Alex Murdaugh murder trial: SC AG Wilson seeks life without parole, not death penalty

While attorneys on both sides of the pending murder trial for disgraced former South Carolina attorney Richard "Alex" Murdaugh continue to spar with powerful and revealing pre-trial motions, the S.C. Attorney General has announced that he will not seek the death penalty against Murdaugh, who is accused of murdering his own wife and son.

Murdaugh, who is also facing more than 100 criminal charges that range from tax evasion and drug crimes to financial fraud, was indicted July 14, for the June 7, 2021, shooting deaths of his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, at their vast Colleton County estate, Moselle.

With the Jan. 23, 2023, trial date looming ahead, S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson, whose office is prosecuting all of the Murdaugh cases, announced on Tuesday, Dec. 20, that state prosecutors would not be seeking the death penalty for Murdaugh, if convicted.

“After carefully reviewing this case and all the surrounding facts, we have decided to seek life without parole for Alex Murdaugh," Wilson's office said in a press statement. "Because this is a pending case, we cannot comment further.”

Murdaugh defense attorneys Richard Harpootlian and Jim Griffin responded the same day with a statement.

"We are not surprised but also welcome the decision to not seek the death penalty for Alex Murdaugh," stated Murdaugh's lawyers. "Now there is no impediment for going ahead with the trial scheduled for January 23, when we look forward to evidence, not leaks, determining the outcome."

The trial, which is expected to run for multiple weeks, is set to begin with jury selection on Jan. 23 in front of Judge Clifton Newman at the Colleton County Courthouse.

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In response to a Nov. 28 "motion to compel" by Murdaugh's team seeking the release of evidence, on Dec. 19 Judge Newman ordered state prosecutors to release the requested information.

The Nov. 28 motion focused on possible blood spatter on a white T-shirt that Murdaugh was allegedly wearing the night that his family members were shot.

During its investigation, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) retained the services of Tom Bevel of Bevel, Garner and Associates, LLC. This firm offers forensic consulting and education services, specializing in bloodstain-pattern analysis, crime-scene reconstruction and processing, and shooting-incident reconstruction, according to its website.

After hearing the motion in Colleton County on Dec. 9, Judge Newman's order this week instructed the state to release all written and recorded conversations with Bevel, all electronic and physical documents sent to and received from Bevel, and all photos or Photoshop documents related to the T-shirt that Murdaugh was allegedly wearing.

Murdaugh defense seeks to rule out admissions of alleged finance crimes in murder trial

In what could prove the most important and crucial pre-trial decision before Judge Newman, Murdaugh's defense team is seeking to rule out the admitting of any evidence into the murder trail that relates to their client's multitude of alleged financial crimes.

In response to a Dec. 7 Murdaugh motion for a "bill of particulars" demanding the release of the alleged motive the state intended to produce at trial, on Dec. 8 state prosecutors filed a motion generally stating that Murdaugh killed his family to gain sympathy and distract attention from his financial crimes, and requested the court's permission to use those financial crimes as evidence of the murder motive during the upcoming trial.

On Dec. 19, Murdaugh's team filed a new motion opposing the admission of evidence from any of Murdaugh's other alleged crimes, claiming that "prior bad acts evidence" is not admissible under Rules 402, 403, and 404 of the SC Rules of Evidence.

The defense's secondary objection to admitting the financial evidence is that it would potentially create "unfair prejudice" for Murdaugh in the eyes of the jury.

"The State's claim - that Murdaugh murdered his wife and son to divert attention from his alleged financial misdeeds and garner sympathy from members of his law firm to buy additional time before his misconduct was discovered - is illogical and implausible... There is zero evidentiary support for this motive and it is nothing more than a transparent effort to improperly persuade the jury that Murdaugh is a person of such bad character that he can commit the most heinous crimes imaginable," stated the Murdaugh motion.

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The latest motion also contends that the alleged financial crimes aren't "logically" related to the murder charge and admission of such evidence would only confuse the jury and create undue delays in what is expected to be an already lengthy trial.

With holidays ahead, it is unknown when Newman will schedule a hearing and rule on the latest motion and counter motion.

Meanwhile, Murdaugh remains jailed in Richland County's Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on a $7 million bond.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Alex Murdaugh murder trial: SC AG not seeking death penalty