By admin 
Prosecutors from the state Attorney General’s office have filed a motion attacking Alex Murdaugh’s defense lawyer Dick Harpootlian for making “categorically false” statements at a hearing last Friday when Harpootlian claimed that Murdaugh passed a lie detector test about whether he killed his wife and son.
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“Defense counsel’s claim on the record that Defendant Alex Murdaugh passed a State Law Enforcement Division polygraph as to the murders, much less any governmental polygraph on any subject is categorically false and clearly said for no other reason than an attempt to prejudice this court and the public,” said prosecutors in a late Wednesday afternoon filing.
The filing was signed by South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Deputy Attorney General Don Zelenka, senior assistant Deputy Attorney General Creighton Waters, assistant Deputy Attorney General David Fernandez and assistant Attorney General John Meadors.
In a letter to state Judge Debra McCaslin sent Thursday morning, Harpootlian conceded errors and made an apology.
“I realize I mistakenly conflated several facts and my statement was incorrect,” Harpootlian wrote. “I want to offer my apology to both the court and the state for any confusion I may have caused.”
In their filing, prosecutors said at last Friday’s hearing, during a discussion about a polygraph taken by a Murdaugh distant cousin, Eddie Smith, Harpootlian said, “I will tell you, Mr. Murdaugh passed a polygraph, flying colors. So, um, the same polygrapher. It may play a role in this trial.”
The filing continued, “When counsel Harpootlian makes the false statement that defendant Murdaugh passed a polygraph, defense co-counsel can be observed to look at each other in a way that can only be called incredulous, and then start to whisper to one another.”
The filing said prosecutors are “duty bound to correct” Harpootlian’s false statements.
“First, Defendant never submitted to a SLED polygraph before or after the first trial on any subject. Second, the two SLED polygraphers who examined Eddie Smith — the ‘same polygrapher’ as defense counsel stated — never examined defendant Alex Murdaugh on any subject,” the filing said.
Although the FBI polygraphed Murdaugh in October 2023, that session was only to determine whether he had hidden assets and whether he had told another attorney that he was stealing money, prosecutors said.
Moreover, that 2023 FBI polygraph was done without the knowledge or involvement of the state Attorney General’s office and not until Wednesday (Aug. 19) did prosecutors get the result, the filing said.
Although Murdaugh had by October 2023 pleaded guilty to financial crimes in both state and federal court, Murdaugh “failed the FBI polygraph on financial matters with results showing (he) was trying to use possible countermeasures against the test,” the filing said.
The filing said prosecutors talked with an unnamed defense lawyer on Harpootlian’s team and that lawyer “admitted they had no knowledge of any basis that would support” Harpootlian’s statement that Murdaugh had passed a polygraph on the murders.
Harpootlian’s letter
In his letter to Judge McCaslin, Harpootlian noted that McCaslin had ruled against any mention of any polygraph results being admitted at Murdaugh’s trial.
“In my argument against the state’s motion, I represented to the court the state’s witness and Mr. Murdaugh’s co-defendant Curtis “Eddie” Smith was administered a polygraph pursuant to a proffer agreement and failed the polygraph when asked if he had killed Maggie and Paul Murdaugh,” Harpootlian wrote. “The state concedes this is true.”
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Harpootlian continued, “However, I went further to state that Mr. Murdaugh was administered a polygraph by the same examiner and passed ‘with flying colors’. I realize I mistakenly conflated several facts and my statement was incorrect.
“Since the court ruled no mention of a polygraph would be allowed in the trial, I assume my statement had no impact of the court’s disposition of this motion,” Harpootlian wrote.
He added, “I am not permitted to disclose any further details regarding any polygraph testing regarding Mr. Murdaugh.”
In the legal world, attorneys are regarded as officers of the court and a judge is expected to rely on assertions they make as being factual and made in good faith.
Who is Eddie Smith?
Smith is a distant cousin of Murdaugh who was implicated and charged in a series of drug deals and money laundering in connection with Murdaugh. According to the charges, Smith over the years received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Murdaugh in return for furnishing Murdaugh with prescription drugs, according to evidence in his case.
The money Murdaugh paid Smith allegedly came from some of the millions that Murdaugh had embezzled from his clients, his law firm and his family, according to charges. Charges against Smith are still pending; he is out on bond.
Smith was also charged in connection with a 2021 roadside shooting that Murdaugh staged that would supposedly provide life insurance proceeds to Buster Murdaugh, his older son. However, Murdaugh had no life insurance policy. Charges against Smith in that case are pending.
Murdaugh’s case
Murdaugh’s second trial for the 2021 killings of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul is set to begin with jury selection April 5. The county in which Murdaugh will be tried has not been decided upon.
Murduagh’s first conviction for the killings, in 2023 after a six-week jury trial in Colleton County, was overturned in May by a unanimous S.C. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court cited improper interference, or jury tampering, with members of the jury that convicted Murdaugh by former Colleton County clerk of court Becky Hill.
Murdaugh’s case has for years attracted not just nationwide, but worldwide attention, for its combination of the theft of millions of dollars by Murdaugh, the slayings of a mother and son, the fall of a legal and political dynasty, the involvement of a powerful law firm, and the complicity of two respectable citizens — a lawyer and a bank president — who Murdaugh got to help him carry out his financial crimes.
Murdaugh is serving a 27-year state sentence and 40-year federal sentence for his various embezzlements from clients and his law firm.
In addition, Murdaugh’s use of his law license to steal millions from clients for more than 10 years was a major embarrassment to South Carolina’s legal establishment.
Numerous podcasts, documentaries, the live-stream of Murdaugh’s first trial, newspaper articles and more than 20 books have kept the case in the public eye for more than five years.
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