The hitman that disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh paid to kill him in a failed suicide-for-hire plot was his primary oxycodone supplier.
His alleged co-conspirator Curtis Eddie Smith, who is facing more serious firearm and assault charges, supplied Murdaugh, 53, with oxycodone throughout his addiction, the disgraced lawyer told police.
At his bond hearing on Thursday Murdaugh's lawyer described his client's 20-year opioid addiction while he fell from grace and current ‘ruinous’ financial state following the murder of his wife and son.
In a moment of drama Dick Harpootlian appeared to play to the press, who crowded the courtroom, as he gestured to his gaunt client and said: 'If anyone wants to see the fact of what opioid addiction does, you’re looking at it.’
Hitman Cirtus Eddie Smith (left), who disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh (right) paid to kill him in a failed suicide-for-hire plot was his primary oxycodone supplier
Alex Murdaugh was granted $20,000 bail to return to rehab immediately after his attorney revealed he is broke and has been addicted to opioids for 20 years
Murdaugh shooting suspect Curtis Edward Smith, 61, is seen at his bond hearing Thursday morning at Hampton County Detention Center where his bail was set at $55,000
In a moment of drama his attorney Dick Harpootlian appeared to play to the press who crowded the courtroom as he gestured to his gaunt client and 'if anyone wants to see the fact of what opioid addiction does, you’re looking at it’
Harpootlian went onto claim that the June 7 murder of Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, 52, and younger son, Paul, 22, at the family's hunting lodge ‘put him over the edge'.
The attorney also pointed to his client’s previous ‘blemishless character ‘and appealed to the judge’s sympathies saying: ‘He has fallen from grace. But before any of this falling happened his wife and son were brutally murdered and that has had an extraordinary effect on him.
'We ask you to allow him to go and heal himself. His financial situation is ruinous.’
Harpootlian continued: ‘This is a 20-year-addition. Something he’s struggled with for years.’
On September 4 Murdaugh was allegedly shot by his 61-year-old drug supplier while changing a tire. Smith told authorities he was hired by the prominent lawyer to kill him so that his son Buster would received a $10million insurance police.
Murdaugh didn't think the insurance company would pay any money if he died by suicide.
Shortly after 4pm yesterday Murdaugh shuffled into the courtroom at Hampton County Detention Center and sat beside his attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin while wearing prison scrubs and shackles on his hands and feet.
He cast his eyes down and his mouth worked constantly and nervously behind his mask as he sat before the judge for three charges of insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and filing a false report.
Murdaugh remained masked throughout the proceedings and the gunshot wound Harpootlian earlier insisted he had sustained was conspicuously absent.
In fact, his appearance seemed to bear out South Carolina Law Enforcement’s categorization of his injury as ‘superficial’ as the only trace of an injury was a small swirl in his hair.
Harpootlian once again claimed that there had been ‘an entry and exist wound’ and ‘maybe’ a fractured skull and minor brain bleed resulted from the roadside shooting that Murdaugh has now admitted to orchestrating on September 4.
Bond was set at $10,000 for the insurance fraud and $5,000 each for conspiracy and filing a false police report totally $20,000 – a fraction of the $55,000 bond set for his hitman, Smith.
Craig Waters for the Attorney General’s office asked for Murdaugh to surrender his passport, which sat before him on the table. Waters also asked him to waive extradition, which he did, as he is attending an out of state rehab center.
He also requested a bond of $100,000 and for Murdaugh to wear a GPS tracker stating: ‘Sometimes those who have everything and then suffer a potential fall from grace are actually more cause for concern than a hardened criminal.’
Smith snarled at photographers as he was escorted to Hampton County jail Thursday. He is accused of shooting Murdaugh and disposing of the gun as part of the plot
But Judge Tanji Alexander was not persuaded by this, granting a much lower bond and declining to insist on Murdaugh wearing an ankle monitor.
When asked how Murdaugh’s surviving son Buster was doing Harpootlian said he was ‘holding up'.
He added that the potential beneficiary of Murdaugh’s $10million life insurance policy was ‘a trooper'.
Murdaugh was filmed being driven to Hampton County jail in a pewter-colored SUV accompanied by a police escort Thursday morning after he agreed to surrender to authorities.
He emerged from the vehicle sporting bright red sneakers, gray trousers and a light-colored shirt.
He was booked at the Hampton County Detention Center ahead of the bond hearing that afternoon.
The legal scion, whose family has ruled the county's justice system for almost a century, now finds himself on the other side of the criminal justice system after investigators made the shocking allegation Tuesday that he orchestrated his own shooting with alleged accomplice Smith earlier this month.
The claim that Murdaugh paid the hitman to shoot him in the head and kill him so that his surviving son could collect a life insurance payment came after a catastrophic few months where his other son and wife were murdered and he was exposed for allegedly embezzling millions from his law firm to pay
