By Scott Graber
It is Thursday, early, and I’ve got a copy of “The Devil At His Elbow, Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty” by Valerie Bauerlein, published by Ballentine Books on Aug. 20, 2024.
Like every other sentient, sedentary American, my wife and I watched State of South Carolina v. Alex Murdaugh almost every day for more than a month.
I am a retired lawyer and didn’t really know Alexander Murdaugh. However, I did know his father, Randolph Murdaugh III; and his grandfather Randolph “Buster” Murdaugh Jr. In fact my former partner and I spent a total of three weeks with “Randy” and “Buster” when we defended John Arnold in the matter of the State of South Carolina v. Arnold and Plath.
In describing “Buster” Bauerlein writes,
Another time he fell back flat on the Courtroom floor and asked a witness to tie a garden hose around his neck and then step on his throat. The witness was a woman who had been charged as an accomplice. She had come to the Courthouse straight from jail and was wearing a loose-fitting dress and no underwear. When she lifted her foot and put it lightly on his neck, Buster looked up and stopped his narration of the crime. “It was the only time,” an onlooker said, “I’ve ever seen Buster at a loss for words.”
This scene was apparently told to Bauerlein by my friend Colden Battey (See End Note 70) but I happened to be sitting at Counsel’s table in the Courtroom that day and watched the re-enactment in person.
I know that particular tale to be true.
Before delving into the larger-than-life folklore surrounding Buster, Bauerlein’s book describes the first Murdaugh — Randolph Murdaugh Sr. — and his early success at suing railroads. In this connection the cites actual cases.
Then Bauerlein moves to Buster’s life citing old newspapers, court filings, podcasts and conversations. She tells, for example, about bootlegging in Hampton County using transcripts from the trial in United States v. Haskell Thompson. (See End Note 67). The author also tells us stories of Buster’s relationships with Harry Cram and Ruthven Vaux citing excerpts from “The Garden of Good and Evil” and Jason Ryan’s “Swamp Kings.” (See End Note 72).
After Buster, she goes into the life of Randolph Murdaugh III and then, finally, to Alex Murdaugh making a convincing case that we are, indeed, dealing with a “Southern Dynasty.” And if its disintegration was the only storyline in her book — something like “Praying for Sheetrock” that told the story of a small, corrupt county in Georgia — that would have been enough to get her published.
But there is more; much more.
Bauerlein moves on to the trial itself, not reluctant to get into evidentiary matters like Alex Murdaugh’s financial problems. She lays out defense counsel’s argument that Murdaugh’s financial crimes were not admissible.
The defense had been arguing for weeks, including in filings before the trial began, that the jury should not hear evidence of what was happening in Alex’s life at the time of the homicides, particularly the confrontation at the law firm over the missing $792,000 fee. They said he was on trial for murder, not the financial crimes.
Bauerlein then recounts when the defense asked (Rogan Gibson) whether he could think of any circumstance, knowing them as you do, where Alex would brutally murder Paul and Maggie? Followed by Prosecutor Waters asking, “Did you know anything about what his bank account balances were?”
Bauerlein suggests that here, in this series of questions, was the inflection point when a concave upward curve, changed directions and the trial curved downward for the accused.
By asking about his life with Maggie and Paul, the defense attorneys made a strategic error. By not objecting the second the prosecution began firing off questions about possible financial motive, they had compounded one mistake with another.
Many lawyers that I spoke with during the trial assured me there was going to be a “hung jury,” some even thought Murdaugh might be acquitted.
But Bauerlein’s description of the prosecution’s dogged, sometimes tedious presentation of hundreds of small evidentiary items — including Paul’s video, the cell phone and “black box” data that was eventually recovered — make this a fascinating read notwithstanding the fact that I knew how her book was going to end.
“Devil At His Elbow” is not a textbook but I believe it will become required reading for law students who are getting their first dose of criminal law.
Scott Graber is a lawyer, novelist, veteran columnist and longtime resident of Port Royal. He can be reached at cscottgraber@gmail.com.
