Alex Murdaugh knows he's going to prison, his lawyer says
Alex Murdaugh "is going to try to right every wrong" and is fully aware that he will go to prison, his attorney Dick Harpootlian said in an interview with "Good Morning America" on Friday. Murdaugh — who was charged Thursday with taking insurance money after his housekeeper's death, and is also suspected of trying to arrange his own death — waived his extradition rights Friday and will likely soon return to South Carolina.
Harpootlian said that the "the financial transaction issue" and "getting Eddie Smith to kill him" is something that Murdaugh "regrets."
"He has indicated clearly that he is going to try to right every wrong – financial wrong – and others that he may have committed. Look, he's reconciled to the fact he's going to prison. He understands that. He's a lawyer," Harpootlian said Friday.
On Thursday, Murdaugh was arrested at a drug rehab facility in Orlando, Florida, on two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses in the wake of his longtime housekeeper's death, Gloria Satterfield, the State Law Enforcement Division said in a statement. The charges were filed in South Carolina, where Murdaugh is from, and he signed an extradition waiver Friday.
Murdaugh entered the rehab facility six weeks ago after he allegedly tried to orchestrate his own death so his only surviving son could receive a $10 million life insurance payment. According to authorities, he had Curtis Edward Smith shoot him on September 4. However, the bullet grazed Murdaugh's head, and he called 911 for help.
Smith was charged with assisted suicide, insurance fraud and several other counts.
In an appearance on NBC's "Today" show Thursday, Smith claimed that the bullet never hit Murdaugh. Harpootlian disputed this assertion during his interview on "GMA."
"Eddie Smith is not telling the truth, and he has reasons not to tell the truth," he said.
"They did a CAT scan — skull fracture, bullet wound, brain bleed. Oxygen got into the brain. They had to put him in ICU," Harpootlian said on "GMA."
Last month, Murdaugh was charged with conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, and he subsequently turned himself in to authorities.
Murdaugh, a former prominent South Carolina lawyer, is at the center of several other investigations. His former firm has accused him of stealing money from the company, and authorities are also looking into the 2018 death of his housekeeper.
In June, Murdaugh's 52-year-old wife Maggie and their 22-year-old son Paul were killed. Alex discovered their bodies at their Colleton County home.
When Paul Murdaugh was killed, he was awaiting trial for boating under the influence causing death in a February 2019 crash that killed a 19-year-old woman. State police have since started looking into the investigation into that crash to see if anyone tried to keep police from charging Paul Murdaugh.
After the Murdaughs' deaths, state police also reopened an investigation into a 2015 hit-and-run death of a 19-year-old man in Hampton County. The victim's mother said she thought Paul Murdaugh could have been involved.
No arrests have been made in Maggie and Paul's deaths.