Alex Murdaugh and Curtis “Eddie” Smith.Photo:Joshua Boucher/Pool/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images; Tracy Glantz/The State via AP
Joshua Boucher/Pool/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images; Tracy Glantz/The State via AP
Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced South Carolina attorney who wasconvicted of killing his wife and youngest sonearlier this year, allegedly told his cousin to shoot him because he believed prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him of the murders, his cousin claims.
Curtis “Eddie” Smith, 62, Murdaugh’s cousin and former client, dropped the bombshell accusation in the second season of the Netflix seriesMurdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, which was released Wednesday and recaps Murdaugh’s highly-publicized six-week murder trial.
Murdaugh, 55, who is serving two consecutive life sentences, wasfound guiltyof themurdersof his wife,Maggie, 52, and son,Paul, 22, this past March.
In the episode, Smith says he asked Murdaugh why he wanted him to shoot him.
“Cause they’re gonna to be able to prove that I was responsible for Maggie and Paul,” Murdaugh allegedly replied.
“And I knew I hadn’t shot him,” Smith says. “There wasn’t no blood on him. There wasn’t no blood on me. So I went home.”
Smith alleges a paranoid Murdaugh asked him to meet him at a funeral home to discuss the botched suicide-for-hire plot ahead of time.
“And when I pulled up there, and I rolled the window down, He’s coming up to my window with a gun,” Smith claims in the episode. “I figured I put some sense into him. And I fired it in the air. All 6-foot-5 or -6 of him hit the asphalt, like that…”
Alex Murdaugh and Curtis “Eddie” Smith.Facebook; Colleton County Sheriff’s Office/AP/Shutterstock
Smith was arrested on Sept. 14, 2021 and charged with assisted suicide, aggravated assault and battery and insurance fraud in connection with the shooting. According toToday,Smith still has not yet entered pleas to any of the charges.
Smith previously toldTodaythat he did not pull the trigger.
“I didn’t shoot him,” Smith said in 2021, per the outlet. “I’m innocent. If I’d have shot him, he’d be dead. He’s alive.”
Shortly after Smith’s arrest, Murdaugh admitted to his role in the failed suicide-for-hire plot,PEOPLE previously reported.
His lawyer, Dick Harpootlian toldTodayin 2021that his client wanted his surviving son to claim life insurance monies but “believed that $10 million policy had a suicide exclusion,” not realizing the exclusion had expired.
The22-count federal indictment issued in May includescharges of wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud and more. It states that Murdaugh “engaged in three different schemes” to get money and property from his clients who were working with him on personal injury cases.
Murdaugh was convicted in March of both murders. At one point during the trial, Murdaugh took the stand in his own defense andadmitted that he had liedabout his whereabouts on the day his wife and son were killed. He cited his mistrust of police and paranoia that stemmed from a 20-year opioid addiction, PEOPLE previously reported.
Alex Murdaugh.TNS
TNS
Despite this, Murdaugh has denied killing them.
“I’m innocent,” he told Judge Clifton Newman prior to sentencing. “I would never hurt my wife Maggie. And I would never hurt my son ‘Paw Paw.'”
source: people.com
