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New York Post
16-07-2025
- New York Post
New text messages fuel Alex Murdaugh's push for new trial
Newly uncovered text messages between disgraced former attorney Alex Murdaugh and his alleged drug dealer could have dramatically altered the defense's trial strategy and possibly prevented a conviction, according to lead defense attorney Dick Harpootlian. 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. Advertisement 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. serinc 13 Alex Murdaugh gives testimony during his murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse, Feb. 23, 2023. AP Advertisement 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. Advertisement '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. AP 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. Daniel William McKnight Advertisement 13 South Carolina Department of Corrections inmate Alex Murdaugh. AP '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. Advertisement 13 The day before the murders, Murdaugh texted Smith, 'Call me back.' TNS 13 Disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh arrives in court in Beaufort, South Carolina. AP 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. AP '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.' Advertisement 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. AP Advertisement 13 Murdaugh is already appealing his conviction, based in large part on accusations of jury tampering by Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill. AP 13 Alex Murdaugh speaks with his legal team before he is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. AP 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. Advertisement 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. Daniel William McKnight for NY Post '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.' Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! 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.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nancy Mace ran bot army, had staff run fake accounts to boost profile, report claims: ‘It's what she does for fun'
South Carolina's most outspoken member of Congress is reportedly putting her techie background to good use. Mace, a third-term House member with reported ambitions to run for governor, directs staffers to run countless bot accounts and fake social media profiles on her behalf — all with the aim of boosting Mace's content and messaging, according to a new report from Wired Wednesday that cited several unnamed former staffers and a consultant who publicly ended his contract with the congresswoman. The report quoted a deposition from Wesley Donehue, a South Carolina-based campaign consultant who previously worked closely with Mace's campaigns. The deposition, first reported a week earlier by a local conservative news blog, FITS News, was taken by attorneys for Mace's ex-fiancee — whom she accused of sexual assault, along with three other men, in a jarring moment during a congressional hearing. Wired's reporting echoed the claim made by Donehue, who told a court: 'She programs her own bots. She sets up Twitter burner accounts. This is the kind of a thing she does. She sits all night on the couch and programs bots, because she's very, very computer savvy. She controls her own voter database, she programs a lot of her own website, she programs Facebook bots and Instagram bots and Twitter bots. It's what she does for fun.' According to a staffer, Mace would allegedly order her underlings to identify criticism of her on social media; a slew of fake accounts would then pile on the offending account. 'We were congressional staff, and there were actual things we could be doing to help the constituents,' one said. The Independent has reached out to the congresswoman's office for comment. A spokesperson for Mace's team told Wired that they would not comment on the congresswoman's personal life. 'The only relationship the congresswoman cares about is her one with South Carolina,' said Sydney Long, according to the outlet. But that wasn't the case earlier this month when Mace showed a blurry image of what she said was her own naked body — an image she said was taken without her consent — during a congressional hearing as she called for stronger penalties for sexual offenders who film people without their knowledge in private spaces. Instead, Mace dragged four men including her ex-fiancee by name into the hearing and labeled them 'predators.' Patrick Bryant, her ex-fiancee, and the three other men have all maintained their innocence in regard to her accusations. Meanwhile, the deposition that Bryant forced Donehue to give revealed that Mace spent so much of her time on her 'relationships,' despite her staffer's denial, that it was the defining factor leading to Donehue abandoning her as a client and publicly disowning her. According to FITS News, Donehue said under oath that the congresswoman wanted him constantly 'to intervene in her relationship problems with Patrick Bryant' and later 'asked me to blackmail Patrick Bryant'. He went on to call her a 'chronic liar who constantly plays the victim card for her own benefit.' 'Nancy talks about her sex life in a way that I've never heard a client or a woman talk,' Donehue added. 'This goes beyond Patrick. This is with multiple partners. She loves talking about sex,' he claimed. According to Donehue, 'every conversation would devolve into what's going on in her sex life…something that she talked about all the time and I always felt uncomfortable with.' The congresswoman has been one of the most polarizing figures on the Hill since she arrived. A onetime 'NeverTrumper', she like others completed an evolution into a pro-Trump believer that saved her from successive primary challenges backed by both Donald Trump and Kevin McCarthy, the former House speaker. She was one of a small group of GOP rebels who ousted McCarthy as speaker of the House in 2023. She's no stranger to accusations of her own, with staffers calling her abusive and 'toxic'. Between 2023-2024, her office underwent more staff turnover than any other — with every single staff member quitting and being replaced over the course of one year.
