WALTERBORO, S.C. — Alex Murdaugh’s defense team has inadvertently opened the door for prosecutors to argue Murdaugh’s alleged financial crimes motivated him to kill his wife and son.
Judge Clifton Newman on Thursday ruled that the state would be allowed to present evidence that Murdaugh stole millions of dollars from his law partners and clients, and that the threat of exposure motivated the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh on June 7, 2021.
The prosecution team led by Creighton Waters rests their case on the theory Murdaugh killed his wife and son as part of a scheme to distract from his financial dealings, for which he was coming under pressure.
Waters argued Murdaugh’s defense team opened the door to discussion of Murdaugh’s alleged motive when they asked two witnesses if they knew of any reason the disbarred Lowcountry attorney would want to harm his wife and son. Paul’s friends Rogan Gibson and Will Loving testified Wednesday that they heard Murdaugh’s voice on a video Paul shot at the Moselle dog kennels minutes before Paul and Maggie were shot to death.
Murdaugh is accused of stealing millions of dollars from his former law firm, Peters Murdaugh Parker Eltzroth & Detrick, as well as accounts set up to hold settlement money for plaintiffs the firm had represented, including money held in trust for many injured children.
Murdaugh’s defense argued against having allegations of financial crimes, for which Murdaugh faces separate state charges, from being used against their client in this case because he has not been convicted on those charges.
But when defense attorney Jim Griffin asked Gibson and Loving to speculate on the motivation for the murder, he opened the door for the state to respond, the judge said.
“In the questioning in the cross-examination by Griffin, the witness was asked if he could think of any reason possible Mr. Murdaugh would commit the crimes he was accused of committing,” Newman said from the bench Thursday morning. “That turned cross-examination of the witness from dealing with specific issues in the case to having to testify as a character witness for Mr. Murdaugh.”
Newman also said the defense has broadly painted Murdaugh as a “loving father, provider, financial securer, things of that nature,” which, “of course, that opened the door to allow the state to respond by asking questions that the state did” of witnesses Wednesday.
Griffin argued against the judge’s ruling, stating “our questions specifically related to the relationship between the defendant and the people he’s accused of murdering. That’s a factual issue related to the relationship between the parties.”
Newman said he may hold further hearings away from the jury to address specific evidence the state wants to introduce, and allow the attorneys to argue its merits then. Waters indicated he may call the first witness for such a hearing later Thursday.
The relationship between Murdaugh’s alleged financial crimes have been tied to the murders before.
The former CEO of Palmetto State Bank, Russell Laffitte, was convicted in federal court in November 2022 on bank fraud and conspiracy charges related to his handling of Murdaugh’s accounts, often making money transfers from client’s accounts at Murdaugh’s request.
In that case, the chief financial officer at Murdaugh’s law group testified she confronted Murdaugh about missing fees in a legal case — a meeting that ended abruptly in Murdaugh’s trademark “chaotic style,” Jeanne Seckinger testified at Laffitte’s trial, when Murdaugh received a call about his father being moved into hospice.
Later that night, Murdaugh’s wife and son were found murdered at the family’s Colleton County rural estate.
Seckinger testified that she then let the matter of the missing money drop, out of concern for Murdaugh’s emotional state. Waters called Seckinger as a witness in Murdaugh’s murder trial, leading to the first hearing before Newman of what evidence may be admitted at that time.
Seckinger told the court away from the jury that the murders not only cut short the law firm’s inquiries into the missing money, but also postponed actions in a civil lawsuit over the 2019 boating accident Paul was involved in, which could have required Murdaugh to disclose financial information.
“Alex was distraught, upset, not in the office,” Seckinger testified. “We didn’t want to harass him when we didn’t think it was really missing and had a year to clear it up, so we didn’t harass him over it.”
By September, Murdaugh was forced to resign from the law firm after further evidence of misappropriation of funds was brought to the law partners’ attention, Seckinger said.
Newman had not yet ruled whether Seckinger’s testimony would be heard by the jury.
Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, were shot to death at the family’s rural estate Moselle on June 7, 2021. Murdaugh told investigators he was away visiting his ill mother, and reported the shootings to police when he returned. The state contends he killed them in an attempt to divert attention from his financial dealings that were coming under scrutiny.
