SC Attorney General tells Supreme Court that Alex Murdaugh should stay in jail [The Charlotte Observer]

Suspended South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh should stay in jail for the time being without bond, according to the S.C. Attorney General's office.

That was the key point made by the Attorney General's office in a filing Friday with the S.C. Supreme Court, which has been asked to rule on whether a state judge's order in November detaining Murdaugh indefinitely without bond is appropriate.

Murdaugh, 53, has been held without bond in the Richland County jail since October.

The Attorney General's filing was made under seal because it contains confidential medical information, according to an Attorney General spokesman. However, The State and The Island Packet learned about pertinent sections of the Attorney General's filing and are not publishing any specific medical information.

In October during a bond hearing for Murdaugh, state Judge Clifton Newman ruled that Murdaugh -- who had been charged with embezzling millions from the estate of his late housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield -- should be kept in jail without bond pending a mental health examination.

On Nov. 9, after the mental health examination, Newman stood fast on his order: "After considering the arguments of counsel, the (psychiatric) evaluation submitted, pending charges and other investigations, and the apparent character and mental condition of the defendant, the Court finds that the Defendant is a danger both to himself and the community."

Murdaugh's attorneys, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, then filed a motion of what is called habeas corpus with the S.C. Supreme Court, asking the high court for relief.

The attorneys refuted Newman's claim that Murdaugh was a danger to himself and the community and argued that Judge Newman's decision to keep Murdaugh jailed indefinitely without a chance to post bond was unconstitutional.

Habeas corpus is a centuries-old legal doctrine, enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, that allows challenges to a government keeping someone jailed without just cause.

The Attorney General's Friday filing was in response to Harpootlian's and Griffin's habeas corpus motion.

In its Friday filing, the Attorney General's office argued that Newman has the authority to keep Murdaugh in jail to protect the community and to protect Murdaugh from harming himself.

Moreover, the filing said, Murdaugh likely has bond hearings in state court coming up, and those hearings are the proper place for Murdaugh's attorneys to argue about the possibility of Murdaugh getting out of jail.

The next step will be for the Supreme Court to either hold a hearing or issue a ruling based on the justices' review of those motions.

Murdaugh's psychiatric evaluation

In his Nov. 9 order, Judge Newman did not make Murdaugh's psychiatric evaluation public, nor did he characterize its findings.

However, in their petition, Griffin and Harpootlian disclosed that the psychiatrist who examined Murdaugh in jail is Dr. Donna Maddox, a well known psychiatrist in South Carolina's legal community who has testified in numerous criminal trials around the state, including the 2019 Tim Jones death penalty trial. Maddox is the wife of state Judge Cordell Maddox of Anderson.

"Dr. Maddox did not find that (Murdaugh) is a danger to himself or to the community," the petition said.

Maddox diagnosed Murdaugh with "severe Opioid disorder," the petition said. Murdaugh had also been undergoing treatment at a rehabilitation facility, the petition said.

Maddox also recommended that Murdaugh continue receiving treatment at a residential facility for an additional eight to 10 weeks "followed by intensive outpatient treatment, and that Petitioner receive grief counseling and trauma therapy," the petition said.

Murdaugh, who has admitted he is addicted to opioids, faces criminal charges of embezzling $3.3 million from the estate of his late housekeeper.

"This offense is not a capital offense, is not punishable by life in prison, and is not a violent offense as defined by the General Assembly. As a result, the S.C. Constitution guarantees Murdaugh the right to pre-trial release upon posting reasonable bond," the petition said.

Other charges surrounding Murdaugh

At Murdaugh's Oct. 19 bond hearing in Richland County, Newman denied the suspended Hampton lawyer bond after hearing evidence about the charges he faces, his opioid addiction and the investigations -- both disclosed and undisclosed -- swirling about Murdaugh.

At that hearing, top prosecutor Creighton Waters of the Attorney General's office, who is helping lead the numerous Murdaugh investigations, told the judge that he would be satisfied with a $200,000 bond and GPS monitoring.

Waters also told Newman the state had prepared an order setting bond with "additional conditions that included a waiver of extradition, no wasting of assets, surrender of all firearms in his possession, no possession of firearms," Murdaugh's petition said.

The indefinite jailing of Murdaugh is but one of numerous legal and criminal matters swirling around the Murdaugh, whose wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, were found shot to death in June on the grounds of the family estate in Colleton County. Those killings are still unsolved.

Legal matters involving Murdaugh include:

A civil lawsuit alleging he embezzled $4.3 million from his housekeeper's estate.

Criminal charges alleging he embezzled from his housekeeper's estate.

Criminal charges alleging he committed insurance fraud in staging a suicide so his surviving son, Buster, could collect a $10 million life insurance policy.

Criminal charges alleging he organized five separate schemes to steal nearly $5 million from clients, other lawyers and his former law firm, PMPED.

A civil lawsuit from his former law firm, alleging he misappropriated client money.

Murdaugh is also said by sources to have embezzled more than $10 million in recent years, and law officers are trying to discover what he did with that money.

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