Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #152 [Part Two] - SLED’s Warrant Search of Weldon Boyd’s Home and Restaurant + Our Thoughts on Alex Murdaugh’s Murder Retrial Judge

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. This is part two of True Sunlight Podcast, episode 152. In part one, we told you all about the big bombshell dropped in the Beach v. Parker case. And the very strange argument, Team Parker, we're now calling Mebby, for Mark Moore and Debbie Barbier, is motioning to move their case to Spartanburg, which is weirdly where my next hearing will be held. June 22nd, we're pink. So if you're following our social media, y'all know it's been a busy week in the news in the cases that we're covering.

Starting point is 00:01:09 So we're going to start with some very quick updates today to catch up, or at least try to catch up because we actually have a lot more to tell you about the massive dump of filings Greg Parker's attorneys made in the Beach civil conspiracy case. After the Beach family filed a motion for sanctions accusing Greg Parker and his co-defendants of some pretty serious discovery misconduct. Also, we have a lot more to share about the Ory County Police Department and the investigation into the Spivey investigation.

Starting point is 00:01:41 Check out episode 151 for our first installment of that story. And oh boy, more is coming. And speaking of the Scott Spivey shooting, first thing we need to tell you is that Attorney General Alan Wilson, one of the many public officials who dropped the ball big time in the Scot. spivey case is heading to a runoff against Lieutenant Governor Pam Yvette and that's in two weeks.

Starting point is 00:02:06 We've heard rumors that charges in this case have been delayed for political reasons until after the primary. I hope that isn't true, but I encourage y'all to make a whole lot of noise about this case in the next two weeks. It feels like things are heating up big time in the spivey investigation. And it looks like that too. Some of you have likely already heard this, but Weldon Boyd, the North Myrtle Beach restaurant owner, who along with his best friend, Bradley Williams, killed 33-year-old Scott Spivey in September 2023 in a road rage incident, got paid a visit by Slet on June 8th. According to the Myrtle Beach Sun News, as well as sources on the ground, who reached out to us,

Starting point is 00:02:52 Sledt served search warrants on Weldon's condominium and his restaurant, booies on the the boulevard, which was known for giving free meals to law enforcement and other first responders, including hosting a barbecue that in the days after Scott's killing, Weldon joked he'd have to cancel that year because of the perceived, and as it turns out, very real help he was getting from police officers. By the way, we're also hearing that Sled searched his Pinterest-worthy blueberry farm in Loris, where he and Bradley were headed the day they got into some sort of altercation with Scott on Highway 9 when old Weldon was trailering couches, which is so not a thing, at least not in the way that warranted him saying it so much to the police that night. As you all know, Scott's sister

Starting point is 00:03:38 Jennifer Spivey Foley is suing Weldon and Bradley for wrongful death on behalf of her brother's estate. And in her pursuit of justice, she dove in on the case file, finding so many irregularities and downright unethical acts in there that ultimately confirmed her suspicions that Weldon Boyd was given the gentleman's treatment by Ory County Police Department to help Weldon and his friend avoid charges. The deputy chief of police at the time, Brandon Strickland, is on recorded phone calls telling Weldon that he, quote, sent the right people to the scene for him and that he was, quote, in the shadows of the investigation. But his attorney, Bert von Herman, the attorney who called Mandy a hippo non-journalist and a piece of shit in a Facebook post last month, insists

Starting point is 00:04:26 Brandon is just an exaggerator who was trying to be important that night, as if he weren't the deputy chief of police with real and actual power. In addition to the Brandon Strickland calls, there's an officer twice telling Weldon to shut his mouth on the scene, just in case what Weldon was saying didn't match up with his story later. And there's an officer, as you all know, who got caught on his own body camera, writing act like a victim cameras on a piece of paper and showing it to Weldon on camera. Oh, and the multiple, multiple red flags that happened during the investigation itself, including Ori County deciding countered to protocol, all good sense, and humanity to tow Scott's truck with his body inside to their impound lot 40 minutes away, where they took Scott's body out of the

Starting point is 00:05:18 truck, put it on the ground of the outdoor impound lot, and undressed him, bit by bit while photographing each stage of disrobement. Neither Weldon nor Bradley were charged in the case, obviously, but now because of Jennifer's work and the tons of sunlight we've dedicated to the case and the attention generated for the case by y'all, investigators aren't taking a second look. So far, we know that the state grand jury has opened an investigation and an outside solicitor, Barry Barnett, has been assigned to determine whether state prosecutors overlooked something the first time around, which they absolutely did. After a four-day hearing this past February to determine whether the civil case against Weldon and Bradley could go forward. Judge Bubba Griffith ruled that neither Weldon's nor Bradley's actions. The evening they killed

Starting point is 00:06:07 Scott qualifies as standing their ground under state law, thereby opening up the possibility for criminal charges. Weldon and Bradley have both denied doing anything wrong that night and both say Scott shot first, despite evidence presented to the contrary. That said, what could SLED be looking for? at Weldon's condo, business, and possibly farm. We obviously don't know yet, but we do know that at the very least, there's the question of whether Weldon recorded the interaction with Scott on Highway 9 and Camp Swamp Road on a tablet he had mounted to his dashboard.

Starting point is 00:06:43 We've done a lot of reporting on this in previous episodes. There's enough evidence in Weldon's personal calls, the ones he recorded and that made their way into the case file, and Weldon's text messages, and from sources, that a video exists, or at least existed. Obviously, that video was not taken by police the night of the shooting. They didn't even try to get a search warrant or search it. They literally gave it back to Weldon.

Starting point is 00:07:07 After the Spy V family complained, Orly County Police finally seized Weldon's and Bradley's phones, which also weren't taken that night, as well as the tablet from Weldon's attorney, Ken Moss, in December 2023, aka months later. So it turns out there was nothing, on that tablet according to what was in the case file. Weldon denies taking video of the incident, but if he did, there's an inference to be made as to why it was never given to the authorities,

Starting point is 00:07:35 right? As in, if it existed, would it support Weldon's and Bradley's stories about what happened that night? So, was Sled looking for evidence of this video? Or is there something else going on in this case? Or something else going on with Weldon? According to Ken's lawyer, who was quoted in the newspaper, Weldon cooperated with the search. Now, some people have asked us about that quote and what it might mean. David, will you read that for everyone? Boyd's attorney, Kenneth Moss, confirmed by email that Boyd's business and home were searched. Moss said that SLED officials asked to conduct the search and, quote, Mr. Boyd fully and readily cooperated by providing keys and access codes to SLED in order that they could do their work."

Starting point is 00:08:24 And quote, Moss said, "'Does that mean that Sledd warned Weldon "'that they were going to search his places "'before showing up on the scene? "'Maybe. "'But it's hard to say either way based on that, "'because tell us more about a lawyer "'who tries to play it cool for his clients

Starting point is 00:08:42 "'like he knew the whole time "'and, no big deal, we're cooperating. "'Weldon's attorney also told the paper that as far as he knows, its status quo when it comes to potential criminal charges in that case. Again, so it's chill, so breezy and cool as a cucumber. Does anyone who actually listen to Weldon's phone calls really believe that's the vibe here?

Starting point is 00:09:07 No, we don't. Also worth noting, Bert the fat-shaming attorney von Herman, who represents Brandon Strickland, apparently leaked a polygraph report to the criminal-friendly felon, who pretends to be a journalist on the internet this week. That criminal-friendly felon was dumb enough to take this report as evidence and wrote a headline saying

Starting point is 00:09:30 Polygraph Report clears former Ory County Deputy Chief. It's funny because polygraph reports really separate true crime amateurs from actual reporters. Actual reporters, or, oh heck, any sleuth who has seen a couple episodes of Dateline knows to put very little weight in Polygraph. reports because they are backed by junk science. Whenever you see someone trying to be a journalist say the words polygraph report clears, stop them right there because a polygraph detects stress, not lies. And passing one is evidence of literally nothing. You know what is evidence?

Starting point is 00:10:09 Brandon Strickland admitting in a recording that he was working in the shadows on Weldon's behalf and that he would send the right people to the scene. While the polygraph report is nothing of note, as they never are, it is notable that Bert the attorney, who should be investigated by the ODC any day now, apparently felt the need to leak that report to the felon on the internet. Perhaps he is sensing the pressure of something coming that maybe he wants to get ahead of the narrative. And man, he's doing a real bad job of that.

Starting point is 00:10:43 Okay, next update. and this one is about as chaotic as you would expect, given that it is also about Weldon Boyd. On Tuesday, Weldon's attorney, Ken Moss, filed a motion to ask Judge Eugene Bubba Griffith to recuse himself from all further matters in the spivey wrongful death case. In the filing, Weldon accuses Judge Griffith

Starting point is 00:11:05 of not being impartial. And as part of his argument, he cites the South Carolina Supreme Court's June 4th order that amends canon three of the Code of Judicial Conduct. In his filing, Weldon refers to this as Rule 3, but that is not actually correct. According to the filing, the Supreme Court's order, quote, reminded judges that all litigants are entitled to an impartial tribunal. Dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, and can we just pause here for a second?

Starting point is 00:11:37 As a writer, I have to say, it's always funny seeing how lawyers place up their citations to suit their needs, but splicing it up so that there's just one word floating there in the middle is sort of tragic. Anyway, back to the citation. Quote, judges, dot, dot, have an obligation to self-discualify in cases where their impartiality might reasonably be questioned in accordance with Section E1 of the Karen. The inclusion of this recent order is sort of misleading, by the way, because This is a new. Judges have always had to self-dqualify in these circumstances. This recent order is about judicial's familial and professional relationships with lawyers, law enforcement, prosecutors, or other people who might work for agencies or firms related to

Starting point is 00:12:25 the cases that come in front of them. And it's really just a clarification. But sure, try to liven up your filing by making it seem like Judge Griffith is part of some imminent problem that the Supreme Court had to address. So, Weldon is a key. accusing Judge Griffith of, quote, personal participation in settlement negotiations involving the other parties in the spivey wrongful death case. And just to remind you who the parties of this case are, Weldon is represented by Ken Moss, Bradley Williams is represented by Morgan Martin, O'Brien Martin, Robert Ely, and former South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Kay Hearn, who is a recent addition. It's not clear who is paying for Bradley's large legal team and whether it's Weldon who's funding it, but their defense doesn't seem to be so separate.

Starting point is 00:13:17 And that's important because of what we're talking about here. Because Weldon says these negotiations occurred without his attorney present during the stand-your-ground hearing in February when, quote, Judge Griffith may have considered granting immunity to defendant Williams if defendant Williams testified falsely in this proceeding. I don't know Judge Griffith, but I'm offended for him. Weldon and really Ken Moss is saying that the judge wanted Bradley to lie? To fabricate testimony, as Ken puts it? Yeah, I highly doubt that. And honestly, I hope Judge Griffith stopped reading this motion after paragraph two and called it a day because this is nuts and not worth the spike in blood pressure. Ken Moss maintains in this filing that on June 3rd, he became aware of these quote-unquote events.

Starting point is 00:14:05 as he calls them, and that he has an affidavit from someone who has knowledge of an alleged conversation between plaintiff's attorney Mark Tinsley, one or more of Bradley's attorneys, and Judge Griffith, and that it jocked his memory of, quote, specific events that occurred during the hearing, that, quote, persuade him such conversations took place without him there. Moss says this shows that Judge Griffith is biased against Boyd, and therefore he must step down as judge moving forward. There's a footnote two that says the South Carolina Supreme Court observed that attempts to suborn perjury are equally offensive as the actual subornation of perjury. And again, it's offensive. I say that mainly because all of us who were watching that hearing

Starting point is 00:14:51 kept wondering if Bradley was ever going to turn on Weldon as a matter of finally coming clean and telling the truth. In fact, we've talked about this before on our show. Bradley, in our opinion, at the time anyway, was the only one who could have reasonably claimed stand-your-ground immunity because he wasn't driving and he didn't have a say about being in that situation. Now, of course, during the Stand-Your-Ground hearing, we learned that Bradley had an obligation legally to tell Weldon to stop chasing Scott. So that changes our opinion on that. And not for nothing. We literally heard Weldon instructing Bradley on a recorded phone call telling him to lie and telling him how to lie, which would mean there's a truth to cover up, right?

Starting point is 00:15:36 You don't lie unless there's a truth you don't want people to know. So to say that the judge wanted Bradley to fabricate testimony doesn't make sense to us. One thing to note with this filing, they reference an affidavit but don't include it as an exhibit, meaning it's unclear who this person whose testimony suggests that Judge Griffith discussed making Bradley fabricate testimony, and there's probably a reason it wasn't included, right? my guess would be that Ken Moss knows this person's credibility can be readily impeached by the public. But again, that's just a guess, just an opinion. Already, Judge Griffith has found that neither Weldon nor Bradley are credible when it comes to asserting the facts of this case,

Starting point is 00:16:16 which aligns with everything we know about the case so far, meaning that's a reasonable conclusion about both men in this context. There's one more thing here that we have to talk about. Y'all, this filing goes off the rails. if it was even on the rails in the first place, and I think this speaks to the utter desperation that's happening over in Boydville. To support their argument that Judge Griffith isn't impartial, they've included six chunky paragraphs outlining all the technicalities and the rules for allowing media to record proceedings and bring their work equipment into a courtroom.

Starting point is 00:16:50 We call that a Rule 605 form, that they say Judge Griffith allowed to be broken. I'm not going to go through what they said in the first. filing on this because that would be as cruel as making y'all listen to a full 10 minutes of your worst cousin reading from the Scrabble rulebook to demonstrate why your word can't count. And this is Family Night and we're just trying to have fun here. But Weldon Boyd has subpoenaed Luna Shark for its footage from the four-day hearing, which is a new one. It's unclear what they think will be on that footage other than the hearing that they were at. What's particularly strange about this is that Weldon's and Bradley's attorneys were miced up

Starting point is 00:17:28 for their closing arguments, which they insisted on giving, even though the judge said it wasn't necessary. Was that for the documentary crew that was there filming the hearing? Were they subpoenaed? How about the other reporters you asked to record proceedings? I would love to know the answer to those questions, but more importantly, this filing is bananas. Once again, the good old boys can never deal when accountability comes their way. We'll keep you posted on what happens with this motion because there's no way this does not get dramatic. More on that after a quick break, and we'll be right back.

Starting point is 00:18:05 You know me, I dig until I find the truth, and it turns out that same instinct that drives my investigative journalism, it makes for a different but pretty amazing new kind of travel show. Wherever it leads is Luna Shark's brand new podcast, and it's nothing like the travel content that you've heard before. We go deeper, we talk to locals, reporters, and people who actually live where you want to visit. not just the ones who want your tourist dollars. We cover the food and landmarks, sure, but we also ask the harder questions. What is the real history here? The often sad and traumatic history.

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Starting point is 00:19:18 A judge has been assigned to Eleg Murdoch's second murder trial and, oh, guys, I don't know. We're going to give her a chance. But that said, we can't ignore the red flags. The judge's name is Debbie McCaslin, and she was first selected to the bench by the legislature. later in 2020. She has a decent reputation. She has a ton of experience overseeing criminal cases and comes to the bench as a former criminal defense attorney. Attorney Pete Strom, who people

Starting point is 00:19:46 say is the rainmaker when it comes to who gets to be a judge in South Carolina, was quoted in the state newspaper as calling Judge McCausland the best female defense attorney in the state back in the day, which, okay, who's the best male attorney? I mean, how dumb? A lovely compliment, of course, but also, why can't she just be the best defense attorney Pete? Anyway, we'll get more into it as we cover Alex's second murder trial go around. But from what we can tell, Judge McCausland is tough on crime, as in she once gave a guy found guilty of letting his wife on fire 70 years in prison, which brava, Judge. But it doesn't take away the elephants in the room, which are these. Elephant One. According to the Post and Courier newspaper, during Judge McCausen's interview to become a judge,

Starting point is 00:20:34 She listed three mentors, and one of them is, I can't even say it. David, will you read the passage from the Post and Couriers report on this? Quote, I was fortunate as a young lawyer because I got to work with three different lawyers that I think really made an impression in my life, end quote. McCaslin told lawmakers sitting on the Judicial Merit Selection Committee, quote, my third lawyer that made an impression, and I have to kind of, of smile would be Dick Harputlian. I was with him and helped do the video poker case. I can tell you he is a great trial lawyer, end quote. So yeah, great news, right? The judge that

Starting point is 00:21:20 the state Supreme Court assigned to oversee all decision in Elex Murdoch trial is a Dick Harputian fan, which doesn't mean she can't be impartial. It doesn't mean that she won't do her job fairly. It does not mean she'll let her opinion affect her rulings. But how can it not, right? You know how much we complain about how so much of the media is so charmed by Dick. He makes a lame misogynistic joke or a racist comment and they never seem to hold it against him. He fell asleep multiple times in Elyke's first murder trial and we were the jerks for pointing it out. We call out his lies and his tricks to get headlines, and his little fans tell us that we don't understand the importance or function of a defense attorney. Now, we know South Carolina is small.

Starting point is 00:22:10 Everyone knows everyone. If a judge said this about Eric Bland or Justin Bamberg or Meredith Bannon or Mark Tinsley, Becky Lindhall, or Randy Hood, or Mandy Powers Norell, to name a few from the short list of attorneys in South Carolina who we actually trust, would we have the same issue if that judge, oversaw one of their cases. Likely not, but you know who would, opposing counsel. What if the judge had said that about prosecutor Cretton Waters six years ago, that he was a mentor to her? I think Dick Harputlian would be the first to be like, Your Honor, with all due respect, this is preposterous.

Starting point is 00:22:49 Okay, second elephant. Judge McCaslin is a former work tenant of Dick Arputlian's, meaning back in the day she used to pay him rent. Is that a conflict of interest? Not anymore. But is it an appearance of a conflict? Because that's the standard for judges. Third elephant, Judge McCaslin also worked on a case that Dick Harputlian worked on back in the day. David, will you read Dick's quote about that to the Post and Courier? Quote, she had some clients? I had some clients. Everybody had different video poker clients. We all worked together because we had a common interest.

Starting point is 00:23:27 Harputlian said in a June 8 interview, quote, I never paid her a dime. She paid me every month and on time. Fourth Elephants. Oh, my God. Is all of this a trick? See, this is good old boy territory, and they seem to assign the problems to white women and men and women of color, so they can take the heat for whatever mess the good old boys have created. So is this very strange development that Judge McCausland not only has.

Starting point is 00:23:58 ties to Dick Hartpoolian but considers him a mentor? A setup? I know, y'all, we don't want to be thinking this way, but we have to. Was Judge McCaslin assigned in the hopes that the public, or really the prosecution, can't get past the idea that there might be a conflict there? All so the good old boys can bring in the good old boy judge they really want. So, as you can see, we're a little unsure of where to be on this. For one, we're thrilled that a woman has been assigned to the case. As long as she can compartmentalize Hartfordlanders, Pooley in which, has anyone ever successfully done that? But also, we're told if anyone can, it's Judge McCaslin. Two, when Dick was on the state Senate, during the time Judge McCaslin

Starting point is 00:24:40 was elected and confirmed, he didn't sit on the Judicial Merit Selection Commission. And according to the Senate Journal, he didn't vote on her election either. He didn't vote against her. He's just not listed as having voted at all, which, why not? Did he sit that one out because of their relationship, or did he simply not make it in time for the vote? That's an answer we need to get at some point. Three, Judge McCausen has a really interesting and unusual, for South Carolina anyway, backstory. She put herself through law school at an older age and graduated from law school in her early 30s, according to the post and career story. She worked for the then-Senator Strom Thurmond, and judges got to know her through him, according to the paper. And they encouraged her to become a lawyer

Starting point is 00:25:26 and even help support her in financial ways, which brings me to point four. She was at the University of South Carolina School of Law when Ehrlich Murdoch was a student, but she was not in the infamous class of 1994 with Ehrlich, Corey Fleming, Debbie Barbier, and Judge Carmen Mullen. She graduated in 1993, and given her backstory, we can't imagine that if she even knew Ehrlich at the time, she would be the kind of person who would appreciate the way he got through law school and life and everything else. So again, where does that leave us? We're going to give her a chance, but very, very cautiously.

Starting point is 00:26:01 It hasn't even been a month since the Supreme Court overturned Eleg's murder convictions, and already, there's drama, so at least we can say this all tracks. I know the ELEC apologists out there like to point out that Judge McHausen will be in charge of deciding how much of ELEC's financial crimes to let in this time, just because they love to act like Ehrlich was solely convicted because he is a big, big, fat thief. We are not of that school of thought. We think the motive is solid, but we also believe they're strong

Starting point is 00:26:30 and compelling evidence beyond that that will show the jury who did what that night. All right, one last update for y'all today, and this one is on the Egg Lady, aka Myra Crosby, from the Murdoch trial. You know, who strangely starred in Netflix's new Instadoc on Elyke Murdoch that was released on May 30th, right after we published our explosive two-part episode debunking the absurd troll theory,

Starting point is 00:27:01 pushed by the New Yorker on how the Egg Lady was removed. I've gotten a lot of questions about our thoughts on this documentary, and I don't want to spend a ton of time on it, but it's bad, y'all. I think it was the worst Murdoch documentary or program I've ever seen. I think even the Fox News documentary was more accurate and journalistic. This Instadoc, Netflix's new speedy documentary series, was called Unconvicted, and it centered on the strange lawsuit filed by Ehrlich Murdoch's legal team against Becky Hill. And it honestly made me wonder if they filed the whole lawsuit just to have this documentary made. Every true crime documentary needs a sympathetic character, and this one tried really hard to paint Myra Crosby as the sympathetic character.

Starting point is 00:27:51 She claimed that she had spoken to no one about the trial, and then they failed to tell the audience that three separate people said on the record that she had been speaking about the trial. She also claimed that she was targeted by Becky, who allegedly told her that she was going to be famous for this trial, which she seemed weirdly excited about. She claimed in this documentary that getting kicked off the jury was a devastating and life-changing experience for her. But the weirdest part of the documentary was when the mayor of Walterboro was talking about how many victims Elyke Murdoch left behind. And out of every person that Ehrlich Murdoch ever victimized, Netflix then cut to Myra Crosby? It was insulting, the whole thing. And real quick, I need to hear Liz's thoughts on it before we move on to what happened last week.

Starting point is 00:28:45 I mean, I am constantly shocked at how much space the media continues to give Myer Crosby to put on her weepy show about being booted off the Murdoch jury because of her own actions. Because this woman is beyond inconsistent, and there is hard evidence to back up that assessment, including pieces of the transcript from when she met with Judge Newman. But Netflix, like so many others, doesn't point out these inconsistencies. This documentary felt like one of those paid ads. that comes onto YouTube? At least the parts that featured the Egg Lady

Starting point is 00:29:19 who seemed to be laying groundwork for a lawsuit of some kind, as if getting kicked off a jury for violating a court order, means she's been wronged. She talked about how traumatized she's been by the social media backlash to her, which I'm sure. But also, she put herself in this. The story we were given when she hired Dick Harputtland's friend,

Starting point is 00:29:39 Joe McCullough, immediately after her dismissal from the jury, was that she did so because she needed a needed a lawyer to keep the press away from her. And yet, we've never stopped hearing from her with her manufactured troll theory about there being some kind of plot to remove her from the jury. Oh, and with her defamatory book. What's crazy about this is that Netflix allowed her to say that she doesn't know how she would have voted on Eleg's guilt to this day. Meanwhile, making the argument that it was obvious to those in the courtroom as to how she was going to vote. And if you listen to True Sunlight episode 150, y'all know that she sure did triple down on her sincere belief

Starting point is 00:30:17 that Ehrlich was not guilty and that if she had stayed on that jury, she wouldn't have budged on that. Anyways, the Egg Lady chatter has been annoyingly up in the last few weeks. But on my birthday, the South Carolina Attorney General's office made a move that finally shushed the trolls. They filed a motion to unseal the records related to her removal. You know, those records that Myra, Team Murdoch, and the trolls all claimed to be full of bombshells about how she was improperly removed. Basically, Creighton and Company said, look, cut the crap, release the records because we have nothing to hide.

Starting point is 00:30:55 Just release them. Which is exactly what we have been advocating for. This motion is in response to an uptick of all the Egg Lady theories that have been spurred in the past few weeks by the New Yorker, Netflix, and other local media. So nine months after Judge Toll denied Elyke Murdoch's motion for a new trial, Myra Crosby, who was represented by Dick Routland's best friend, Joe McCullough, filed a motion to unseal records related to her dismissal in September 2024. Interestingly, in that motion, the Attorney General's office pointed out that Judge Newman issued a protective order that allowed both Myra Crosby and Joe McCullough

Starting point is 00:31:36 to have access to all of the sealed files related to her removal. And that order was continued by Judge Tolte, who said only counsel could see the files. Wait, that means Aiklady and her attorney, Joe McCullough, had access to these records for months? And they've been hinting that the government was hiding something big in them all along. For what?

Starting point is 00:32:01 Trickery? Smoking mirrors? Because they think the AG's office won't ever release them and maybe they like the idea of them being hidden because it helps them. Whatever it is, the Attorney General's office wants to end this nonsense. In the motion, they stated this is not about litigation, but about records maintained by the court. And then they quoted a court case that said, because openness enhances both fairness and the appearance of fairness. This presumption allowing public access may overcome only by an overriding interest based on findings that closure is one,

Starting point is 00:32:36 to preserve higher values, and two, is narrowly tailored to serve that interest. The Attorney General's office continued, quote, here, a new trial has been granted to appellant. There should be no prejudice to any party at this time. Consequently, the scales should now tip to unsealing and removing restrictions. Let's hope that the scales of justice are tipping exactly where they should be in the Murdoch case. And if they aren't, we will be here to call it out every. step of the way. Until next time, stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight.

Starting point is 00:33:32 True Sunlight is a Luna Shark production created by me, Mandy Matney, co-hosted and reported by journalist Liz Farrell, research support provided by Beth Braden, audio production support provided by Jamie Hoffman and Grace Hills, case file management by Kate Thomas. Learn more about our mission and membership at lunasharkmedia.com. Interruptions provided by Luna and Joe Peskey. Thank you so much for supporting our mission to give voice to victims by watching Hulu's Murdoch death in the family. We have been hard at work for weeks curating Soak Up the Sun premium content to go with each of the eight episodes. We are so excited to share the behind-the-scenes photos from the show, maps, more audio, timelines, case files, and the original source material that inspired the writers and directors for Hulu's original series.

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Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #152 [Part Two] - SLED’s Warrant Search of Weldon Boyd’s Home and Restaurant + Our Thoughts on Alex Murdaugh’s Murder Retrial Judge

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