S.C. lawyer Alex Murdaugh headed to rehab after release on bond
He’s free to go — to rehab.
Embattled South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh was released on his own recognizance Thursday afternoon at a bond hearing, hours after turning himself in and admitting that he hired someone to shoot him in the head in an insurance fraud scheme.
Though Murdaugh was released on a personal recognizance bond, he is not free to go wherever he wants. Instead, he will head back to an undisclosed rehab facility. Murdaugh must alert the court and prosecuting attorneys if he leaves that facility, otherwise a warrant will be issued for his arrest.
Murdaugh, 53, has been battling an opioid addiction that got worse after he found his wife and son shot dead on his Hampton County property in June.
He reportedly stole money from his law firm to feed that addiction before being forced out earlier this month. His lawyer, South Carolina state senator Dick Harpootlian, called Murdaugh’s financial situation “ruinous” at the bond hearing.
The Murdaugh family mysteries: a timeline of murders, cryptic deaths, scandals and power
Seeing no way out, Murdaugh hired Curtis Edward Smith, a former client, to kill him on Sept. 4. Murdaugh was hoping that a $10 million life insurance policy would go to his surviving son, Buster. Smith shot Murdaugh in the head as requested, but the bullet didn’t kill him.
Instead, Murdaugh survived to be charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and filing a false police report.
Prosecutors had asked for a $100,000 bond, but the judge sided with Harpootlian, ruling that Murdaugh was not a danger to the community. Murdaugh surrendered his passport and agreed to his conditional, rehab-focused release.
The Murdaugh family have been power players in South Carolina’s low country for more than 100 years. State police are now investigating multiple accusations that Alex used that power to cover up crimes committed by his son, Paul, who was charged with killing a young woman in a drunk boating accident before he was murdered.
The June 7 murders of Paul, 22, and his mother Maggie, 52, have not been solved.
