South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh tried to hire someone to shoot him to get $10 million in insurance for his son.

Now his attorney is falling back on the modern day version of 'insanity' or 'repressed memory' pleas - opiod addiction made him do it.

“For the last 20 years, there have been many people feeding his addiction to opioids. During that time, these individuals took advantage of his addiction and his ability to pay substantial funds for illegal drugs. One of those individuals took advantage of his mental illness and agreed to take Alex’s life, by shooting him in the head,” wrote his attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin.

It's silly but they only need to convince one juror that Big Pharma is manufacturing opioid addiction and not that Murtaugh was a long-time recreational junkie. It's also risky. By claiming opioid addiction made him hire someone to shoot him, he opens up the door to claims that it could have made him hire someone to shoot his wife and child, who were murdered a few months ago.

It's also a perceptual problem given the current pandemic - it is no longer fashionable to blame Big Pharma for everything. The same company that knocked out polio is now knocking out COVID-19. Unless you get some anti-vaccine crank that is a tough sell.