Murdaugh Murders Podcast - MMP #39 - Doubling Down On Duffie Stone - Conduct and Conflicts In The 14th Circuit

Starting point is 00:00:01 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 00:00:30 Terms apply. I don't know what Mark Keel or Duffy Stone were thinking last week, but the Chief of SLED recently issued a joint statement with Solicitor Duffy Stone's office, in which they both doubled down on Stone's initial involvement with the double homicide investigation. And now, we're questioning everything. My name is Mandy Matney. I have been investigating the Murdoch family for, more than three years now. This is the Murdoch murders podcast with David Moses and Liz

Starting point is 00:01:09 Farrell. In episode 38, we talked about exactly why Solicitor Duffy Stone's investigators' presence at the scene of the double homicide last June was such a huge problem. I realized that there was a lot of news related to the Murdoch murders in the past week. But Liz and I felt this piece is the most important because it goes straight to the heart of why all of this matters. It's much bigger than a few crooked lawyers. There are rotten tentacles of corruption polluting every corner of our justice system. And we're focusing on this because we actually live here in the 14th circuit, unlike everyone else who is podcasting about this. Our goal is not to entertain you every week, Although Liz's jokes, Eric's outburst, and David's amazing voice acting skills definitely

Starting point is 00:02:19 foot the bill. Our mission is to expose the truth. Our mission is to fix what is broken here. Our mission is to hold powerful people accountable. Our mission is to change the justice system here in the low country, for the better. And that's why this podcast will always be different. we hope that more journalists will help us in our mission. Stay tuned for more announcements on that last bit. So on Thursday, the day after episode 38 aired, 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffy Stone's

Starting point is 00:02:59 office and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel issued a shocking joint statement in an apparent attempt to address the concerns we raised on the podcast, Jeff Kidd, Chief of staff for Stone's office sent the statement to the media with a fiery message attached. Also, I have to mention this because I want you to know how small the circles are here in South Carolina. Jeff Kidd, Liz, and I all worked together at the Island Packet before Jeff left for the solicitor's office. When we worked together, I consider Jeff to be a person of integrity, and I was surprised that he took the statement up a notch by including this message, which I will have David Reed.

Starting point is 00:03:46 Dear media members, please find attached a joint statement from the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel and 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffy Stone regarding erroneous reporting about our office's role in the investigation of Paul and Maggie Murdoch. Best regards, Jeff Kidd. Erroneous Reporting. What is Jeff Kidd, a former journalist, talks to? about exactly. Here's a little tip about public figures who claim reporting is erroneous, but don't cite specific heirs. There are no actual heirs. They just don't like the optics

Starting point is 00:04:27 of what they did. Attached to the email was a five-paragraph press release, which we will have David read in pieces. The letter starts out by explaining that they don't comment on specifics of the investigation, and the purpose of the letter was to instill public confidence. In recent days, some media outlets have published unfounded and ill-informed speculation regarding the role of the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office in the investigation of the murders of Paul Murdoch and his mother Maggie Murdoch. Per long-standing policy, Sled and the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office will not comment on specifics of any case while it is still under investigation.

Starting point is 00:05:08 However, given the persistence of unsubstantiated assertions, both fairness and fairness and public confidence in the integrity of the process requires a limited response. So I'm just going to say it. This statement seems like it was written by Dwight Shrewd, the character from the office who lived to impress those in power. It has a very assistant to the regional manager vibe to it. The words unfounded and ill-informed are interesting given that the piece I wrote was founded on and informed by John Marvin Murdoch's explanation to the island packet about what he was doing was Stone's investigators in the posting courier photos. His explanation was that he and Duffy

Starting point is 00:05:52 Stone's investigators were directly involved in retrieving and unlocking Maggie's phone. There was no speculation in the piece I'd written. There were questions. The kind of questions a smart person asks when she sees a photo of investigators who should not have been on the scene in the first place and whose connections to the Murdox, both individually and institutionally, were more than concerning. At that time, there was an open investigation by the state grand jury into the Murdox and members of law enforcement, who together are suspected of attempting to obstruct justice in the boat crash investigation. One other note, something tells us that Duffy Stone cares less about public confidence than he does public perception of him. The letter went on to state that

Starting point is 00:06:35 SLED officials notified the 14th Circuit Solicitor's office, known as the DA's office in a lot of places, to tell them about the murders and to request assistance in the investigation. In the hours following the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdoch and June 7th, 2021, Sledd notified 14th Circuit Solicitor's office officials to inform them of what had transpired in Colleton County and to request their assistance in the investigation. Sledd's notification and the solicitor's offices' participation in investigations are routine in the 14th Circuit. This is true. The solicitor's The auditor's office does communicate with investigating agencies and is sometimes asked to assist

Starting point is 00:07:20 during investigations. However, what is not routine is that Duffy Stone and his office had a long list of conflicts of interest with the Murdoch family that were all apparent on day one. Also not routine is Duffy Stone committing several of his investigators from the start of a criminal investigation. Stone has a six-year backlog of cases that need to be prosecuted. That means there are literally thousands of victims in the low country waiting and hoping. The Duffy Stone's office dedicates resources to their case. Solicitor's office investigators are hired to shore up cases for prosecution. Their jobs are to interview witnesses and find additional

Starting point is 00:08:13 information that might be helpful to the case and do whatever the assistant solicitors need them to do in preparing a case for a plea deal or a trial. What is mind-boggling is that Duffy Stone would dedicate three of his investigators to the scene of a double homicide that he would likely have to recuse himself from. Talk about a waste of taxpayer resources. But of course, taxpayers' resources on a murder investigation that has yet to produce an indictment, those are not addressed in this joint statement. And neither are all of Duffy Stone's conflicts of interest that were apparent on day one. And here's where the statement gets very concerning. From the first hours of Sled's investigation, Chief Mark Kiel was in direct and regular contact with both 14th Circuit

Starting point is 00:09:10 Solicitor Duffy Stone and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson. All agreed that should evidence emerge establishing a potential conflict, Chief Keele would contact Solicitor Duffy Stone and Attorney General Wilson immediately. Chief Keele did so, and Stone immediately recused himself from the case on August 11, 2021. Okay, wow. There is a lot to unpack here. Let's Let's start by talking about conflicts of interest. There are no hard and fast guidelines in South Carolina for solicitors about what a conflict of interest specifically looks like. It looks like they're largely left to police themselves on this.

Starting point is 00:09:59 But there is a rule for lawyers in the South Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct that addresses conflicts. David is going to read from that rule. you're following along, remember that South Carolina residents are Duffy Stone's clients in every case he prosecutes. Loyalty and independent judgment are always essential elements in the lawyer's relationship to a client. Even where there is no direct adverseness, a conflict of interest exists if there is a significant risk that a lawyer's ability to consider, recommend, or carry out

Starting point is 00:10:37 an appropriate course of action for the client will be material. materially limited as a result of the lawyer's other responsibilities or interests. The lawyer's own interests should not be permitted to have an adverse effect on representation of a client. For example, if the probity of a lawyer's own conduct in a transaction is in serious question, it may be difficult or impossible for the lawyer to give a client detached advice. Duffy Stone was hired by the 14th Circuit's voters to represent them in the prosecution of crimes against the community. We are his client. The public should be his number one concern.

Starting point is 00:11:20 Think of it this way. If you were to hire an attorney to represent you in a case against another lawyer, would you choose that attorney from the same law firm you were suing? Absolutely not. Duffy Stone was essentially Elyke Murdoch's boss. Whatever the relationship looked like, however it worked, it was important enough and official enough for Duffy to sever it with a formal letter on September 7, 2021. You don't break up with people who aren't connected to you. According to the joint statement, Keel and Stone apparently agreed at one point that they

Starting point is 00:11:58 needed to find evidence of a potential conflict of interest. And in that case, Keel would need to tell Stone about the supposed evidence and tell him to recuse himself. The problem is, according to a number of law enforcement and attorney sources, Stone's recusal should not have required establishing evidence. From everything we are hearing about the investigation, Elyke Murdoch was immediately a person of interest. Remember, Ehrlich was a person of interest less than 48 hours after the double homicide. Ehrlich was a badge-carrying member of Duffy Stone's office. He was a volunteer solicitor, a position that no one we have spoken to in South Carolina has heard of. Duffy Stone was reportedly hand-picked by the Murdoch family for his position as solicitor.

Starting point is 00:12:56 And there's another conflict of interest. Duffy's relationship with a certain powerful string-pulling senator who happens to be Elyke Murdoch's attorney. The point here is that Stone absolutely had something to gain by ELEC not getting charged in this investigation. It's not a good look to have someone under investigation working for the solicitor's office. But this is a look that Duffy Stone is unfortunately familiar with. He's proven in the past that he's not made the best choices when it comes to employee-related issues. In 2013, Duffy fired an employee for stealing $525 from the worthless check unit. SLED conducted an investigation into the incident,

Starting point is 00:13:38 but Duffy allegedly sat on the file until news of it emerged during his 2016 run for re-election. The day after Duffy won the primary, charges were finally filed against the woman. When the theft was first made public at a May 2016 debate, Duffy told the audience that, The SLED investigation is underway, and I don't know. told them to turn that over to the Attorney General's office because the solicitor's office was the victim in the case. It wouldn't have been proper for the victim to be the one prosecuting the case. And when I conflict a case out, I don't know anything about it after that. It's improper for me to go back in and try to find anything out about it. But this actually wasn't the case. The investigatory

Starting point is 00:14:21 file had apparently been sitting on his desk. According to a report in the island packet at the time, Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner, whose wife was running against Duffy in the primary, was told by Sled that the investigation had been finished in 2014, and it was never turned over to the Attorney General's office. Duffy Stone, however, told the packet that the date on the investigation was August 2015. Stone's story changed several times during the paper's investigation into why he appeared to have sat on the investigation for so long. In the end, he chalked it up to his office having never been a victim of a crime. crime before and said the report had gotten lost on his desk because he was so busy prosecuting murders. Sadly, this is not the only employee-related issue he's had. In October 2020, Duffy Stone fired an

Starting point is 00:15:08 assistant solicitor named Kimberly Smith, who was disbarred by the state Supreme Court for dishonesty. Smith had worked for his office since January 2017. Before that, she had worked for Corey Fleming's former law firm Moss Coon and Fleming for nine years. While she was at Moskoum, Coon and Fleming, she got into some trouble. She was fired and one of the partners reported her to the Office of Disciplinary Council. The ODC found some very egregious transgressions, specifically Kimberly Smith had lied to clients. Duffy Stone hired her and put her on the career criminal unit. Years prior, Smith had worked for the Solicitor's office under Randolph Murdoch. Before that, she was the law clerk for Judge Perry Buckner, another associate of the Murdox. No known analysis

Starting point is 00:15:55 has been done of the cases Smith worked on while at the solicitor's office. And no sufficient explanation, in our opinion, was given for why she was hired. Duffy Stone is a very connected man. It is inconceivable that he would not have known that Smith had been fired from Moss Coonan Fleming. And it is difficult to believe that word had not leaked out that an extensive investigation was being conducted on an assistant solicitor. A cynical person might think that Duffy offered up the solicitor's office as a paid way

Starting point is 00:16:25 room for Smith, a place where she could hang out and work until she was inevitably disbarred. Those are just two more reasons why anyone paying attention in the 14th Circuit, and anyone who truly wanted justice for Maggie and Paul, would have realized that Stone and his entire office should not be anywhere near this investigation. And for those who didn't know his history, there's still that issue of there being a conflict of interest. And we'll be right back. love discovering conflicts of interest and investigations.

Starting point is 00:17:04 Stone and Keel are trying to say here that conflicts of interest only matter when a suspect is established through evidence and that the prosecutor has a clear relationship with that suspect. But that isn't necessarily true. Think about it. What if a random Joe Blow was arrested for the double homicide and Eleg's former co-workers were actively involved in that investigation. The first thing a good defense attorney would tell the jury would be that Stone was clearly on a mission to pin the murders on somebody who didn't work in his office and the investigation was tainted because of his involvement. A good defense attorney would

Starting point is 00:17:49 rip Stone's involvement to shreds and make the jury question every piece of evidence involving his office. Even Stone himself said that conflicts of interest are a problem for prosecutors back when he was president of the National District Attorney's Association. Here are his own words in a 2020 press release. A prosecutor with a conflict of interest should not provide advice to law enforcement or to other prosecutors on whether or not there is a probable cause for arrest. Nor should a prosecutor give a lengthy analysis. of the facts and the law that may prejudice a case in a court of law or in the court of public opinion. It would be one thing if this were a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do situation with no harm done in the end. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

Starting point is 00:18:45 The fact that we're having this conversation right now points to the problem at hand. And remember, Stone recused himself in the boat crash case just a day. after the crash before Mallory Beach's body was even found in almost two months before Paul was charged in the crime. Was Stone aware of evidence in that case so soon after the boat crash? And then there is the part about Stone immediately recusing himself after evidence emerged establishing a potential conflict on August 11th. Too many, that sentence signifies that Stone became aware of damning evidence against Elyke Murdoch, a badge-carrying prosecutor for the solicitor's office on August 11th. Perhaps that was the physical evidence that we reported on back in January

Starting point is 00:19:40 tying Ehrlich to the murders? And yet, Ehrlich was still able to keep his position with the solicitor's office up until September 7th. After admitting to having a drug problem, in his law firm accusing him of stealing millions of dollars following his little alleged suicide for higher incident. You would think if there was evidence against Elyke and a double homicide that Duffy Stone was aware of, he would have taken his solicitor's office position and privileges and power away because that could put the public his client in danger. And if Stone had a conflict of interest in August, he had a conflict of interest in June and he should have recused himself earlier. Also, So Stone's office wasn't exactly forthcoming about the recusal.

Starting point is 00:20:31 Stone's team told the Post and Courier newspaper of the solicitor's office recusal more than two weeks after it actually happened. If Stone was doing everything by the book and he had nothing to hide with the recusal, why wouldn't he inform the public sooner? Especially knowing that there were several public calls asking for him to step up away from the case. All that did was Ray's suspicions. And speaking of raised suspicions, for the first time in the investigation, Stone and Keel addressed a big elephant in the room. On June 8th, a day after the double homicide, a post and courier photographer snapped

Starting point is 00:21:16 several photos of John Marvin Murdoch, Elyke's brother, walking alongside three investigators who worked for Duffy's office. That photo caused concerns. for obvious reasons. The investigators on scene were essentially Elyke's co-workers, and they were spotted at the crime scene with Elyke's brother, who later told the Island Packet that they had worked together to retrieve Maggie Murdoch's cell phone. Here is what Keel and Stone had a say about this in their joint statement. At the scene and in subsequent days, the solicitor's office acted solely under Sled's direction. At no time did the solicitor's office conduct a separate or parallel investigation or act in any manner to undermine SLED's role as the lead investigative agency.

Starting point is 00:22:07 On a related note, much has been made about media photographs taken at the scene on June 8 that depict solicitor's office investigators speaking with a member of the Marduk family. Not only was the depicted action undertaken at Sled's request, the photograph. were taken after the crime scene had been processed and after SLED had cleared the Murdoch family to return to the property. Other law enforcement agencies, including SLED, were present at the time. Any speculation to the contrary is simply false. So Sled told Eleg's colleagues that they should be working the scene and handling evidence in the case, a case where Ehrlich was immediately a person of interest. Think about it.

Starting point is 00:22:56 Elyke would have likely been the number one suspect early on in the investigation. The spouse is always looked at immediately, and so is the person who found the bodies. Why would Sled think that this is appropriate? Why would Slead want Elyke's coworkers anywhere near this investigation? The press release did not address the main issue here. If Stone recused himself in August, he should have recused himself earlier. And another thing, if you recuse yourself from a case as a prosecutor, you are saying my partiality could weaken this case and you're supposed to immediately separate yourself

Starting point is 00:23:42 from the investigation. A source of mine told me that having a conflict means it's lights out. You're supposed to put up an imaginary wall between yourself and the case. You're not supposed to talk about the investigation again. And guess what? Duffy said this himself in 2020. The problem is when you recuse yourself, once you say, I cannot objectively handle this case, you have to stop. You cannot seek to influence the case in any way. You can't give legal advice to law enforcement.

Starting point is 00:24:19 You should not give your opinion publicly or privately. And yet, Duffy Stone thinks it's okay for him to issue a press release with the lead investigating agency in the case that he recused himself in? That would require collaboration and speaking about the case that he said he couldn't be a part of. And wouldn't Chief Keel have a problem with that too? They wrapped at the press release with this. Chief Keel maintained from the onset that SLED will pursue justice for Maggie and Paul no matter where that leads. And Sledd's resolve in that regard has not wavered. And we'll be right back. And what about Mark Kiel? Before this, the chief of Sled has positioned

Starting point is 00:25:23 himself on the opposite side of the good old boys throughout this entire investigation. This press release made for bad optics, like he appeared to be siding with Duffy, who has tarnished his own reputation in the last year. On the day after this joint press release was issued, multiple sources said that the Attorney General's office was frozen out of the double homicide investigation for 10 days, according to our sources. Prosecutor Creighton Waters asked to be in the loop of the investigation

Starting point is 00:25:57 and was denied. That means for 10 days, the head prosecutor in South Carolina wasn't able to get access into a case that he knew he would likely end up taking. Why didn't Wilson step in and just take this case from stone? And then another shocking tidbit, the state grand jury apparently was already looking into Elyke Murdoch's finances at the time of the double homicide. That is a big deal.

Starting point is 00:26:32 Did Duffy muddle the investigation enough to throw it off course? The good news is that we don't think so. Duffy's failure to recuse himself isn't just about what it might mean if Ehrlich Murdoch ultimately gets charged with murders. It's about what it will mean no matter who gets charged. Even though we don't believe the integrity of the investigation was compromised by Stone, or his investigators, their presence at the scene does not instill public trust. In fact, it's done the opposite. Last week, the Hilton Island packet broke a story that a lot of other mainstream media outlets picked up.

Starting point is 00:27:21 And now I have to wonder if the story was planted to distract the audience from the Duffy Stone problem. During a hearing for Mallory Beach's family lawsuit, Attorney Mark Tensley said that Parker's Corporation hired a private investigator to follow Paul Murdoch last year. Tensley said in the recent hearing that the PI was videoing Paul Murdoch within three days of his murder, and she actually placed a camera at the driveway at Moselle. This piece of information is a bit of a wild card for us, and frankly, we're still tracking down sources to figure out what exactly is. means. But there is so much to unpack as it relates to the beach case in all of the crazy things that have gone on in the last three years. We're going to get into all of that in another

Starting point is 00:28:14 episode, so stay tuned. So I wanted to end this episode on a lighter note and share something with y'all who have helped me get here. Last month, the one and only comedian Kathleen Madigan was nice enough to give David and I tickets to her show in Charleston. Kathleen is a fan of the podcast and tweeted me a couple months ago. Kathleen is also from an Irish Catholic family in the Midwest and is exactly my kind of humor. Kathleen's show at the Charleston Music Hall was phenomenal. I haven't been to a live comedy show since before the pandemic and honestly I forgot what I was missing out on. Being at a live show and a huge auditorium filled with like-minded people laughing at the same things honestly just felt euphoric. And then, in the middle of the show, Kathleen stunned me

Starting point is 00:29:15 when she gave a live shout out on stage to the Murdoch Murders podcast. I wanted to share it with y'all because it was such a special moment in this journey for me. Yeah, and one of my favorite podcasters, I think is here tonight. Mandy? Where are you at? Okay, Mandy, Mandy from South Carolina. The Murda Murders. Yeah. That's the hardest working young person I've stumbled upon lately. I'm like, well, that millennial knows how to do shit. Can you have classes for the rest of them? Oh my gosh, what a compliment. I highly recommend you checking out Kathleen's podcast, and we put the link in the description. And again, I can't thank you enough for supporting us. Getting to meet one of my favorite comedians who actually loves

Starting point is 00:30:04 and respects my work, life doesn't get any better than that. I think it's really, really important that women celebrate these crucial milestones in our lives and be really proud of what we've accomplished. Surround yourself with people who want to cheer you on and forget those who won't. You don't need them for where you're going. These past nine months have definitely had their ups and downs. But y'all have stuck with us. You've kept us going and you have pushed us to go way further than we ever thought we'd go with this. Thank you. And don't worry, we're nowhere near done. And speaking of Charleston, I was recently nominated by the Charleston City Paper for the best of Charleston 2022. I posted the link in the description and if you could take a few minutes to vote for

Starting point is 00:30:54 me as the best local investigative journalist, that would be amazing. I hope you all have a fantastic week. Oh, and Rock Chalk Jayhawk, I'm so proud of my alma mater for winning the National Championship this week. We'll see you next Wednesday. Stay tuned. The Murdoch Murdoers podcast is created by me, Mandy Matney, and my fiancé David Moses. Our executive editor is Liz Farrell.

Starting point is 00:31:24 Produced by Luna Shark Productions.

Murdaugh Murders Podcast - MMP #39 - Doubling Down On Duffie Stone - Conduct and Conflicts In The 14th Circuit

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