Murdaugh viewers go wild for ‘Man in the Yellow Suit’ Wendell Butterfield

The sensational Alex Murdaugh trial may have captivated the country — but all eyes were on “The Man in the Yellow Suit.”

Hawks closely watching the double-murder trial in South Carolina went bananas for an older dapper man in the gallery — later identified as a state constable Dr. Wendell Butterfield, 80, who was providing security during the trial.

“CHECK OUT THAT YELLOW SUIT,” “Murdaugh Murders” podcast co-host Mandy Matney gleefully posted on Twitter on March 2, alongside a screengrab of the serious man in the courtroom at Colleton County Courthouse.

“That suit is how you know it’s spring in the low country,” another user replied, referring to the trial’s location in the Palmetto State’s coastal southern region.

Another Twitter user even credited the outfit with clairvoyance about the guilty verdict, which was read that night.

“[The suit} brought the sunshine today,” they wrote.

Butterfield, who was tasked with protecting Judge Clifton Newman, Court of Clerk Becky Hill and the court reporters, had no idea his sartorial savvy was being lauded in the court of public opinion.

“I had no idea that my suit choices were making quite a stir,” Butterfield told The Daily Beast this week.

“It’s been surreal.”

Viewers were also delighted by Butterfield’s no-nonsense attitude.

“Watch the officer…thinking I’m going to have to tackle this dumb b–h today aren’t I,” one tweeted with a clip of Butterfield appearing to side-eye Alex Murdaugh in court.

Hill told the outlet that Butterfield, whose resumé includes time in the Marines, with the Colleton County Sheriff’s Department, and with Homeland Security, was the obvious choice for security during the high-profile Murdaugh trial.

“He takes pride in his uniform and the way he looks and is always immaculately dressed with starched shirts and pants, a crisp blazer, a tie, and shoes that are shined, and a very similar likeness to a favorite and very loved actor of mine, Clint Eastwood,” she said, noting that the octogenarian showed up every morning “before time to report with his coffee in one hand and my sweet tea in the other.”

Though Butterfield told The Daily Beast that he mostly concentrated on his security gig, he admitted to observing Murdaugh periodically during the six-week proceedings.

“There were a few times when Murdaugh seemed a little distracted and nervous. He was listening to witness testimonies and could tell when he didn’t seem too pleased about what was being said,” he said.

Butterfield agreed with the widespread assessment that it was a “very bad idea” for Murdaugh to take the stand in his own defense.

“The defense tried to talk him out of it,” he claimed. 

“But he knew what he wanted to do and he was going to do it regardless of what he was being told.”

In the days since the trial ended, a handful of jury members have already waived their anonymity to explain that Murdaugh’s tear-stained testimony played a large role in their decision to convict him for the 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.

The jury, Butterfield said, was “very engaged.” Murdaugh’s extended family, however, was less cognizant of courtroom procedures.

The family – which has long enjoyed a lofty reputation as the region’s most eminent legal dynasty – was warned not to communicate with the defendant after his sister “came up to the defense table,” Butterfield explained.

Despite the reprimand, however, Murdaugh’s sister passed a book to one of the defense’s clerks.

“The clerk ended up giving it to Murdaugh and it was noticed. The book was confiscated and Murdaugh’s sister was told that was the second time the family was warned and if something were to happen again, she would be restricted from the courthouse,” Butterfield recalled.

“She wasn’t too happy about it.”

Butterfield’s own family had better luck in the courtroom: His wife, he said, “hit it off” with best-selling author Ronda Rich in the gallery one day.

Even so, Butterfield ruefully admitted that his favorite moment of the drawn-out saga was “the moment it was over.”

His daughter, Shanna Ayer, who initially identified her father on Twitter, told The Daily Beast that she was “very proud and honored that he was being showcased as the best dressed in the courtroom.”

 “My dad is an amazing man who takes pride in everything he does. He is very humble but he deserves all the attention and praise for sure.”

Shanna previously pitched on Twitter that her father should be played by Clint Eastwood in the inevitable film adaptation.

While Butterfield’s life is returning to normal post-trial, the same cannot be said for Alex Murdaugh: The former attorney, who also faces trial over dozens of alleged financial crimes, started his two consecutive life sentences this weekend.

“He’s not telling the truth, in my opinion, about everything there,” the convicted killer’s older brother, Randy, admitted to the New York Times this week.