Alex Murdaugh spent $50,000 a week on drugs purchased from accomplice in botched hitman plot

Alex Murdaugh spent a staggering $50,000 a week on drugs which he was buying from the man accused of being his co-conspirator in a botched hitman plot, jurors heard in dramatic courtroom testimony on Wednesday.

Defence attorney Jim Griffin brought up Mr Murdaugh’s pricey opioids habit during cross-examination of SLED Special Agent David Owen – the lead investigator in the brutal murders of Mr Murdaugh’s wife Maggie and son Paul.

Mr Griffin claimed that the disgraced attorney was buying $50,000 worth of drugs each week from Curtis Edward Smith, infamously known as “Cousin Eddie”.

Mr Smith – Mr Murdaugh’s alleged drug dealer, distant cousin, former law firm client and accused co-conspirator in a bizarre September 2021 botched hitman plot – in turn owed money to a local “cowboys gang,” said Mr Griffin.

The defence attorney grilled Agent Owen about why the members of this unidentified gang were never treated as suspects in the 7 June 2021 murders and why their DNA was not tested against evidence taken from the crime scene.

The special agent previously testified that, by August 2021, Mr Murdaugh was the one and only suspect in the brutal slayings.

As the husband and father of the victims, and the only individual on the crime scene that night, Agent Owen testified that Mr Murdaugh was in the investigative circle from the very start.

Meanwhile, he confirmed that the gang members were not in the investigative circle and information was not gathered from them.

Mr Murdaugh also never gave Mr Smith’s name when asked if he knew anyone who could have hurt Paul and Maggie, said the agent. The disgraced attorney’s drug abuse was also not part of the investigation.

Mr Murdaugh has previously confessed to being addicted to opioids for the last 20 years and he entered rehab three months after the murders of Maggie and Paul.

The jury has already heard some evidence about this – including his stint in rehab and his son’s apparent attempts to keep an eye on his habit.

Friends and colleagues at his former law firm PMPED have testified about learning about his opioid addiction months after the murders.

Annette Griswold, who worked as a paralegal at PMPED, testified about a text message she got from Mr Murdaugh while he was in rehab.

In it, he apologised for stealing money from his law firm and spoke about his recovery.

“Hey, it’s Alex. I’m finally feeling a little bit better each day,” the text message said.

“I’m over the worst but still feel like i have the flu. Real weak. I’m have been worried about y’all and I’m sorry I didn’t get to tell y’all myself. I know both of you have been hurt badly by me. I know it sounds hollow, but I am truly sorry.

“The better I get, the more guilt I have. I have an awful lot to try to make right when I get out of here. The worst part is knowing I did the most damage to those I love the most. I’m not sure how I let myself get where I did. I am committed to getting better and hope to mend as many relationships as I can.

“You both are special people and important to me. Please know how sorry I am to have made you part of my misdeeds. I hope you are doing as well as possible. I love you very much.”

Maggie’s sister Marian Proctor also testified earlier this week that the family had been aware of Mr Murdaugh’s opioid use.

Maggie even nicknamed Paul the “Little Detective” as he kept an eye on his father’s behaviour and opioid use, she said.

The cross-examination of Agent Owen has now also offered a major hint about the defence’s strategy in the high-profile murder case, as the prosecution looks set to rest its case this week.

Throughout the three-week trial, Mr Murdaugh’s attorneys have dropped in other mentions of his drug abuse and the local gangs in what appears to be an attempt to introduce other potential suspects in the case.

However, the cross-examination somewhat backfired, as it has now paved the way for jurors to hear testimony about the botched hitman plot – and potentially from Mr Smith himself.

On Wednesday morning, Judge Clifton Newman heard arguments from both the prosecution and the defence about whether evidence about the roadside shooting is admissible at trial.

On 4 September 2021 – three months on from the murders – the disgraced attorney was ambushed in what he initially claimed was a drive-by shooting along a road in Hampton County.

He checked into rehab the following day, announcing that he was struggling with a 20-year opioid addiction and that he had resigned from his law firm PMPED.

But, Mr Murdaugh’s story about the roadside shooting soon unravelled and he confessed to law enforcement that he had orchestrated the saga, paying Mr Smith to shoot and kill him in an assisted suicide plot so that his surviving son Buster could get a $10m life insurance windfall.

Both Mr Smith and Mr Murdaugh were then arrested and charged over the incident.

Judge Newman ruled in favour of the defence on Wednesday morning, deciding that jurors could not hear testimony about the plot.

But then at the close of the day’s proceedings, Judge Newman reversed course, saying the defence had opened the door to testimony about the plot because in Mr Griffin’s line of questioning of Agent Owen he introduced the relationship between Mr Murdaugh and Mr Smith – and also suggested that Mr Smith could be a suspect in the murders.

“The defence opened the door to the roadside shooting testimony by questioning the witness as to the relationship between Mr Murdaugh and Eddie Smith, payment of money to buy drugs, indebtedness,” he said.

Now, the question remains whether the prosecution will call Mr Smith to testify.

He is listed as a state witness but it is unclear if they will put him on the stand – something that the defence has indicated they want the prosecution to do.

On Tuesday, prosecutor Creighton Waters said that while he is on the witness list “I didn’t say we would be calling him.”

Defence attorney Dick Harpootlian laughed and said “the cross-examination of Mr Smith is something I’m looking forward to”.

As well as the roadside shooting, Mr Smith is also now facing trial on charges of helping Mr Murdaugh with a drug and money laundering ring, with authorities alleging he receieved $2.4m in stolen checks from Mr Murdaugh – some of it used to buy Mr Murdaugh’s opiates.

In October 2022, Mr Murdaugh’s attorneys claimed that he had failed a lie detector test when asked about that day, appearing to suggest that Mr Smith could be tied to the murders of Maggie and Paul.

The “side of the road” incident marks one of the most bizarre twists in the sprawling scandal which has enveloped the disgraced heir to a prominent South Carolina legal dynasty over the past 20 months.

Prosecutors claim that Mr Murdaugh shot dead Maggie and Paul at the dog kennels on the family’s sprawling 1,700-acre estate at around 8.50pm on the night of 7 June 2021.

Mr Murdaugh claims he was asleep at the house and woke up and went to visit his mother. When he returned, he said he found his wife and son’s bodies.

Prosecutors allege that Mr Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his string of alleged financial crimes – at a time when his multi-million-dollar fraud scheme was on the brink of being exposed.

Meanwhile, the defence is seeking to paint him as a family man who could not have carried out the brutal murders because he loved his wife and son.

The brutal double murders brought to light a series of scandals surrounding Mr Murdaugh including unexplained deaths, the multi-million-dollar fraud scheme and the botched hitman plot.

At the time of the murders, Paul was awaiting trial over the death of Mallory Beach – a 19-year-old woman who died in a 2019 crash in the Murdaugh family boat.

Paul was allegedly drunk driving the boat at the time and crashed it, throwing Beach overboard. Her body washed ashore a week later. Paul was charged with multiple felonies over the boat wreck and was facing 25 years in prison at the time of his murder.

The Beach family sued Mr Murdaugh and a lawsuit hearing was scheduled for the week of the murders. It was postponed following Maggie and Paul’s murders.

Days on from the shootings, an investigtion was then reopened into the 2015 death of Stephen Smith, who was found dead in the middle of the road in Hampton County.

The openly gay teenager, 19, had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and his death was officially ruled a hit-and-run. But the victim’s family have long doubted this version of events, with the Murdaugh name cropping up in several police tips and community rumours.

An investigation was also reopened into another mystery death connected to the Murdaugh family – that of the Murdaugh’s longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield.

She died in 2018 in a mystery trip and fall accident at the family home. Mr Murdaugh then allegedly stole around $4m in a wrongful death settlement from her sons.

Mr Murdaugh, 54, is facing life in prison for the murders of his wife and son. He has pleaded not guilty.