Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has lost his phone privileges and access to his prison tablet computer after his attorney recorded him fo...
Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has lost his phone privileges and access to his prison tablet computer after his attorney recorded him for an upcoming documentary about his crimes.
A prison incident report, obtained by the New York Post, accused Murdaugh of “willingly and knowingly” abusing his privileges to “communicate with the news media for his own gain.” The incident occurred on June 10 when Murdaugh’s attorney, Jim Griffin, recorded Murdaugh reading passages from a journal he kept throughout his trial for killing his wife Maggie and youngest son Paul in 2021.
The recordings were meant to be shared with Fox News, which is airing a three-part docuseries titled “The Fall of the House of Murdaugh.”
In July, prison officials discovered he used hit tablet to take selfies of himself shirtless and appearing carefree despite serving two life sentences for the murder of his family.
“Your actions, whether you intended or not, assisted Mr. Murdaugh in violating our policy and could jeopardize your telephonic communications with him in the future,” Dennis Patterson, South Carolina Department of Corrections assistant deputy director of operations, wrote in an email to Griffin on August 30.
The prison policy against inmates talking to the media without permission comes from the Department of Corrections belief that “victims of crime should not have to see or hear the person who victimized them or their family member on the news,” state prisons spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.
Murdaugh will have to get permission to get another tablet, and has also reportedly lost his ability to buy items from the prison canteen for a month.
A jury found Murdaugh guilty of murder on March 2, and he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
The decision came after just a few hours of deliberation and a six-week trial where more than 70 witnesses testified. Murdaugh has maintained his innocence, suggesting his son Paul was the main target for the murders due to his involvement in a 2019 boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
Murdaugh spent nearly two days testifying in his own defense at his trial and immediately admitted to lying for years about his whereabouts on the day his wife and son were murdered.
The prosecution had already argued that Murdaugh lied about not going to the dog kennels on the day his wife and son were murdered. Prosecutor Creighton Waters previously pointed to cell phone evidence taken from Paul’s phone less than five minutes before he was killed. Paul had filmed one of the dogs to send to a friend, and prosecutors allege Murdaugh’s voice can be heard in the background of the recording. Murdaugh has said he wasn’t at the kennels that night. Prosecutors said that Murdaugh murdered his wife and son around 8:49 p.m., just a few minutes after the video was taken.
When Murdaugh took the stand, his defense attorneys asked him if he had lied to police about his whereabouts on the night his family was murdered, and Murdaugh admitted to lying.
“I lied about being down there, and I’m so sorry that I did,” Murdaugh said, according to People Magazine.
Murdaugh maintained that he did not murder his wife and son, whom he referred to by nicknames “Mags” and “Paul Paul.” He claimed during his testimony that his alleged drug addiction made him “paranoid,” which caused him to lie.
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