South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh—who is currently facing a total of 48 charges over his alleged scheme to defraud victims out of $6.2 million—opened up for the first time this week about his assisted-suicide plan that fell through in September.
During a virtual bond court hearing on Monday, Murdaugh’s attorney Dick Harpootlian explained his client confessed to taking $4.3 million from the family of housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, and apologized for “mishandling” the funds after the woman slipped and fell in an accident at her home in 2018, according to WCBD-TV. After sharing that Murdaugh needed to return to a treatment facility since he was recovering from opioid addiction, Murdaugh himself spoke to Judge Allison Renee Lee about orchestrating his own shooting via client Curtis Smith to secure a $10 million insurance payout for his son.
“I understand there may be concern I may be a danger to myself,” Murdaugh said, per the Daily Beast. “I made a terrible decision that I regret and frankly I’m embarrassed about. I’m not in that place now.”
He said that on the day of the botched shooting, when he reportedly called police and claimed he was shot by a truck driver on a back-country road, he was in “the throes of withdrawal” and grieving after his wife Margaret and his other son Paul were murdered in June. He admitted to the suicide plan days later.
“I want to deal with these charges appropriately and head-on,” he said. “I want to repair the damage I have done. I want to repeat as many relationships as I can.”
Creighton Waters, representing South Carolina, said Murdaugh should stay in jail and that the state feels he’s been “unhinged” since the assisted suicide attempt. Lee ultimately set a $7 million bond under the conditions that Murdaugh have GPS electronic monitoring, be under house arrest, surrender his passport, waive extradition if he crosses state lines, and undergo drug testing and counseling.
Murdaugh’s 12 state grand-jury indictments over the 48 charges, pertaining to allegations that the lawyer funneled money, could have a maximum prison sentence of 506 years. He first faced the 21 new financial fraud charges last week after a grand jury decided.
“We are not surprised by these new charges relating to Alex’s handling of client funds and law firm fees,” Murdaugh’s spokesperson previously told the Daily Beast. “We have made it clear that Alex regrets that his actions have diverted attention from solving the murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.”
