Murdaugh pleads not guilty to murdering wife and son

Jul 20, 2022, 7:24 AM | Updated: 8:03 am
FILE - Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, left, walks into court for his bond hearing...

FILE - Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, left, walks into court for his bond hearing on Sept. 16, 2021, in Varnville, S.C. Murdaugh was charged Thursday, July 14, 2022, with murder in connection with the mysterious 2021 deaths of his wife and son. (AP Photo/Mic Smith, File)

(AP Photo/Mic Smith, File)

WALTERBORO, SC (AP) — The disbarred South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to murdering his wife and son.

His defense lawyers and prosecutors agreed to keep the evidence secret amid media attention. His defense asked the judge to deny him bond, saying he can’t afford to post it anyway and wants a speedy trial because he feels the killer or killers are still at loose.

The prosecution denied that, telling the judge that all the evidence points to his guilt in the shootings of his wife and son.

Circuit Judge Clifton Newman had previously denied Murdaugh bond after he was charged with stealing money from clients. A different judge later set bond at $7 million but Murdaugh was unable to pay and has remained in jail since October.

His lawyers have complained several times that the bond was set too high, and said that because of lawsuits and frozen assets Murdaugh couldn’t even afford to buy underwear from the jail store.

Murdaugh, 54, was indicted on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife Maggie, 52, and their 22-year-old son, Paul, at the family’s Colleton County hunting estate in June 2021. He also faces more than 80 other charges, including stealing money from clients; running a money laundering and drug ring; and trying to arrange his own death so that his surviving son could receive a $10 million life insurance payout.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

(Facebook Photo/City of San Luis, Arizona)...
Associated Press

San Luis authorities receive complaints about 911 calls going across border

Authorities in San Luis say they are receiving more complaints about 911 calls mistakenly going across the border.
4 days ago
(Pexels Photo)...
Associated Press

Daylight saving time begins in most of US this weekend

No time change is observed in Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas.
12 days ago
Mexican army soldiers prepare a search mission for four U.S. citizens kidnapped by gunmen in Matamo...
Associated Press

How the 4 abducted Americans in Mexico were located

The anonymous tip that led Mexican authorities to a remote shack where four abducted Americans were held described armed men and blindfolds.
12 days ago
Tom Brundy points to a newly built irrigation canal on one of the fields at his farm Tuesday, Feb. ...
Associated Press

Southwest farmers reluctant to idle farmland to save water

There is a growing sense that fallowing will have to be part of the solution to the increasingly desperate drought in the West.
19 days ago
A young bison calf stands in a pond with its herd at Bull Hollow, Okla., on Sept. 27, 2022. The cal...
Associated Press

US aims to restore bison herds to Native American lands after near extinction

U.S. officials will work to restore more large bison herds to Native American lands under a Friday order from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
19 days ago
Children play in a dried riverbed in Flassans-sur-Issole, southern France, Wednesday, March 1, 2023...
Associated Press

Italy, France confront 2nd year of western Europe drought

ROME (AP) — Bracing for Italy’s second consecutive year of drought for the first time in decades, Premier Giorgia Meloni huddled with ministers Wednesday to start mapping out an action plan Wednesday, joining France and other nations in western Europe grappling with scant winter rain and snow. Meloni and her ministers decided to appoint an […]
21 days ago

Sponsored Articles

(Photo: OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center)...

Here’s what you need to know about OCD and where to find help

It's fair to say that most people know what obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders generally are, but there's a lot more information than meets the eye about a mental health diagnosis that affects about one in every 100 adults in the United States.
(Photo by Michael Matthey/picture alliance via Getty Images)...
Cox Communications

Valley Boys & Girls Club uses esports to help kids make healthy choices

KTAR’s Community Spotlight focuses on the Boys & Girls Club of the Valley and the work to incorporate esports into children's lives.
(Desert Institute for Spine Care photo)...
DESERT INSTITUTE FOR SPINE CARE

Why DISC is world renowned for back and neck pain treatments

Fifty percent of Americans and 90% of people at least 50 years old have some level of degenerative disc disease.
Murdaugh pleads not guilty to murdering wife and son