Alex Murdaugh Faced “Unraveling” In Boat Crash Lawsuit

Alex has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering his wife and son, with his defense team arguing that the prosecution’s case against him is rooted in theory, not fact.

But the defense suffered a huge defeat on Monday when Judge Clifton Newman ruled that the jury should hear evidence the prosecution wanted to introduce about Alex’s perilous financial and legal situation. That includes details about the boat crash lawsuit as well as allegations he stole from his law firm, his clients, and the grieving family of the longtime housekeeper, who died in an accident at the same Murdaugh hunting lodge in 2018.

Typically, such evidence wouldn’t be allowed to be admitted because it could be prejudicial if it were being used to show that Alex had a criminal tendency or bad character. 

But after hearing days of testimony from witnesses, including Tinsley, about Alex’s financial mess without the jury present, the judge announced that he agreed with prosecutors that this evidence fell under an important exception because it went to Alex’s alleged motive. 

“I find that the jury is entitled to consider that the apparent desperation of Mr. Murdaugh because of his dire financial situation — the threat of being exposed for committing the crimes which he was later charged with — resulted in the commission of the alleged crimes,” Newman said.

“It is so intimately connected with, and explanatory of, the crime charged that proof of it is essential to complete the story,” Newman said. 

The judge’s decision is likely to add several days to the duration of the trial, given that more than half a dozen witnesses will now need to repeat their testimony for the jury. That will include Tinsley, who explained in detail on Monday how the lawsuit against Alex by the Beach family began and progressed.

Tinsley said he believed that Alex was underinsured, with his policies only able to pay out $500,000 to each victim of the crash, whether they survived or died. So to try to pressure the Murdaughs to pay the Beach family a more significant sum, Tinsley sued Alex in his personal capacity — something that he said caused shock and anger from Alex and his associates. 

“There was a lot of grumbling and shock that I’m actually going to hold Alex personally responsible,” Tinsley said. 

At a 2019 legal conference, Tinsley said Alex even confronted him about the lawsuit, getting in his face and saying that he thought they were friends. “I took it as he tried to intimidate me…and sort of bully me into backing off,” Tinsley said. 

As he tried to pressure Alex to settle the case, Tinsley said he warned him that mock juries to whom they had presented the lawsuit had been extremely sympathetic to the Beach family. Alex, though, continued to insist he was broke and could only really “cobble together” $1 million. But Tinsley said he found this impossible to believe because he knew that Alex was continuing to make money as an attorney.

When Alex continued to stonewall, Tinsley filed a court motion in October 2020, asking the judge to force Alex to list all his bank accounts and finances. After various delays, the hearing on that court motion was scheduled for June 10, 2021.

But when the killings took place and people suspected they were the work of an unknown vigilante, Tinsley said he believed he would need to end the lawsuit as quickly as possible. Suddenly, he felt that any prospective jury would likely feel immense sympathy for Alex.

“If you represent Attila the Hun versus some sweet old grandmother, nobody’s going to give Atilla the Hun money. They would give money to some sweet grandmother,” Tinsley said. “So if Alex had been victimized by a vigilante, nobody would have brought a verdict back against Alex.”