Jurors Will Hear About Disgraced Attorney Alex Murdaugh’s Alleged Suicide-For-Hire Plot, Judge Rules

Judges decide whether disgraced South Carolina Alex Murdaugh is an attorney murdered His wife Maggie and his son Paul will find out about his suicide-for-hire plot. It is the latest loss in a long string of losses for the defense department.

Early in the proceedings on Wednesday morning, Judge Clifton Newman ruled that the details around Murdaugh’s alleged attempt to hire someone to kill him would Not Buzzfeed News, be heard reported. After questioning a witness, Newman reversed his decision a few hours later.

Newman said during his initial ruling that he was only barring the evidence for the time being, saying that previous defense questioning had opened the door for evidence about Murdaugh’s Other alleged crimes. Jim Griffin, defense attorney, asked David Owen (an agent with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) if he had found out that Murdaugh was paying Curtis. “Eddie” Smith would receive $50,000 per week to purchase drugs. Griffin then asked Owen whether investigators had gathered evidence via cell phones. “drug gang members” Smith, through Murdaugh owed money to.

“Did you ever conduct a cellphone analysis of these drug gang members to see where they were on the night of June 7?” Griffin asked the agent.

Owen replied that he didn’t have the gang members’ phone numbers, but that the only phones near the crime scene were first responders.

Griffin then asked if Owen had taken any DNA evidence from the gang members to check it against the evidence found under Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernails. Owen said investigators hadn’t taken DNA from the gang members.

It was then that Newman changed his ruling to allow evidence about Murdaugh allegedly hiring Smith to kill him to give a more detailed account of Murdaugh and Smith’s relationship.

Murdaugh is said to have hired a friend to murder him so his son Buster could get a $10,000,000 life insurance payout. Murdaugh, according to police, claimed that a stranger shot him in the side road. Smith was actually the stranger.

When prosecutors questioned SLED agent Owen, he testified that it was Murdaugh’s alleged inconsistencies the night of the murders that led him to being the top suspect in the death of his family.

Earlier this month, Newman ruled that he would allow prosecutors to bring up Murdaugh’s other alleged crimes during the trial to decide if he killed his wife and son. Newman indicated that the defense “opened the door” to allow that evidence in when they questioned Murdaugh’s friends about his character.