WALTERBORO, S.C. — Alex Murdaugh pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife and son and put up no opposition to the denial of a bond.
The disgraced Lowcountry attorney waved asking for a bond in a court hearing Wednesday morning in a Colleton County courtroom, meaning he will likely stay in jail until he can be tried on two counts of murder.
Murdaugh attorney Dick Harpootlian and prosecutor Creighton Waters had a mostly amicable interaction in court, agreeing to no bond and asking the judge for a gag order that would prevent many of the details of the case from coming out in the media prior to trial.
Murdaugh was charged last week with the murder of his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22. The charges come more than a year after the two were found dead near the dog kennels at the Murdaughs’ Colleton County estate, called Mosselle. Both had been shot with different guns.
Murdaugh himself called 911 to report the killings. At the time, he told investigators he had been away from the home visiting family and had found the gunshot victims when he returned.
The prominent Hampton County attorney was already being held on a $7 million bond at Richland County’s Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. He was arrested in November on a slew of financial charges after he allegedly defrauded clients and law partners of several million dollars.
After he was fired from the law firm founded by his great-grandfather, Murdaugh said he was shot on the side of a rural road over Labor Day weekend. Murdaugh later confessed that the shooting was a murder-for-hire scheme meant to ensure his surviving son Buster received a life insurance payout that Murdaugh believed Buster wouldn’t receive if Murdaugh killed himself.
Legal experts say because of the circumstances of the killings, Murdaugh could face the death penalty.
Reporter Bristow Marchant contributed.
