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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) - The South Carolina Supreme Court released an order Tuesday disbaring former attorney Alex Murdaugh as faces dozens of criminal charges.
“Based on his admitted reprehensible misconduct, we hereby disbar Respondent Richard Alexander Murdaugh from the practice of law in South Carolina,” the order states.
The court said disbarment is “among the most serious sanctions this Court can impose for unethical conduct committed by members of the legal profession.”
“The purpose of disbarring an attorney ‘is to remove from the profession a person whose misconduct has proved him unfit to be entrusted with the duties and responsibilities belonging to the office of an attorney, and thus to protect the public and those charged with the administration of justice,’” the order states.
The state’s highest court suspended Murdaugh from practicing law in September and since then, Murdaugh has been indicted on a total of 81 charges by a state grand jury and three others from a county grand jury.
The court ordered Murdaugh to appear before the justices to present a legal argument on whether he should be disbarred, but Murdaugh waived that hearing, saying he did not contest the court’s “authority and decision” to disbar him.
The disbarment order comes the same day Murdaugh’s attorney said the Murdaugh family was notified by the State Law Enforcement Division that murder charges are expected to be filed against Murdaugh in the June 2021 deaths of his wife, Maggie, and his son, Paul.
Murdaugh himself called 911 on the night of June 7, 2021, reporting finding their bodies on the family’s rural Colleton County property.
Since the investigation into their deaths began, Murdaugh has been charged with 81 counts by the state grand jury and three additional counts by a county grand jury in connection with an alleged attempt to stage his death in an insurance scheme. He is accused of defrauding clients of nearly $8.5 million.
Murdaugh’s attorney, Jim Griffin, said Tuesday that SLED notified the family of the pending charges, but said he has not personally been notified about the pending charges.
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