Man charged in Alex Murdaugh’s shooting is a former client. What court documents show
This story has been updated to reflect that Curtis Smith worked for a logging company contracted by American Forest Management and was not an employee of AFM.
Hampton lawyer Alex Murdaugh represented Curtis Smith, the Walterboro man accused of shooting Murdaugh Sept. 4 in a botched assisted suicide, filing a personal injury lawsuit more than a decade ago, Colleton County court documents show.
The 2010 suit, which centers on a 2007 workplace accident, was settled, but no documents on file show the terms of the 2012 settlement, according to court papers obtained by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette newspapers.
Among the more than 100 pages of that lawsuit is Smith’s sworn testimony that offers previously unreported information about the 61-year-old man now accused of conspiring with Murdaugh to fake Murdaugh’s murder on Sept. 4.
In his 2011 deposition, Smith admitted to being prescribed Oxycontin and Oxycodone. Alex Murdaugh’s attorneys, Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian, have previously said Murdaugh entered rehab last week for an oxycodone addiction.
Griffin told The New York Times Wednesday that Smith was the person Murdaugh primarily bought oxycodone from.
The testimony is among court documents related to Smith’s lawsuit against American Forest Management, his former employer. Murdaugh, his late father, Randolph Murdaugh III, and his brother Randolph Murdaugh IV, represented Smith in the suit, according to documents.
Smith sued the company Sept. 17, 2010, over an injury he sustained on a timber-cutting job. On Sept. 20, 2007, he “attempted to jump over a ditch but failed to do so and fell into said ditch severely injuring his spine, knee and other parts of his body,” according to the lawsuit’s complaint.
Smith accused American Forest Management of not properly marking the ditch and failing to warn him and other workers, the documents said. Seth Bullock, a representative of AFM, said Smith was employed by a contractor it was working with and was not an employee of AFM.
A reporter called the lawyers who represented American Forest Management for details on the settlement agreement. One lawyer, John Blincow Jr., of Charleston, said he didn’t remember the settlement at the firm he used to work for, but he did remember what it was like to deal with Alex Murdaugh in the courtroom.
It was like “wrestling a bear,” Blincow said. “He’s quite sure of his legal position and he’s hard to convince otherwise. Not a bad quality for a lawyer.”
His Colleton relatives
Smith said he previously served in the National Guard, was born at Beaufort Memorial Hospital, has lived in Walterboro since 1983 and has relatives with the last name “Murdaugh” — although it’s unclear whether Smith is directly related to Alex Murdaugh.
“Do you have any other relatives in Colleton County by blood or marriage,” a lawyer asked Smith in court testimony dated July 6, 2011.
“Yes,” Smith answered. Asked to give the last name, Smith said “Murdaughs,” according to the testimony.
“Say that one more time?” the lawyer asked.
“Murdaugh,” Smith replied.
As of Wednesday afternoon, it’s still unclear whether Murdaugh’s relationship with Smith precedes the 2010 lawsuit. Murdaugh also represented Smith in 2013 when Smith received a traffic ticket for driving 10 mph or less over the speed limit, according to court filings.
The S.C. Law Enforcement Division charged Smith on Tuesday afternoon with one count each of assisted suicide, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, pointing and presenting a firearm, insurance fraud, and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.
He is accused of conspiring with Alex Murdaugh to shoot the Hampton lawyer on Old Salkehatchie Road in Hampton County. According to affidavits, the plan was for Smith to shoot Murdaugh in the head, so that Murdaugh’s sole surviving son Buster Murdaugh could receive $10 million in a life insurance policy.
Alex Murdaugh has not been charged in the case.
Among the still unanswered questions is whether the shooting on Sept. 4 and Smith’s involvement had anything to do with the June 7 murders of Murdaugh’s son and wife.
The shooting “was an attempt on his part to protect his child,” Murdaugh’s lawyer Dick Harpootlian said on the Today Show Wednesday morning. “He didn’t want law enforcement spending more time on this fake crime.”
Harpootlian said Murdaugh did not kill his wife and son. He hinted that the motive for the killings was “personal” in the interview and that he and Griffin were independently investigating who may have killed Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.
SLED has not corroborated these accounts nor has the agency released any information on suspects or motives in the murders.
This story was originally published September 15, 2021 at 3:28 PM with the headline "Man charged in Alex Murdaugh’s shooting is a former client. What court documents show."
