On Thursday, a South Carolina judge granted a prominent attorney a $20,000 bond after admitting that he planned his own murder.
Alex Murdaugh plotted to have himself killed so that his son could receive a $10 million insurance policy, the Daily Beast reported.
The judge also allowed the attorney the chance to go back to drug rehab for his opioid addiction.
Murdaugh’s wife and other son were fatally shot earlier this year at the family’s estate.
Hampton County Magistrate Judge Tonja Alexander ordered the bond on personal recognizance, which means Murdaugh was released on his promise to appear in court in the future without paying any fines.
Murdaugh, 53, faces multiple charges, including insurance fraud. He admitted that he and his alleged former drug dealer, Curtis Edward Smith, planned his jaw-dropping assisted suicide and insurance scheme.
Authorities claimed that the once high-powered attorney orchestrated the scheme and even supplied Smith with the firearm used to shoot him.
A judge set Smith’s bond at $55,000 on Thursday.
Murdaugh attorney Dick Harpootlian defended his client by saying he greatly suffered since the Sept. 4 incident—and encouraged him to come clean to authorities on Monday in an attempt “to make amends.”
“He is not a danger to a community. He is only a danger to himself,” Harpootlian said, reiterating that Murdaugh hatched “a plan to execute himself.”
