Murdaugh’s lawyers deny he lied on polygraph test. They want to debate it in open court

Lawyers for convicted killer and multi-million dollar fraudster Alex Murdaugh launched a robust attack Thursday on a claim by federal prosecutors that Murdaugh flunked a lie detector test and is therefore eligible for a stiffer federal prison sentence.

Murdaugh “denies the allegation” that he broke a plea deal agreement by giving deceptive answers to an FBI polygraph operator last fall to questions about financial thefts and another unnamed lawyer the government is investigating, defense lawyers asserted in filings in U.S. District Court Thursday afternoon.

Furthermore, Murdaugh’s lawyers said in the filings they want to make public Murdaugh’s interviews with the polygraph examiner and prosecutors, adding the entire polygraph dispute should be aired in open court. Any sensitive matters can easily be redacted, Murdaugh lawyers say.

“The public has a right to know the truth of the matter through judicial proceedings that are open and transparent, not closed and sealed,” Murdaugh’s lawyers wrote.

“To allow the Government to publicly accuse Murdaugh of breaching his plea agreement while also allowing the Government to hide all purported evidence supporting that accusation from the public would violate the public’s right to the truth,” Murdaugh’s lawyers wrote.

That position contrasts with that of government prosecutors, who said in a court filing earlier this week they want the entire transcripts of the Murdaugh interviews and polygraph session sealed to prevent harm to an ongoing federal investigation that involves a lawyer they did not identify.

The dispute could be aired at an upcoming hearing involving Murdaugh.

On Monday, April 1, U.S. Judge Richard Gergel is scheduled to hold a sentencing hearing for Murdaugh, who pleaded guilty last September to a host of federal financial crimes Murdaugh committed over more than 10 years. He stole millions from his law firm, clients, friends and his own brother, who is a lawyer in the law firm founded by their great-grandfather.

In their Tuesday filing, prosecutors asked Gergel to void a plea deal in which Murdaugh agreed to plead guilty last fall to numerous financial crimes that netted Murdaugh more than $9 million.

Under terms of that plea deal, Murdaugh’s guilty plea — in September 2023 — is still valid.

But prosecutors now contend they should be released from their promise to recommend to Gergel that Murdaugh’s federal sentence be no stiffer than Murdaugh received late last year in state court when he pled guilty to multiple state financial crimes.

In December, state Judge Clifton Newman sentenced Murdaugh to 27 years in prison. Under state parole eligibility rules, Murdaugh’s sentence could be finished when had served about 23 years.

Murdaugh, 55, would still have to serve two consecutive life sentences for murder in the 2021 shooting deaths of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul, unless those sentences are overturned on a pending appeal. He is now serving those life sentences in state prison.

Gergel has the option of making Murdaugh’s federal sentences consecutive to any state prison sentences. Last week, Gergel filed a notice that he was considering giving Murdaugh a very stiff sentence, but he gave no details.

If Murdaugh’s murder convictions are overturned and he is not re-convicted in the killings, then he would be released from prison in his late 70s. If Gergel says the federal sentence for financial crimes should be served consecutively to Murdaugh’s state financial crimes sentence, Murdaugh most likely will never get out of jail.

Under his plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Murdaugh pled guilty to crimes that would have him serve a maximum of three 30-year sentences and three 20-year sentences.

Murdaugh’s lawyers also said Thursday that the majority of the evidence the government seeks to seal about the polygraph sessions is “is already within the public domain.”

Extensive financial details about Murdaugh’s years of thievery have already been made public in the two criminal proceedings of his accomplices, ex-banker Russell Laffitte and ex-lawyer Cory Fleming, Murdaugh’s lawyers wrote. And even more details about Murdaugh’s financial crimes surfaced during his six-week murder trial last year, defense lawyers wrote. Laffitte and Fleming are now serving prison sentences.

Moreover, the polygraph examiner’s conduct was “odd,” Murdaugh’s lawyers said.

“The examiner upon meeting Murdaugh exclaimed that he did not believe Murdaugh murdered his wife and son. The examiner also inquired who Murdaugh thought killed his wife and son,” defense lawyers wrote.

“In response to this inquiry Murdaugh asked the examiner to polygraph him on his wife and son’s murders. The examiner refused. The examiner also purported to secretly confide in Murdaugh that he had just come from Alabama where he conducted a polygraph examination of Joran van der Sloop about the murder of Natalee Holloway,” the lawyers wrote. (Van der Sloop is a Dutch criminal who confessed last year to killing Holloway, an American high school student who disappeared on the Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005.)

Defense lawyers also wrote that Murdaugh has cooperated extensively with federal government prosecutors, and victims have been compensated.

“The clients from whom he stole, who are vulnerable victims, have been fully reimbursed for their financial losses,” Murdaugh lawyers wrote. “Many have even recovered more money through threats of litigation than they ever would have received if Murdaugh had not stolen from them. These reimbursements were made by Murdaugh’s former law partners, who obviously cannot be considered vulnerable, the law firm’s insurance carrier, Palmetto State Bank and other third parties.”

Defense lawyers also wrote they had requested the results of the lie detector test. “The Government refused our request. Without these charts, Murdaugh cannot effectively cross examine the polygrapher who contends Murdaugh failed the test,” defense lawyers wrote.

Prosecutors are expected to reply to the defense claims but they had not done so by late Thursday.

Murdaugh, a prominent Lowcountry lawyer, stole so much for such a long period of time because he used his knowledge of the law, as well as weaknesses in the way his former law firm handled money, to carry out thefts from clients, according to evidence in his case.

Defense lawyers in the case are Jim Griffin, State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, Phil Barber and Margaret Fox.