Alex Murdaugh Convicted on 2 Charges After Prison Catches Killer's Call for Fox News
Convicted murderer and former South Carolina legal scion Alex Murdaugh has been convicted by the state’s corrections department on two “internal disciplinary” charges of misusing his phone privileges.
Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole earlier this year.
Jurors found the former attorney murdered both his wife and adult son in 2021 during an attempt to hide his theft of millions of dollars from coming to light.
He’s been confined to a prison in the state since, but he found his way into even more trouble recently for misusing his phone privileges.
The South Carolina Department of Corrections said in a Wednesday statement that the 55-year-old had placed a call to his attorney Jim Griffin that Griffin recorded for use by the media.
“Inmate Richard Alexander Murdaugh has been convicted of two internal disciplinary charges – Abuse of Privileges and Unauthorized Use of an Inmate’s PIN Number,” the DOC said in the statement.
The statement added, “He had a disciplinary hearing for these charges on Aug. 28, and he lost his telephone and canteen privileges for 30 days.”
The state DOC said Murdaugh’s actions were “not a violation of law” but they did violate the SCDC’s “inmate interview policy and our policy against inmates sharing PIN numbers.”
Alex Murdaugh loses prison phone, tablet privileges after lawyer records phone call for documentary https://t.co/Qu4lUe2c9P pic.twitter.com/IdlDS9VXCS
— New York Post (@nypost) August 31, 2023
According to a report from NBC News, Murdaugh gave a telephone statement to his attorney for a new documentary that is set to air on Fox News’ streaming platform Fox Nation.
“The Fall of the House of Murdaugh” is currently under production, but Murdaugh is barred from using phones to speak with the media.
Prison officials said the call was placed on a tablet to Griffin and the recording was later given to Fox News. They became aware of it two weeks ago, on Aug. 15.
They also said Murdaugh had taken advantage of a loophole, since he was speaking with his attorney.
“Murdaugh provided the interview information to his attorney through a legal call,” the state SCDOC said.
The SCDOC added, “Legal calls are not recorded or monitored on the inmate phone system per attorney/client privilege.”
Neither Fox News nor Griffin have commented on the matter.
Griffin was given a letter by the SCDOC warning that his alleged actions, whether intended to break state prison phone policy or not, could jeopardize his ability to speak with Murdaugh over the phone in the future.
Griffin, per prison officials, was put on “notice” about the policy and no action will be taken against him.
Meanwhile, prison officials are reviewing Murdaugh’s ability to obtain a tablet in the future with which to place phone calls.
“The department will determine when and if inmate Murdaugh will earn the opportunity to be issued a tablet again,” the SCDOC said.
Prison officials also explained the rationale behind its policy barring inmates from providing statements to the media.
“The department believes that victims of crime should not have to see or hear the person who victimized them or their family member on the news,” the SCDOC said in a statement.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
