Buster Murdaugh could be a witness in double murder trial | The State

WALTERBORO, S.C.

Potential jurors and the public on Monday got a peak at some of the witnesses who may be called in the Alex Murdaugh murder trial.

For months those who might testify at one of South Carolina’s most closely watched trial in decades

Judge Clifton Newman read off a lengthy list of more than 180 potential witnesses during jury selection for the high-profile case unfolding at the Colleton County Courthouse. The judge was asking a panel of those who might serve on Murdaugh’s 12-person jury if they had any prior relationship with anyone on the witness list.

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Murdaugh, 54, is charged with killing his wife, Maggie, 52, and son, Paul, 22, on the night of June 7, 2021, at the family’s 1,700-acre estate in western Colleton County.

When Newman read out the lengthy list of names, he did not identify them as potentially testifying for the prosecution or the defense. It is unknown at this point who will ultimately end up taking the stand. But lawyers generally try not to overwhelm jurors with too much information, and it is likely only a fraction of those called.

In total, 250 names were read out in court Monday as potential witnesses. The list gives an intriguing look at who could be called in what promises to be one of the biggest murder trials in the state’s history.

The names included members of Murdaugh’s family, including his sole surviving son, Buster, and his brothers, John Marvin and Randolph “Randy” Murdaugh I, who is still an attorney with the disgraced lawyer’s former law firm, the Parker Law Group.

A number of state and local law enforcement officers and lawyers were also identified as potential witnesses, but one that stood out was identified as an employee of the U.S. Secret Service, the agency that guards the president of the United States.

Murdaugh, a former Hampton-based attorney, is accused of killing his wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul, at the family home on June 7, 2021. Buster, 26, is Murdaugh’s only surviving son, and it’s unclear what role his testimony may play in the trial.

Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty. The S.C. Attorney General’s Office is seeking a life sentence without parole in the killings.

When a reporter for the The Daily Mail asked Buster about his presumed support for his accused father outside Buster’s Hilton Head Island home in November, the younger Murdaugh told the reporter, “You have no right to presume anything.”

“I don’t want to see it written anywhere that I’m supporting my father,” Buster Murdaugh was quoted as saying.

Murdaugh’s brothers have also given media interviews about the case, but it’s unknown what role they could yet play in the trial.

Besides providing protection for the president and other federal officials, the U.S. Secret Service also conducts financial investigations on behalf of the U.S. government. That could point to a federal component of the investigation of various financial fraud accusations against Murdaugh. Sources familiar with the investigation told The State the agency has assisted in analyzing tower cell phone data related to the case.

The former Lowcountry attorney faces dozens of criminal charges in state court that he defrauded his clients and his former law firm of millions of dollars.

Laffitte family potential witnesses

Newman also indicated members of the Laffitte family could be called to testify. Several members of the Hampton-based banking family testified in November at the Charleston trial of Russell Laffitte, who was convicted on federal bank fraud and conspiracy charges for his role in transferring money from clients’ accounts to Murdaugh.

Members of Laffitte’s extended family who served on the board of Palmetto State Bank testified that Laffitte did not have board approval to move hefty sums to cover Murdaugh’s financial debts, including from accounts set up to hold settlement money for minors seriously injured in car accidents. Laffitte’s father and sister, also executives at Palmetto State Bank, testified at the trial that Laffitte acted properly within his role as the bank’s CEO. Laffitte is currently appealing his conviction and asking for a new trial.

Prosecutors have indicted they believe Murdaugh killed his wife and son as a distraction from his financial crimes, for which Murdaugh is still awaiting trial in separate cases. The Laffittes could testify to Murdaugh’s financial history, although the defense team of Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin are fighting to keep the unproven allegations out of Murdaugh’s current trial.

Other names rattled off at Monday’s hearing include John Parker, Murdaugh’s former law partner before Murdaugh was fired in 2021 from the firm founded by his great-grandfather, and Chad Westendorf, another Palmetto State Bank executive who has been accused in a civil lawsuit of assisting Murdaugh in his financial dealings. Westendorf, a defendant in the initial lawsuit, has since settled with the family of the late Murdaugh housekeeper Gloria Satterfield.

This story was originally published January 23, 2023 1:25 PM.