Murdaugh Murders Podcast - MMP #21 - Attorneys At War - Part One

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Alec Murdoch. I need police and an ambulance immediately. Murdoch, Death in the Family Official Podcast, is here. I'm joining Patricia Arquette, Jason Clark, and the cast to uncover all things Murdoch. Family first. To unravel the story piece by piece was really surprising because you don't want to believe it. Murdoch, Death in the Family Official Podcast, Wednesdays. And stream Murdoch, Death in the Family on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers.

Starting point is 00:00:29 Terms apply. I don't know what the end game is for Elyk Mardock's defense team, but I know that Dick Routliin and Jim Griffin are working hard to silence the truth tellers in this case. And I don't think that the good old boy playbook is going to work this time. My name is Mandy Matney. I've been investigating the Murdoch family for more than two and a half years now. And this is the Murdoch Martyrs podcast. Elick Murdox Bulldog Defense attorneys Dick Arpitlian and Jim Griffin have apparently launched a war on Satterfield Family Attorney Eric Bland.

Starting point is 00:01:18 While this might seem like a distraction to some, it's important to take a deeper look at these recent moves by Dick and Jim to figure out what exactly is going on here. So Dick and Jim have done a lot of doubling down in the Satterfield case recently. It started on November 17th when Dick and Jim's... officially began representing Elyke Murdoch in a lawsuit filed by Gloria Satterfield's two sons. Again, Haputland and Griffin did not have to represent Ehrlich in this civil case. They chose to enter into the arena after Eric Bland revealed a shocking paper trail, showing Elyke Murdoch's alleged involvement in the despicable scheme to steal millions of dollars from his dead housekeeper's family.

Starting point is 00:02:03 Dick and Jim filed a shocking motion. on November 17th that asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit against Elyke Murdoch because other parties have already compensated them for this. To Eric Bland, this was a clear message that the good old boys were starting a war. But I love it. This is exactly what I want. Battlefield lines have been drawn between Harputlian and Bland and Richter. So just two days after that motion was filed,

Starting point is 00:02:32 Elyke Murdoch was hit with a whopping 27 charges related to financial. crimes. If you remember, we did a special breaking episode on this and Eric was quoted a lot. It was the right thing to do. You changed the world. You're taking a guy off the street. It was not just harming one person. He was harming a lot of different people. That episode apparently struck a nerve among the Bulldog attorneys because a day after it was published, Dick and Jim amped up their war on Eric Bland and launched another missile. On Monday, November 22nd, Dick and Jim filed another shocking motion, and this one was seeking a gag order and other sanctions against Eric Bland. This motion asked the court for three things. A gag order against Eric, in order to have Eric

Starting point is 00:03:26 pay Ehrlich's attorney's fees for their work related to the motion, and for the court to refer Eric to the office of disciplinary counsel. Dick and Jim maintained that their client will not be able to get a fair trial because of Eric Bland's public comments, which generally speaking have called out the system for protecting Ehrlich and served as a counterpoint to whatever narrative is being put forth by the Murdoch camp on any given day. The gag order motion included six pages of Mr. Blan's quotes to the press, content they object to, was taken from the November 21st episode of this podcast, in which Mandy and Eric reflected on how each has played a pivotal role in bringing the Satterfield scheme to light. This was not surprising. From the beginning,

Starting point is 00:04:07 this podcast, have used our extensive resources to vet all information before publishing it. In other words, we didn't publish a certain fairy tale about a person of interest in a double homicide being targeted by a random shooter on a rural road because our source knew better. Again, the core argument of this motion is that Eric's comments have compromised Elyx chance at a fair trial. Left out of the motion is this. Dick and Jim have both portrayed their client as guilty on national television. And as of right now, there are several writers speeding their way through book deals about Elyke Murdoch, a handful of documentary producers speeding their way through filming about Ehrlich Murdoch. And there have been several news specials about Ehrlich Murdoch. If a judge does

Starting point is 00:04:47 issue a gag order against Eric Bland, will this be the thing that gives Ehrlich a safe space and allows for a jury that has never heard of him or never formed an opinion about him? Or will it simply stop someone who refuses to play by the good old boy roles from speaking out when he sees something After this motion was filed, we talked to Eric Bland and asked him what he thought about this. You know, this is full contact litigation. Everybody's got to wear pants. Nobody wears shorts in this kind of litigation. So, you know, they obviously feel like they're losing in the court of public opinion. Not only I think do they know they're losing in court in the various courts, but I think they feel like they're losing in the court of public opinion.

Starting point is 00:05:32 And so they view what I am saying as an additional basis of how their client is getting hurt. And truth be told, nothing I have said could hurt Alex nowhere near what Dick Harpoonly and his own lawyer has said, both inside and outside of court. He said that, you know, he knows he's committed these financial crimes and that he's going to go away to jail. I mean, what more prejudicial statement can be made than your own lawyer? saying that or your own lawyer confessing to your crime like he did in the bond hearing for the Labor Day shooting matter. So nothing I say could prejudice any proceeding. Also, there's no danger of prejudicing a jury because this matters five years away from

Starting point is 00:06:23 being tried. So there's no jury to prejudice. And I have a right not only to ask for victims and witnesses to come forward, which they have, which I get information every day, very relevant information, but I have a right to correct the record that Dick Harfutlian or Jim Griffin have painted both publicly or in court filing, such as that he's a 20-year opioid addict. That's not an explanation for a crime. It certainly hasn't prevented him from being a successful trial lawyer or that, you know, he didn't represent my client, Tony Satterfield, which he did, or that, you know, he, he, he

Starting point is 00:07:02 He has all these difficulties, which is preventing him from doing the right thing. Dick said he wanted to do the right thing. He was coming back to make all these financial wrongs right. Well, all he seems to be doing is rewarding his family and friends, such as Johnny Parker and his brother, but doing nothing for the Satterfields. He hasn't even said an apology yet to the Satterfield, let alone trying to write the wrong that he's done. So I just view it is this is a litigation tactic that they're trying to do because they're losing in the courts and in public opinion. And the public is not going to like me being silenced because I'm providing them with information. This is a very public case where our justice system is on trial, where the fairness of our system is on trial.

Starting point is 00:07:56 and the public wants to know, you know, who are the victims? And nothing I have said has been proven untrue. And I feel like that if there's not sunlight on this and it gets dark, then that's when strange things can happen. And something strange did happen in this case after the motion was filed. So shortly after the gag order motion was filed, Blan received a letter that said, Dick Harputlian had filed a formal grievance with the South Carolina Supreme Court's Office

Starting point is 00:08:42 of Disciplinary Council. Essentially, Harputlian is trying to go after Bland's law license, claiming that he violated the bar's rules of professional conduct for pre-trial publicity. I spoke with Eric after he received this letter. Well, no, they're gone after my law license. I get it. Like I said, in my statement, lawyers, they argue the facts. No facts. They argue the law. If there's no law, then they pound the table and they try to divert. I can't help it that they don't have a real good defense for Alice. You know, opioid defense is a defense that's stealing. That's nothing. Insanity, maybe, but opioid defense, all that is is a mitigation factor in some kind of sentencing, but it doesn't excuse the crime. You know,

Starting point is 00:09:24 like I said before, they could get Melvin Belli and Eppley Bailey, Jack Swirley, Diet Strach, and have 50 of the best lawyers in our state, Ron Motley from Motley-Royce and put him at the table. They're not going to be able to convince anybody that it's okay to steal from clients and your partners and your family. I'm not a guy that's going to be intimidated. Dick knows that. But they're just, you know, they're gone for the, it's a headshot. They're gone for the jugular. You know, I can respect it. They're doing it. I think it's a, a BS move, and I think it's a move of a guy that doesn't want to win it on the dance floor, but, hey, I can understand why he's doing it. He's losing. So I noticed on Twitter that several people asked to hear from a member of the South Carolina Bar Association who was not Eric Bland.

Starting point is 00:10:12 So for this issue, I talked to South Carolina attorney Lauren Fox, who told me that this lawyer war scenario is not normal at all. Attorney-on-attorney war like that, that's a pretty rare situation. That's one that I'm trying to rack my brain. of such a public feud in this state's profession. Granted, I'm only coming up on what, like, your aid of practice, but I'm having a hard time thinking about such a public taking to task set out. Because that's what you do. If you're filing a grievance with ODC of that nature,

Starting point is 00:11:00 that means that you are setting out to destroy an attorney's career, that you are alleging that they have done something so wrong that they should lose their law license. I'm sorry, I can't think of one. I asked Lauren if Eric violated any rules of professional conduct, specifically he's been accused of influencing the jury pool in this case. I mean, frankly, it looks like a temperate tantrum on paper. I have yet to see where I have found any conduct of Eric's to be questionable from a PR perspective, from a professional responsibility or ethical perspective. I've seen no behavior that raises my eyebrows. Frankly, I think that your outlet is the only one that is even covering this. So are they insinuating?

Starting point is 00:12:00 that you have captured the audience of an entire state. That makes y'all pretty powerful, doesn't it? You would think that if you're truly tainting a jury pool, that this would be blasted on every mainstream media outlet, online, TV, etc. So I don't buy that argument at all. No, it's funny that Lauren said this, because I have been recently racking my brain thinking back on the last few months and how we got to

Starting point is 00:12:37 this point with Dick and Jim. And I have to say, I had a lot of respect for Dick Harputlian before September. We have to remember that Dick and Jim were not always the sloppy and brazen. In 2019, when Dick and Jim represented Paul Murdoch in the Vowcrum Criminal case, both lawyers maintained a sense of dignity while working on that case. And Liz and I were honestly, impressed by Harpoonian. The first thing that struck us about Dick back in 2019 was how thorough he was in his motion for discovery. Mandy and I are both professional writers, so obviously we tend to notice how well something is written or how poorly. We've both read our fair share of legal documents

Starting point is 00:13:17 in South Carolina, and let's just say they run the gamut in terms of the effort that is put into them. The motion filed by Dick made it clear to us the huge difference money can make in the courtroom. Not only was it well written, it was intimidating. In a way neither of us had seen before. He had accounted for every molecule of evidence that might exonerate Paul, and there was a definite bullishness to it. He was looking around every corner and saying, boo, before anyone else could beat him to it. His power practically jumped off the page. Then there was our first in-person encounter with him during Paul's bond hearing. Paul looked nervous and like a little boy that day. Maggie seemed scared and absolutely out of it. And Ellick entered

Starting point is 00:13:59 the courtroom like a boisterous small town politician, acting as if he were there to greet people at a ribbon cutting for a plumbing supply company rather than at a criminal proceeding for his son, who was accused of killing someone. Alex's fake and buffoonish presence filled the room. He seemed intent on leaving no oxygen for anyone to breathe, never mind say the name Mallory Beach. Then there was Harputlian who stood in stark contrast to everyone else there, including the judge. He had the serious and seasoned air of a world-class surgeon. one to whom deference is automatically given. He was in complete control of that courtroom.

Starting point is 00:14:35 Back then, like now, Mandy and I were very much on the lookout for any signs of corruption and how the boat crash case was being handled. That day, we truly felt we were watching the Broadway version of something that had been scripted and rehearsed far away from the public eye. Harputlian was the master of his universe, and everyone else was there to please him, or at least not incur his wrath. It was the same Harputian we saw in the months between Maggie and Paul's murders, and whatever happened to Ellick on Labor Day weekend. Both Mandy and I had heard from a variety

Starting point is 00:15:03 of sources that Dick was coming in hot behind the scenes and using his positional power and political access to his client's advantage, as expected. In those months, Dick Harputin and Jim Griffin seemed to be doing what they do best, quietly tending to the facts behind the scenes, rearranging reality to fit their narrative, leaking tidbits to the press that painted their client as a victim, and waiting for the public to stop caring about the double homicide investigation. But as their client unraveled in the public square after the September 3rd alleged shooting incident, it appears like Dick and Jim unraveled too. Remember the week after the shooting? Harputtlian and Griffin shelled out a

Starting point is 00:15:41 false narrative repeatedly to the media. That's why this gag order motion says a lot about what their frame of mind might be. Again, Dick and Jim are used to being the masters of their universe. When it comes to the media, Dick in particular, is that, golden corral of off-the-record tidbits. He invites reporters to gorge off his cheap buffet of information so that when the juicy state comes off the grill, no one notices. It's very difficult to be a master of any universe when you can't get certain people to read from your carefully crafted script. They can't control Eric Bland, but they certainly can control how mainstream media regards him. On September 15th, the world saw a different Dick Harputian who appeared on the Today's

Starting point is 00:16:42 show to represent his client. During this interview, Dick Harputlian admitted on national television that Ehrlich Murdoch used money from the law firm and his clients for personal use. It was uncovered that he had perhaps, well, not perhaps, he had converted some client and law firm money to his own use to, and again, spent most of that on opioids. The interview was a disaster for Harputlian. He also told the Today Show, of his client would be arrested soon, which is a really odd thing to say. And then he tried to claim that him and Griffin were independently investigating some individuals who may have murdered Maggie and Paul Murdoch.

Starting point is 00:17:25 I wonder how well that investigation is going. And we have to mention, Paul Murdoch is Dick Harputlian's former client. He represented him in the boat crash. And now he's representing the only known person of interest in Paul's murder. Looking back on this, what has he done to bring awareness and attention to solving Paul and Maggie's murders? In fact, he's done the opposite. We've seen a series of distractions from Dick since this summer. Why is that?

Starting point is 00:17:54 And then the Hampton Bond hearing happened. What we didn't know at the time was that Dick Harputlian was starting to come undone. And he was showing it. Before this bond hearing in September, Harputlian looked around and checked the room. looking for me. When I wasn't there, he made a disgusting comment. In a poor attempt to discredit me, Dick joked that I am my boss's alter sexual ego and asked if I really existed.

Starting point is 00:18:24 This is especially funny now because they mention my name 12 times in their latest motion. Good attorneys go to war for their clients. Dick and Jim, as we've said many times before, are among the best in South Carolina. So while much of this can be looked at as Dick and Jim are just going to war for Ehrlich, we do have to point out that there are rules of engagement, especially when it comes to ethics. There's some obvious ironies here that Dick and Jim are launching their latest battle with Eric Bland on the ethics front. Theoretically, is it ethical for an attorney to seek to humiliate a reporter he doesn't like in front of her peers, as Dick did? Is it ethical for an attorney to antagonize a reporter over Twitter, as Jim Griffin did to Mandy?

Starting point is 00:19:09 in October? Is it ethical for state senators to use their positions of authority and access to make demands of state agencies in order to gain advantages for their clients? And was it ethical to tell a Today Show reporter on national television that your client is guilty of stealing and lying? If that last move was strategy, then this raises a question, how deeply screwed is your client that your best option to defend him is to unsolicited tell the world he's guilty of an awful crime? It's clear we're witnessing a pattern of strange behavior by Dick Harputlian. It's pretty clear that Dick is losing in the court of public opinion, which apparently upsets him as an attorney who is used to playing the media like a fiddle.

Starting point is 00:19:54 But the question now is if Dick has enough power to win at all an actual court. Will a gag order be placed in the case? Could Eric Bland be silenced? something happened last week that concerned us and we need to talk about it. On December 1st, we learned that Judge Bentley Price had reassigned the Satterfield case to himself. The case had already been assigned to Judge Marquay's and attorneys from both sides, from what we understand, had approved that assignment. Judge Price reassigned the case to himself because, if he does say so, himself, the case is a quote-unquote complicated one. We don't know much about

Starting point is 00:20:40 Judge Price, except that he's young in his 40s. He tried several times to become a circuit court judge before finally being elected in 2019. Before that, he was a part-time municipal judge in Folly Beach for 12 years, and he is apparently known as a judge who tends to favor defendants. We also don't know what prompted Judge Price to volunteer himself for this case, but it happens soon after Dick and Jim called for their client to be dropped from the case, for a gag order to be placed on Eric Bland, for sanctions against Eric, for a referral to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, and for their attorney's fees to be paid. And this is definitely concerning. It makes us wonder what the end game is for Dick and Jim. Why are they fighting so savagely in a case where the plaintiffs have been so demonstrably

Starting point is 00:21:20 abused by their client? Clearly, they want to minimize the damages their client might owe. As a reminder, Ehrlich is a defendant in at least seven civil cases right now. The more cynical among us might say Dick and Jim want to minimize the damages Ehrlich has to pay because there needs to be money left over to pay Dick and Jim. I think we can also safely say they want to minimize any prison time Alec might get. But as the charges against Elek mount, it's becoming more and more clear that Dick and Jim are going to need more thumbs to plug the holes in that dam. The other question we've been asking ourselves is whether this has become a war of egos. Sometimes it seems like Dick and Jim aren't fighting for their clients so much as they are for their own reputations to be

Starting point is 00:21:59 reclaimed. The Goodell Boy system relies on the ability to play games in the dark. In the dark, bulldog attorneys can misuse the typically secretive disciplinary process to exact revenge, on their opposing counsel and pressure them into preemptive silence without anyone being the wiser. That is until the opposing counsel throws on the lights and tells the world what is happening. That Elek Murdoch has a challenging jury seating ahead of him is a foregone conclusion. But by his own measure, Dick shouldn't be worried. He himself offered attorneys some tips on his courtroom practices in a 2013 profile of him in whistleblower laws.com.

Starting point is 00:22:37 Here are three of his top five tips. They tell us a lot about who Dick is as a lawyer. Pick a jury, not based only on your client's profile, but also yours. If the jury hates you, they usually won't like your client. This has caused me to gravitate towards unattractive people on juries. They don't feel threatened by me and are disdainful like attractive people. Own the courtroom. One of my frequent opponents when I was the DA paid me the most eloquent compliment.

Starting point is 00:23:11 She said, Harputlian is like a dog marking his territory in the courtroom. He pisses in every corner and invades your space as frequently as he can. It makes the opposing attorney anxious. Anxiety is your friend. Throw away the script. There is nothing more boring or unproductive than to follow a script, checking off the points you want to make to prove the elements of your case. The jury wants a narrative, a story, an entertaining yarn full of conflict, emotions, sex, violence, yelling, weeping, etc.

Starting point is 00:23:50 You get the idea. That means you have to have a general idea of what you want, but let the examination flow naturally. See the witness up to confirm fact A and fact C, then box them into B. The jury will understand where you are going. Remember, these are unattractive people who watch a lot of TV and read most of their evenings. They have lots of imagination. So yeah, seems like Dick already has his jury strategy all sealed up. So maybe the strategy is bullying and intimidation?

Starting point is 00:24:30 He tried to bully and intimidate me, which did not work. Now it seems like he's trying to bully and intimidate Eric Bland, which isn't working either. And the way you got to deal with the bullies, you got to slap them down. He's not going to intimidate me. I mean, I'm 59 years old. He's not going to intimidate me. I'm just going to put my nose down and outlawyer him like I did and follow the rules of professional conduct, which I don't think I'm violating.

Starting point is 00:24:59 I'm the one with you that got slid to bring in charges. And Eric admitted that this case is so different from every other case and that sunlight has been required in order to get justice. If I would have filed this lawsuit and it just sat in the darkness of a file cabinet in Hampton County, do you really think we would be where we are today, honestly? Do you really think that five different culpable, potentially culpable parties would have ponied up over $7.5 million? Do you think I would have been one of the factors in Corey Fleming losing his law license? Do you think that Alex Murdoch would have been charged?

Starting point is 00:25:40 in the Satterfield member, do you think he would be behind bars for the last month and a half? If I just filed a lawsuit and it stood in the color of darkness and I never said a word, come on. In fact, Eric Bland filed a bombshell amendment in the Satterfield case this week, adding Bank of America to the list of defendants and accusing the bank's employees of enabling Eleg Murdoch's money laundering. The lawsuit is packed with shocking accusations in another paper trail of astonishing. checks, which we will analyze in another episode. There's one more thing that we have to talk about. Elyke Murdoch is scheduled to appear in court this week for a bond hearing on the 27 latest

Starting point is 00:26:25 charges against him. But this time, a different judge, Judge Allison Lee, will preside over the hearing. This has raised several red flags among those watching this case very closely. Why? Because Judge Clifton Newman was handpicked in September to handle all criminal matters related to Elyke Murdoch. But last week, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued an order stating that the current responding judge of the state grand jury will handle initial bail matters for Ehrlich Murdoch on charges that were brought by the state grand jury. While we have been told that this move is standard procedure, we have to wonder if this is a part of Dick and Jim's plan. Judge Lee has a reputation of giving bond to violent criminals. Having a judge who is known for leniency

Starting point is 00:27:13 presiding over all of the matters related to the state grand jury for bail could be beneficial to the Murdoch camp. However, we did ask several sources close to the investigation if this even matters. And according to our sources, even if Lee grants bond on Friday, Newman's decision would stick and Ehrlich Murdoch would remain behind bars. But if you'll remember, ELEC's attorneys recently filed a habeas corpus petition asking the South Carolina Supreme Court to reconsider Newman's decision to keep ELEC in jail. So are they trying to get another judge to rule that ELEC is not a danger so their petition gets a better chance? Again, what is the endgame here? We will find out, so stay tuned. And one more thing, we are super excited to announce that the

Starting point is 00:28:15 Murdoch Murders podcast Instagram page, is Murdoch Murdoch Murdoch Murders Pod, all one word, and Facebook, which is Murdoch Murdoch Murders podcast, are up and running. Check the links in the description for those. On Facebook and Instagram, we will share the latest updates on the case, we'll post teasers of episodes before they drop, we'll post exciting announcements about the podcast, and you'll see pictures of Luna, the real boss of the Murdoch Murdoch's podcast. And my childhood best friend, Ali Pavlach has worked so hard on our social media and we're very proud of it. So please go to those pages and give us a like.

Starting point is 00:28:56 We really appreciate it. And we're really excited to get these communities started. Both of us want to say thank you to the real journalists, the true tellers, and the freedom fighters out there, filing FOIA request, exposing powerful people, and holding up the fourth estate. You are making a difference in your community. and in 2022, we want to support investigative journalist however we can. We want to hear from reporters, armchair detectives, and savvy super sleuths because we are going to give you a voice in 2022. Ideally, we're looking for stories where true crime and corruption collide.

Starting point is 00:29:35 Please visit Murdochmurterspodcast.com slash truth to submit your story and learn more about this project. If you have truths you want to expose, visit Murdochmurterspodcast.com slash truth to submit your story. There's so much to unpack in this case and Mandy works tirelessly to expose the truth. But the truth is she works hard and she does get tired. If you believe like I do that Mandy is the best in the business and I'm a little biased, visit Murdochmurterspodcast.com and click the support the show link to learn how you can help. Leave a five-star review to offset the haters.

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Starting point is 00:30:44 The Murdoch Murder's podcast is created by me, Mandy Matney, and my fiance, David Moses. Produced by Luna Shark Productions.

Murdaugh Murders Podcast - MMP #21 - Attorneys At War - Part One

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