Alex Murdaugh trial latest: Prosecution finds ‘significant disputes’ in convicted murderer’s jury tampering claims

When Alex Murdaugh was convicted of the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul back in March, his legal team insisted that the fight wasn’t over.

Six months on, his attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin descended on the South Carolina court of appeals in Columbia and filed a motion calling for a new trial and accusing the clerk of court of jury tampering.

So just how serious are these allegations? And will this now pave the way for Murdaugh – a man convicted of killing his wife and son in cold blood, a man facing another 700 years behind bars on 100 financial fraud charges and a man embroiled in a sprawling saga of mystery deaths – to be granted a new trial?

Prominent attorney Duncan Levin speaks to The Independent:

Alex Murdaugh will be joined in court on Thursday by two former friends and alleged co-conspirators in his financial crimes – Russell Laffitte and Corey Fleming.

Laffitte is the former Palmetto State Bank CEO who is facing 21 state charges accused of conspiring with Murdaugh to misappropriate funds.

He was previously convicted in November of six federal charges including bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy in connection to Murdaugh’s alleged white collar financial fraud schemes and sentenced to seven years in federal prison. He is appealing the verdict.

His conviction came on the basis that he was Murdaugh’s co-defendant in his sprawling multi-million-dollar – and decade-long – schemes.

During his trial, Laffitte admitted that he had played a part in Murdaugh’s vast financial fraud schemes – but claimed that he was an unwilling participant who was conned by his friend.

Prosecutors – and the jury – disagreed, saying that Laffitte acted as Murdaugh’s personal banker and as a custodian or conservator for some of his law firm clients.

Laffitte then conspired to defraud those clients, with the two men diverting the money to themselves.

Among the victims were two children – Alaynia and Hannah Plyler – whose family members were killed in a tragic car crash.

Laffitte – whose family launched Palmetto State Bank in 1907 and who like Murdaugh came from a prominent family in the Lowcountry – was fired from the bank as details of the alleged scheme came to light.

Alex Murdaugh is set to appear in court today to face a string of financial fraud charges – in what marks his first court appearance since he was sentenced to life in prison for the brutal murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul.

The convicted killer will attend a status conference before Judge Clifton Newman in Beaufort County on Thursday morning.

Two of his former friends and alleged co-conspirators in his financial crimes – former Palmetto State Bank CEO Russell Laffitte and former attorney Corey Fleming – are also due in court after they were previously convicted of charges.

Murdaugh is facing more than 100 state and federal charges over his alleged financial crimes, many of which he admitted to on the witness stand at his murder trial.

Disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh will appear in a South Carolina courtroom on Thursday for the first time since he was sentenced to life in prison for the brutal murders of his wife and son and escorted away in handcuffs and shackles.

The convicted killer faces a slew of financial fraud charges – including allegedly stealing insurance payments meant for the family of his housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died after a fall at the Murdaugh family property in 2018.

He is already serving two life sentences in the June 2021 killings of his wife Maggie and son Paul at the same property where the housekeeper’s fall happened three years earlier.

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Alex Murdaugh will be joined in court on Thursday by two former friends and alleged co-conspirators in his financial crimes – Russell Laffitte and Corey Fleming.

Fleming, a former attorney and alleged accomplice in Murdaugh’s financial fraud schemes, will be sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty to a string of 23 state charges last month.

The charges – which include breach of trust with fraudulent intent, money laundering, computer crimes, and criminal conspiracy – stem from Murdaugh’s scheme to steal money from the estate of his dead housekeeper Gloria Satterfield.

Prior to this, Fleming also pleaded guilty to federal charges in May.

Last month, he was sentenced to nearly four years in prison on the charges and is currently serving his sentence.

The deadline is looming for the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office to respond to a bombshell motion filed by Murdaugh’s attorneys last week in which they demanded a new trial and accused Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill of pressuring jurors to return a guilty verdict against him.

In the motion filed on 5 September, Murdaugh’s attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin claim that Ms Hill “tampered with the jury by advising them not to believe Murdaugh’s testimony and other evidence presented by the defense, pressuring them to reach a quick guilty verdict, and even misrepresenting critical and material information to the trial judge in her campaign to remove a juror she believed to be favorable to the defense”.

Specifically, they claim that the clerk instructed jurors not to be “misled” by evidence presented by the defence and told jurors not to be “fooled by” Murdaugh’s testimony when he took the stand.

She allegedly instructed the jury to “watch him closely,” to “look at his actions,” and to “look at his movements” on the stand – something at least one juror said they understood to mean that Murdaugh was guilty.

The AG’s office had 10 days to respond to this motion – giving them until this Friday.

Alex Murdaugh is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday morning for a status hearing in his criminal case accusing him of a string of financial fraud charges.

At the hearing, a trial date is likely to be set for Murdaugh to face charges for stealing from the estate of his dead housekeeper Gloria Satterfield and from his family friend Jordan Jinks.

Despite his efforts to avoid it, Judge Clifton Newman ordered Murdaugh to attend in person.

Murdaugh will be joined at the courthouse by Corey Fleming and Russell Laffitte – his former friends and alleged co-conspirators in his financial crimes.

Fleming is expected to be sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty to 23 counts.

Laffitte – who was convicted of federal charges in November – is also appearing for a status conference in his state case.

Alex Murdaugh faces more than 100 charges in both state and federal courts over a string of alleged financial crimes.

His court appearance on Thursday relates to the state charges – which include stealing millions from the family of his dead housekeeper.

Gloria Satterfield died in February 2018 following a mysterious trip and fall at the Murdaugh family home on their 1,700-acre Moselle estate in South Carolina – the same property where Murdaugh murdered his wife and son three years later.

Satterfield, who worked for the family for more than 20 years, was found at the bottom of the steps leading into the family’s home. She never resumed consciousness and died from her injuries three weeks later on 26 February.

At the time, Murdaugh claimed that she had tripped over the family’s dogs and hit her head, and her death was regarded as an accidental fall.

However, her death certificate cited her manner of death as “natural” and no autopsy was ever carried out.

Following her death, insurance company Nautilus paid out $4m in a wrongful death settlement over Satterfield’s death.

The money was supposed to go to Satterfield’s sons after Murdaugh claimed he would bring the wrongful death suit against himself on their behalf.

In reality, Murdaugh allegedly stole the settlement money for himself and the housekeeper’s sons didn’t get a dime.

Murdaugh is now charged with stealing $4m from Satterfield’s family as part of a decade-long multi-million-dollar fraud scheme where he stole millions from his law firm and legal clients.

As well as the Satterfield family, he is also accused of stealing millions from other law firm clients – something he confessed to on the stand at his murder trial.

Eric Bland, an attorney representing the families of Gloria Satterfield and Stephen Smith, has announced that he is now representing a fourth juror from Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial.