Murdaugh Murders Podcast - MMP #54 - Our Entire System On Trial

Episode Date: July 27, 2022

We believe the entire system is on trial here. And it’s time the Attorney General’s office starts understanding that citizens of South Carolina demand transparency and zealous attention to restore public faith.   In this episode we take a deep dive into the perplexing prosecution strategies and deliberate defense strategies swirling around the various criminal charges pointed at Alex Murdaugh.  Mandy and Liz revisit odd statements made by the Murdaugh camp early in the double homicide investigation and how their original purpose might be making more sense.  Plus spirited analysis from Eric Bland and more on Russell Laffitte’s upcoming bond hearing for new federal charges including bank fraud and wire fraud. All the while, we are left wondering why Creighton Waters appears to have lost his initial confidence and we search for reasons behind Attorney General Alan Wilson’s absence from the fray.  Stay Tuned, Stay Pesky and Stay in the Sunlight...☀️ Please consider donating to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Justice For Stephen Go Fund Me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Members ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠also get access to ad-free listening, searchable case files, written articles with documents, case photos, episode videos and exclusive live experiences with our hosts on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠lunasharkmedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ all in one place. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CLICK HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3BdUtOE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out our LUNASHARK Merch 👕⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ What We're Buying... ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://amzn.to/4cJ0eVn ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Advertising is curated by the talented team at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AdLarge Media⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. *** ALERT: If you ever notice audio errors in the pod, email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and we'll send fun merch to the first listener that finds something that needs to be adjusted! *** For current & accurate updates: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bsky.app/profile/mandy-matney.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bsky.app/profile/elizfarrell.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TrueSunlight.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/mandy_matney⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/TrueSunlightPodcast/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram.com/TrueSunlightPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/elizfarrell⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/@LunaSharkMedia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tiktok.com/@lunasharkmedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I don't know how long it will be before Ehrlich Murdoch stands trial for murder. But after analyzing the defense's strategy, both in court and in the press, we are more committed than ever to shining sunlight on every possible inch of this case. Despite the denials of corruption and empty assurances of those at the very top of the South Carolina Bar Association, we believe the entire system is on trial here. And it's time the prosecution starts seeing that too. My name is Mandy Matney. I have been investigating the Murdoch family for more than three years now.

This is the Murdoch Murder's podcast with David Moses and Liz Farrell. Okay, so first of all, last Wednesday was honestly one of the craziest days we've had since starting this podcast, which says a lot because there have been some really crazy days in this past year. But going into last Wednesday, we had already produced about 90% of our planned episode before Alex Bond hearing. But then, the Bond hearing wasn't what we thought it would be, and it was pure chaos trying to put an episode together so quickly, especially as a huge thunderstorms swirled above us, raining thunderclaps loud enough to shake our studio. Anyways, I appreciate y'all's patience last week as the episode was late.

And today, we are going to go back to a lot of that content that we saved because it's important and it's still very much relevant to this case. Our mission at Luna Shark Productions is to expose the truth, be a voice for the victims, and get the story straight. That mission has not changed. And it has become so much more important as we have realized all of the strategies. deployed by the defense that have twisted and skewed this story for the past year. And unfortunately, a majority of legacy media have played into that.

A few of y'all have written to us in the last week defending the prosecution's position in last week's bond hearing, saying things like, the prosecution is concealing information from the public so they have a better case at trial, and that the prosecution agreed to a gag order to avoid a mistrial. Several of you mentioned the gag orders are perfect normal in high-profile criminal cases like this one. So here is my response. The public has got to stop pretending that this is a typical case that media latches onto for a few months then largely forgets. This is not Casey Anthony. This is not Scott Peterson. This is not O.J. Simpson. This has been a case about public corruption since day one. The murders are just a

part of a much bigger criminal operation allegedly involving public officials. And I don't even think we're close to knowing exactly how deep this thing goes. This alleged criminal operation, which we still don't entirely understand the concept of, has thrived in the shadows and has only survived because so many people were too scared to say something. And because our justice system has failed to stop this criminal operation, for so many years, public trust has been lost entirely. In every attempt on behalf of the state to further conceal information in this case does not help to assuage our concerns,

or the concerns of millions who listen to this podcast and are following the case. We still do not know where the missing millions of dollars went. We still do not know how many lives have been destroyed. We still do not know how many public officials will go down for this. That said, there is a lot of much-needed pressure on the prosecution right now to take a strong stance against widespread corruption in this case. So many of us who have been uncovering rotten ethics and worse within the system really needed more from prosecutor Crayton Waters last week.

We needed Crayton to appear like a prosecutor who was fighting for every person, person in South Carolina who has been wronged by this system. We needed Creighton to say things like, this family has been operating in the darkness for years. And that way of doing things ends now. We needed Creighton to appear like Dick Harputlian's opponent in a potential capital murder case instead of his friend. We needed Creighton Waters to show that he was there

to fight for the public, who were actually the plaintiffs in this case. But he didn't do that. Instead, he nodded his head and played right into Dick's hand, and he looked weak. And also, where was South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson last week? We recently spoke to Eric Blaine about this. I think it's high time. We hear from Alan Wilson. He's our state attorney general. It ain't weekend in Bernie's. I mean, does the guy have a stick in his back? I mean, it's time. He comes forward and either does a press conference, comes to these bond hearings, start. making arguments. I mean, that's what Attorney General's do. They act as an attorney. But I think

in this type of case and this type of national case where our system is on trial, where people are really talking about, hey, do we have two systems of justice? It appears in the past seven months that we don't. They're holding Alex accountable and Corey accountable and Russ accountable. But I want our Attorney General to explain why it took a year, why they devoted these kind of resources. Eric Blan said that Attorney General Alan Wilson should have not only shown up for the bond hearing last week, but he should have given a press conference. Alan Wilson needs to stand before the microphone and explain to the state why we're using all these resources, why it's taken so long for a murder charge to be brought when there were not.

No other suspects. When are these financial trials going to take place? All these are legitimate questions. How, Attorney General, do you decide which cases are first? You're not revealing any evidence in the case. You're not going to taint a jury tool. Taint a jury pool? Are you kidding me?

There has to have been one single positive article, television news update on Alex Murdole that's been positive in two years. it's like 2,800 to zero. I haven't heard a preacher come out. I haven't heard a best friend come out and say, oh, my God, he's the greatest guy in the world. You should see what he does for people on Sunday or days off. He gives this. He's donated that.

He gives his time. He's a great guy. Not one. There's not one single person that's stood up to him. So the public already hasn't formed an opinion about him. I mean, you've got to be living under. a rock not to know who Alex Murdoch is. So I don't know about this. We've got to be so careful not to take the jury pool and say anything. I get it. Don't mention what evidence you have. But talk about

why it took a year. The thing is, the entire system is on trial here. And the prosecution needs to start acting like it. This is not a Friday night bar room shooting murder. Okay. this case is bigger than the case itself. This case is about justice and South Carolina justice and our system and how it works. So it goes so far beyond just trying Alex for the murder of his wife and son. It goes to the heart of our justice system. I'm sorry, but he's a public figure. He's a guy that was a law and order guy, a part-time solicitor.

His family represents law and order. So to just confine this case to, well, it's a murder of a son and a mother, that's not what it's about. It's so much bigger than that. And Alan Wilson needs to address that. And so does Creighton Wooders. I mean, Creighton's got to put on his big boy pants. This is the big show now. He's in the big show.

Dick, Dick, Dick made it a circus. For a second, let's stop and think about the powerful people who will. allegedly enabled Elyke Murdoch. Duffy Stone is still the 14th Circuit solicitor. Carmen Mullen is still a judge in that district. Greg Alexander is still the police chief of Yemisee. That is scary, and I will tell you why that's scary. David Liz and I all live in the 14th Circuit. Yemisee is not far from us, and its borders happen to stretch over I-95, a highway we frequently have to take. On any given day, any one of us on this podcast could easily be pulled over by Greg Alexander, prosecuted by Duffy Stone, and then sentenced by Carmen Mullen. We're talking about

people who have a lot of power in our home, and that is terrifying to think about. It is not lost on us that the South Carolina Bar tried its best to twist the public narrative in the Murdoch case last week. The headline printed in one of Essie's largest newspaper, The State, said the Murdoch case isn't an indictment on the state's judicial system. The author, Beverly A. Carroll, who is the chair of the South Carolina Bar Judiciality Committee, basically wrote seven paragraphs of propaganda, attempting to tell the public that the system is fine and there's nothing to see here. Carol, speaking on behalf of quote-unquote bar members who are proud to be South Carolina lawyers, attempted to support this claim that nothing is wrong in the system

because Ehrlich Murdoch was immediately suspended, quote, upon revelation of his misdeeds. But the problem is that that revelation should have been so much sooner, and that's what Beverly Carroll fails to understand. She also fails to understand that the public has no way of actually no knowing whether ELEC Murdoch was reported to the Office of Disciplinary Council before his license was suspended last September. Because the disciplinary process for attorneys is so secretive and so political. It is entirely possible that this wasn't the first time ODC had heard about these issues. But again, how would we know?

The problem is that it took several bodies in ELEC's little roadside shooting debacle before the elite members of our justice system started paying attention to Ehrlich Murdoch, and only then did they notice that something might be up with this guy, because at that point they could no longer ignore it. The problem is that Ehrlich Murdoch and his alleged accomplices were allowed to steal millions of dollars for more than a dozen clients, for more than a decade before he was stopped. And we still have no indication whether or not the ODC is looking into ELEC's law firm, and where exactly the breakdown was in protecting his clients from this kind of theft. We have been told that the state grand jury began investigating Murdoch's finances before the murders.

The South Carolina Supreme Court should have been aware of these misdeeds then, which is also, quite frankly, too late. Eric Bland is among several South Carolina bar members who told us that they very much disagreed with what the bar leadership is saying here. I think the murder all financial crimes are an indictment on our justice system. I'm not sure about the murder. But I think the financial crimes bring so much into question because Alex's behavior spanned well over 12 or 13 years. It could not have been done alone.

It could not have been done without the assistance of those in his office. It could not have been done without the assistance. assistance of Corey Fleming and other attorneys that Alex may have worked with, it could not have been done without the assistance of judges. So, you know, I know everybody wants to, you know, take an applause and do a lap and say, look, our justice system is perfect. We don't need to change it. I fundamentally disagree. I think Alex's charges on the financial stuff are a full-blown indictment. on what may be wrong with our system. So I don't think our system is fine. I don't think it's flexing but not breaking.

I think we're at a real turning point in our system. I think part of the problem is the relationship between legislature and how we choose our judges. I mean, we're only one of two states that do it this way in the country where legislatures choose judges. That's a problem. The fact that only two states do it this way is telling that maybe we aren't doing it the right way.

I think that lawyers in the legislature have this immunity that they can't, you know, cases don't get called to trial and they kind of can set their own schedule. That's not justice at all. I think the whole way of the secretive way we do bar investigations is completely in opposite to what should be done. So, no, I totally disagree with these people who say our system is fine. and it's working great. And truthfully, if it wasn't for the roadside shooting incident, who knows how long Ehrlich Murdoch would have had his license for?

How can the bar take itself seriously while simultaneously pushing this gaslighting propaganda to the public? Beverly Carroll goes on to say that claims that there are gaping holes in public accountability are not supported by the facts. Well, Beverly, you came to the right place. for some facts. The first fact is that the official form to file a grievance against a lawyer or a judge is a word doc. To use the form, you have to download it to a desktop. Most people use phones these days, Beverly, open it, fill it out, save it, and then email it to the ODC. After that, it's good luck to you because you will not be updated on where your complaint is in the process, nor will you find out

the outcome of your complaint unless it results in discipline. Here are some facts on the outcomes. In the 2021 fiscal year, the ODC received 1,248 complaints against lawyers and judges in South Carolina and had another 798 complaints left over from the previous fiscal year that they didn't get to. Altogether, that's 2046 cases, Beverly. Of those, 818, or 40%, were kicked to the next fiscal year. It's not clear on how many of those cases were complaints from 2021. It's also not clear on how old the oldest pending cases.

Of the remaining 1,228 cases that were resolved in 2021, 84% of them were dismissed. 84% that leaves 195 cases for 2021. Here's how those cases ended up Beverly. Four of them were, quote, closed but not dismissed. We're not clear on what that means, but it does not sound transparent at all. Six complaints were closed due to the death of the lawyer. Think about that. Up to six lawyers, assuming the complaints weren't all about the same attorney, were about to get in trouble for their behavior in 2021, but then they died.

That makes us wonder how long the ODC is holding on to some of these cases, because that seems statistically crazy. Another six complaints ended with deferred, quote-unquote, discipline agreements. Does that mean they they got to put off their discipline, like a gap year for those buying time before their last big payout or retirement, kind of sounds like it. Here's a fun fact. 107 of those complaints resulted in something called a quote, letter of caution. Nine complaints ended with an admonishment for the attorney. 18 complaints ended with a public reprimand. 13 ended in suspensions and 22 ended in disbarment. The attorneys in 10 of the complaints were allowed to

resign permanently. So, you still with me, Beverly? Good. 1,175 of the 1,228, that's 96% of the complaints handled in 2021 resulted in no public accountability. Ninety-six percent of cases were handled in the dark, Beverly. I could go on with facts, but let's just leave it at this. Lawyers are terrified of the ODC, and that's great. They should be. But I don't think it's for the right reasons. I think they're largely worried that they'll get caught up in a highly political system that isn't generally seen as fair. I think they know once again that some lawyers and judges in South Carolina

can just get out of whatever they get into while others pay the price. Finally, it's very clear to me that Beverly A. Carroll is unaware of the level of public embarrassment. Our South Carolina justice system is fair. facing right now. She doesn't get the emails from people in Australia and Germany and Italy and France who are horrified by our justice system. She clearly doesn't get the emails from people in Myrtle Beach and Charleston and Columbia and Agin and beyond who have been wronged by this good old boy system running South Carolina. But we do. Something we have to realize about our system is that it is working for people like Beverly. And these people are going to do everything in their power to protect the

system that has benefited them while harming others. That's what we have to realize here when we talk about the defense and their strategy up against the prosecution. When we criticize the prosecution for choosing not to publicly disclose facts in the case, we want to be clear and say that we know that a lot needs to be saved for trial. That's not what we're talking about. And we'll be right back. But nobody's here is really asking for them to open their playbook and say, oh, okay, we found 10 blood spots on Alex's shirt. We found GSR on his right hand. And, you know, we had Alex at this spot. No, you're not asking for that. I'm not asking for that. You know, we're not asking for how you made your sausage. Just tell us what kind of sausage you're going to serve us. All they're doing,

by keeping journalists in the dark is forcing journalists to go hit their sources. Some are going to be spot on like you guys live in Mandy and you guys are, you know, 10 for 10. Nobody has ever could ever say, hey, you stuck it out on a limb and you were wrong. But there are other people out there that are just writing stories just to get themselves into the conversation. And false things are going to be written. You know, sometimes the silence of government creates a platform for people to actually say things that are not true, which could do more harm to, Alex's case. And the indictments offered so few details about the murders, giving the defense an immediate information void for them to fill, which we will talk about in a minute. We'll have David read indictment number one to give y'all a sense of what exactly we're talking about.

indictment at a court of general sessions convened on july 14th 2002 the grand jurors of colaton county presented upon their oath murder that on or about june 7th 2021 the defendant richard alexander murdock in colaton county did kill another person with malice aforethought to wit richard alexander murdock did fatally shoot the victim paul Terry Murdoch with a shotgun, and Paul Terry Murdoch did die as a proximate result thereof. All in violation of Section 16-3-10 of the South Carolina Code of Laws as amended, against the peace and dignity of the state, and contrary to the statute in such case made and provided. So the second indictment basically says the same thing, but instead that Ellick Murdoch fatally shot Maggie Murdoch with a rifle. The other two indictments on the weapons charges offered no further information. While the indictments did not offer the narrative that we were hoping to get about what happened on June 7th, they did confirm a few things that we have been

reporting all along. The indictments confirmed what we have been reporting about the weapons used, that Maggie was killed by a rifle and Paul was killed by a shotgun. The two guns used in this have thrown a lot of people off, as so many people assume two shooters just by that fact alone. However, the indictments indicate that Ehrlich acted alone in the brutal homicide of his wife and son. And so far, the state hasn't charged anyone else with criminal conspiracy in relation to this crime. Soon after indictments dropped on Thursday, the Murdoch Camp started crafting their post-murder charges spin campaign, or maybe they were just spinning their wheels. Like we've said before, we were both really worried that the fix was in from the beginning.

Immediately two stories emerged from the Murdoch camp. The first was that the groundskeeper might have done it. Supposedly, he and Paul had gotten into an argument about the seating of a dove field. And I guess the theory they were trying to put out there was that he then became murderous about it. But, you know, later, not then in the moment. He came back with two guns or a friend. We believed that story 0%. The second story was that the killings were connected to the boat crash.

Another story that we believed 0%. We get that this was a horrible and traumatic thing and that the Murdoch family, perhaps not Elyx so much, obviously, were looking for an explanation. But to blame good people so casually, so openly, so wide, widespread and without evidence is seriously unconscionable because again this is a very small community and also the Murdoch's kingdom. They are the law here. When they say something is true, then that's it. It just has to be true and everyone else has to see to that. The fear and pain and general anxiety they caused people by spreading that story in the aftermath of the murders still makes us angry, especially now that we know Ehrlich is suspected of killing Maggie and Paul. Anyway, the Murdoch camp's storytelling about the murders started to become a Choose Your Own Adventure tale in September, when Elyke tried to say someone tried to kill him in a drive-by.

Was he trying to make it look like he too was being targeted by the mysterious murderer or murderers? He couldn't be Maggie and Paul's murderer if there was a killer after him, too. We might never know the answer to this because after the entirety of social media said the phrase, run flat tires, Ehrlich was now confessing to an alleged plot to have himself murdered so that Buster could get his $10 million life insurance policy, which, by the way, we were thinking about this over the weekend. That story never made sense, not only for the obvious reasons, it strikes us as odd that Ehrlich, a possible narcissist who so clearly wanted to keep the boat crash victims away from his money and his very dark financial secrets, and to that end has since been

repeatedly accused of hiding assets, would devise a plan that would end his life and give his son, who is also a co-defendant in most of those cases, $10 million that would then likely go right into the hands of the victims. This family apparently has irrevocable trust funds from Randolph and Big Buster that were set up in such a way as to prevent them from being used to pay plaintiffs in civil cases. They literally thought of that contingency. So are we to believe that Elek thought Buster, who were told has inherited millions from this irrevocable trust, that A, would need that money, or B, would even get to keep that money, given the way the cases seem to be going. To us, this just seemed to be another instance of Ehrlich trying to recast the story in a way that makes him

look like a noble man who had a bad day. That said, this incident then led to the third story from the Murdoch camp, which was, it was a gang from Walterborough. Ehrlich admitted to an alleged drug dependency to perhaps explain the shooting, which now put the notion of nefarious activity on the record, which then allowed for the gang story. It's like a puzzle piece snapping into place. And for some reason, mainstream media continues to state Ehrlich's motive in that shooting as a fact. To us, it is an alleged shooting. It is an alleged plot. We don't know that Eleg didn't think he was choosing the less bitter pill to swallow when searching for a reasonable explanation for that incident. At the That time, he was only accustomed to getting out of trouble and skating away unharmed.

The future he saw for himself in that moment was likely one in which everyone felt sad for the drug-addicted widower, a future in which his friends at the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office, waited out the media and let the charges go quietly into the night. A few minutes after the SE Attorney General's office announced the news of the indictments, ELEC's defense team, Dick Rputleon, and Chiefs. Jim Griffin, through their PR agency, N.P. Strategy, released the following statement that David will read. Alec wants his family, friends, and everyone to know that he did not have anything to do with

the murders of Maggie and Paul. He loved them more than anything else in the world. It was very clear from day one that law enforcement and the Attorney General prematurely concluded that Alex was responsible for the murder of his wife and son. But we, we know that Alec did not have any motive whatsoever to murder them. We are immediately filing a motion for a speedy trial. We are requesting that the Attorney General turn over all evidence within 30 days as required by law, and we demand to have a trial within 60 days of receiving that evidence. Wow. This statement needs to be unpacked. Because in it, I think we can learn a lot about the defense's strategy going forward in this case. So let's do this sentence by sentence. This statement says

that Elic loved Maggie and Paul more than anything in the world and had nothing to do with their murders. However, his actions have shown the exact opposite. Think back to last summer. To recap, Ehrlich was spotted boating and Key West a few weeks after the double homicide, drinking and laughing at a fishing tournament in the low country last July, partying with his buddies on Hilton Head at the trial lawyers convention last August, and later in August, allegedly jetting off to the Bahamas. We know that everyone grieves differently, sure, but now that he was charged with murder of his wife and son, looking back on that public display of partying, Elic was doing in the months following the horrific double homicide. That is not a good look. An N.P. strategy,

getting paid, God knows how much money to manage the Murdoch's reputation, should have known that his behavior after the double homicide absolutely would be held against him in the eyes of the public. Something else that definitely did not help his case looking back? That odd $100,000 reward that Murdoch offered, after weeks of public scrutiny, to why they weren't demanding justice for Maggie and Paul. We will have David read you that statement because it's important looking back. I want to thank everyone for the incredible love and support that we have received over the last few weeks. Now is the time to bring justice for Maggie and Paul, Alec Murdoch said in a statement issued by the publicist. Buster and I, along with

Maggie's mother, father, and our entire family, ask that anyone with helpful and immediately call Sleds, Tip Line, or Crime Stoppers. That was, to our knowledge, the only time Elyke Murdoch has ever made a public statement asking for the public's help and finding Maggie and Paul Murdoch's killers. In fact, when he had his little shooting incident, on September 4th, he made another public statement, but he didn't demand justice for Maggie and Paul. Instead, in his statement, it was very clear he wanted sympathy. Here's David reading part of that statement. The murders of my wife and son have caused an incredibly difficult time in my life. I have made a lot of decisions that I truly regret.

Sympathy from the public is something that mattered to Ehrlich, and we will talk more about that later when we dive into the motive. But that 100,000 reward that the family offered late last June, there was one part of it that just didn't sit right with most of us. The deadline. Tips needed to be submitted by September 30th, 2021 for the reward. This always bothered me. I spoke with defense attorneys, prosecutors, law enforcement sources, and other journalists at the time.

And no one, no one had ever heard of a deadline for something like this. At the time, we thought the reward accompanied by the deadline was just an insincere move by the Murdoch camp. in response to the public asking them to start demanding justice. But looking back now, maybe it was more of a strategy from Dick and Jim. We've suspected all along that if Ehrlich ended up being charged in the murders, that Dick and Jim were going to build his defense around the idea that Sled couldn't solve the double homicide, and therefore they were getting desperate, and therefore they decided Ehrlich was as good as any suspect. So, why not charge him?

When that suspicion turned out to be true that Dick and Jim were painting Elyc to be a man who was targeted by law enforcement from day one, we took another look at the reward. And some of the bumbling statements Dick made around that time about the mystery suspect he and Jim were supposedly developing using a private investigator. We had a few thoughts about the reward beyond just that the Murdox are really bad at looking like they care. And that's why their delivery was so awkward. One was that maybe the deadline was meant to serve as an incentive. Maybe they wanted the deadline to serve as motivation for an informant to check off that old to-do list sooner rather than later and make that call to sled.

Another thought was that, you know, maybe Ehrlich knew who the murderer was and therefore didn't want to tie up that much money in such a fruitless endeavor. So real quick, here's the thing about tip lines in high-profile cases like this. They can attract a ton of calls from wackadoos, and when the hotline is deployed as early as this one was, they can serve as nothing more than a distraction to investigators. They're typically used for missing persons cases or cold cases or cases in which investigators know there were likely witnesses. From what we were told at the time, though, SLED wasn't short on evidence here. In the law enforcement community, the announcement that there was a tip line was taken one way that SLED had already hit. a dead end. So at the time, we were both questioning why SLED had done that. Why would they be okay

giving people that impression? Especially because the state already has a tip line called crime stoppers. It even comes built in with reward money and allows for anonymity. So I think we might know now, and I think we know what the reward might have been about too. Let's all just agree that the reward seemed largely symbolic no matter how we look at it. It didn't seem at all designed to catch a murderer. And maybe that was because it was simply a part of Dick and Jim's strategy. From Sled's perspective, the tip line was likely set up as a way to fight the inevitable argument that would later come from the Murdoch crew that investigators never looked for any other suspect. Now Sled can say, hey look, we were open to hearing it with someone else. Remember the tip line? We looked into

everything that came our way, but the evidence led us to Ehrlich. Conversely, here's how the tip line and reward might serve Dick and Jim's purposes. They now get to say to led. You guys were desperate from the beginning. You had nothing. You had to set up a tip line because you couldn't solve the case with the evidence. And not only that, you guys were so lackadaisical about finding the real killer. You were so wrongly focused on our client that we had to step in and offer a reward. We had to do your job for you. By the way, we're so curious to find out how many people called that tip line to say it was ELEC and whether this means they're going to get that reward money.

Now let's think about this. One thing we know about Ehrlich is that he has been his life snapping his fingers and getting law enforcement to do as he says. Elyke was probably wanting SLED to arrest someone else in the double homicide, perhaps his groundskeeper, or one of the victims in the boat crash. Looking back now, September 30th could have been Ehrlich's deadline for when he wanted SLED to arrest someone else in the double homicide, so that peasant. Esky National Spotlight would move away from him and he could go back to his simple life

of hunting, fishing, boating, and stealing from clients. But when solicitor Duffy Stone recused himself from the double homicide investigation, it was a clear sign to the Murdoch camp that the investigation was pointing toward Ellick and their boy Duffy could no longer help them. I am more convinced than ever that the shooting incident was all a ploy to get the narrative back under his control and to convince the public that someone was after his family. I am convinced that he thought the good old boys from the Hampton County Sheriff's Office were going to investigate the incident and tie that up in a nice little bow for him.

Maybe they'd even pin the double homicide on Eddie Smith since all those other theories weren't panning out. Everything goes back to the shooting on September 4th. In Elyck's statement following the shooting tells us everything we need to. to know about him. I don't believe he ever wanted justice for Maggie and Paul. I believe he wanted sympathy for Maggie and Paul's murders. That is what his actions showed us. And we can't forget the jail-ass phone calls. In the 13 hours of recordings, he never once said anything to buster, like I am so concerned for your safety, is slid any closer to solving the double homicide. So back

to the July 22 statement from the Murdoch camp, which claims that Ehrlich did not have any any motive whatsoever to kill his wife and son. I want to talk about this because it's a part of the good old boys narrative that I keep seeing on social media. I see so many comments from people trying to understand why Ehrlich Murdoch would kill his wife and son. In the conclusion we've drawn from all of this is that Elyke Murdoch has all the characteristics of a sociopath. None of his criminal activity will ever make total sense to most human beings who wrestle with basic emotions such as guilt, empathy, and compassion. I realized that it is a lot for anyone,

even evil people, to fathom killing their own child. But it does happen sometimes. Look at the Chris Watts case in Colorado. He killed his two children and wife, and he wasn't hiding a criminal enterprise like this. He was hiding an affair. Finally, we need to talk about the last part of the statement, where Dick and Jim implied that SLED wrongfully focused their investigation on ELEC when they should have been casting a wider net for the real killer. And now they claim they want a speedy trial. And we'll be right back. It's pretty ridiculous that Dick and Jim are using the phrase prematurely concluded,

given how long it took for the AG's office and SLED to present their case to the grand jury. Speaking of that, Sled and the AG's office have been heavily criticized for not seeking indictments earlier. It's not lost on us that had ELEC been any other person of interest, with less shiny attorneys, he would have been charged a long time ago. So why did it take so long? Some of the evidence took a while to get, such as cracking the passcode on Paul's phone and interpreting the GPS information. The state also had its findings independently verified at the federal level.

This case, from what we understand, is solid. It was made on a totality of the evidence, not just a single piece of evidence. When Dick and Jim immediately called for a speedy trial, it sort of snapped into place for us. It was a really good thing that Sled and the AG took so long to shore up the case. Not that we actually think we'll see any so-called speediness in this case, but it seems like SLED and the AG made sure they'd be ready for that request. Speaking of speediness, according to sources, Dick Harpoolian, Mr. Speedy Trial. himself, immediately left the country after the hearing and is expected to be gone for a few weeks. As of Tuesday, his gag order motion still hadn't been publicly filed. He did, however, file a

very pointed motion for the speedy trial, which actually made me laugh out loud because of how a grieved and huffy it was. Now, the thing to know about a Dick Harpoonian motion, they're the best. His Rule 5 motions, asking for all the evidence in a case, are so thorough and totally demanding and contain low-key threats. His motions read like a high school girl, making the case against a cheating boyfriend. You might think that's a derogatory comparison, but it isn't. Hell hath no fury like a teenage girl with facts, receipts, and righteous indignation. So here's what to know about Dick's speedy trial motion. First, he tells the judge that the state has already taken 13 months to file its charges so they should be good and ready to try the case now. Then, and I like

this part the best. He revisits the 13-month argument and turbocharges it with a healthy dose of, if you can't, then you shouldn't have. David will read parts of the motion. Importantly, this was not a case in which the state was rushed to bring charges against a defendant posing a flight risk. Defendant Murdoch has been in state custody since October 16, 2021 in connection with other charges. Unable to post the requisite $7 million bond set for these charges, defendant Murdoch, will remain in the custody of the state until resolution of these cases. Thus, the state was not faced with any time constraints in establishing its case against defendant and has been free to expend as much time as it deemed necessary to thoroughly investigate and vet its case prior

to presenting it to the grand jury in Colleton County. As such, it follows that the state, having elected to move forward with presenting information to the grand jury, is presently in possession of requisite evidence it believes establishes to defendant's guilt of the offenses charged in the indictments beyond a reasonable doubt. And it should have no difficulty providing the same to defendant's counsel in response to its Rule 5, South Carolina Rules for Criminal Procedure Discovery Request on or before August 15, 2022. Then Dick goes for the kill.

He tells the court that he's going to be ready in November, and he gives the court the names of two judges who could hear the case. Neither of those names is Judge Clifton Newman, the current judge presiding over the case. Now, you'll remember that Dick was super angry when Judge Newman denied Ehrlich Bond in October, and again, after the psych evaluation was done. He was so mad that he went to the Supreme Court and filed a habeas corpus, which was basically challenging the Supreme Court to undo the very first decisions by the judge they specifically assigned to this case for pretrial matters.

Then in December, the presiding judge of the state grand jury, Judge Allison Lee, was assigned the case, and the charges that Judge Newman had ruled on got converted to state grand jury charges, giving Ehrlich another chance to get out of jail. Obviously, that didn't happen, which later led to Dick commenting on how he's never seen black judges do this before. He literally said that during a break in court within earshot of Will Folks. So Dick is already telling Judge Newman, it's close. time for him. He doesn't have to go home, but he can't stay on the case. Dick not only points out that the Supreme Court only intended for Newman to rule on pre-trial matters, which there will be many more of, I'm sure, and because Newman signed some of the search warrants in this case, he should recuse himself from the case entirely. Now, there's a good argument, I'm sure,

for the judge who signed the search warrants not to preside over the trial for the same case, But Dick seems to forget that just a few weeks ago, another murder client of his was about to have his bond revoked for alleged perjury. The judge presiding over that hearing used to work for Dick, but she didn't recuse herself. I guess he didn't think that was a conflict of interest. Interesting how that works. The two judges Dick mentions in his speedy trial motion are Brooks Goldsmith and Allison Lee. Of this $7 million bond, Allison Lee's. You must be thinking, wait, what?

Dick is okay with having Allison Lee preside over the trial? Not at all. In fact, he saved a footnote for her, saying that if the state intends to use any evidence they got in a search warrant that was signed by Judge Lee, then she needs to go too. Then Dick ends his speedy trial motion in the most sanctimonious of ways. Here's David. Based on the foregoing, defendant respectfully requests the court grant his motion. The suitor this case is tried and the defendant acquitted. The suitor's sled can redirect its effort to an investigation of the true perpetrators of these heinous murders. Yeah, I think we can count on Dick and Jim, creating absolute chaos in this case.

So far, Dick's strategy has been to force the state to put up or shut up. He thinks he's calling their bluff. He's hoping the prosecution will say, nope, can't do it for a long time, so that he can put it on them and make their case look weak. Obviously, we're hoping he's wrong. One of the things we can expect to see from this defense team, and frankly any defense team in this type of case,

is an immediate effort to build two pathways, one that would take them to a mistrial and another to an appeal. Last week, Dick didn't waive the bond hearing in this case and instead used it as a forum to flex. He asserted his courtroom dominance over the prosecution by physically encroaching on crate and water space, which is a tactic Dick has openly said he uses,

and he pushed for a general gag order that would steal pre-trial motions, which effectively keeps what would likely be very damning information about Alec Murdoch, away from the public, and away from the families. Now, beyond wanting to keep the evidence private for as long as he can, Dick might also have suggested the gag order as another dare for the state, knowing that if Creighton opposed it, he could later point to that as proof that the state wanted to, quote, pollute the jury.

Like I said, right now, it's all about path building. Over the next few months, we expect to see a lot of effort going into shopping for a judge suppressing evidence and creating all sorts of adversities they can later try to cash in on. Another reason they might be pushing for a speedy trial is that Dick and Jim might think that if they can win this one, the financial cases will be an easy plea deal later. So we spoke to Eric Bland about Harputlian speedy trial motion. In a nutshell, Eric thinks Dick is full of it. He was puffing. I mean, come on. He's not ready to trial. He doesn't have, he doesn't have expert one. You know the kind of experts you have to hire and the kind of diligence that they have to do and the work that they have to do to test the evidence that's produced, whether it's blood evidence or GSR or, you know, get their own technological expert for the phone mapping? Come on, man. That's just Dick just puffing. It's ridiculous. They're in a lawyer in the world that could get ready for this murder trial by October. It's just not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not.

possible. He doesn't even have the... He's talking with the paper mache asshole. How do you walk in the court and say, my client's innocent? When you don't even have the evidence, Dick told a lot of people on the street, they're never going to bring charges. They would have brought them already. He was wrong. They brought charges. How do you say

your client's innocent when you don't even have any of the evidence yet? You don't know what they have. What's he? Trusting the word of Alex Murdole? We already know he's a known liar, a thief. It's ridiculous. All that was was show. That was showtime. That was Pat Riley and the Lakers Showtime that Dick was doing in there.

He walked out of there. He was smiling. You know, the cameras were loving it. He loves the cameras. He's winking to people. You know, he's invading Craton space. He commanded the courtroom. Good for him.

Great job. That's why you hire a lawyer like that. He manhandled those proceedings. You walk out of there and you say to yourself, hey, man, be careful what I ask for. now I got to deliver. He goes, if he's ready, if he says I'm going to go to trial in October, he better be ready. How are you ready when you don't have the evidence?

How do you know what experts to hire before you even have the evidence? Which brings us back to our final reason as to why we need to hear from Attorney General Alan Wilson. This is a very complicated and unprecedented case. There are no rule books about whether double homicide charges should take precedents over stealing millions of dollars from clients. Which case comes first? And how do they decide that? We have heard that the prosecution is considering trying the murder case first.

We asked Eric what he thought of this. And I think we're entitled to know what the state is going to do. It's not just bringing charges. They actually have to prosecute these charges. For me, it's not enough that we're supposed to just trust that they're going to do it the right way. Of course, I'm not to the Attorney General. I don't work for the Attorney General.

And I understand that the murder charges have more sex appeal and the prurient interest of the people. However, the state chose to charge Alex in an orderly fashion. You know, there's the Labor Day shooting that still has to be dealt with. That was a charge for insurance fraud. Then there's the financial crimes. And they charge those in a lot. a specific order, starting with Satterfield, then going to pick me, then the pliolers, badger.

I think that you charge and you prosecute the cases in order that you brought them because you did that for a reason. The Satterfield case is the easiest case to get a conviction on it, and it's going to load him up with a lot of time. For me, I would be very cautious in trying the murder case first. Of course, I don't know the evidence that they have, and I don't know how overwhelming it is. But since Dick Harputtland already admitted in open court last fall that his client's going to go to jail for a long time for these financial crimes, even, you know, Magical Dick knows that he can't wave his wand and get him out of these financial charges. However, the murder charge is a circumstantial evidence case. Yes, there's probably a significant amount of

evidence that points to Alex and nobody else. And they have a significant amount of evidence that points to contradictions of his defense or things that Jim Griffin may have said. But Dick only has to sway one juror. And to me, if you run the risk of losing that case and a loss is a hung jury, don't kid yourself, they don't want to have to retry and get a conviction the second time. A win is only a guilty verdict for them. It's not a win for a lesser charge. It's a win on murder.

On Wednesday morning, Russell Lafitte is expected to appear at the federal courthouse in Charleston for his arraignment on charges related to his role as conservator for clients of Elek Murdoch and a client of former PMPED partner Paul Dietrich. Lafitte is accused of using his position at his family's bank to further ELEC Murdoch's alleged scheme to defraud clients of their settlement money. Without Lafitte's alleged willingness to work fast and loose for ELEC, ELEC likely would not have been able to commit his alleged financial crimes. So federal indictments are dead serious.

If you've been indicted by the United States grand jury, it means they've got the goods on you. Lafitte's indictment gave a lot more detail about what Lafitte allegedly did to help Ehrlich, and it was pretty pathetic, frankly. If he's guilty of those charges, then he should spend the rest of his life in prison, in my opinion. Actually, let me be clear. He should spend the rest of his life in state prison. See, Lafitte is also facing 21 state charges, which I'm sure has terrified him. You've all seen his picture.

This guy is not built for the state penitentiary. And he knows this because he hired some big names to represent him. Former federal prosecutors Bart Daniel and Matt Austin. Why did he hire former federal prosecutors? Hmm. I'm sure you guys have heard the term club fed before, right? Think of it this way. State prisons are Chuck Echee cheese.

Federal prisons are rooom. Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Obviously, Russell isn't trying to live at Chuck E. Cheese or Ruth's Chris, but we know which one he would choose were he given that choice. So that said, while the federal indictment was absolutely appropriate given the nature of Russell's alleged crimes, we're not entirely certain that this wasn't the good old boy system at work, because here's what we wouldn't be surprised to see happen somewhere down the road. Russell pleads to the federal charges, gets sentenced to a federal prison, loads up his Kindle, grabs his temperaedic pillow, a sulky night mask, and checks in to serve his time. Meanwhile, the state dismisses his charges

because, well, he's already being punished. How about Russ Lafee? Well, you let Russ go to federal court because Mark Daniels's sharp enough guy to get him in the federal jail. He's going to go serve his time in the federal jail. Don't you want to ask, why didn't you bring those charges against Alice in the federal court, obviously, because they don't want him to plead guilty. You don't have to look over your shoulder every minute of every day. Everybody knows that if you violate it, they keep escalating you in the very serious confinement. Right now, you know, financial crimes go to the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsburg, North Carolina, or, you know, a federal prison in Edgefield or whatever.

And it's a red line. You can't cross a red line. You can get close to it, but don't cross that red line. Or we send you to a more maximum security prison. But Alex, he's called him as a big house. He's gone where the big boys are. Where the murderers, the rapists, the bank robbers, the violent drug guys, look, I respect the state.

That's where they want them to go. That's where the feds want them to go. Which, again, is why we need to hear from Alan Wilson in the team of prosecutors working on behalf of the people of South Carolina. We need to know the strategy here. We need to know that the good old boys will not get off easy. just because they hired good old boy attorneys. We need to know they have a plan,

and that plan ensures that the countless victims in this case will get justice, and all of the criminals involved are actually held to account. We need our state officials to demonstrate that they are doing everything in their power to ensure that this will never happen again. Everybody wants to know, are there two tiers of justice? Is there a system that's for the rank and file that murders their wife out of revenge or rage or, you know, somebody who's an employee in a company that steals and embezzles money? How quick do they get their come up?

How quick do they get their trial? You know, are judges going to give Dick Harputtland a break that they wouldn't give a public defender or a normal criminal defense attorney, you know, is a judge going to be that hardcore judge or is he going to turn on the judge Edo in the OJ trial? I mean, are we going to explore all of how Alex did this over a 13-year period? And we're going to go and go and go through every door, even if it leads us to judges. That's what I'm talking about. Or are we going to just kind of button this up real quickly like they did with this disbarming?

The Murdoch Murder's podcast is created by me, Mandy Matney, and my fiancé, David Moses. Our executive editor is Liz Farrell. Produced by Luna Shark Productions.