The disgraced lawyer’s son Alex Murdaugh sued Netflix and Warner Brosalong with a major newspaper chain, alleging that it has been wrongfully implicated in a 2015 murder.
Demand for Buster Murdaugh presented on Friday, June 14, 2024, is the latest episode in the extensive saga of the fall from grace of a legal dynasty of South Carolina. Alex Murdaugh He will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing his wife, Maggieand his youngest son, Paul. Three generations served as elected prosecutors in the Lowcountry of South Carolina; The jurisdiction was calledMurdaugh Country”.
Now his only surviving heir, who has not been charged with the crime, is fighting to clear his own name.
But defamation lawyers South Carolina They say it will be an uphill battle for Buster Murdaugh and his lawyer Shaun Kent. “It is likely that kent encounter strong resistance,” he declared to Washington Post Robert B. Ransomfrom the firm Leventis & Ransomof Columbia, South Carolina.
The staff of kent He said he was on trial Monday and did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. None of the defendants immediately responded to the court’s requests for comment. post on Tuesday, June 18.
The lawsuit claims that three documentaries wrongly link buster with the death of Stephen Smitha 19-year-old nursing student found dead on a desolate stretch of road in Lowcountry.
At the time the incident was reported as a hit and run. But in March 2023, after the media spectacle surrounding the murder trial of Alex Murdaughthe South Carolina Law Enforcement Division declared that the death of Smith It had been a homicide. The body of Smith was exhumed in April 2023. National attention sparked many rumors about the family, with the death of Smith just one of them.
The trio of documentaries are “Murdaugh Murders: Deadly Dynasty”, which aired on Discovery Plus and Investigation Discovery; “Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty”, which was broadcast on the platform Max of HBO; and “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal“, of Netflix.
They all have the same idea: Buster Murdaugh He was a member of a powerful family that did not welcome his son having a romantic relationship with another man, so they killed Smith. Some of the documentaries claim that buster killed Smith with a baseball bat, which buster has denied.
The series of Netflix shows an image of a young redhead (buster has red hair) who carries a baseball bat, which the lawsuit claims was intended to represent buster like the murderer.
The series of Netflix also features Michael DeWittnewspaper editor Hampton County Guardian, speaking about the case. In the documentary, according to the lawsuit, she said, “We were hearing all these rumors about a possible connection,” and “there is some truth to it.” (The newspaper of DeWitt publishes it Gannettthe large media company that owns USA Today and from hundreds of local news brands).
Upon knowing the outline of the claim, ransom said of the defendants: “My feeling is that there is enough truth in all of these media representations for them to do well.”
Defamation Lawyers South Carolina agree that the case will likely be won or lost by determining whether buster He was a “public figure.”
The usual definition is someone who has come forward in society and is therefore open to criticism. buster participated in the three-episode series of Fox News “The fall of the Murdaugh house”, which aired after the trial, but otherwise has rarely attracted attention.
If it is determined that he is a public figure? “The burden you have to bear to prove defamation is excessively high,” he said. ransom.
“That decision could be made before the trial, but I don’t think it will be made at the beginning of the case,” he told the post Stephen F. DeAntoniofrom the law firm DeAntoniobased in Charleston.
DeAntonio said buster He has all the characteristics of someone who was involuntarily forced to appear in public.
“There were so many events, problems and controversies while all this was happening. You couldn’t keep up. “He was dragged into it,” he says. DeAntonio.
And he continued: “And it’s also sad. It had a tragic end for many people. “That’s not lost on me, but if the plaintiff in this case is determined to be a public figure or an involuntary public figure or a limited purpose public figure for this case, it’s a game changer.”
The defendants have 30 days to respond to the legal appeal.
(c) 2024, The Washington Post
