New text messages fuel Alex Murdaugh's push for new trial
Harpootlian, a veteran South Carolina defense attorney and former state senator, told Fox News Digital that the texts between Murdaugh and Curtis 'Eddie' Smith, revealed recently by FITSNews, were not provided to the defense during the trial.
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Their absence, he said, may have contributed to a key decision not to call Smith to the stand.
'One of the big decisions in any trial like this is who you call as witnesses,' Harpootlian explained. 'We were not aware of these texts. Had we been, it may have made a difference in our decision. These messages offer new insight into the timeline of drug distributions, some of them happening the very week of the murders.'
13 Newly uncovered text messages between disgraced former attorney Alex Murdaugh and his alleged drug dealer could have possibly prevented a conviction.
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13 Alex Murdaugh gives testimony during his murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse, Feb. 23, 2023.
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Smith, alleged to have been Murdaugh's primary drug supplier, has not been prosecuted, despite what Harpootlian described as evidence suggesting he may have been one of the largest OxyContin distributors in the Palmetto state.
'Everybody else who was indicted pleaded guilty — except Eddie Smith,' he said.
The text messages show that Smith and Murdaugh conversed in the days leading up to Murdaugh's murder of his wife Maggie and his youngest son, Paul, on June 7, 2021, on their family's hunting estate in Colleton County, South Carolina.
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'Hey Brother i need to come get the chech (sic) you got one with you or are you going to be around later,' Smith texted Murdaugh on June 3, four days before the slayings.
Murdaugh replied that he would be back that afternoon and that he 'had to deal with some bulls**t this morning.'
13 Alex Murdaugh, right, confers with defense attorney Jim Griffin during his double murder trial.
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13 A headstone was recently erected for Randolph Murdaugh III and Elizabeth Alexander next to the grave markers for Paul and Maggie Murdaugh at Hampton Cemetery.
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13 South Carolina Department of Corrections inmate Alex Murdaugh.
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'Ok Brother just give me a holler,' Smith texted, later adding, 'Leaving the house now.'
The day before the murders, Murdaugh texted Smith, 'Call me back.'
Within a span of two minutes the morning after the murder, Smith texted Murdaugh, 'Tell me what I heard is not true,' and, 'Call me please.'
Those texts went unreturned, and around 6:30 p.m., and Smith cryptically texted Murdaugh, 'At fishing hole.'
After that message also went unreturned, he texted, '803 *** **13 it will not go through on my phone.'
'Those texts, the ones we don't have, indicate a little more of the timeline of those distributions, and some of them are the week of the murder,' Harpootlian said. 'And we were not aware of those. Had we been aware of these, it may have made a difference in our decision not to call Eddie Smith to the stand.'
He also expressed concern that Smith had not been prosecuted for his alleged role in selling drugs to Murdaugh.
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13 The day before the murders, Murdaugh texted Smith, 'Call me back.'
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13 Disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh arrives in court in Beaufort, South Carolina.
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13 Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian holds Buster Murdaugh's .300 Blackout rifle, similar to the one used to kill Buster Murdaugh's mother during double murder trial.
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'And he has not been prosecuted. [He's] wandering the streets, I heard maybe out of the state, and we're perplexed why Eddie Smith has been given this preferential treatment when once Alex was convicted, there was no reason not to go ahead and prosecute him,' said Harpootlian. 'Everybody else has pleaded guilty. Everybody else that was indicted has pleaded guilty except Eddie Smith. Now these texts would have given us additional information we believe, and I've talked to [co-counsel] Jim Griffin. It might have made the difference in us calling him to the stand or not calling him to the stand. So yes, they're important.'
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Murdaugh is already appealing his conviction, based in large part on accusations of jury tampering by Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill. She was arrested and charged with obstructing justice and misconduct in that incident.
She was also charged with perjury in Richland County in relation to the case, after allegedly lying to State Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal during 2024 appellate proceedings.
'We have an appeal based on errors made by the judge during the trial, and of course, the attempt by — or maybe she did — the efforts by the Clerk of Court, Becky Smith, to fix the jury. And that's a huge issue,' said Harpootlian. 'Many of the people we've had look at the appeal believe we have a substantial chance of getting a new trial, just based on the jury tampering.'
13 Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian speaks to the media outside the Colleton County Courthouse after his defendant Alex Murdaugh was sentenced.
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13 Murdaugh is already appealing his conviction, based in large part on accusations of jury tampering by Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill.
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13 Alex Murdaugh speaks with his legal team before he is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
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He said if they do not win a new trial, there is a possibility that they will file a habeas petition seeking to have the conviction vacated on the same grounds.
'The state's brief on the underlying appeal is due Aug. 8,' he said. 'We have up to 30 days to reply. Then the Supreme Court decides whether to have argument, whether to grant it, whether deny it, and that could take months,' he said, adding that if the appeal is granted Murdaugh will get a new trial.
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Harpootlian says he expects the state's high court to have a ruling on the appeal by early next year at the latest.
'And again, there are all kinds of debates about the evidence and how it was allowed in by the trial judge and whether it should have been excluded or allowed in. And those certainly are important. And we think there's several of them, individually, would give us a new trail,' he said.
13 Harpootlian says he expects the state's high court to have a ruling on the appeal by early next year at the latest.
Daniel William McKnight
13 Alex Murdaugh arriving at court, flanked by law enforcement.
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'But more important is a judge, former Chief Justice of Supreme Court, had an evidentiary hearing on Becky Hill's conduct in which she found: A) Becky Hill was not credible, and B) that Becky Hill did attempt to influence jurors to convict Alex Murdoch. She told several of her coworkers that she was writing a book, and it would be better for book sales if Alex was convicted. So we think that, and there is no clear state precedent on whether that's enough, but there's a clear federal precedent that we should get a new trial. So again, I think we should hear something before the end of the year or early next year.'
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A retrial would likely look very different, Harpootlian said. With Murdaugh having already pleaded guilty to financial crimes, that aspect would be excluded, narrowing the scope to forensic and factual evidence.
The lead attorney believes Murdaugh has a strong defense.
'We had a six-week trial last time because of the financial misconduct. That won't happen again,' Harpootlian said. 'And when you look solely at the forensic evidence, I believe it overwhelmingly proves Alex did not kill Paul and Maggie.'
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which led the investigation, and Prosecutor Creighton Waters did not return comment requests.
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