Alex Murdaugh was spending $50,000 a week on drugs he bought from his distant cousin—and future co-defendant—during his yearslong drug problem, his defense attorney claimed in court Wednesday. During the cross-examination of SLED Special Agent David Owen, the lead investigator in Paul and Maggie Murdaugh’s June 2021 murder, attorney Jim Griffin brought up several pieces of evidence collected in the case that he claimed law enforcement failed to properly probe. Among them, Griffin said, was Murdaugh’s ridiculously expensive drug habit and evidence that his dealer, Curtis Eddie Smith,owed money to a local gang who had supplied him the drugs. Owen alleged that SLED did not collect data from any of the alleged gang members and failed to investigate Murdaugh’s drug-related activities. Murdaugh and Smith have since been charged with a slew of crimes, including drug trafficking, money laundering, and a twisted scheme to stage a roadside shooting for a hefty insurance payout. Smith’s lawyer declined to comment to The Daily Beast. After Griffin’s revelations during Owen’s testimony, Judge Clifton Newman reversed his earlier ruling that the September 2021 roadside shooting evidence should not be presented to the jury—noting that the defense attorney opened the door to this potentially damning line of questioning himself.
