A prison phone conversation between Alex Murdaugh and his lawyer Jim Griffin during the trial of the convicted murderer has been revealed.
In a leaked audio recording released by the Hidden True Crime podcast in one of the episodes, Murdaugh can be heard talking to Griffin about his trial for the murders of his wife Maggie, 52, and their son Paul, 22.
Speaking from Colleton County Jail, Murdaugh can be heard saying in the leaked phone call, “Please don’t think I’m critical because I’m not, I don’t think you could have done better with him.”
“But I do think that’s something to think about because that seems like a big deal to me and I don’t know if the jury understands that at this point,” added Murdaugh. It is unclear who he is referring to.
Griffin, who is appealing against Murdaugh’s life sentence for the murder of his wife and son on their 1,800-acre South Carolina hunting estate, confirmed the authenticity of the leaked call, saying he was “crazy as hell” that it was released.
Alex Murdaugh’s attorney, Jim Griffin (pictured together at trial on Feb. 21), has plugged the leak of a prison phone call between himself and the convicted double murderer during his trial.
Griffin said he was “crazy as hell” after an audio recording of his and Murdaugh’s conversation was released by the Hidden True Crime podcast in one of his episodes
Pictured from left to right: Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh
Hidden True Crime podcast obtained the recording, which took place while Murdaugh was in the Colleton County Jail on his murder trial, after the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office “accidentally” sent it to them.
After the episode, a social media user shared a clip of the conversation, questioning whether its release was a breach of client and attorney confidentiality. Griffin later tweeted that he was furious that it had been released.
“It’s me and I’m mad as hell. Stay tuned,” Griffin tweeted, suggesting he might take action over the leak. Most conversations between attorneys and their clients are protected by the attorney-client privilege.
The Colleton County Sheriff’s Office said the call was accidentally released due to “human error.” They said that when they became aware of the error, they asked the podcast not to share it.
They said in a statement released to Fox Carolina“The Colleton County Sheriff’s Office was made aware of an attorney/client privilege appeal on social media last weekend.
The disclosure of the attorney/client conversation was an unintentional human error. The prison call release was in response to a FOIA request.
“All prison calls had to be screened by listening to the first few seconds of each call to determine if they fell under attorney/client privilege. Several calls were deleted, but this one call was inadvertently left in the list for release.
“An email was sent to the requestor stating that the conversation fell under the right of an attorney/client and not to share the conversation.”
But the Hidden True Crime podcast said on Twitter that they released the audio recording because they believe in transparency and providing the public with information deemed public by officials.
“As a trained journalist, I am passionate about FOIA and transparency. If a recording is considered PUBLIC by government employees, I believe in making it public. The Murduagh family represents secrets and cover-ups. I appreciate the opposite,” Hidden True Crime tweeted.
Murdaugh is currently in the high-security Kirkland Correctional Institution, one of South Carolina’s most notorious prisons.
And while the disgraced former lawyer escaped the death penalty for the murder of his wife Maggie and son Paul, a third life sentence would mean Murdaugh will spend the rest of his life behind bars under the federal law’s three strikes law. the state.
He is currently appealing his murder conviction, but the state is specifically seeking three additional breach of trust convictions totaling $10,000 or more.
Alex Murdaugh is currently in the maximum security Kirkland Correctional Institution, one of South Carolina’s most notorious prisons
During the trial, the jurors heard more than 75 witnesses and reviewed nearly 800 pieces of evidence. Pictured: Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison on March 3
Three additional convictions on breach of trust charges would result in a life sentence, removing his chance of parole.
Murdaugh’s trial lasted six weeks and included more than 75 witnesses, but culminated in a jury taking less than three hours to find the 54-year-old guilty of shooting his wife and son to death.
Murdaugh called 911 on the evening of June 7, 2021, saying he found his son and wife dead when he returned home from an hour-long visit to his mother, who suffers from dementia.
Authorities said Paul was shot twice with a shotgun, each round loaded with a different size shot, while Maggie was hit with four or five rounds from a rifle.
A crime scene report suggested that both victims had been shot in the head after they were initially wounded near dog kennels on the Murdaughs’ sprawling rural estate.
Prosecutors took more than a year to charge the disgraced lawyer with murder, but decided not to pursue the death penalty. Murdaugh, who is also charged with about 100 counts of financial and other crimes, adamantly denied any involvement in the murders.
Murdaugh could only have been sentenced to 30 years behind bars, but the judge gave him the maximum: two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
After the trial, some jurors said the key piece of evidence to convict the lawyer was a video on his son Paul’s mobile phone, recorded minutes before the murders in the kennels near where the bodies were found.
The voices of all three Murdaughs can be heard on the video, even though Alex Murdaugh has insisted for 20 months that he hadn’t been in the kennel that night.
When he took the stand in his defense, the first thing he did was admit that he had lied to investigators about his stay at the kennels, saying he was paranoid about law enforcement because he was addicted to opioids and had pills in his pocket the night of the murders.
Murdaugh’s testimony only confirmed what they already thought: that he lied easily and could turn his tears on and off at will, jurors said.
Attorney Dick Harpootlian filed Murdaugh’s appeal with the South Carolina Court of Appeals.
Prosecutors did not have the weapons used to kill the Murdaughs or other direct evidence such as confessions or blood spatter.
But they had a mountain of circumstantial evidence, including the video that placed Murdaugh at the scene of the murders five minutes before his wife and son stopped using their cell phones forever.
Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence, the jurors learned about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaugh’s failed attempt to fake his own death in an insurance fraud scheme, a fatal boating accident involving his son, the housekeeper who died in a fall into Murdaugh’s house and the gruesome scene of the murders.
The now disbarred lawyer admitted to stealing millions of dollars from the family business and clients and said he needed the money to fund his drug use. Before being charged with murder, Murdaugh was in jail awaiting trial on about 100 other charges ranging from insurance fraud to tax evasion.
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