two days on the stand in Walterboro – testifying on his own behalf in his double homicide trial. These proceedings – which began on January 23 – are expected to conclude at some point next week. At that point, Murdaugh’s fate will be in the hands of twelve Colleton County jurors.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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31 comments
I’ve seen him put ink pens and highlighters in his pockets or notebooks and the deputies have to take them out before leaving the courtroom. I bet he snuck an ink pen out of the courtroom and when they searched him going back to jail, they found it.
I want to know what the judge and the deputy were talking about at recess today?!?
To The Colonel – according to a person in the court it seemed to possibly be related to fan mail that one of them were receiving and they needed to be able to exit first prior to be subject to the crowd. (rumor perhaps)
At this point it feels pretty petty. And overreaching.
Okay, Buster ?
No ? !!! (my bad!)
Agree.
So you think Alex should be above the law? Things are contraband for a good reason.
Didn’t he boast in court about been 500 days clean of opioids , is this his latest lie ?
David if you count back days since he was in detox and then arrested it had been 535 days. So the only reason he is clean is that he has been locked up.
Murdaugh’s sister gave him the Grisham book ,”The Judge’s List”, passed to him through one of his attorneys. The attorney then gave it to him in his cell. While in custody, everything he receives, even books, have to be inspected and cleared before he can receive.
My opion is that Murdaugh’s sister, Lynn Goethe, smuggled the opiod contraband in that John Grisham book.
Sure, Harpootlian and Griffin are defending a drug addict, but I doubt that they would risk their career to aid Murdaugh’s addiction. I don’t know what penalties or sanctions that the SC Bar Association would impose for lawyers trafficking opiods. Fines? Law license suspension or revocation?
If you watch “catching a smuggler (embarrassed) you will know that they are now hiding drugs in the binders of books, and making the paper of the pages out of cocaine. Crazy.
David if you count back days since he was in detox and then arrested it had been 535 days. So the only reason he is clean is that he has been locked up.
Well, Murdaugh is addicted to the pain medicine Oxycodone. I don’t know what the street value is for Oxycodone, or if its price is higher than cocaine. However, since cocaine also involves drug smuggling, I’d guess that the street value of cocaine is higher. But Murdaugh has blown through the $9,000,000 that he stole from clients and his law firm, and relatives.
I think it’s about time a family like this sees that they are not above the law by any means. Those days need to be over. It’s what is wrong with this country today. All of these people thinking they’re entitled to do anything they want to. I am not saying he himself killed anyone, but I do believe his kids have gotten away with some horrible and appalling things that no “ordinary” people like me would ever get away with and it’s disgusting. For a father and mother, along with the rest of the family to be constantly THAT arrogant to think it’s okay is criminal. He did a ton of horrendous things and he should be punished. They need to put the hammer down on all of them.
They don’t get away with everything, though. I thought Buster got expelled from USC law school for plagiarism or cheating. And Big Al had been trying, unsuccessfully, to get him back in.
Yes, that is true. Good point. But there’s so much more.
Not just Alex’s *boys.* Alec himself was a Mischievous Murdaugh as a student, and bragged about his “untouchable” status as a Murdaugh, just as Buster and Paul had done. “Handsome” (Randolph III) got him out of criminal behavior that should have blocked Alec from being admitted to the Bar.
The book itself is the contraband.
I noticed Friday he left with a pen in his shirt pocket
He will not be convicted
He will be found innocent by two jurist.
Hung Jury
The prosecutor got Alex to admit that he left the kennels at about 8:47 pm and Alex said it takes about 2 minutes to get back to the house on the golf cart so that would put him still outside at 8:49 pm which is in the timeline they are surmising the 2 we’re killed. Even if Alex didn’t kill them, which I believe he did, he would have heard the shots because he would have been outside still after leaving the kennels. Plus, he lied about even being down at the kennels with them. There is no reason to lie, if you are innocent.
Why were the police so quick to charge Alex with the murders? What would make him kill his wife and son? Could it be possible that someone outside the family did it bc of the Mallory Beach case? Anthony or Connor stated to 911 that the Murdaugh’s get away with everything. Could one of them want Paul dead since the settlement was spent by Alex for the Mallory Estate and then mom may have walked up on the scene at the wrong time?
Nope! Please know that you are very blessed with being able to question this case any further. For others it’s been triggering traumatic personal experiences. Mentally causing people to step back a few days. Life or death triggers, literally. Vivid memories of worst day(s) of their most personal, vulnerable depths of life. Remembering when and how it happened the last time. Questioning being able to go due to strength, means, safely other side. Stay where, safety and trust. At that period I’m time your very feeble and terrified. Knowing what they’ve secretly been battle behind close doors. Questioning yourself- Knowing now is time to go. Second guessing if it’s leave then or wait until later. But, but what if later never comes in this life.
So quick?? Wasn’t it more than a year before he was charged? Also, no one has ever addressed who put the dogs back in their keels? According to the dog caretaker, they were i “different than usual” cages. If the dogs were still out as in the kennel video, Wwere the dogs ever checked for blood on their feet?
Who are the 2 grey haired men sitting behind Alex in the court room?
Alex looks rough this morning! Could he be detoxing again?
I think AM saw the light. Paul was costing him a lot and his wife maybe leaving him??? He needed more money.