Murdaugh Murders Podcast - Incoming Call From Alex Murdaugh - Part Three (S01E50)

Episode Date: June 22, 2022

In this special 50th episode of the Murdaugh Murders Podcast, Mandy, Liz, and the team do another deep dive into the jailhouse phone calls obtained recently by the MMP team. After reviewing the tapes, we learned a lot more about Buster’s University of South Carolina Law School readmittance and the alleged $60,000 payment to Butch Bowers last fall.  In this episode, we play several calls where this transaction is discussed and Mandy and Liz explain how this isn’t the first time the Good Ole Boys have been accused of interfering with USC Law School admissions.  Also, you’ll hear clips from the Gloria’s Gift Foundation press conference and Eric Bland tells us why he’s weary of the Supreme Court’s recent decision on Alex Murdaugh’s law license.  To learn more about Gloria's Gift click here: https://bit.ly/3OElC1Q 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/ For current and accurate updates: Twitter.com/mandymatney 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

Hello, this is an Amtel operator calling from Albin S. Grand Detention Center with a prepaid collect call from... Alex. To accept this prepaid collect call, press 1. All phone calls are subject to monitoring and recording. Thank you for using Amtel. I don't know if the Murdochs did anything illegal when it comes to Buster Murdoch's readmission into the University of South Carolina School of Law.

However, a series of jailhouse phone calls reveal some questionable dealings between the Murdoch family and their good old boy connections at the public university. And the public deserves to know what is going on here. My name is Mandy Matney. I have been investigating the Murdoch family for more than three years now. This is the 50th episode of the Murdoch Murders podcast with David Moses and Liz Farrell. So let's start out with some positive news. Today marks the one year anniversary of the Murdoch Murders podcast and also our 50th

episode. I just have to say that I'm so proud of our whole team for making it here. I know I've said this before, but when David and Liz finally convinced me to go for it and start a podcast, I went into it thinking at best we would make it to 10 episodes. A year ago, I started this podcast with a very simple mission. To be a voice for the victims, to get the story straight, and to expose the truth wherever it leads. A lot of people don't know this.

As I was debating whether or not to start a podcast about the Murdoch Murders last June, I remember one particular moment. I was watching a YouTube video of some national talking head discussing the case and I was furious just how wrong she was about so many things. It was very clear to me in that moment that national media was getting this story so wrong from the get go. TV talking heads were spewing off nonsense theories about how the murders could have something to do with the beach family or the boat crash victims, which I knew was so absurd.

At that point, Liz and I had more than two years of research on the Murdoch family stored up. These false narratives kept appearing in the national media. I knew we needed to take our reporting of this very complicated saga and make it much easier for people to understand. Unlike the legacy news outlets, we knew the story was about systemic corruption that needed to be exposed for the masses. So a year ago today, we released a very rough first episode called South Carolina's Chappaquiddick.

We had no idea what we were doing and it sounds like it. But you know what? I'm so glad that it sounds imperfect and I love the fact that as more and more people discovered the podcast, they can hear our progress through every week. You the listener can hear me grow and change as a person and as a reporter too. You can hear the exhaustion in my voice in those first few months as news was breaking at every turn. You can hear the sadness in my voice as we encountered so many evil forces while doing

our investigation and you can hear Luna barking in the background sometimes. And you know what? I think all of those imperfections made our podcast something really special because in just nine episodes, we climbed the charts to number one on Apple and Amazon Podcasts and we were able to hire my best friend and former coworker Liz Farrell, a move that was absolutely essential for the growth of our show. And now here we are, more than 30 million downloads later on episode 50. I say all of this because if I could do this, you can too.

Large media companies want journalists to believe that they need corporate support to survive. This podcast is a testament of how well independent journalism can work and there is absolutely a future for this type of investigative reporting that anyone who is willing to do the legwork can start a podcast from their kitchen table that will be heard by millions around the world. So thank you to all the MMP fans out there. Thank you for supporting us.

Thank you for believing in our mission. And thank you for sticking with us week after week. We obviously don't know what will happen to this case or what's next for us. But at the end of the day, we are proud of what we built in the last year. So thank you. So for episode 50, we're going back to the tapes. In the last episode, because we got the tapes less than two days before a deadline to publish, we didn't have the opportunity to do a deep dive into some of the bigger themes that we

noticed while listening to more than a hundred conversations between Murdoch and his family members. In the first round of tapes that we reported on back in February, we talked about how Elik and Buster had a lot of interesting conversations about his possible readmission into law school. Remember, the Wall Street Journal reported last year that Buster was asked to leave the University of South Carolina Law School in 2019 following a cheating scandal. USC Law is what people around here call it, but it's not to be confused with the other USC on the West Coast that also happened to have a major cheating scandal involving

privileged students. Anyways, we couldn't figure out what happened with Buster's law school status just from the first round of phone calls that we got. As a reminder, what we gathered was it seemed like Elik had paid well-known political attorney Butch Powers $60,000 to do something in connection with Buster's readmittance into law school. But there was a lot of things that just weren't clear here. Now that we've listened to more than a hundred calls and done background research about the players at USC School of Law who are allegedly involved, we seem to have a clearer idea of

what was going on. So first, let's talk about Buster. We've said this before, but we have complicated thoughts about him, especially as it relates to these calls and choosing what to publish and what to hold back. The calls we're sharing with you today are important to the story, the ones we are choosing not to publish are personal and would not serve a news purpose. It's really hard not to have empathy for Buster after seeing his relationship with his father.

Elik clearly loves Buster and wants the best for him. He's also clearly aware of the pressure he's putting on him and the stress his life choices have caused Buster, but he's also incredibly clueless in terms of reading the room. His love for his son comes off as bossy and nagging and badgering and presumptuous. He doesn't really ask Buster all that much about what Buster wants. Instead, he seeks reassurance that everything is okay at all times. These calls have given us insight into how Buster appears to be handling this tremendously

strange and utterly awful situation that has been forced upon him. At no point in listening to these calls has it been lost on us how much Buster is going through. This doesn't excuse the alleged plagiarism, of course, but it's really easy to see how Buster is a casualty of this system that, had the boat crash not occurred in 2019, likely would have benefited him in the same way it benefited his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather. What we mean by this is that South Carolina is already an unusual place in that it hasn't

yet fully advanced past the old way of existing, which is to say that it is always about who your family is. It's always about patronage, always, and nowhere is this more evident than at the University of South Carolina School of Law, where the tight-knit, incestuous inner circle is generally not accessible to those who are from somewhere else or those who had to work hard for everything they have. You might have noticed that Eric Bland is not from here. Mike Hemlip is not from here.

Justin Bamberg is the son of two law enforcement officers. And Mark Tinsley, if you were to do a little research on him, you'd find out that his secret to success has been that he studied hard and works hard. These are just some of the lawyers who have been sticking their necks out and going against the grain in this case. This is important context, though. To some people, the root of this evil when it comes to attorneys like Ellick Murdock and when it comes to that inner circle of attorneys in this state, either starts with

or is made worse by the University and the law school's politics. To give you a little taste of this, we wanted to introduce you to Dr. Eddie Floyd, who is the longest-serving member of the University's powerful and very controversial and very insular and very ethically challenged, in some cases, board of trustees. So Dr. Floyd is 87 years old. He's been in a bunch of trouble with the legislature because of his role in the hiring of a really controversial university president who we will not go into in this episode, but highly recommend you Google.

We also recommend you Google Dr. Eddie Floyd and Adolf Hitler painting and watch the video that was done by the state newspaper. Anyway, in March of this year, Dr. Floyd was one of several unopposed board members seeking re-election for another four years. During that hearing, State Senator Dick Harputlian, yes, that Dick Harputlian, grilled Floyd on his role as a board member. Now see, Floyd and others are notorious for interfering in the daily operations of the school and putting department heads in precarious situations by insinuating their opinion on

them or hinting at the need for favors. So here, Floyd is explaining to Dick how that works. I mean, do you talk to Ray Tanner from time to time? Yes. You call him or he calls you? Half and half, probably. He is a department head, right? Right.

Do you call the head of the chemistry department? I would, if I thought it was necessary. What would make calling the head of the chemistry department necessary? Well, okay, let me give you a good example. I want one. We've got a really, we've got a really good lawyer in Florence and his daddy was a cave with me at the university. He called me and said, my son has been turned down in law school.

This has been years ago. And this guy, some guy smart as hell, he'd been president of Boy's Nation, all kinds of credentials, and I called the dean of the law school. William Hubbard? Nope. Prior to William? Much prior to William. Okay.

I got a call back from the dean in about two weeks and he said, Doc Floyd, I really made a big mistake. You got a man? You got a man? Okay. So we need to pause here and talk about Kappa Alpha fraternity, or KA for short, because it comes up a lot when we talk about the good old boy power circles of South Carolina. Elick Murdock was a KA.

Our current governor, Henry McMaster, was a KA. The fraternity's quote, spiritual founder, was Robert E. Lee, and it has deep roots in racism and ties to the KKK. Anyways, by Floyd saying his daddy was a KA to the South Carolina Senate, he's signaling to the good old boys he's one of us, so of course he pulled strings to get him into law school. Also, notice Dr. Floyd doesn't mention anything about the student's LSAT scores or GPA. Floyd clearly values the KA legacy more than that, otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned

it. Anyways, Harputlian, and I know Harputlian of all people, reacted in the same way most of us did to Floyd's example. Um, what? And so, and this was a personal friend of yours? Yes. And you called the dean of the law school to help his son out? You do that a lot?

To find out. Well, I feel like if you elect me, there's more trustees. I'm a representative of the University of South Carolina, of the 16th Judicial Circuit, and I feel like if anybody has a complaint, I want me to help their kids in a way I feel like it's my responsibility to help them the best I can. Even if they objected we couldn't get in, do you use your influence to get them in? I would if I thought they were qualified to do it. Even though their SAT scores and rankings in their high school class didn't qualify,

if you felt that they should get in, they should get in, correct? Well, I find out, first thing, first thing is you've got to check to find out what they tell you is the truth, and if the parents, if the parents call you, majority of the time it's not exactly what the facts are, but I've got a secretary that I hire full-time that does university things. And there's your taste of how things seem to work at the University of South Carolina, which brings us to one more person you need to know about, and that's William Hubbard, the president's news founding editor, will folks, once described Hubbard this way.

He's a guy so corrupt South Carolina lawmakers have previously had to draft legislation in an effort to contain his unethical self-serving behavior. So Hubbard became president of the law school in August of 2020. Less than three months after that, he was already in the news because he had accidentally emailed the entire law school the confidential scores from that year's bar exam results, including the names of those who flunked it, Major Snafu. Now, from what we've been told, Randolph Murdoch, the third, tried to get Buster re-admitted into the law school, but the interim dean of the school was like, no, which is frankly

surprising. And we'll be right back. We have had former University of South Carolina law students reach out to us and tell us that Buster's punishment was lighter than anyone else would have likely have gotten, all because of his connections. Buster was asked to leave the school, but apparently with the understanding that he could return at some point. Like we have said, the boat crash complicated things because it came with a huge spotlight

on the Murdoch family, who they are, and what they allegedly get away with. According to the jailhouse calls, Buster was re-admitted to the school and from October through the end of December, he and Alex were trying to figure out a way to get the terms of his re-admittance adjusted more to their liking. We're going to give you the whole story here because it'll be easier to follow along. But here is what you need to know before we start the calls. As a part of Buster's agreement to return to the law school in the spring of 2022, there were four or five contingencies.

One of them was that he'd had to retain the GPA that he had when he was ejected from the school in 2019. Another is that he can never run for office with the student bar, and another is that he has to meet with an advisor every week to get help with his homework. Now, Elick and Buster want to change the GPA requirement. Buster wants to start fresh in the fall. He's especially concerned because if he can't work at PMPED, which obviously he can't because that's not a thing anymore, he's going to have to get a high GPA.

That is literally something that he says and he considers. Anyway, Elick pushes Buster to get with Butch Bowers and asks Butch to talk with the dean and get him to amend the agreement for the re-admittance. Buster is one of the first calls Elick made for the Britschland County Detention Center soon after he got arrested in October 2021. Well, it's not exactly clear what Butch Bowers did for $60,000. In this November 16, 2021 call with John Marvin, Elick tells us how he regards Butch, which is as a political operative.

This is obviously a clue into why Elick might have hired him to handle Buster's re-admittance. Did he handle it in a proper manner so that it's not exploited by anybody or? I have no idea. Absolutely not. How about that guy, Butch? I just don't know. I think Butch could probably help you find the right person. You know, I don't want to reach out to the normal guys that I've talked to, but is he

somebody that would be interested to ask before he'd ask? I just don't know, John Marvin. I don't think that's what he does. He's more of a political operative is what he really is. On November 18, 2021, Elick gets a little tense with Buster. Hey, Buster, did you reschedule with law school? No, I needed to reschedule back out and I got sidetracked, but I'm going to get in touch with him and I'm going out there to talk to him at some point.

We'll try to do it sooner rather than later, okay? All right. Five hours later, Elick calls Buster to clarify the situation and explain his earlier attitude. Buster, I just thought about it and I always didn't think I was being short with you today. I mean, I'm asking you to make that appointment at law school or I just don't want to bug you if you don't want to do it is all I was trying to say. No, I mean, that's fine. I mean, I'm going to do it.

I just just hasn't worked out and probably with the holiday come out, probably won't but I mean, I can definitely call Blanca, but I might not be able to get set out with Hubbard Criard and that. Well, and I understand that, but just remember it's important even if you don't set the meeting until the week after Thanksgiving, get back in touch with them. Don't wait. Right. Do you follow what I'm saying?

Yeah, I do. Because I really am telling you, I think it's important that you have that meeting sooner rather than later. Okay. And I mean, you were in good shape in November. I think you're still in good shape, but I think you want to have it if you don't have time to begin in the next week because of Thanksgiving, you want to get it set at first week of December.

Yeah, I don't disagree. On November 30th, Elick tells Buster that this is it. He has one chance at this law school thing now. Obviously, Elick is aware that his political capital in the state is draining. He is spending his very last Murdoch money on this. We are not sure of the significance of this call in terms of what might have changed for Buster. Did he not have the go ahead to re-enroll before and now he has it?

At no point before this call did Buster or Elick mention the conditions, but after this call, it's something they talk about regularly. Okay. And Buster, you need to get ready for this law school now, okay? I understand. I mean, you've got to really buckle down and you've got to treat it like a job. You're going to have to read these cases two and three times if you don't fully understand them.

I mean, you're going to have to treat it like a job. I understand. You promise? Yes. Because you know there's not going to be another chance. I know. I mean, no way. Is it no way, shape or form, is there going to be another chance?

I understand. You do truly understand that. Yes. All right. This next call from December 1st, 2021 is one of our favorites because of Elick's advice on how to write a nice note to the dean. We definitely feel Buster's pain in this call. You might remember it from episode 33, our first episode about the jailhouse calls.

We're replaying part of it now so you can see where it fits in to the timeline of the mission to get Buster back into school. And if I don't hear someone like it, touch the book, if you can call them and say that I've been trying to get in touch with them. All right. His book paid all the money that he was owed? Yes. Up front and it was up front and it was 30 grand up front and 30.

I mean, it was a contingency on if it was successful. I'm just not sure. I don't want to call him. If he doesn't have the kit he has, it's great to have. He knows he's totally paid. I mean, would he be willing to do something like that, you think? Absolutely. But I would do it yourself first.

I'd just say, hey, just follow it up, you know, at the holiday. No, I'm willing to. But if he got answered by the back end of this week and we get into the middle of next week and something that would be done should be the reach. That's what I'm saying. When do classes start? January the 5th. Yeah, that's why.

Really, you need to send it tomorrow. And if you haven't heard from him by Friday, and I'd say something real nice. Just like, hey, just follow it up on my email. I know this is a busy time of year, but we're hoping we could meet soon. Just like that. Remember that phone call? We do. The next day, Buster updates Ellick on his conversation with Butch.

Notice Buster brings up terms when it comes to his law school re-emission status. I was just seeing was that him? No, it wasn't, but I ended up getting in touch with him anyway. Okay, what do you say? He said that he didn't tell you that the terms were going to be changed. I mean, that's just not true. Me and Jim were on the phone. So what's he saying if you start in the fall?

Well, I started thinking about it, and he said that he didn't specifically say the terms would be changed. But then I thought about it more, and I was like, well, if I do it in the fall, then they would have to change. You can't make someone count, but if I were to take it, then what I would do in there would have to count. That's what we'd need to find out. He said he didn't tell me that he thought you could start fresh in the fall? Well, then he said I could start in the fall, but he said that he wasn't aware of any amendments being changed to the agreed upon terms. But since you've already taken that semester, how would they count it? Yeah, I agree.

I thought about that, too. But I thought to him, and he's going to reach back out to him and say, hey, if he's willing to put off his aspirations for another length of time, we think it'd be good to go ahead and just let him start from zero. I'm telling you, Buster, do a three-way and get Jim on the phone. Quick note here. We've read the jail handbook several times. Three-way calls are against the rules. We will talk about that in another episode.

Why? I want to see if I'm crazy, or that's what he told us. Jim's in a meeting. I was texting him. I wouldn't do anything else. All right. I swear that's what he told us. Well, I mean, there's obviously just a lapse in communication, or maybe you astimed it.

I don't know, which I think it's easy to assume now because... No, man, I'm telling you because it made no sense to me. And I was like, I'm just telling you. That's what I'm telling you. All right. Let me let you go. I'm going to try to call you back a little later. It sounds like you're busy.

I just want... Well, I mean, I mean, I know how much I put on you and how much pressure there is on you, and I just want whatever's best for you. This is one of the few times Alec acknowledges an awareness of what Buster might be experiencing as his son. It seems to energize Buster because he begins to talk more about what he wants to do. Well, I can go ahead and tell you that if the terms are changed and if... You don't have to make that extra high GPA. Yeah, and then I see myself probably going with that.

But if the terms are not changed, then I'm going to do it now because there's no point. I don't disagree with that. I think that's logical thinking. And I mean, I think you can go there and do real good, but it's going to be hard for you to get a high GPA because, you know... Because of how light the one is. I understand. So even if you made 4.0s for five semesters, still the highest you could get up to would be about a three. Ah, math is hard sometimes, but Alec continues.

You know, I'm just using that as an example. I'm sitting there right now. What? Nothing. I'm listening. All right. I can tell you're busy. I'll call you a little bit later.

I love you. Is Rich going to give you detailed options? But... Hang on one minute. There... Yeah, I mean, he's got my cell now. I have this cell and he said he'd be in communication with me whenever he hears anything. Is he going to reach out to them to find out?

Yeah, I told him... You know, what I told him is... I told him what you said on the phone. And I was like, listen, I just talked to my dad. He said to get in touch with you. Dad said that he thought that Hubbard said that if I were to wait and go in the fall, then all of my, you know, repercussions as far as GPA and everything would be amended and I could start from scratch.

And then he said, well, that's... I don't really... He had a different understanding. But then I asked him, I was like, well, hey, can we go ahead and just ask him, say if I'm going to lay off and come in the fall, can I start from scratch so that I don't have this GPA moving over my head? Okay, so it's kind of hard to tell what's going on here. But after listening to this phone call several times,

it sounds like Buster was getting back into law school, but not the way that he wanted. He wanted to be able to start fresh with a new GPA. Unlikely, he failed all or most of his classes due to the alleged cheating scandal back in 2019. It sounds like Buster not only wants Butch Bowers, the powerful attorney, to get him back in. He wants Butch to get him back in with a clean slate. We're pointing this out because it seems lost on them that he should feel so lucky just to get back into school.

In the next call from December 5th, Buster and Ellick are even more explicit about the stipulations from the school and how Dean Hubbard seemed willing to change them for him. This is the call where Buster mentions the firm and the need to have a high GPA if he isn't going to work there. I spoke to Butch a couple of times on Friday and he was supposed to be getting in touch with Hubbard. He had gotten in touch with Hubbard and Hubbard seems to, you know,

he just had, apparently Hubbard had to run it by like admissions and all this other stuff, I guess, to be able to set the record clean or whatever. Butch is probably going to call me this week, I would assume. So did Butch think that they were going to do that, that Hubbard was Hubbard who sounded willing to do that? Yeah, Butch said that he was, you know, he says that he's constantly optimistic. About taking the restrictions off of you and making a 2.5. Yeah, correct.

Now, if they do that, go ahead. It seems to me like they have to because they can't offer me to come back in the fall and then I do everything in the fall and they're like, well, I know what you did but this is still your grade. Yeah, you can say you go make a 3-2 and they say, well, you still got this. Now, if they offer you that, Buster, to start fresh, do you think that's the thing to do? I do. I do think that's the thing to do.

I definitely think it's the thing to do. No question. Given the scenario, you know, you need not know if I'm going to go back and work for the law firm, you know, my grades need to be as high as possible so that if I want a different job, I can get one. No doubt. And that'll allow you to do that. Don't make up your mind until you know all the details, but I think that's a good thing. We know some of these calls might sound a little repetitive, but we want to share as much as we can of these calls with you

so you can get the full picture of our reporting. Generally speaking, the conclusions we are drawing are based on more than what we can pack into these episodes. But when it comes to these phone calls, you can hear Ellick and Buster in their own words, repeating the same language over and over, and we think it's really important for you to listen and decide for yourself. For the next few days, Ellick continues to check in with Buster.

On December 9th... How are you? I'm good, how are you? I'm okay. I'm okay. Did you hear from Butch? No, I texted him today and I called him once and I haven't heard from him. Okay. Good deal. On December 12th...

Hey, have you ever heard anything from Butch? Um, I spoke to him last week and he said he hadn't heard from Butch. What? He said, oh, I'm supposed to hear from him this week. Okay. All right. On December 14th... Have you heard from Butch? No, I sent Butch a text message today and I haven't heard from him,

but tomorrow I'll probably start, you know, kind of bothering him more. I try not to bother him too much. On December 22nd, Buster starts to get a little indignant about the situation. Now, we want to mention here that we're not entirely sure who is dropping the ball here. Is it Butch? Is it Hubbard? Does the law school not want the bad press if they readmit Buster? Or is it Buster? And if it is Buster, does this mean he has simply been appeasing Ellick this whole time

and isn't actually interested in going back to law school? Everything okay? Yeah, everything's fine. Have you talked back to Butch? Yeah, I talked to Butch on Monday and he said that he's, you know, working to get in touch with Hubbard. I mean, shit. You know, you're two weeks out. Well, I mean, I'm just going to... Yeah, I mean, I told Butch, I was like, well, look, man, it's not like exactly...

I can be told on the 31st that I hit a school on the 5th and he's like, I understand. He seems to think due to the delay that the... The following situation is going to work out? Yeah, I mean, because I can still help you out. Look, man, you parked this all up. I can't come to school with four days' notice. I know, but you can't tell him quite like that. Well, I mean, but you can't tell him. I mean, I understand you need to be on the good side, but push them to shove.

I've got a letter that says I've been accepted and they don't want that PR going out there. I mean, I've got valid, you know, hard copy proof. No, I know. I know. And I will tell you this, I think Butch is good. I think he's as good as anybody at this. So we don't know what he's saying about valid, hard copy proof or they don't want that PR going out there. But it seems important in figuring out what is going on here with Buster. And what exactly is Butch good at and why won't he just say it?

The next day, Buster finally snaps back at Ellick. Buster, have you talked to Butch? No, I haven't been able to. He hasn't responded to me? No. All right, you need to send him a text that says, hey, Butch, getting into a pitch here, do you think we can find out something today? Classes are supposed to start on, you know, something along those lines. Are you comfortable doing that or not?

Yeah. Well, you need to hang up and do that so he has time to call you back today being a Friday. I mean, Monday is the second third. Do classes start when? When best? I mean, you need to send him a text. If they tell him that, I mean, I'd be remiss to say that. I'm pretty sure he knows.

Well, I mean, Buster, baby, I'm not trying to put pressure on you, but you just can't. I mean, you've got to take a little bit more of a sort of thing and put a little bit of, you know, polite pressure. Don't assume what I do. You've got to know how many times or what not, the extent that I've taken to getting touch. I don't mean to say that. I'm just saying he's coming up Wednesday. I mean, have you been putting pressure on him? I mean, to find pressure.

I've been trying to get in touch with him. I'm not yelling at him. I'm saying, like, hey, if you don't respond, I'm going to be pissed. No, I mean, I definitely wouldn't say that. But I would text him if you haven't and say, look, classes start on the fifth or, you know, hey, butch, just following up again. Classes start on the fifth, getting in a real pinch. Could you please give me a call? On December 29th, Elegh gives Buster one of his fatherly don't-be-bashful talks,

and he again talks about how much butch has been paid to do this for them. Whatever this is. Are they paying butch to be his official law school readmission advocate? Or is the money just to make phone calls to the special connected people at the top? Or is it something else altogether? Again, these calls are showing us that Elegh still thinks he has enough power to work the system in his favor, even from jail. Have you heard from Butch? I'm sending the text.

I've been telling him we need to call him. You need to call him, right? We need to call him. You need to call him and bug him. Well, I can't exactly bug him because, you know, he got nothing for him, and I can't give him anything. No, Buster, he's already been paid to do this. Yeah, well, this wasn't really part of enough. Sure it was. This is absolutely, he's been paid for this.

You don't worry about this. He's been paid very well for all of this. I mean, this is part of that same thing. And, you know, until they tell you they're going to let you come in the fall, you need to be planning on starting. When do they start? The fuck is this? Huh? This is fair. I mean, I hate to say it, but you need to be planning on starting. There's no S. I haven't been generally engaged in that. There's no S. And he should know that.

The coverage should know that. This is bullshit. I don't know that they care. Try to call him. Do it smart. Don't be bashful about it. Well, I mean, if it gets fucked, I mean, I'm just going to tell him, like, look, I've got to start in the fall. I'll start in the fall. And I'll have to get on this team because I'm in no middle place to do it. I mean, I haven't thought about it once. I mean, I definitely understand. I mean, this is fucked up. You know, the more pressure, the longer they wait, and you aren't ready, then, you know, then they, it's easier for them not to do it.

So you need to at least act like you're ready when you tell Butch, you know, hey, man, I got to be finishing. I got to be getting ready for this. I need to know you need to you need to put a little bit of a very nice pressure on him tomorrow. Do you want me to get Jim to call him? Ah, the nice pressure, an interesting term to describe influence and manipulation. Also, we notice Jim Griffin is mentioned a lot when it comes to getting Buster back into law school. I have to wonder if Alec is paying Jim for that work, too, with the money he allegedly doesn't have. But anyways, we'll talk about that more in another episode. Then, on December 31st, Alec delivers the bad news to Buster.

He was supposed to give you a call. You sure you don't have a missed call? Yeah, but I mean, I ain't got my service out here. Oh, you're back at Chief Chester. Well, you need to try to call him. But he said that Hubbard's been out of the country. He just got back. He just talked to him and that they have met and that they have decided that they're going to delay your mission. Now, I'm not sure they, I mean, I'm not sure what they can do that, but I'm not sure what we can do about it. You know what I mean? If you fight it and win, they say it's not in your best interest to start law school this semester. There's nothing in this unfair for you to start in the fall.

So here, Buster said that he didn't want to go to law school in the spring, which makes that butch payment an even bigger mystery. So they're delaying you to the spring next year, but I mean, it's just got sprung on butch and Jim and trying to figure out what we can do to get you started in the fall. All right. So you weren't planning on starting in the spring anyway? I didn't want to. All right. Well, try to call butch. He can give you a few more details. I mean, Buster, I don't even know what to say, man. I'm just sorry. But they seem to think that they can negotiate you starting in the fall, but maybe as an audit or something like that, just to get you back into swing of things.

Heller. I'm here. All right. So are your friends there yet? Yeah, we're going there. So, you know, I'm not, would you rather talk about this one then on around? No, I mean, it's fine. I just don't know what I mean.

I don't know how I don't know how they revoke an admission. But here's the thing. Do you want to pressure them for you to start this spring in five days? No. Without a doubt. Yes. Because I think Mike can do that. Now, I'm not sure that's in your best interest because if you force them to make you come now. I'm not mentally prepared. I'm not ready to go now. They fucked all that up for me.

What now? What'd you say? I said I'm... Buster? Heller? Yeah. What'd you say? I said, no, I'm not mentally prepared for that and they've missed that all up now. I don't want to do that anymore. Heller?

I'm here. I know you're frustrated and I mean, I feel like it's all my fault. I know it's my fault. I like Murdoch saying he feels like this is his fault. It's like a category five hurricane returning to the island. It's just destroyed for some reassurance that we don't hate it. Buster, however, redeems himself slightly here. No, not entirely. I care some blame in this. No, let me...

I'll let you go. Go try to have a good weekend. That's fine. I'll get in touch with him after the week. He's gonna call you, so try to look for a call. Alright. Alright, I love you. Love you too, bye. Sorry, this has happened. After this call, Ellick immediately calls John Marvin and asks him to keep an eye on Buster.

Pay close attention to this call because it's very telling. This call shows us exactly how the Murdochs think the system is supposed to work for them because Ellick actually considers taking the school to court for rescinding on Buster's possibly ill-gotten re-acceptance letter. What Buster told me was they thought they were gonna go offering to start in the spring, I mean, in the fall. Well, that's what we've been trying to do, but now it's gotten down to the last minute. They haven't done anything. Buster's not prepared to go. He's probably not in his best interest to go anyway,

but if he fights there to see what they're saying is they're gonna delay him until the following spring. Right? And now Butch and Jim are gonna try to negotiate him doing something in the fall, but, you know, he ain't gonna have any leverage. You know what I'm saying? That's gonna be right, they say. It's just a shitty thing, and I mean, all this is because of me. Well, what can I do to help? Is it anything?

Do I need to communicate with Jim? Butch, I mean, is there... Very many things you can do. I mean, let's just say he could force them to honor the admission. To the original, yeah, and go this coming semester. Yeah, I mean, with all this pressure on him, and that's gonna piss off the administration, and, you know, they're gonna grade him extra hard. I mean, who knows what might happen?

Right now, it's either spring next year or we do something to fight their decision. They're saying, okay, we're delaying his admission one year. It's in his best interest, it's in our best interest, and we're delaying him one year. We thought about the fall, but it's not fair to the other students for him to get to come in and start over. Right. So, now, hopefully we can work something out, maybe, where he... All of his classes, you know, all of the classes, you go to the class that the grade doesn't count. I didn't know that, but...

And that way, maybe he could get back in the swing of it in the fall and do, you know, go to school, get back in the swing of it, redo those classes that he did poorly in, even though it wouldn't change his grade. It would change his knowledge base and make it better for him to start in the second semester, maybe. Right. But the bottom line is, the only choice right now is on a Friday, New Year's Eve, class will start on Wednesday. So, somehow, Friday, New Year's Eve, get prepared to Monday, file something, get a court to... get a court to enjoin the law school from denying his admission that they've given him, which I don't even know if you can do. And I don't know that that's in his best interest.

On January 5th, the first day of the spring semester at USC Law School, Elliot calls John Marvin's wife, Liz Murdoch, and talks about where he thinks all of this went wrong. Well, it both sounded good. I should have told y'all, but I didn't really think about it. But I got flustered when all that shit went on with Buster and they changed that the last minute on that Friday. But basically, off, you know, they were on lockdown because people were off, you know, the weekend and beginning of all during Christmas and New Year's. I gotcha. What do you mean?

You got Buster with Buster with what? Law school? Yeah, in law school. They screwed around and waited till the last minute. Anyway, I think it's probably not in Buster's best interest to go right now, but I was hoping for the fall, but they're still working on it. Yeah. Anyway, I was feeling without all this Friday afternoon when I could use the phone and then we went on lockdown floor. I mean, we've been on lockdown a lot, but we went on lockdown for new years.

I couldn't get to the phone call. We fought to get these phone calls because we knew how important it was to shine a light on Alec and what he was up to in jail. Over and over, the Murdochs and their legal team have told the public that they're just regular people, that Alec wasn't rich and that the notion they're quote powerful or part of a quote unquote dynasty is just not true. Once again, these calls are fact checking their narrative. These calls are further proof that the Murdochs are not just regular people and they are very aware of their power and how to leverage it. They just don't know or they refuse to acknowledge out loud that most of South Carolina does not have the same privileges like in this phone call with Liz Murdoch. You know, this thing about how rich we are and how powerful we are. I mean, it's just, I mean, taking life for the zone.

I mean, I wish it was the past truth. Alec clearly doesn't get that everything he's been doing with Buster and Butch and Hubbard and Jim is exactly why and one of the many reasons why people say they're powerful. He really doesn't seem to get it. While this is a story about the Murdochs, this is not just the Murdoch story. Buster Murdoch is not the only grandson or great grandson in South Carolina who was born into a system that was especially built for him. In the end, at least right now, things didn't work out in Buster's favor, but there are so many things wrong with what we heard in those calls. We question why Butch Bauer's fee was $60,000. What did he do for that money? Make a few phone calls?

And what about all of the kids that cannot afford a $60,000 lawyer to advocate for them? We also question why the university would entertain any such conversation with Butch about Buster's law school re-admittance. Liz reached out to the law school on Tuesday and told them exactly what was in the calls. We asked them for an explanation or a statement. All that they would say is that Buster is not currently enrolled in the school and that he was enrolled only for the fall of 2018 and spring 2019 semesters. This sort of access and this sort of high-priced negotiating opportunity does not exist for most of South Carolina's aspiring attorneys. It is so hard for the people in this inner circle to see how different the world works for them in this state. The law school is in an incredible debt.

It has a very low endowment because its alumni aren't donating a lot of money to the school. The University of South Carolina Law School Scholarship Program is nothing to write home about. And at $24,000 a year, the school's tuition is out of reach for so many students. The school also lacks diversity. These are the problems Dean Hubbard said he wanted to fix when he took over in 2020. Buster Murdoch was given an opportunity that a lot of young people would drop everything for and he blew it. In looking at everything that Ellick Murdoch has allegedly done and at the system that allowed him to get away with it for so long, at the heart of it is privilege and a lack of consequence. Every time Ellick failed growing up, Randolph was there to fix it.

And this is what Ellick wanted to do for Buster. If the boat crash hadn't happened, he likely would have succeeded and a lot earlier. By the way, did you notice how at no time did Ellick or Buster discuss trying for another law school in a different state besides USC law? They never did because to them there is no other law school in no other state where their name would carry any weight. For the justice system to change in this state, the University of South Carolina Law School, one of two law schools in the state, has got to start recognizing this. We say this because the law school seems to be at the epicenter of where this corruption and unethical behavior begins and it needs to be where it ends. We will be right back. On Thursday, June 16, attorneys Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter hosted a beautiful event to celebrate Gloria's gift, a new foundation in Gloria Satterfield's honor that will bring joy and hope to Hampton County for so many years to come.

I was honored to speak at the event, so before the event got started, Eric led me into a room offstage filled with Gloria's warm and welcoming family members. That moment backstage, hugging them and hearing them thank me in the team at Fitznews for our dedication to Gloria's story, that alone was worth every headache and heartache we've all endured in the last year. It was a beautiful reminder that the work we do on this podcast is so important. Out of all of the speeches, I want to share the inspiring and sincere words from Ginger Harriet, Gloria's sister. On behalf of my sister, Gloria and our family, I am proud to join them in announcing a nonprofit foundation to honor Gloria Harriet's Satterfield. Most of you don't know the struggle Gloria faced during her life and the hard work she endured not only to provide for her boys and herself. She had a full, pure heart of kindness and love for everyone she met. She was so much more than just a housekeeper for the Murlicks.

As she has been portrayed in the news, she was grounded by her Christian faith, which called upon her to live in the service of others. While we mourn her still today, of course you can see, we will honor her with this foundation to help others. And cement her legacy as a person whose enduring faith inspired her to love and help others. A giving heart is a loving heart, and it's time we all focus on healing and sharing love. Our family has shed so many tears this past year, and to be certain we have been betrayed, let down, and very saddened. After having fought the good fight for justice, we choose now to shift on the focus to making sure that Gloria's lasting legacy will not be that of a victim, but will indeed that be of a champion of love and charity. As we stand here today, we envision Gloria smiling down on us as we form Gloria's gift foundation in her memory of love and kindness.

I will now share with you a few words that people share with me about their memories of Gloria. Gloria came from a large family. They filled nearly two pews with their family alone. They were simple family with strong spiritual roots and were taught the meaning of dedication, loyalty, commitment, and responsibility. She was humble, and she was a southern lady filled with gratitude and grace. She enjoyed talking to others and would always end with a hug and a smile. I remember her soft tone of voice filled with care and genuine concerns for everyone. I will miss running into her and catching up, and of course those special hugs. Gloria's legacy will continue through her family.

Ginger brought Gloria's legacy to life in a way that really no one else has done. I really loved this part of her speech. I could talk about Gloria all day. She was my best friend. She was honest, she was kind, she was caring, and a true friend. She was a hard worker and always saw the good in everyone. Gloria was a person of her word. If she told you she was going to do something, she did it. Gloria struggled but always kept going. I would either call her up or she would call me up and we'd say, Bo, let's go somewhere.

She would say, well I don't have the money, or I would say I don't have the money, but that didn't stop us. Because whoever had the money at the time would pay for both of us. We were always there for each other through thick and thin. I miss her dearly and will never have another friend as loving and giving as Gloria. A true sister and a true friend always. Gloria loved the Lord with all her heart, mind, body, and spirit. Gloria also loved Christmas. I think she loved Christmas because she recognized that love itself is a gift.

And we want one another to give to one another. The foundation will provide Christmas gifts for Hampton County families who have struggled like Gloria. To donate, visit gloriesgift.com and the link is in the description. So after leaving the event, I couldn't stop thinking about the Satterfield family. The generous and grateful and truly kind they are. It's not surprising at all that they are using the lawsuit money to help their own community. That is what good people do. But meeting Gloria's family also made me realize how horrific this crime really was.

How could Alec Murdoch steal from people like that? You know, every time we air some of the jailhouse phone calls, we get a little pushback. Like in the last week, a few people have messaged me that we should just stick to reporting the facts and leave him alone. So without even considering all the other crimes Alec is accused of, strip that away and think about the one that he is admitted to. Stealing millions of dollars from the family of Gloria Satterfield as they were grieving the loss of Gloria. After meeting them, I have never been so certain that our coverage and treatment of the Murdoch family was not only spot on, it was necessary. If you treat other human beings the way Alec Murdoch treated people such as Gloria's family, you deserve every bit of scrutiny coming at you. You do not deserve privacy.

You do not deserve the benefit of the doubt. You do not deserve sympathy. And you certainly do not deserve special treatment. And that goes for anyone who knew about this and helped him too. And speaking of that, just hours after the event celebrating Gloria Satterfield's new foundation, the Supreme Court of South Carolina issued an order to disbar Alec Murdoch pending a hearing that was ultimately canceled. Now, to most of us, the Supreme Court ruling is anything but shocking. Alec is accused of and has admitted to some terrible crimes. He faces more than 700 years in prison and there is a good chance he will never be a free man again.

Of course, the court should take his law license away. However, to a lot of South Carolina lawyers we spoke with over the past few days, the decision is shocking because the Supreme Court did this on its own. Without a recommendation from its Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which really doesn't happen. Ever. The order pretty much states that the Supreme Court has seen enough misconduct from Alec Murdoch and they don't need to waste any taxpayer time on an investigation. It appears like the confession of judgment in the Satterfield case, which is officially signed in May, was the nail in the coffin for Alec's legal career. However, Attorney Eric Bland is concerned about this for a few reasons. We spoke with him on Tuesday about why he's worried that this expedited decision is going to skip over a lot of discovery, which could be a slippery slope for the process.

The question then is, is the public and is the bar entitled to a full explanation of what Alec's did to lose his law license? And it's not just one matter, it's not the Satterfield matter, it's not just the Plylar matter, it's not the Picney matter, it's not the Badger matter, not the Jakes matter. It's everything. It's, you know, all the different things that he's done and there's a lot that we don't know about, you know, the Star Chamber of the ODC. We have no idea what they're focusing on or what they've uncovered. We also don't know about whether they've uncovered things in his firm that other lawyers may have done, Mandy. I get it that we want action, we want things to happen, they seem obvious to us that he shouldn't have a law license. But the Supreme Court made these rules to apply to everybody, even to the worst of the worst lawyers or those lawyers that may have tripped and fell and had a substance abuse problem

and may have missed the statute of limitations and it doesn't warrant a full suspension, maybe a public warning or something like that. So anytime we deviate from rules, it scares me as a lawyer and I get it, I'm not really sticking up for Alec's here, I'm more, I'm sticking up for the process. Look, there really is not a whole lot of public trust in the South Carolina Bar or the Supreme Court right now for legitimate reasons. However, as Eric Bland pointed out, the courts have ruled against Alec at nearly every turn of this saga. And as a matter of public trust, we need to know that the buck just doesn't stop here, that this just isn't the Supreme Court going after Alec to make an example out of him while failing to investigate all the other lawyers and judges who knew about this and either helped him or did nothing to stop him. As Eric Bland said, this is a pivotal time for restoring faith in our legal system and we hope the Supreme Court does the right thing. Hey man, listen, one of my favorite movies is Godfather and Clemenza says, matter of fact, as he's dipping his spoon in the spaghetti, he says, hey, Michael, we're going to war.

We got to do it every 10 years, we go to the mattresses, it cleans it out. Well, this is an opportunity that the Supreme Court in the ODC can go to the mattresses. Let's clean it out. Why stop with Alex? Don't make him the scapegoat and publicly execute him and say, see, we cleaned up the system. No, let's nurture Alex. Let's put some plant food on him and water him, get him excited to start naming names because he didn't do this alone. He couldn't have done this alone. How has the system been rigged? Are there lawyers that are working together to fabricate cases or make them bigger than they are? Or are there judges that are giving a wink and a nod? Are there legislatures that are doing certain things? I'm just a dirt ball from Philadelphia. Nobody tells me what's going on in the state house or in the court system. I mean, I got to get it through punching and fighting, but evidently he had access to people in the cigar smoke-filled rooms that I never had.

I want to know what the hell is going on in our state and this is an opportunity to do it. You cracked open the can with that can opener and you and I and Liz and Will folks and we're going to blow the lid off. We're not stopping. I'm not going to stop. You want to shut me up? You better throw a sock in my mouth. But on Tuesday afternoon, as we were finishing up this podcast, we found out that the South Carolina Supreme Court canceled the hearing after Elick Murdock admitted to the allegations it did not contest the disbarment. But like Eric said, no one is stopping until we get answers and this is not going away anytime soon. And we will keep asking questions and making noise until the South Carolina Supreme Court gives us answers about Judge Carmen Mullen, Chris Wilson, Corey Fleming, Butch Bowers, and every other person with a South Carolina law license connected to this mess. Stay tuned. The Murdock Murders podcast is created by me, Manny Matney, and my fiance, David Moses. Our executive editor is Liz Farrell.

Produced by Luna Shark Productions.