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A federal judge has allowed Buster Murdaugh’s defamation case against CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros., to move forward. Former South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon shared this development with Fox News Digital, dubbing it a “victory” for Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son.
The United States District Court for the District of South Carolina received court documents on June 9 outlining Judge Richard Mark Gergel’s decision. The judge denied Warner Bros. and Blackfin Inc.’s request to dismiss the lawsuit. The legal action claims that these media giants insinuated and implied in their Murdaugh documentary that 28-year-old Buster was involved in the murder of 19-year-old Stephen Smith from Hampton County.
Smith — Buster’s former classmate — was found dead on a rural road in Hampton County, where the Murdaugh family is from, in the summer of 2015.
Smith’s cause of death was later determined to be the result of a hit-and-run incident when he ran out of gas and was struck by a vehicle while walking along the road.
The retired solicitor, who had served as the region’s top prosecutor before retiring in 2005, is the late father of Alex Murdaugh.
He allegedly told Smith’s mother he was willing to work pro bono as a liaison between the family and investigators but soon stopped returning their calls, the letter says. An attorney for the Smith family did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Buster issued a statement in 2023 through his attorney denying any role in Smith’s death: “These baseless rumors of my involvement in Stephen’s death are false,” he said. “My heart goes out to the Smith family.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Buster’s attorneys for comment regarding Gergel’s order this week.
