State prosecutors in South Carolina want a judge to revoke bond for Curtis Edward "Eddie" Smith, an alleged co-conspirator of disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh in an apparent drug trafficking and money laundering scheme.
The S.C. Attorney General's Office announced Wednesday a bond revocation hearing for Smith is scheduled for Thursday in Columbia in front of Judge Clifton Newman.
A motion filed Wednesday afternoon by lead prosecutor Creighton Waters says the state wants Judge Newman to revoke Smith's bond over repeated house arrest violations and also for lying about his finances.
Newman had set bond for Smith at $250,000 with conditions of house arrest, GPS monitoring and drug testing after Smith was indicted by a grand jury in late June. Smith was released from jail on shortly before 6 p.m. on July 5 after making bail.
According to Wednesday's filing, GPS data shows Smith broke terms of his house arrest 26 times during his first two weeks out of jail, beginning just hours after his release when he visited an unauthorized private residence.
Prosecutors claim GPS data shows Smith visited seven total private residences in Colleton County on nine occasions during his first 14 days out of jail. He reportedly made repeat visits to Meadow Street in Walterboro and the area of Clydeville Road and Junkyard Road in Cottageville.
GPS tracking further shows Smith made 10 unauthorized trips to the Dorchester Biomass power plant in Harleyville on three different days at odd times. Five of those visits happened in the early morning hours between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.
Other unauthorized visits included Fort Jackson military base in Columbia, and local stores in Colleton County.
Waters also wants Judge Newman to revoke Smith's bond because Waters said Smith lied about his finances when he said in court "I ain't got no money." Waters says Smith actually had more than $58,000 in the bank at that moment. Smith had apparently gotten a $78,000 insurance settlement three weeks earlier.
Indictments by the State Grand Jury charge Smith and Alex Murdaugh with money laundering, drug trafficking, insurance fraud, and conspiracy.
Smith, 62, infamously was arrested in September 2021 after he reportedly shot Alex Murdaugh in the head in a failed attempt to help Murdaugh commit suicide with the appearance Murdaugh had been murdered.
Murdaugh, 54, survived the gunshot, which he initially claimed was fired by an unknown person for no apparent reason while Murdaugh said he was dealing with a flat tire on a rural stretch of Hampton County highway.
Murdaugh later changed his story to admit the entire thing was staged and turned himself in to face insurance fraud, conspiracy and false statement to police charges a little over a week later. Smith was arrested at the same time on the same charges, plus drug and firearm charges.
State police say Murdaugh hired Smith to kill him in hopes Murdaugh's son, Buster, would get a $10 million life insurance settlement. Murdaugh believed the insurance provider wouldn't pay the policy if he committed suicide, so he recruited Smith to pull the trigger.
The Sept. 4, 2021 shooting incident came a day after Murdaugh's family namesake law firm fired Murdaugh amid the discovery Murdaugh had embezzled funds from the practice in relation to his numerous other financial crimes.
Smith, a disabled former injury client of Murdaugh, said the two had become close friends akin to brothers before they both found themselves facing criminal charges together, and claims Murdaugh was like a brother to him.
Smith says he often did odd jobs for Murdaugh as a way to supplement a limited income do to back injuries that have left him unable to work fulltime.
Murdaugh's attorneys, however, have characterized Smith as nothing more than Murdaugh's personal drug dealer.
Smith has refuted this characterization and denies much of the account given by Murdaugh and law enforcement about the shooting incident, saying he was set up by Murdaugh and had actually tried to take the gun away from Murdaugh to prevent the shooting.
Smith claims a negligent discharge of the firearm happened while he and Murdaugh tussled for control of the gun, and the bullet reportedly grazed the top of Murdaugh's head.
At his bond hearing in June, Smith went on to say he didn't retain possession of any money Alex Murdaugh had given him over the years as part of the alleged money laundering and drug operations the state claims the two were involved in.
Smith reportedly received in excess of $2.8 million from Murdaugh over several years. State prosecutors claim the payments increased in frequency and amounts in the months immediately before the murders of Murdaugh's wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, in June 2021.
Prosecutors say the bulk of the money Murdaugh paid Smith was stolen from Murdaugh's own personal injury clients while acting as their attorney, then laundered through a fictitious business bank account and distributed to family and friends including Smith.
Murdaugh has been in jail since October 2021. Murdaugh most recently was indicted by the Grand Jury in Colleton County on two murder and two firearm charges each for the 2021 killings of his wife and son, Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
Alex Murdaugh also is awaiting trial on 81 state grand jury charges related to financial crimes, and four county-level criminal charges related to the failed assisted suicide plot.
Judge Alison Lee set Murdaugh's bond on the financial crimes at $7 million. He's been given no bond on the murder charges related to his wife and son's deaths.
Two friends and business associates of Murdaugh, former bank CEO Russell Laffitte and former attorney Cory Fleming, also are facing dozen of criminal charges from the State Grand Jury as alleged co-conspirators to Murdaugh's alleged financial crimes.