Ryan Kelly, previously a distinguished investigator with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), was dismissed from his role as chief inspector at the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office on June 8, as confirmed by the agency to News Media.
In his capacity, Kelly was responsible for managing the Office of Professional Standards, which is tasked with overseeing internal affairs. His termination came in response to allegations of harassment and misconduct.
He had been a crucial SLED agent during significant investigations, including those surrounding Alex Murdaugh.
Kelly’s firing occurs as the legal community braces for Murdaugh’s upcoming retrial, potentially putting scrutiny on the evidence and investigative work in cases where Kelly was involved.
During the trial of Alex Murdaugh on February 13, 2023, at the Colleton County Courthouse, Prosecutor Savanna Goude engaged in questioning SLED agent Ryan Kelly. (Grace Beahm Alford/Pool)
Asked whether Kelly’s termination could affect the upcoming retrial, Murdaugh’s lead defense attorney, Dick Harpootlian, declined to comment.
“Not at this time,” Harpootlian told News Media.
Alex Murdaugh is led into the Colleton County courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on Feb. 28, 2023, during his trial for the double slaying of his son, Paul, and wife, Maggie, in June 2021. (Mark Sims for News Media)
During Murdaugh’s initial 2023 trial, Kelly testified about the September 2021 roadside shooting in which Murdaugh initially claimed he had been shot by an unknown assailant while changing a tire.
Kelly, then a SLED senior special agent, was the lead investigator on that incident. Prosecutors used the episode to show jurors what they described as Murdaugh’s pattern of deception after the murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.
Jurors heard evidence that Murdaugh later admitted he had arranged for Curtis “Eddie” Smith to shoot him so his surviving son, Buster, could collect a life insurance payout.
The roadside shooting was separate from the June 2021 murders, but it became a key part of prosecutors’ broader case against Murdaugh.
Alex Murdaugh talks with his attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin during his sentencing for stealing from 18 clients at the Beaufort County Courthouse in Beaufort, S.C., on Nov. 28, 2023. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP)
Murdaugh, 58, was convicted in March 2023 of murdering his wife, Maggie, 52, and their 22-year-old son, Paul, at the family’s sprawling hunting estate in Colleton County in June 2021.
He was sentenced to life in prison, but his lawyers later pushed for a new trial, arguing that the jury had been improperly influenced by former Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill.
The South Carolina Supreme Court reversed the denial of Murdaugh’s new-trial motion on May 13 and sent the case back to the circuit court.
Murdaugh has denied killing Maggie and Paul. The pair were found shot to death near the dog kennels at the family’s Moselle estate, a sprawling property in South Carolina’s Lowcountry.
Alex Murdaugh listens to Britt Dove, SLED agent specialist in computer forensics, discuss information from his cellphone during his murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse on Feb. 1, 2023. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Pool)
Prosecutors argued Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his crumbling legal and financial world as years of thefts and lies were closing in on him.
His defense team insisted he was a loving husband and father who had been wrongfully accused after investigators zeroed in on him too quickly.
Although Murdaugh’s murder convictions were overturned, he remains behind bars on separate financial-crime convictions after admitting he stole from clients and his former law firm. Prosecutors have said they intend to retry him on the murder charges.