trial

Alex Murdaugh’s rubbed his furrowed forehead with unshackled hands and took notes Tuesday as Judge Jean Toal laid out strict parameters for how a retrial hearing will proceed at month’s end.

Alex Murdaugh has been arraigned on federal money laundering and wire fraud charges for indictments saying he stole money from his clients. The convicted murderer already serving a life sentence in a South Carolina state prison for killing his wife and son pleaded not guilty for now. But one of his lawyers said that might change soon. The details of the 22 federal charges aren't new. State prosecutors have indicted Murdaugh on similar charges, saying he diverted money meant for clients and a wrongful death settlement for his family's longtime housekeeper who fell at Murdaugh's home to his own bank accounts.

A longtime friend of convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has admitted he helped his old college roommate steal more than $4 million meant for a wrongful death settlement after Murdaugh's housekeeper died in a fall. Cory Fleming pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in federal court. The 54-year-old lawyer faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced at a later date. After Murdaugh's maid, Gloria Satterfield, died following a fall at the family's home, Murdaugh convinced Satterfield's sons to hire Fleming as their lawyer, saying they could help get the family money for a wrongful death settlement. Fleming and Murdaugh then kept all the money for themselves.

A South Carolina judge has sided with prosecutors who asked him to put strict controls on how Alex Murdaugh's defense can review evidence before the disgraced lawyer's murder trial in the deaths of his wife and son. Circuit Judge Clifton Newman sided with prosecutors and their desire for the rules to make sure evidence isn't released until Murdaugh's January trial for the 2021 shootings of his wife and son. Murdaugh's lawyers say the rules will prevent them from properly reviewing evidence and prosecutors have already been leaking it.

A trial is starting in South Carolina where lawyers for several death row prisoners are arguing the electric chair - as well as the newly established, but so far unused, firing squad - are cruel and unusual punishments. South Carolina hasn't executed anyone since 2011 because the state's lethal injection drugs expired and pharmacies have refused to sell it more. The General Assembly passed a law in 2021 requiring condemned inmates to choose between electrocution or firing squad if the lethal injection drugs weren't available. Four prisoners either out or nearly out of appeals to their death sentences sued and their execution dates were postponed.

A prosecutor says a deputy in South Carolina charged in the deaths of two women who drowned in a locked police van in 2018 ignored barricades and drove into rapidly rising flood waters against advice from his supervisors. Former Horry County deputy Stephen Flood is on trial on two counts of involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide for the drownings. He was taking the women to mental health facilities under a court order as rain from Hurricane Florence inundated eastern South Carolina. Flood's lawyer on Monday said his client is a scapegoat for supervisors who wanted him to take the shortest route and officials who let him drive around a barricade.

A longtime friend of once-prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh now faces 18 charges in an alleged scheme to help Murdaugh steal more than $3 million from the family of Murdaugh's dead housekeeper. An indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses Cory Fleming of defrauding the sons of Gloria Satterfield, who died following a fall at the Murdaugh home in 2018.

A man who shot and killed three people in a South Carolina home and then used their smartphones to send himself money for a plane ticket has been sentenced to life in prison without parole. Jeffery Powell pleaded guilty Friday. Prosecutors say Powell killed his aunt's husband, a cousin and his cousin's daughter in their Greenwood home last August. Investigators say he also shot and wounded an 8-year-old boy who hid in a bathroom with his dead sister for several hours before going to a neighbor's home to look for help. The 37-year-old Powell sobbed as he apologized in court for the killings.

A former "American Idol" contestant accused of fatally running over a man last month will remain in a South Carolina jail while toxicology results are pending. The judge ended a hearing Thursday without setting bond for 17-year-old Caleb Kennedy. The country music singer could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted of driving under the influence resulting in death. Officials said Kennedy used marijuana before driving up a residential driveway and crashing into 54-year-old Larry Duane Parris. Kennedy's lawyer said his client is now on suicide watch in jail and needs to be freed or sent to an alcohol and drug treatment center.