Who is Donnie Murrell? Lawyer for Trump aide 'tough and tenacious' addition to defense team

WEST PALM BEACH — Defense attorney Donnie Murrell Jr. has defended some of South Florida's most vilified murder suspects, sparing some from the death penalty and exonerating others. This year, he'll try his hand with a different kind of client: Mar-a-Lago property manager and Trump staffer Carlos de Oliveira.

De Oliveira hired Murrell last week after he became ensnared in the federal investigation into Donald Trump's handling of classified documents.

No stranger to high-profile cases, or even ones involving classified information, Murrell is among Palm Beach County’s most respected criminal defense attorneys. His reputation as a dogged defender is due in part to the very thing that some lawyers say makes him a surprising choice for the classified documents case: his independence.

"If they have to swear fealty to Trump and his team, Donnie Murrell ain't going to do it," said West Palm Beach attorney Jim Eisenberg. "That's not him."

Eisenberg, who worked with Murrell on the trial of two men convicted of killing a family on Florida’s Turnpike in 2006, said he expects Murrell to do what he always has — whatever’s best for his client alone.

"I'm not so certain the Trump people want that kind of lawyer in there with them,” Eisenberg said.

It remains to be seen how involved Murrell will be in the Mar-a-Lago property manager's defense. His presence on the team checks a box for de Oliveira, who's legally required to have local counsel in addition to his D.C.-based attorney, John Irving.

While lawyers who fulfill the role of local counsel sometimes take a back seat, those familiar with Murrell say he isn’t one to watch from the sidelines or act as a yes man.

"I hope they don't go there with the expectation that he's that kind of lawyer," said attorney Joe Atterbury. "There are a number of those kinds of lawyers, but Donnie, I'm proud to say, is not one of them."

Attorney Jack Goldberger said he'd be hard-pressed to find a judge, attorney or former president who can talk Murrell out of doing what he thinks is best. He'd sooner debate the issue than concede it — even if it lands him in hot water.

A federal judge once filed a complaint with the Florida Bar after Murrell, then president of a statewide defense lawyers association, wrote a column blasting three federal court officials for their alleged conflicts of interest.

He was held in contempt of court on a separate occasion for refusing to retract a word that a state judge considered offensive. Murrell appealed the contempt citation, saying the word he'd used — "prostituted" — had been used by judges in appellate case law, too. He won the appeal.

"He's not afraid to be confrontational if it means standing up for his clients and his positions," said retired defense attorney John Tierney. "But he has a nice way about it."

One colleague called it the stamp of Old Florida — Murrell's countrified way of speaking that puts others at ease. He set himself apart as the "sole redneck-y lawyer among the Palm Beach attorneys," Eisenberg said, and that distinction holds true among the Trump crowd, too.

Murrell doesn't play golf. He fishes and camps and rides motorcycles.

"Him running around in pastel shorts and meeting at Trump International — I don't think that's his wheelhouse," Goldberger said.

The courtroom is. Known for his in-depth trial prep, Murrell is said to pore over records and supplemental reading until he knows a case better than most in the room. That may prove difficult in de Oliveira's case, where prosecutors have produced more than 1.1 million pages of documents and have promised more to come.

Murrell made light of the mountain of discovery at de Oliveira's arraignment Tuesday, telling a prosecutor that his secretary had begun "pulling her hair out" sorting through it all.

Irving did not attend Tuesday's hearing. Murrell made a fast friend of the prosecutor in his absence, both bemoaning the drive from South Florida to Fort Pierce, where the trial will be held.

Several of Murrell’s colleagues said they would give a wide berth to the former president, whose ex-attorneys Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman are facing their own federal charges for alleged crimes committed at his behest.

If Murrell has misgivings about his proximity to Trump, who faces 91 counts across four separate indictments, it didn't show Tuesday. Attorney Glenn Mitchell said Murrell's laid-back demeanor is part of what makes him a great and dangerous lawyer.

"He fools you — comes across like an 'Aw, shucks' kind of guy — but you'd better be careful," Mitchell said. "He's very knowledgeable, very articulate, and very, very prepared."

Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Lawyer for Trump aide Carlos De Oliveira admired for independence, zeal