Patriarch’s Legal Woes Mount After South Carolina Family Murder Mystery
A prominent South Carolina attorney whose wife and son were brutally murdered—and who has since been shot in the head, ousted from his firm for alleged theft, and placed in rehab for drug dependency—has been suspended from practicing law, the state’s highest court ruled.
In a ruling issued by the South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday, Alex Murdaugh, 53, has been placed on interim suspension pending an investigation under Rule 17 (b) of the state’s Appellate Court. The statute states that “upon receipt of sufficient evidence demonstrating that a lawyer poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the public or to the administration of justice” the court may suspend an attorney.
The suspension, which also noted that Murdaugh had consented to the decision, is the latest in a dizzying turn of events for a legal dynasty that has held sway in rural Hampton County for decades.