Man Charged with Shooting Alex Murdaugh in Failed Assisted Suicide Claims He Was Set Up

The attorney for the man who was charged in connection with an alleged botched suicide-for-hire plot that Alex Murdaugh is accused of hatching to claim a $10 million life insurance payout for his son claims he was "set up."

On Sept. 4, Murdaugh, 53, of Islandton, S.C., called 911 to say he'd been shot by someone driving by in a pickup truck. But authorities — and even Murdaugh's lawyer — now say Murdaugh engineered the shooting himself.

On Sept. 16, agents of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) arrested Murdaugh, alleging in a news release that he had "conspired with Curtis Edward Smith to assist him in committing suicide for the explicit purpose of allowing a beneficiary to collect life insurance."

Smith, a former client of Murdaugh's, was arrested on September 14 and charged with assisted suicide, aggravated assault and battery and insurance fraud in connection with the shooting.

On Thursday morning, in an exclusive interview with Today, Smith's attorney, Jonny McCoy said, "I think that he's being set up by a person who is a drug addict who is going through horrific withdrawals, 20 years' opioids use, and I think that he is doing exactly what people with addict behavior do.

"And that is he tried to turn himself into a victim, and he tried to turn himself into a hero."

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Smith maintains that he did not pull the trigger on Sept. 4.

"I didn't shoot him," Smith said on Today. "I'm innocent. If I'd have shot him, he'd be dead. He's alive."

Smith said that on Sept. 4, Murdaugh had asked him to meet him on a rural road in Hampton.

When he got there, he said Murdaugh was holding a gun. "And he's standing like this. He said, 'You gonna shoot me?' I said, 'No,'" Smith said. "He said, 'Well, you've got to do it.' And he made this move like this, and I just grabbed his arm.

"I shoved [the gun] up behind him, between me and him. And it went off."

Smith said he was "1,000%" sure that the bullet did not hit either of them.

Murdaugh is charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, and filing a false police report in connection with the Sept. 4 incident. He has not yet entered a plea.

Also on Thursday morning, Murdaugh was arrested on accusations he misappropriated insurance settlement funds in the wrongful death suit that followed the mysterious trip and fall death of his longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, authorities announced.

Agents with SLED and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement took the longtime attorney, 52, into custody as he left a drug rehabilitation facility in Orlando, Fla., SLED wrote in a release.

He is charged with two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses.

"These charges stem from a SLED investigation into misappropriated settlement funds in the death of Gloria Satterfield," the release says.

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Satterfield worked as the housekeeper for the Murdaugh family for years. She purportedly died after an accident in their home in 2018. Her sons filed a wrongful death lawsuit - allegedly at Murdaugh's suggestion, the sons' attorney, Eric Bland said.

"But they "never saw a dime of it," Bland said.

Murdaugh has been taken to Orange County Corrections where he will be held until he receives an extradition hearing.

Upon extradition being granted or waived, he will be brought back to South Carolina to receive a bond hearing.

Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, lawyers for Alex Murdaugh, responding to Thursday's arrest by saying he was taken into custody this morning "and is expected to be transported by SLED to Beaufort County where he will appear before a Magistrate for a bond hearing tomorrow.

"We have not seen the warrants but have been informed that he is charged with two counts of obtaining goods under false pretenses relating to the settlement proceeds from the Estate of Gloria Satterfield.

"Alex intends to fully cooperate with this investigation, as he has with the investigation into the murder of his wife and son. He deeply regrets that his actions have distracted from the efforts to solve their murders."

His attorneys did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment about Smith and McCoy's interview with Today.