Murdaugh Murders Podcast - ‘If You Come For The King, You Best Not Miss’: Chaos In The Murder Case (S01E58)

Episode Date: August 24, 2022

This last week was another roller coaster of insanity in the Murdaugh Murders Saga. Murdaugh’s defense team has amped up their strategy to fool the public and create chaos in the double homicide case and - per usual - mainstream media is happily helping them with that. Mandy, Liz  & David poured through a pile of documents filed in the last week – and dove deep into Harpootlian’s press conference.  We also cover the latest — including new indictments filed against Russell Laffitte, Alex Murdaugh, and two new defendants that plunge this saga deeper into mystery. Special thanks to Eric Alan for capturing audio and video in support of this podcast. Check out Eric Alan's YouTube Channel here: https://bit.ly/3AIMtFB And subscribe to our MMP YouTube channel too! https://bit.ly/3cgP0xn The Murdaugh Murders Podcast is created by Mandy Matney and Luna Shark Productions. Our Executive Editor is Liz Farrell. Advertising is curated by the talented team at AdLarge Media. Find us on social media: https://www.facebook.com/MurdaughPod/ https://www.instagram.com/murdaughmurderspod/ Twitter.com/mandymatney YouTube Support Our Podcast at: https://murdaughmurderspodcast.com/support-the-show Please consider sharing your support by leaving a review on Apple at the following link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/murdaugh-murders-podcast/id1573560247 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We did it! I still can't believe we got this project done so fast and so well. When I'm in New York, I'm in Chicago and I'm in LA, but we're making it happen in Miro. Together. Our best work just happens faster on Miro's collaborative online whiteboard. No more scheduling meeting after meeting for work that could happen from anywhere. Whether it's getting design feedback here, mapping timelines here, or brainstorming next steps here. It all just happens on the Miro board. Exactly. And it's nice not having to wait an entire day to get sign off from this guy. Hey! Well, it is true. See how Miro users save up to 80 hours every year by meeting less and doing more. Get on board at Miro.com, the

first three boards are free forever. That's Miro.com. I don't know why the state attorney general's office is making it so easy for Dick and Jim to control the narrative in Ellic Murdoch's murder case. But since they've left themselves wide open once again, we're going to have to set the story straight. My name is Mandy Matney. I have been investigating the Murdoch family for more than three and a half years. This is the Murdoch Murders podcast with Liz Barrell and David Moses. Just start off this episode. I want to say thank you to every single person who reached out after last week's episode and showed your support. I debated for a long time about whether or not to share the Wall Street Journal story, but it came

down to principle in our mission here at the Murdoch Murders podcast. I cannot expect victims to be brave and share their stories and hold others to account if I'm not brave enough to do that myself. A lot of you reached out about how the episode encouraged you to stand up for yourselves. And I'm so glad you heard my message. The sunlight feels really good and it means the world to me to hear your stories about how the podcast is inspiring you to be brave in all aspects of life. And I have to say the reaction to last week's episode reminded me of how kind and empathetic our audience is at the Murdoch Murders podcast. It is empowering to me to know that there is such a special group of humans supporting us in this journey. So thank you.

Also, an exciting announcement. We are excited to partner with true crime YouTuber Eric Allen as we add more audio and video to our reporting like the audio from Harputlian's press conference which Eric Allen captured. I highly recommend checking out his YouTube channel where you can learn more about the Murdoch Murders saga, the Calvert Mystery and more. He just surpassed 100,000 YouTube subscribers. So big congratulations are in order for Eric Allen. Check for his YouTube link in the description. I have also talked about how much work it is for journalists to not only be news gatherers but also storytellers, investigators and analyzers. It is so comforting to know that all of us at MMP are working together to expose the truth

wherever it leads and give voice to victims. As we move forward, the Lunashark team is going to be celebrating so many new fun projects including enhancements to our website and YouTube channel. So don't forget to subscribe. I am so excited. We have a couple new shows in the works. We have huge news to share soon on how you can share in our mission. So stay tuned because we are just getting started. And the last week was yet another roller coaster of insanity in the Murdoch Murders saga. Among the highlights, Murdoch's defense team has amped up their strategy to fool the public and create chaos in the double homicide case. As usual, mainstream media is happily helping them

do that. Russell Lafitte was hit with another federal charge, bringing his total to 27. And Elick Murdoch was hit with yet another indictment for his alleged financial crimes, bringing his total charges to 90. Finally, there are two new defendants linked to this case who were indicted by the state grand jury on Friday. So yes, there's a lot to unpack in this episode. Let's get into it. Defense attorneys love chaos. It's clear from Dick's antics in the last week that his strategy going forward is just that. Create chaos to distract the public from the facts of the case. Dick's primary complaint is this. He wants to try the case in January. An absolutely absurd timeline for a murder trial. Let alone a double homicide trial making headlines

around the world that could very well be a death penalty case with the entire justice system hanging on the line. And Dick says the AG's office is purposely making it difficult for him to work on Elick's defense. Dick is using his absurd timeline as an excuse to create drama and you guessed it chaos to distract the media from what's actually happening here. And once again, the state is not only letting him do this, they're creating opportunities for it to happen. There's an old saying, if one aims for the king, one must not miss, which absolutely applies here. We do not want to see Elick Murdock getting special treatment in this case, but we also want to see our justice system working as it should. We want to see Elick Murdock and every defendant in the state of South

Carolina get a fair trial. We want everyone to drink from the same cup of justice. We were told for a year that the Attorney General's office took so long to charge Elick Murdock with murder because they were dotting all their eyes and crossing all of their T's. Public trust in the justice system is on the line here. The AG's office is coming for the most monstrous of kings, the good ol' boys who have run this state like their own personal kingdom. So there is no room for air here. We have taken a closer look at multiple filings that have been made over the past week and we dove in deep on Dick Harputlian's press conference. We have learned a lot, even in the last week, about the state of our justice system, how murder trials work, and how the media

plays a significant role in all of this. One of our main missions of this podcast is to get the story straight, which is what we are focusing on today. We're about to descend down a really steep staircase into Dick's dazzling den of disruption. So we're going to give you a railing to hold onto and a map in case you get lost. As Mandy said over the past week or so, there have been several filings in Elec Murdoch's murder case. The first is a motion from Dick and Jim. The second and third are a response and a motion from prosecutor Creighton Waters. And the fourth is a response from Dick and Jim to Creighton's motion. Each of these filings is related to the discovery phase and the case, meaning this is about the evidence and the sharing of other documents and tangible

objects related to the case. Dick, Jim, and Creighton had all agreed on a gag order last month, but Judge Clifton Newman ruled against it. Now let's all take a moment here and appreciate that decision because had Judge Newman agreed to the gag order, these filings might have been sealed and we would not be able to discuss a dog named Bubba, which we will explain later, don't worry. Overall, these filings are filled with outrage from both sides. They are accompanied by receipts in the form of email exchanges, but mainly they have given us more insight into Dick and Jim's apparent strategy, the state's apparent fears, the investigation itself, and the high level of antics happening. So let's talk about the first motion. Immediately after the murder charges

were filed in July, Dick and Jim made their Rule 5 discovery demand of the state. We've talked about this before, but Dick Harputlian is really good at filing discovery motions. He's super thorough, not only in what he's asking for, but the way he wants it presented to him. If there is a text message, a post-it note, or a child's drawing related to Ellic Murdoch's murder case, Dick has asked for it. He also gets meta about it. He not only wants the documents related to the case, but documents related to the documents in the case. I'm not kidding. At Ellic's Bond hearing in July, Dick reminded the state that they had 30 days to produce Rule 5 discovery in the case. This reminder was basically Dick's way of warning everyone, in exactly 30 days I will be reminding

the court about how I publicly reminded you of your deadline, which you will no doubt miss. Naturally, this is what he did, because naturally the state has not fully complied with the request, and therein lies the entire problem. How did they not see this coming? How did the AG's office not know that Dick would be waiting by the cuckoo clock? A quick note about this. When Dick and Jim originally requested a speedy trial for Ellic, we were able to understand that maybe the state's strategy all along had accounted for this move, meaning that Creighton Waters knew that this would be a possibility, and that's why it took more than a year to present evidence to the grand jury. That was a very forgiving assessment on our part,

because if that were the case, then I would think that the state would be a lickety split with handing over Rule 5 discovery, knowing that the Bulldogs would be waiting for them at the gate. Now, in accordance with the Brady Doctrine, defendants have a constitutional right to receive every shred of evidence that points to other suspects, basically anything that might exonerate them. Rule 5 discovery is a bit different, though. The state rules says that defendants and criminal cases have the right to inspect or copy evidence and other records related to their case. The prosecution is not required to hand over internal documents or witness statements, and the rule says that if either party, the state or the defense, wants to prevent the other side from seeing certain

information that is subject to disclosure before the trial, they can file a motion and ask the court for a ruling to keep it sealed. Prosecutors must respond to a request for Rule 5 discovery within 30 days of the request. The rule does not specify what respond means, nor does it say what 30 days is. That definition of what a day is is something we come up against a lot in filing Freedom of Information Act requests. According to Dick and Jim, it's defined as 30 calendar days, and the deadline for production was August 15th. Nothing in the filings indicates that the state is disputing that timeline. Here's the thing. Prosecutors in South Carolina are notoriously slack on complying with Rule 5. Over the years, we have heard many complaints about prosecutors

ignoring requests for information from public defenders right up until the last moment, literally the week of trial. As we speak, there are defendants in the 14th Circuit, the Circuit where Ellic Murdoch's murder case is being tried, who have been waiting years for their discovery. This is horrible and incredibly unfair given the number of defendants who use public defenders. How can their lawyer prepare an effective defense without all of the relevant information at any rate? This, in part, is why Dick standing over the Attorney General's office, tapping his Rolex, is a true display of audacity. This is pretty much how the system works for everyone else. He's absolutely right to be outraged, but also wrong to be outraged. Now,

this current battle started Friday, August 12th. Turns out the state was putting together a very restrictive protective order for Judge Newman to sign that would have required Ellic Murdoch to be supervised whenever he looked at the discovery in his case. It would have prevented Ellic from keeping any of the evidence at the jail. It also would have required Dick and Jim to get the Court's permission every time they wanted to share the discovery with another party, such as an expert witness or another attorney. We'll talk more about the potential reasons for this because it seems like overkill and it is highly unusual. Crane says this protective order is necessary because of the intense pretrial media coverage in the case, but also because he wants to be consistent.

There are two pots of evidence in this case. One comes from the state grand jury's investigation and the other comes from law enforcement, which includes the prosecution. These restrictions, crate and cx, are basically the same as the automatic restrictions placed on the release of some of the state grand jury evidence. Dick and Jim say this is absurd and unprecedented. According to them, no other murder case in South Carolina has ever had such restrictions on defendants access to evidence. They are also blaming the South Carolina Attorney General's office for media leaks about the evidence and about the grand jury meeting the week Ellic was indicted for the double homicide charges. They are not just blaming the Attorney General. They

are stating as a fact that the leaks have been coming from the AG's office and they're using that alleged hypocrisy to drive their argument. But here's the thing, before 5.15pm Friday, August 12th, it seems like all parties were in agreement that a protective order was necessary. After 5.15pm, Dick and Jim had changed their minds entirely. This is when things got crazy. And we'll be right back. On Monday, August 15th, the day the evidence was allegedly due to be turned over, Creighton emailed Judge Newman a copy of the proposed protective order and basically titled on Dick and Jim for changing their minds. He was like, we're ready to hit send on the evidence, but we need you to figure out some things for us first. We need to get the search

warrants unsealed and also we think there should be a protective order on the evidence, etc. Then Dick emailed Judge Newman to be like, hmmm, Creighton emailed you huh? Seems like a big ol' violation of your no gag order order. Also, note a Creighton special idea about restrictions on the evidence and PS, this is all a ploy from the state. This dispute obviously meant that Creighton hadn't made the deadline. Dick and Jim say this was intentional on Creighton's part, that he raised this issue in the 11th hour to delay matters. Creighton disputes this and says that the state was showing its full intention to hand over the discovery after they buttoned things up on the who, where, and how of it all. Anyway, the next day, on Tuesday, August 16th, Dick and Jim filed a

motion to compel the state to give up the goods, but they apparently didn't email the motion to Creighton and company. Instead, they stuck it in the mail, like with a stamp on it. Creighton repeatedly refers to this in the motion as quote, snail mail, and it's hard not to cringe at that. After filing their motion Tuesday afternoon, Dick and Jim called for a press conference for Wednesday. This press conference was pretty epic and not unlike something you'd see on the show South Park. To start with, Dick began insulting Jim Griffin's very controversial stance on fatherhood, which is, I like to be there for my kids. Jim apparently couldn't attend the press conference because he was moving one of his kids into their college dorms. Back in Dick's day,

this was done differently. It didn't occur when I went to college, my parents put me on the bus and told me to go to go to school, but apparently parents now actually transport their children and move them into a room and tuck them in. And so last century, it really hard for me to understand that. Never fear. Dick did just fine on his own without Jim standing in the background. Performing for the media is one of Dick's specialties. He's really good at understanding the media and manipulating them. He knows that every catchphrase he uses will end up in the story. And he knows that many reporters will take everything he says as fact, despite his recent track record. And he knows that no matter how many times he's misled reporters, they'll always come

back with their hands out for more. And he knows how to write their headlines for them. Yesterday, Jim Griffin and I filed a motion for Judge Clifton Newman to hold a hearing to order the state prosecutor in Alex's murder case to comply with the law requiring them to give us the evidence in this case. Both the constitutions of the United of the state of South Carolina and the United States prohibit trial by ambush. The law requires the state to make this evidence available to us within 30 days of our request. A trial by ambush. Okay, this is where Dick's outrage borders on satirical. So this is the guy who demanded a speedy trial, a speedy murder trial, to be held in less than six months,

pushing all the other murder defendants out of the way to get on the docket. So you're ambushing yourself with that one, Dick. But even more curious is this. The day before Dick filed the first motion, he contacted the Supreme Court to get Alex's murder trial on the docket for January. What I'm saying is this, when Dick needed to make the point with the court that the AG's office is making it impossible for them to adequately defend their client, he couldn't really do that when the trial date was sort of open ended, right? He had to show that there was a definitive time crunch here, but he apparently hadn't asked to get on the docket yet. So it wasn't until last Monday, two days before his blustery press conference,

that Dick made the effort to commit to the January date. Doing that gave him the fuel he needed for his public outrage. A date still hasn't been said, but he's now able to say that they've requested it. The 30 days is not a minimum. It's the maximum. You would assume most, if not all, this material was available 32 days ago when we requested it. You would assume the state knew when they presented indictments for murder, we would immediately request the evidence. And you would assume they would have made it available a month ago so we could evaluate the quality and quantity of it and begin to hire experts, interview witnesses, and examine any physical items they will try to introduce into evidence. So you know how on TV shows like how

to get away with murder and law and order. The crime happens at the beginning of the episode, and then within a few minutes they're duking it out in court. That is pure fantasy, obviously. Murder cases can take years to prepare for and not just because defense attorneys generally like to delay proceedings. Dick and Jim are going to need serious expert testimony to defend ELIC. And those experts are A, very much in demand, and B, very booked up. So again, this claim of wanting to go to trial in six months is a gambit and like TV, highly unrealistic given the challenges afoot. This is the process that occurs every day in every county of South Carolina, wherever a criminal case is pending. The state has agreed to try this case in January.

Every day that passes makes it more difficult for ELIC Murdoch and his attorneys to get prepared for trial. This motion we filed yesterday outlines our position more fully. We're asking Judge Newman to order these materials turned over to us immediately without delay. I will comment on procedural aspects of this matter, but not on any substantive evidentiary issue. Again, the whole issue here is about the timeline they wanted. The process of a defense attorney wanting a double homicide trial within six months after charges are filed is not normal at all in South Carolina. We have seen several murder trials in South Carolina that have happened more than five years after charges were filed. Typically, defense attorneys want to delay,

delay, delay, which is what Dick Harputlian's strategy was in the boat crash case. But he appears to be going for the ultimate Hail Mary here. Back at the press conference, after Dick asked for questions, one reporter immediately addressed a big elephant in the room, which is refreshing to see when it comes to the media and their treatment of Dick in this case. The reporter asked, well, just a couple weeks ago, you wanted a gag order in this case, so why are you suddenly wanting the press's involvement by holding this press conference? We didn't get a gag order. I mean, the judge said, not going to gag you. We're not going to seal anything. Everything's out in the open. Well, if it's out in the open, those are the rules,

we're going to play by the rules. And I might further point this out. As you see in the motion, there's been a exchange of emails rather than motions made. And let me get a little technical. Rule five of the South Carolina Rules of Criminal Procedure, once we make that motion, our guys indicted, we make a motion, they have 30 days maximum to give us the stuff. On last Friday, almost at five o'clock, we get an email from the prosecutor telling us he wants some sort of order that would seal everything, basically, which we believe is inconsistent with Judge Newman's denial of the gag order. We tried to tweak it a little bit and finally just said, no, statewide grand jury law requires certain sealing and certain procedural requirements

to make that public. Information was gathered by the statewide grand jury, but this is a case pending in state court in Colleton County. Those rules don't apply. There was no reason, as I point out, they couldn't have turned almost all of this over to us 32 days ago. There's still two days wait. First of all, notice how quickly he changed the subject when he was called out on flip-flopping his stance with the media in this case. And second, I have to say this again. We spoke to several South Carolina defense attorneys who said it is very rare to obtain the totality of discovery from the prosecution 30 days after a defendant is charged. And again, we have to say this because it was misreported in the media.

Rule five just says that the prosecution needs to respond and their definition of response is very vague. This was something that the media covering the press conference did not catch on to, but instead just repeated what Dick said as fact. Harpoolian continued on his quest to make the prosecution look sketch. Give us the stuff. You went to a grand jury and said you got enough evidence to convict Alex Murdoch, a convicted jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Where is it? I don't have a shred of paper. I don't have an email. I don't have an exhibit. I don't have any evidence. We want to try this case in January. They've agreed to try this case in January. We're ready to work, ready to hire investigators, ready to hire experts.

Check this one out. In their correspondence with Judge Newman and Creighton Waters, both Dick and Jim properly refer to our report about physical evidence that places Alec at the scene when at least one of the murders was committed as quote high-velocity impact spatter. They do not mention blood at all. We have never ever said it was blood. This is important and really weird. It's almost like Dick wants the media to report that it's blood, so that later, after he gets the evidence perhaps, he can then run to his friends in the media and point to the absence of blood spatter as quote unquote proof that the AG's office was leaking information to make his client look bad and as quote unquote proof that the media was falsely

maligning his client. Maybe this is one of the reasons the state is seeking a protective order for the evidence. I mean, if all we know, I mean, somebody wants to know blood spatter, all I know about blood splatter is what I read in some blog. I've never seen any blood spatter evidence. I've never seen any phone downloads. I've never seen any witness statements. 32 days after we make the request, we still don't have anything. So they want to obscure this by saying, well, you know, we need to get this sealed or this needs to be protected. We don't want crime scene photos left out on tables. That is hooey. That is, again, this happens every day in every county, in every murder case.

So speaking of hooey, we will try this case in January, come hell or high water. Ride by here at 11 or 12 o'clock at night. You're going to see the lights on. We're not going to let this slip by because they're dragging their feet. If anyone happens to be driving by 1410 Laurel Street in Columbia late at night, be sure to take a picture for us. We want to see those lights on, but we already know it won't be Dick burning the midnight oil. You mentioned that you guys are going to be up at midnight reviewing through this. How many lawyers? Not me, but somebody works for me will be up at night. Well, how many people will be going through this evidence once you do get it? However many we need. I mean, what if it's five pages?

Won't be many. We don't know. A reporter then asked what the advantage would be for the AG's office to be sitting on evidence. This is a question that played right into Dick's hands. To make it more difficult for us to be a book, let's say for the sake of argument, there are, they've done geofencing, which is a word I've learned recently with cell phones. We have to hire a geofencing expert. They're not easy to find. We have to get the information from them, from the state, give it to them, have them analyze it. And that can't happen overnight. So the longer they take to give it to us, the longer it's going to take for us to get prepared. First off, how is Harputlian a defense attorney? One who is known as a bulldog and one of the most

expensive defense attorneys in the state of South Carolina, just now learning about geofencing. And another thing Dick wanted to hammer home at this press conference was that the AG's office is the source of the leaks to the media. He says that Sled told the family this. That's what Sled told the family. The family wanted to know why they were reading about it in the paper before they heard about it. And Sled agents with them said the Attorney General's office had leaked it. Also, and this is another running theme, Dick made sure to drop a hint that he finds Attorney General Allen Wilson to be incompetent. Who is responsible for not turning it over to Chief Keele, Allen Wilson, Creighton Waters? Well, Creighton Waters is the prosecutor.

Ultimately, he's the front man. I don't know. I mean, it's not Keele's decision. And I don't know. I mean, as far as I know, Allen Wilson's never prosecuted a case. So that is him. Allen Wilson has never prosecuted a case? A murder case? No. And then Dick made another comment. This case needs to be resolved, not just for Alec Murdoch, but for the judicial system. For the state of South Carolina, we need to put this behind us and move on. Notice he never said why we need to put this case behind us and move on. You would think if he truly believed that his client was innocent, he would have used a few breaths to at least mention the fact that Maggie and Paul's killers

could still be out there. And that is what the media should be focusing on. But he didn't. And then true to the Good Old Boy playbook, Harpoolian was sure to tell us that the South Carolina justice system is doing just fine. A reoccurring defense we've seen from those benefiting from an arguably corrupt and unjust system. I've tried in my lifetime hundreds of criminal cases, prosecuted and defended. I have full faith in our judicial system. And when I say that, this isn't some sort of patriotic wave the flag. I've seen it work. I've seen it work. And I've seen it work in wonderful ways. We just need to play by the rules. If you follow the rules, look, his job

is to see that justice is done, not to convict somebody. Of course Dick Harpoolian thinks the justice system is working just fine. Because up until now, and in mostly in the darkness, it has been bending to his favor. It is designed for and by the Good Old Boys. And then Dick compared himself to John Adams and Abraham Lincoln. My job is to represent my client. People say to me, how can you represent this guy? John Adams, the second president of the United States, represented the British soldiers who've massacred the colonial protesters on the Boston Commons, forward quitted to or hung. It is my duty to do that. It's what keeps this country free. Abraham Lincoln defended 22 murder cases. It's this whole idea that I don't,

does they not teach civics in high school anymore? I just don't get it. Minor point, and forgive me because I never took a civics class, but the word is hanged, not hung, and the Boston massacre happened in front of the old state house, not on the common. More importantly, if I had a dollar for every defense attorney who likened themselves to John Adams, I would have a lot of Benjamin Franklin's. Also, if you're being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to represent Ellick Murdock, wouldn't the best answer to the question, how can you represent this guy, be he's innocent and not John Adams and Abraham Lincoln? Surely, defense attorneys who are trying to underscore the nobility of their profession

shouldn't have to go back to the 18th century to find their hero, right? As I said, I've been doing this a long time. The interest in this case is unprecedented, and it's unprecedented because of y'all. Okay, something Dick should know. The interest in this case is unprecedented because of Ellick Murdock, a man with generational wealth, power, and privilege who used his position as an attorney to steal millions of dollars from very vulnerable clients who undeniably needed the money more than he did. Ellick Murdock is a man also accused of murdering his wife and son. He is a man at the center of a criminal ring that appears to involve other lawyers, bankers,

and even judges. He is a man who held a public position of trust as a solicitor, and we're not even sure what he did with it. This case is unprecedented because I don't know of another case where a prosecutor has to choose whether to try dozens of financial charges before or after double homicide charges. By pointing to the press and essentially blaming the media for the madness, I'm wondering if deep down Dick Harputlian means that none of this would have come to light if it wasn't for certain media, which is absolutely true. And Dick wasn't done berating the media. He had to make this comment. And let me just make a little side comment here about y'all. A.J. Liebling, the famous press credit, once said freedom of the press is guaranteed only to

those who own one. And that used to mean that you had to own a press. Now all you have to own is one of these. Okay, Dick, let's talk about A.J. Liebling because journalism and misinformation is also a central theme popping up in the saga. Harputlian is completely missing the point that Liebling was making when he published this essay for the New Yorker in the 1960s. At the time he was a press critic and the essay was about his concerns with corporations buying up newspapers, laying off journalists, silencing voices, and swaying public opinion. He was arguing freedom of the press should be expanded, not limited to those in power who own these companies and the printing presses, which is so ironic considering that 60 years later, a majority of the reporters

at Harputlian's press conference work for corporate owned media companies. Those reporters are the ones Dick should like. They're the ones who have been the most receptive to printing his narrative. Dick does not like independent journalists like Liz and I because we are out of his control. We don't have editors who feel like they have to do favors to quote Harputl, as I've literally heard an editor at McClatchy call him. Oh, and then Dick had to make one more insulting comment to the media before he wrapped up. And now you're all press. Some of you all are good. Some of you all professional. Some of you all are not. This is Harputlian signaling to the press not to cross him or call him out, or he will immediately deem them as unprofessional journalists who will never benefit

from his tips or influence. And once again, it worked. I'll have David read a few of the headlines from Harputlian's press conference. Extra, extra. Ellicmirdox attorneys accused prosecutors of withholding evidence calling it trial by ambush. That's from oxygen. Murdoch attorneys accused AG of leaks withholding evidence in double murder case. That from the Post and Courier. Murdoch's lawyers accused South Carolina Attorney General of withholding murder evidence leaks to media. That's from the state newspaper. And you get the point. After Dick's press conference and after reporters wrote the headlines he wanted, the AG's office responded with a statement from Attorney General Allen Wilson. Contrary to what Mr. Harputlian said at his news conference,

it is categorically false that the Attorney General's office leaked any information in the Murdoch murder case. We've been in communication with Sled and they deny that they told anyone that our office leaked anything. As we said in our response in opposition to the motion to compel, this is quote, a not unexpected but completely blatant attempt to create drama where formally there was none end quote. Along with that statement, the AG's office included its response to Dick and Jim's motion and Creighton did not hold back. Here is David again with a few excerpts. It is clearly aimed at generating content for the press conference. Defense Council has called on this matter rather than actually doing anything meaningful to move forward litigation of the case.

Interestingly, it does not appear Defense Council emailed copies of the defense motion to compel to the state and the judge as is their normal practice, but instead just snail mailed them, perhaps to prevent the state from correcting the mischaracterizations in the record prior to their press conference today. And? Meanwhile, the defense filed the current motion with all its mischaracterizations and inflammatory language failed to tell the state it was filing the motion, failed to email the motion to the court or the state as is Defense Council's normal practice, but instead snail mailed it and scheduled a press conference. And? Moreover, this manufactured drama is just a well-known part of the Defense Council's playbook. Interestingly, during

phone calls, one Defense Council jokingly agreed with the state that no matter how much the state provides in discovery, the other Defense Council's MO is to scream to the high heavens that violations are occurring. Creighton included with his response a copy of the proposed protective order. There are lines in the protective order that Dick and Jim described as glib, and they're not wrong. We wish to be clear that the Attorney General has every intention that this case be tried in the light of day, and none of this is meant to preclude appropriate public observation of the process. And none of this is to suggest that any lawyers involved would violate their ethical obligations regarding pretrial publicity. However, this case has received a lot of

pretrial publicity which continues, and the murder discovery contains very sensitive materials such as crime scene photos and PII. Having this discovery left in Alvin S. Glenn does not seem a good idea. We'll be right back. PII, by the way, is personal identifiable information. The idea that evidence in the Murdoch murder case would be left around the jail is a new one for us. Is that a thing that happens? Are inmates getting their discovery and then leaving photos of murder scenes at the canteen kiosk? Are they forgetting ballistics reports in the rec yard? What does Creighton think Jim, Dick, and Ellick are going to do with the discovery? Mandy and I have talked about this a lot and I think we've landed on the understanding that the

AG's office might be trying to limit Dick's manipulation of the media. We can already see that he has no hesitation in mistating the details of the so-called leaks, lying about knowing who leaked the information, and exaggerating whatever he needs to exaggerate to help his case, knowing that hardly anyone is going to fact check him. So in the original motion to compel, Dick and Jim accused the state of deciding that Ellick was the prime suspect before any evidence was collected or reviewed. They also explained that their desire for a gag order was based on the Attorney General's quote, year-long campaign of surreptitious leaks of purported evidence against Murdoch and to force the AG to try the case in the courtroom. We obviously believe that Dick and Jim

wanted the gag order to keep the public and, more importantly, Ellick's and Maggie's families from knowing any of the more shady of details. Defense counsel was also concerned the Attorney General will continue his campaign by using court filings as a device to selectively release prejudicial material to the public in advance of jury selection. So here's where this all started, by the way. In his August 12th email to Dick and Jim, Creighton made the mistake of telling them that he'd like them to get their edits on the protective order ASAP so as not to delay the process. Dick, ever the opportunist, seized upon that and has now twisted Creighton's words to mean this. Mr. Water strongly implied the state would refuse to comply with its duty to disclose evidence

unless Murdoch agreed to the protective order. Stating agreement to the protective order ASAP was necessary to keep discovery on track. Now, on Monday, August 22nd, Harputian and Griffin fired back at the state arguing against a blanket protection order, claiming that the selective leaks made to the media paint their client, quote, in the worst possible light. As an example of this, the defense focused on a video recording that Paul took on his phone showing Alec, Maggie, and Paul apparently talking right before the double homicide allegedly occurred. Now, the entire point of this evidence, and why we previously published a story and a podcast about it, is that it places Alec at

Moselle right before the murders, and it destroys the alibi he initially gave to police. From what we know, law enforcement did not find out what was on Paul's phone until it was unlocked this past spring, according to our sources. Now remember, the state newspaper, local mainstream media, that typically writes in favor of the good ol' boys, published a story in June as rumors of upcoming charges in the murder cases were heating up. In the story, Jim was quoted slightly changing Alec's alibi and suddenly saying that Alec was at Moselle shortly before the murders, which is not what he told police. Now, when that story came out, Liz and I wondered if it was because Dick and Jim did have knowledge of the recording, which hadn't been reported before that point,

and they wanted to pretend like they've been saying that all along, like they were getting ahead of it. So I don't really buy the part of this motion that says they first learned of the recording in news articles. Speaking of that, there's another weird thing about this video. On the day, Dick gave his wacky press conference. Sled agents, allegedly under the direction of the attorney general, showed Alec Murdoch's family members this video before they showed his attorneys. They showed Alec's family evidence after murder charges were filed and before they gave that evidence to the defense attorneys. We have asked several attorneys why Sled would have done this, and we're still not really sure why. I would think that considering what we've heard on the

jailhouse phone calls and considering the Murdoch family's long history of using power and trickery to get what they want, the AG's office and Sled would be particularly careful with sharing evidence in this case. The question is would the AG's office do that if it were any other family? Do they do that often? But anyway, for whatever reasons, officials showed Alec Murdoch's family this video last week. Also, in the motion filed last week, Harputlian says the video was focused on a dog that belonged to Paul's friend that was staying at Moselle at the time. The motion says A conversation between Maggie, Paul, and Alec is also captured on this recording. Family members report that Maggie, Paul, and Alec are having a convivial conversation about

the behavior of their own dog, Bubba. There is absolutely no indication of a disagreement or dispute between Maggie, Paul, and Alec according to family members who viewed the recording. However, the state contends that within minutes after this convivial, lighthearted conversation, Alec murdered both Maggie and Paul for no apparent reason. Essentially, Harputlian is saying that perhaps officials specifically left out the part about the conversation being friendly when they leaked that to the media. Because what kind of man has a friendly chat about a dog named Bubba before he murders his wife and son in cold blood? But again, this is all just dick spinning in circles. The point of that video is that it destroys Alec's alibi. The point is that Alec told police

he wasn't at Moselle right before his wife and son were murdered. But he was. This is very important because Dick and Jim have claimed over and over that he had an iron-clad alibi completely covered his whereabouts on June 7th, 2021. But oh look, the mainstream press once again wrote exactly what Dick wanted them to. In an especially egregious display of a journalist slanting his words to favor Murdoch, John Monk, who was a veteran reporter for the state newspaper, referred to the video as, quote, derogatory confidential information calculated to hurt disbarred lawyer Alec Murdoch. The headline, quote, document colon, prosecutors in Murdoch murder case leaked confidential information to media. We often talk

about how journalists have a series of choices on how to present a story. Monk chose the most aggressive and egregious route claiming a document says that prosecutors leaked confidential information. The headline makes it sound like Monk had discovered absolute proof that the AG's office was behind the leaks when really it was a motion made by a defense attorney who has been factually incorrect more times than we can count throughout this case. Let's be real, Harpulian does not know who the leak is. He is guessing again because he knows he will not be held accountable when he's wrong. And that is the problem. We can all see that Dick and Jim do this. That is the strategy. Create chaos and exploit every opportunity in the press. If we can all see

it, then why can't the AG's office see that? Again, if you come for the king, you cannot miss. Creighton did fire back at Dick and Jim in his response to their motion. And we do believe his request to have the court issue a protective order for the evidence is because he is trying to keep Dick and Jim and the Murdoch family and their PR firm from being able to use that information as a way to bend the narrative in their favor. But if that is the case, then the AG's office should just say that. Instead, the protective order makes a point of saying they have no reason to believe the defense would leak this information. This is not the time to be polite. Dick and Jim aren't worried about being polite. Alec Murdoch is not worried about being polite. This is time

to show the public that hiring a state senator to defend you is no longer the get out of jail free card that it used to be. It is time to show the public that there is hope for the future in the South Carolina justice system. And it's time that the press starts caring about that too. There are a couple more things that happened in this last week that I want to quickly go over before we go. On August 17, 2022, Russell Lafitte was hit with a superseding federal indictment with an additional fraud charge related to the Plylar case. We will update you more on the Plylar case in a later episode. Russell will appear for a bond hearing Wednesday, August 24, where he will ask for his ankle monitors to be removed because he thinks his bond conditions are unfair due to

what his attorneys call a media firestorm. On August 19, State Attorney General Allen Wilson announced two additional indictments against Alec Murdoch for additional financial crimes related to PMPED, which we will cover in a later episode because there is always so much more under the surface with everything in this case. Also on August 19, two additional defendants were indicted in relation to the apparent criminal enterprise in Colleton County related to this case. We're still trying to piece together exactly what's going on here and we are going to cover all of this in a later episode because this takes a lot of FOIA requests and research, etc. But what we know so far is this. Two weeks ago, before Eddie Smith's bond revocation

hearing, a 34-year-old man named Spencer Roberts appeared before the court for his own bond hearing which was also prosecuted by Creighton Waters. At the time, Roberts was charged with fraud related to a PPP loan, but Waters made it a point to mention that Roberts is accused of suspiciously receiving a downstream of checks related to Alec Murdoch. On August 19, the AG's office announced that Roberts was indicted on one count of obtaining a signature of property by false pretenses, one count of money laundering, one count of computer crime, and one count of insurance fraud. But what's weird is the indictments don't specifically say how his charges are related to the Murdoch case. That same day, a man named Jerry Rivers was

indicted for obstruction of justice. Oddly, the first obstruction of justice charge in this whole saga, he is accused of taking Spencer Roberts's cell phone after he was arrested on August 10, 2022. Officials are being super cryptic by vaguely connecting these two individuals to the Murdoch case. However, after doing a background search on Roberts and Rivers, we found a lot of commonalities. They both have faced drug charges in the past. They both are from Walterboro, where the cowboy gang supposedly attached to this originates from, although we have not found any direct cowboy connections to the Murdoch case. Both of them, along with Eddie Smith, own transportation companies. Rivers and Roberts both have been accused in separate

insurance fraud schemes for allegedly staging car accidents to collect insurance money, which is really odd. And both incidents also happen to involve a man named Eric Middleton. Again, we'll get into more of this in a later episode. Obviously, the insurance fraud accusations raise suspicions about what, if any, connections these guys might have to local lawyers. So we're wondering if the prosecution is hinting here that they are getting close to revealing more about this alleged drug ring tied to Murdoch. And more importantly, will more powerful people go down for this? Stay tuned. The Murdoch Murders podcast is created by me, Mandy Matney, and my fiance, David Moses.

Our executive editor is Liz Farrell. Produced by Luna Shark Productions.