Podcast hosts release statement after publishing private Murdaugh jail call

COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - The team behind Hidden True Crime, a podcast and YouTube channel, released a statement on Tuesday afternoon about the decision to publish the recording of a call between Alex Murdaugh and his attorney.

True-crime podcast hosts John and Lauren Matthias submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for recordings of jail calls placed by Alex Murdaugh. They said they did not ask for anything exempt from disclosure.

As part of the request, the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office accidentally released a call between Murdaugh and his lawyer Jim Griffin, which is protected by attorney-client privilege. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said the call was released by “inadvertent human error” and after they realized the mistake, they contacted the requestor and asked the call not be published.

In the statement released on Twitter, Hidden True Crime said they received an email requesting the call not be shared after they had posted it on social media. They said they would never knowingly release something exempt from public disclosure.

“We were not told we did anything wrong,” the statement reads. “We were not asked to take anything down.”

Griffin posted on Twitter after the call was shared saying he was “mad as hell.” A video with the call has been removed from Hidden True Crime’s TikTok due to a high volume of reports, but it remains on their other social media platforms.

“At this point in time HTC sees no reason to remove a recording we legally obtained, that has already been distributed by many parties across the internet,” said Hidden True Crime.

Read the full statement below:

READ MORE: In tweet, Murdaugh attorney ‘mad as hell’ about leaked phone call

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