The man accused of shooting Alex Murdaugh in the head in a hitman plot has spoken out after the disgraced lawyer was found guilty of shooting and killing his wife Maggie and son Paul on the family estate in South Carolina on 7 June, 2021.
Curtis ‘Cousin Eddie’ Smith, who is a former law firm client and distant cousin of Murdaugh, shared a statement through his attorney on 2 March, stating that the conviction has exonerated him of the suggestion that he might have been involved the killings.
Before Murdaugh’s trial, his legal team attempted to create suspicion around Smith and whether he was involved in the murders.
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The defence claimed that Smith had failed a lie detector test when asked about his whereabouts on the night that Maggie and Paul died.
However, the defence failed to provide evidence to prove that Smith could have been responsible for the killings during the trial.
A jury deliberated for less than three hours before convicting Murdaugh on two murder charges and two weapons charges.
In a statement shared with FITS News, Smith’s attorneys, T. Jarrett Bouchette and Aimee Zmroczek, said: “It should now be clear that our client had nothing to do with the tragic deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
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“For almost a year and a half, speculation, innuendo, half truths and outright falsehoods have permeated the public discussion of this case and our client however, neither the investigation conducted by law enforcement, which included extensive forensic and technological analysis, nor the testimony and evidence put forward by the defence team for Mr Murdaugh revealed any evidence that Mr Smith was in any way involved.”
Smith was reportedly never called to testify for the prosecution after his name was included on the witness list, however, the statement addresses this and criticises speculation over whether Smith was the ‘real killer’.
“The reason for not calling Mr Smith is quite simple: he had no knowledge of anything relating to those horrific deaths.
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“Furthermore, despite months of filings and courtroom statements seeming to imply that Mr Smith was either the ‘real killer’ or knew who was, when the time came to present evidence, Mr Murdaugh’s defense team never attempted to call Mr Smith to testify despite the fact that he was available to do so.”
The statement added: “In fact, when the issue of his testimony being presented by the state was raised, it was strenuously objected to by the defense.
“Ultimately the jury determined that Mr Murdaugh was the sole party responsible for the deaths of his wife and son. As has happened so many times in this case, the initial representations by Mr Murdaugh have proven to be unsubstantiated.
“Mr Smith is a good and decent man who was, like so many others, manipulated and taken advantage of by Mr Murdaugh and we look forward to the opportunity to present his story at trial.”
Murdaugh was shot in the head along the side of the road in Hampton County in September 2021, from which Smith’s name was first connected to the now convicted killer.
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Murdaugh had called 911, claiming that he was ambushed in a drive-by shooting while changing a tire on the side of the road.
He was taken to hospital for treatment for a ‘superficial gunshot wound to the head’ but several days after the incident, his story unravelled and he confessed to police that he orchestrated the whole incident.
He also claimed that he'd asked Smith to shoot and kill him in an assisted suicide plot.