Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #20 Why the Good Ole Boys Don’t Ever Give Up: A Bowen Turner Update + Alex Murdaugh’s Hysterical Reply to the Federal Government

Episode Date: October 12, 2023

Despite the past four years of basically becoming Murdaugh scholars, True Sunlight co-hosts Mandy Matney and Liz Farrell still find themselves shocked when they see "good ole boyism" at work in South Carolina. On today’s episode, there’s a very frustrating update in the Bowen Turner case, plus they discuss yet another prisoner that lawyer-legislator Todd Rutherford was able to secure a secret early-release deal for. Also on the episode, there appears to be a coordinated effort to remove Lowcountry judge Bentley Price from the bench. What’s going on there? Finally, they take a good look at one of the funniest filings Dick and Jim have ever made in their efforts to get Alex Murdaugh a better deal. The Judicial Merit Selection Committee is accepting complaints about David Miller until Oct. 23 - you can voice your opinion here: https://bit.ly/3RW9JJt Stay tuned for details on dates and times to catch Mandy in person and virtually in Charleston (Oct 26), Columbia (early November), Bluffton (Mid-November) and Hilton Head (December & January) in the coming weeks. We'll offer seats to venue partners and Premium members first, then to the general public.  We are also proud to share that Sandy Smith created the Stephen Nicholas Smith Memorial Scholarship fund in partnership with the Community Foundation of The Lowcountry. Learn more from Sandy Here: https://youtu.be/X6DH1tApmp0 or donate here: StephenSmithScholarship.com This week, Luna Shark Premium Soak Up The Sun Members are invited to participate in a Pre-Recorded Happy Hour and LIVE Chat with Mandy Matney and Sandy Smith tonight, 10/12 at 7pm ET. Join today at Lunashark.Supercast.com and check your feed for the link. Premium Members also get access to 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. And for those just wanting ad-free listening without all the other great content, we now offer ad-free listening on Apple Podcast through a subscription to Luna Shark Plus on the Apple Podcasts App. Finally, we hope you'll pre-order Blood On Their Hands hard copy, digital or audiobooks, which will be available in book stores near you on November 14th! Learn more or Pre-order your copy at lunasharkmedia.com/book. Premium Members will also get access to a ton of new content matched with each chapter when the book releases in November.  Remember, we all want to drink from the same Cup Of Justice — and it starts with learning about our legal system. By popular demand, Cup of Justice launched as its own weekly show - and debuted #1 on Apple Podcasts the first day! Go to cupofjusticepod.com to learn more or click the link in the episode description to get a hot cup of justice wherever you get your podcasts! Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cup-of-justice/id1668668400 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Itp67SQTZEHQGgrX0TYTl?si=39ff6a0cc34140f3 SUNscribe to our free email list to get alerts on bonus episodes, calls to action, new shows and updates. CLICK HERE to learn more: https://bit.ly/3KBMJcP And a special thank you to our sponsors: Microdose.com, PELOTON, and others. Use promo code "MANDY" for a special offer! For current & accurate updates: TrueSunlight.com facebook.com/TrueSunlightPodcast/ Instagram.com/TrueSunlightPod Twitter.com/mandymatney Twitter.com/elizfarrell youtube.com/@LunaSharkMedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Okay, the financing settled. Let's talk about hiring staff. Expanding overseas. Yep, going digital was the right thing to do. Next step, Brazil. Yeah. Horsesum were in between. At Desjardins Business, we help over 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs by speaking the same language, business. I don't know if the good old boys of South Carolina will ever stop abusing the system, but after another punch to the gut for victims in the bow and turner case, combined with

more outrageous news from lawmakers Todd Rutherford and Dick Harpoutland, it's never been so clear how important all of you listening are as we shine sunlight on what needs to change our justice system. My name is Manny Matney. This is True Sunlight, a podcast exposing crime and corruption previously known as the Murdoch Murders podcast. True Sunlight is a Luna Shark production written with journalist Liz Farrell. Well, I woke up angry today, so I hope you all are ready for it in today's show. On Wednesday, I got some awful news from Dallas Dollars family.

Thrice accused rapist Bowen Turner is set to be released from prison November 15th, 2023. Turns out they couldn't have picked a worse week for Bowen's release. He will be released the day after the anniversary of Dallas Stoller's death in the day before victim Chloe Bess's birthday. November 15th is also Dallas's father's birthday. I'm sure the date wasn't on purpose, but it just rub salt in the wounds of these victims who have been shown time and time again that the system does not care about them. The stallers received an automatic call to notify them of turners of coming release. Could you imagine being Dallas's family and receiving that automated phone call that your daughter's alleged rapist will be released from prison on the day before the anniversary of your daughter's death?

This is how our system treats victims. This is how our system treats our girls. They do not care, and at this point we have to make them care. The state officials involved in this deal that initially gave Turner probation for the sexual assaults and after he violated his bond condition 60 times. They do not care. I'm talking about prosecutor David Miller, who was currently in the running to be a judge, by the way, which we will get to in a minute.

I'm talking about solicitor Bill Weeks. I'm talking about Senator Brad Haddo. I mean it. When I say if anything happens to another person after Bowen Turner's release, there will be blood on their hands. For a reminder, Bowen Turner allegedly raped three different teenage girls in three different South Carolina counties between 2018 and 2019. Six months before Dallas' assault in April 2018, Turner allegedly raped another teenage victim

who has chosen to remain anonymous. Bowen was represented in court by South Carolina Senator Brad Hutto, a man who calls himself a champion for women's rights. During the bond hearing for Chloe's case, Brad Heddo, the champion, slet-shamed Chloe Bess, and said, guess what?

You had sex on the ground with a boy you didn't know and you got up and felt ashamed. After that incident, as Bowen's case dragged on with no hope and as Dallas continued to be bullied and victimized by people in her own community who took Bowen's side, Dallas passed away to self-inflicted injuries in November 2021. After Dallas' dollar's death in April 2022, Bowen Turner, with the help of his state senator attorney Brad Heddo, was given a sweetheart deal of just five years' probation after pleading guilty to assaulting Chloe

Bess. Even after he violated his court-ordered ankle monitor over 60 times, the solicitor's office specifically David Miller dropped the charges in Dallas's case in a closed door hearing with a judge who didn't usually appear in Orangeburg County claiming that they didn't have enough evidence to go forward with the case because the witness was dead. Essentially, blaming Dallas for their failure. Remember when we said David Miller is actually trying to get a promotion right now? I know these facts might seem repetitive, but it is so important, as this man currently has the audacity to run for judge.

As you might remember, and as we all predicted, Bowen Turner almost immediately violated his probation in 2022 and was charged with public disorderly conduct. He was sentenced to 10 to 14 months in prison, which leads us to here and now in Dallas-Stolars' case. Last year, following a lot of public outcry and scrutiny, Solicitor Bill Weeks told the Stoller family to stay quiet and stay out of the media.

If they did, Weeks said his office would reopen Dallas's case. The Staller's listened to that and stayed quiet for a year. The problem was that Weeks didn't bother to keep up his end of the deal. This spring, Weeks office told the Staller family a list of excuses as to why they wouldn't prosecute Turner, which is apparently what they were doing all of that time instead of trying to build a case. It had been years since a sexual assault at that point, which was their fault and their fault only that that much time had passed.

And witness testimony gets trickier and trickier as years pass. The solicitor's office also claimed that they found in their taxpayer funded investigation that Dallas was intoxicated during the night of the assault, which everyone already knew and should not ever be an excuse for dropping a rape case. Bill Weeks failed the Staller family time and time again with his decisions. He chose to hide and he chose to ask the family to hide.

He chose not to prosecute. He chose to keep David Miller on his team after he botched this case beyond belief. In Bill Weeks, chose to not apologize to the stallors for putting them through years of agony. The family told me that even after our call to action was issued months ago, Bill Weeks has not bothered to reach out to the Stoller family. But Bill Weeks cowardice isn't even the biggest punch to the gut for the Stoller family and the other victims. As Bowen Turner's anticipated release date

weighs heavy on the minds of the victims, they have yet another gut punch to deal with. Prosecutor David Miller's run for judge. South Carolina is one of two states where a special committee of lawmakers chooses its judges, not the people. On that committee, that makes the final say is Todd Rutherford.

So yeah, we cannot trust them to do the right thing here. Miller was recently cleared in one of many hurdles So yeah, we can not trust them to do the right thing here. Miller was recently cleared in one of many hurdles he has to become judge. This month, he was deemed as qualified by the South Carolina bar, which is, unfortunately, not shocking at all, given what we know from the Murdock case. However, there are several rounds of the process that the public can participate in before he officially becomes a judge. The committee is now accepting complaints about Miller through October 23rd, and that link

can be found in the description. In November, public hearings will be scheduled, and we will be sure to alert y'all when we find out about David Miller's hearing. We need the public, and it doesn't matter if you're a South Carolina citizen or not, to voice your concerns about David Miller. Before this man who is shown he cares more about himself and his career, then he does about public safety before he gets more power to do more harm. We're going to talk more about the process of electing judges later in this episode. We should be astounded by the news that David Miller is not only still working in his job

as a solicitor for the people of South Carolina, but he has the audacity to run for judge right now. Even after, he was dragged into the sunlight in front of the whole world. But we are not shocked. The way the system is designed, by and for good old boys. These men are allowed to continue to fail up. No matter how many lives are destroyed in the process. On Twitter, after I announced that David Miller is in the process for running for judge, someone pointed out something brilliant. They said, no wonder Murdoch keeps trying. This really hit me because of course,

the system doesn't stop them. Those in power choose time and time again, not to stop them. Those in power choose time and time again, not to stop them. But you know what? Well, they can keep trying. We can keep trying too. We have to keep trying to change our system to work for all, not just a few good old boys at the top.

We can keep calling out those who choose to hurt victims and those who choose their career and their access to power over public safety. Their days in the darkness are limited and we can ensure this with sunlight. Before we get into it, let's start with some updates. Last week we told you about how Elic Murdoch's best friend and co-conspirator Corey Fleming seemed to be missing. He had left Charleston County Detention Center on September 22, but as of October 2, still was not in federal custody, according to the Bureau of Presence.

It wasn't until after we began asking questions, and after reporter Drew Trip with WCIV TV out of Charleston began asking questions at the same time. And after our episode aired on October 3rd, the Corey's location was finally known. It was yet another weird thing in this always weird case, something that our sources said, well, that's not something I've seen before. We wondered whether Corey's appearance in No Man's Land was an indication that he was

finally speaking to law enforcement and playing his final card in trying to get a lower state sentence. We still don't have the answer to that question. Regardless, Cory is now in Atlanta, which is funny because from what sources have told us, Atlanta was one of the areas where Ellic, Cory, and Chris Wilson would hang out when they were in law school together and young attorneys. The three best friends that anyone could have apparently had a whole lot of fun there back in the day. I wonder if Corey is feeling that nostalgia right now? According to the Bureau of Prisons

database, Corey is at the city's low security federal prison. A look through the prison history shows that USP Atlanta was home to Al Capone at one point, along with Carlo Ponzi, the father of the so-called Ponzi scheme, which is interesting because one thought during the past few years has been that Elik got himself into some sort of Ponzi scheme with himself and the people around him. Some in law enforcement have told us that Elik got dug in deep with dead, with bad investments, and just couldn't get himself out of it. But we've sort of rejected that idea as being the mode of for his actions. Well, we agree that Ella had gotten himself

into major debt. We think something more sinister to it exists than simply not being able to pay back what he owed. Anyway, another notable former resident at Cory's present includes Frank Abignaali, the Czech forger who was played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie Catch Me If You Can. If you saw that movie, you'll remember that old Frank had escaped from USP Atlanta in 1971 and was on the land for several weeks. If that movie was on Cory's pretty prison watch list, I hope it didn't give him false hope. Another notable former prison in Atlanta

was Vincent Papa, the mafia guy involved in the French connection heist in the 1970s. Unfortunately for Corey, Vincent was murdered at USP Atlanta, so that's no fun. Corey's name has not yet been added to the Wikipedia list of famous prisoners yet, but give it time. It's also not clear that this will be his final prison home. Corey had requested FCI, Jessup in Georgia and Judge Gurgle had agreed to recommend it. Russell Afeet had also wanted Jessup. It's interesting though that neither man seems to have gotten what he wished for, and we're not really sure why that is. Reported Beth Brady called over to Jessup this week to find out whether they are experiencing some sort of issue of overcrowding, but a spokesperson from Jessup did not get back to her. It might not seem like a big deal, but Jessup is just over two hours from Pufert and Atlanta is

about four and a half hours if you're lucky. So that's going to be a haul for Corey's visitors. Hopefully 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffy's Joan has a generous vacation policy for at least one of his staff members who was faithfully at every hearing of Corey's even when sources told us she was supposed to be working on grand jury matters. One thing we haven't noted for you guys yet is that low security isn't actually the lowest form of federal imprisonment there is. There's also minimum security, which is like a prison camp. Jessup has a prison camp, but quarries and russles current prisons do not. Maybe it's something they have to ease into. At public mobile, we do things differently. From our subscription phone plans to throwing a big sale right now when no one else is.

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Catch all episodes past, present, and upcoming of favorites like the Real Housewives, Vanderpump Rules, Southern Charm, and more. To start watching, head to hayu.com. Okay, the next update we want to talk about is about state representative and judge selector in busy attorney Todd Rutherford. You know, the guy who made headlines earlier this year by secretly negotiating an early release for murderer Gerard Price. With the solicitor, he helped get elected and a retiring judge he helped put on the bench.

And then he made headlines again when Russell ofFitte suddenly hired him to sit in on his scheduling hearings. And then he made headlines again when he made it a point to shake Eleg Mordok's shackled hands in the courtroom last month. Rutherford is back in the headlines again because guess what, there's yet another case of him securing early release for prisoner in a closed door hearing with a judge who let it happen. That brings us up to three prisoners so far whom Rutherford helped free using the substantial assistance law, which fine,

help free prisoners if they deserve to be freed. We're all for rebalancing the scales of justice when it's warranted, obviously. And the intent of the substantial assistance law is to encourage prisoners to cooperate with law enforcement. But why do it in a closed door hearing? And why is it that in two of the three cases, there isn't even robust evidence showing this meaningful assistance? By the way, we haven't talked about the Supreme Court opinion about the drawed price debacle that was finally published last month, which is a full five months after justice is voted on voiding judge Casey Manning's secret order to free price. We're going to do that today. But let's talk about Alberto Romero Lopez, a 39-year-old man who had been sentenced to 30 years in prison

for shooting a man over and over again, and kidnapping two women in an aching county home invasion 17 years ago. Also, Lopez assaulted aching county sheriff's office deputies. Lopez was a prisoner in McCormick, you know, Alex prison home, up until 2022, when Judge Courtney Clyburn Pope signed off on his release. Now, what else happened in 2022? Just one month before Judge Clyburn Pope signed off on Lopez's early release. All right, she was reelected to the bench and guess whose name was on the roster of eye votes? Rutherford's. Not on the list of eye votes was her father, representative William Clyburn. He had the good sense to recuse himself from that vote.

Now here's David with a passage from an October 6 post in Courier Story by reporter Glenn Smith about Lopez's release. The ruling by Circuit Judge Courtney Clyburn Pope in March 2022 that reduced Lopez's sentence makes no mention of what he specifically did to Warren such mercy. But court papers from the prison officer's arrest indicate she was accused of providing an inmate with nude photos, candy, and sunflower seeds. The officer faced charges of misconduct and furnishing contraband. Those charges were later dismissed court record show. Newed photos candy, son flower seeds. And then the charges were later dropped.

Thank you for your service, Mr. Lopez. Judge Clyburn Pope agreed to seal the details of the hearing to discuss Lopez's early release, so that's it. That's all the public gets to know about the discussions surrounding his so-called meaningful assistance. Brotherford told the Post-Incarrier that Lopez came forward with this information that, quote, would have made him a marked man in a prison system that could not guarantee his safety. He said something similar in the D'Arod price case that this had to be done in secret because of how much danger D'Arod was in for snitching. So much danger that he not only survived his time on the outside, he's still doing fine today. Remember, sources have told

us that D'Arod ran the prisons. Rutherford's worries about his safety is nothing more than false justification for operating in the dark. Oh, and this is a good one. Rutherford told the Post-In-Cirrier that Lopez's early release saved the state more than $300,000, which he called real dollars. I believe this was about real dollars, just not the ones that go back into the government's pockets. Though Rutherford told the Post-In-Cirrier that this case was by the book, the Aiken County

Sheriff's Office, technically a victim in this, said it had not been notified about low peices hearing. Okay, so let's talk about that Supreme Court opinion on the drawd price case. Todd Rutherford came out of that unscathed. Judge Casey Manning and fifth-circuit solicitor Byron Gibson, however, were both found to have failed in their roles. Judge Manning was found to have acted outside his authority as a judge

and to have made errors law. Gibson failed to follow the law and failed to follow the victim's bill of rights, but that seems to be it. It wasn't even a tongue-lashing. So here are some interesting things we want to note about the opinion and the dissenting opinion. One, the Supreme Court made it ultra-clear that, at least

theoretically, and on paper, it understands the value of public information and why it's so wrong that the entire drawd price order was sealed, and the alleged hearing was held behind closed doors. Here's David with a particularly poignant passage from Justice George James's dissenting opinion. We think it really underscores the entirety of the problem here. Here, Justice James was quoting former Justice EC Burnett in writing for the court in a case called You Drive It.

Public access discourages perjury and encourages bringing the truth to light because participants are less likely to testify falsely in a Sunlit courtroom before their neighbors than in a private room before court officials. Public access promotes free discussion of governmental affairs by imparting a more complete understanding to the public of the judicial system, and issues resolved by that system. Public access serves as a check on inappropriate or corrupt practices by exposing judicial

process to public scrutiny. Lawyers, witnesses, and judges may perform their duties in a more conscientious manner. Knowing their conduct will be subject to public scrutiny, either at the time of the proceeding or later through disclosure of court records. Beautiful, right? This is why we do the job we do. This is why we talk about sunlight so much. If there had been sunlight, then Gerard Price would not likely have been released from prison so early. So there are two more important things to note about this opinion. One is that the dissenting opinion left open a crack in the door in case another murderer

wants to try using this provision of the law to secure an early release. In writing for the majority, Justice John Cannon Fue, declined to weigh in on whether the substantial assistance law applies to sentences in murder cases, which are dictated by another law that doesn't allow for early release programs or good behavior credits to shorten a prisoner's time behind bars. But in that it's sent, Justice James decided to take on what he calls interpretive tension, which is a really lovely phrase for what we believe was the motivating factor all along. We have said this before a few times, but we believe that the dry price case is suspicious. Rutherford began working on prices early release in February 2022.

During a time when it was becoming increasingly clear to L.I.K. Murdoch's defense team that the murder charges were coming. In December 2022, Rutherford was able to get a judge to sign off on Price's early release. But Price wasn't released then. Nope. It wasn't until right after Elic was found guilty that the order was unsealed and somehow delivered to the Department of Corrections. I say somehow because Justice Cannon View made it a point to mention this.

It is not known how the Department of Corrections obtained that order. At oral argument, Rutherford stated he believed another circuit judge sent the order to the Department of Corrections. He said that they could not verify this, as the event is not recorded in the public index. You heard that, right? This order magically appeared out of nowhere, apparently, and your rod price, a murderer, was let go. This is our Justice System, ladies and gentlemen. The point here is this, the timing and circumstances of price's release, plus

Rutherford's brazen handshake of Elic Murdoch, raised suspicion as to whether this derod price plan existed secretly because it was only going to happen if Elic Murdoch were found guilty. Was that the trigger to unceiling the order? It's a question worth asking because of this interpretive tension. Because it was this interpretive tension that had not been tested yet, could a murderer get a shortened sentence by providing substantial assistance to law enforcement? The majority, the ones who voted to vacate Manning's Order altogether, didn't want to weigh in

on whether or not the law allowed for this. But the minority, the two Supreme Court justices who voted not to vacate Judge Manning's Order, they got it on the record. And for the record, they believe that the law allows early release for murderers. The reasoning they use is that substantial assistance law is neither a program nor a credit. It is something else altogether, and if the General Assembly had intended for this to

apply to murder cases, then the General Assembly would have noted this. So, like we said, the door has been cracked open. This is now on the record for the future. The last thing I want to say about the drawed price case for now, Justice James noted how jenky the affidavits attach to Judge Manning's order were. Remember how flimsy the reasoning was that was used to support the argument that Gerard Price should be released early? There were three pieces of so-called evidence attached to that order.

First, there was an unsigned addendum asserting that Price had told prison officials at some point that prisoner Jimmy Cossie had escaped. Second, there was an affidavit from an inmate who apparently witnessed Gerard Price rescue a correctional officer, but not an affidavit from the correctional officer who was rescued. Third, there was an affidavit from the correctional officer. Gerard Price's alleged ex-girlfriend,

who swore that another officer had told her about Price's rescuing of another officer. Justice James calls this rank hearsay, and again, there is no affidavit from the officer who was allegedly attacked. There's a great link in the dissent from Justice James, by the way. It says, While the truce of prices alleged heroics is not before us, their suspect veracity is perhaps one reason for the state's regret over choosing to ask for a reduction. So, an unsigned addendum, an affidavit from someone who can't be trusted, and an affidavit

from someone who didn't experience the thing. Does that sound familiar to y'all? Because it should. It has the same flavor of the so-called evidence that Dick Harpullian and Jim Griffin attached to their motion about the alleged jury tampering from Clerk of Court Becky Hill. First, there was an affidavit from the dismissed egg juror that focused on a Facebook post that had nothing to do with her dismissal as a juror. Then, there are two affidavits from Dick's assistant who talk to jurors.

But no, affidavits from those actual jurors themselves. Then, there was an affidavit from Phil Barber about how he downloaded the computer of a man to find a Facebook post that has nothing to do with the actual reason a juror was dismissed. Then, there is an affidavit from a juror who was rumored to be a friend of the juror who got dismissed. Finally, an affidavit from a man who has nothing to do with the case or the reason why the juror was dismissed. It's a stack of nothing that barely contains actual evidence of the assertions being made,

the thing they want the court to believe. Interesting, right? And we will be right back. As a big-time CEO, I demand to be the smartest person in the room, which is why I never let wit and and Lublin employment lawyers in my office, because they make employees smarter by putting them in control of their options for workplace harassment, discrimination, and wrongful dismissal. And as someone who condones all those things, being constantly outsmarted would leave

no rooms for me to be in. Witton and Lublin employment lawyers. Bad bosses ate us. Employees love us. Gabby here is a meditation instructor who just created her business website. Just need to choose a domain. Hmm, meditativeminds.ca or dot com. Bap, bap, bap, bap.

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We'll work on that friend. Go local, choose success. Choose .ca. We're not conspiracy theorists, but we are basically Murdoch scholars at this point. And in our scholarly opinion, nothing is a coincidence in the D'Aroad price case. Speaking of coincidences, one more quick update.

What is going on with Judge Bentley Price? Judge Price is the judge assigned to the Satterfield case and the civil conspiracy case against Parker's kitchen owner, Greg Parker, who stands accused of orchestrating a campaign against the beach and Murdock families in an effort to lessen his business liability in the boat crash case. This alleged orchestration resulted in confidential court documents getting released to a third party, and photos of Mallory Beach's dead body showing up in a sizzle reel for a tabloid documentary. It seems like someone

wants judge price off the bench. Two days ago, the post and career published a story about how judge price has been deemed unqualified by the legal community. This is a very unusual occurrence, a sitting judge in South Carolina being labeled unfit by the Bar Association? Now, we don't know a whole lot about Judge Price. We do know that there are legitimate concerns about his sentencing practices. According to another story in the Post-Incarrier about Spanish-speaking interpreters, Judge Price allowed an accused child rapist to go free

because the court couldn't find anyone to interpret for the man's hearings. That's not a solution, but we haven't yet heard anything from anyone that would put judge-price in a category beyond tell me more about how South Carolina judges make stupid decisions about sentencing, especially when their friends are the defense attorneys. Literally, that's like telling us that judges in South Carolina wear robes. Yeah, duh. I mean, it's not like we have a recording of Judge Price trying to coerce a sheriff's deputy into making up a reason to a rest of man to get him out of his neighborhood because that would be something to raise hell about.

Um, Judge Carmen Mullin, who is still on the bench, where was the South Carolina Bar Association on that one? It's awfully quiet in quiet town, that's where they were, and that's where they still are. So, why is this different? Why are they going after Judge Price? Sources have told us that, even though there are people who say they have legitimate concerns about judge-prices behavior on and off the bench, especially when it comes to how judge-priced treats victims of crime, there appears to have been some sort of coordinated effort in the way of a letter writing campaign to have judge-priced removed. Now, reporter Beth Brayden has reached out to the South Carolina Bar Association to get more information, including copies of the letters that were sent, but they have not responded.

Okay, so what does this mean? It means that once again, it appears that attorneys in this state are doing what they think they're entitled to do, which is choose the judges who hear their cases. If they don't like a judge's rulings, they have gone to the ends of the earth to change that outcome. That said, we don't know for certain that there was a coordinated effort to take down judge price. The reason we don't know that is because, guess what, this was a secret process. Apparently, it only takes a quarter of an unknown number of bar members who are asked about whether a judge should be removed to result in a public disqualification like this one, according to the Post-Incourier. It's not clear how the bar determines how many people to ask,

or who to ask, it's all in the dark, and it's anonymous. Imagine a system in which judges are constantly worried about not pissing off the wrong people. That is the system we have in South Carolina. Judges live with a constant awareness that they are either protected because the wrong people. That is the system we have in South Carolina. Judges live with a constant awareness that they are either protected because the right people are on their side or they're in peril because they've ruled against someone with an unlimited legal budget. So we are greatly concerned about what's happening here.

Is judge price not qualified to be on the bench as these unknown bar members say he is? If so, let's hear those reasons. And those reasons better be worse or as bad as, quote, instructed a deputy to arrest a man for no reason, because anything less than that is a joke. Or is judge price the victim of unscrupulous actors using their easily purchased power to manifest their desired outcome? If you know the answer to either of those things, then speak up now. You know how to contact us. Say something because look at what is happening here.

You have one set of powerful attorneys blowing apart the sacred process of jury deliberations, and you have someone because someone has to be coordinating this in some way, trying to blow up a judge's career anonymously and without much evidence that it needs to be done. That said, let's talk about Eleg Murdoch's federal case because we are now fully in Moabidic territory, like for real. And neither of us is a Herman Melville fan. We'll explain that in a second.

So last week, when we were finishing up that episode, came the inevitable and very predictable Wednesday evening Murdoch breaking news. The government had filed its response to Dick and Jim's motion to order US marshals to seize Ellic Murdoch's assets immediately. Let me just point this out from the start. Dick and Jim seem particularly rushed about this, right? Like they're trying to make their hopes and dreams come true on the federal level as fast as they can, right? That's because they're on a deadline. They've got to extract the state of South Carolina from Alex Case before the state can dig any deeper with a financial trial and they have to get the federal government more fully entrenched in Alex Case so that the feds end up with far more interest in seeing the matter through in the way they want.

Again, we believe much of this is about Alex getting out of state prison and into federal prison, but there might be more to it. It's clearly a race, and they're getting more and more agitated as the days go on. Think of it visually. Dick and Jim have Alex stuffed in a big red wagon and they're trying to take him from the Attorney General's Office in Columbia, South Carolina all the way to the US Attorney's Office in Charleston. Phil Barber is pulling the heavy wagon in a slow jog and Jim and Maggie Fox are helping to push it from behind. Meanwhile, Dick Harpullian is walking behind them,

carrying on a profanity-laden conversation with various members of the media while Ellic offers them ideas on his case strategy while he guzzles cups of noodles from the commissary and asking Jim to borrow his cell phone. If this were a political cartoon, that is what it would look like. So the situation goes like this. Dick and Jim make an emergency motion to get the federal government to seize Alex assets from the receivership. Then the government is like, calm down girl, we're good, we're not trying to do that right now.

Then, Dick and Jim are like, oh my god, what? You've got to! Picture them being pulled over on Interstate 26, Hatton Sweaty with Alex munching away on beef sticks in his red wagon. They are hands-on-head and kicking his red wagon. They are hands on head and kicking at the air. They are indignant. And it's funny, because when you read the amount of indignants they've injected into their response, which comes in the form of 19th century ruffle colored pros like deer ss, I am but beside myself. Tis a mockery. It almost makes you forget that they filed an emergency motion

to make this thing happen. Meaning, they for sale this scenario. If it's a bygone conclusion that the federal government only has one option as they claim, and that option is to immediately seize Alex assets, then there would be no need for Dick and Jim to intervene. Right? But they did.

They not only are trying to make sure this seizure happens, they are trying to hasten it. Now, I only got to briefly talk to you about the government's response last week, so let's start there because it was good. Or rather, the exhibits attached to the response were good. So one thing to note about the government's response, which was basically, we're not going to seize the assets because they're under the jurisdiction of State Court, is the phrase at this time. They're not saying they're never going to seize Alex's assets.

They're saying we're not doing it on your timetable, Dick and Jim. We talked about this in our last episode and on Cup of Justice, but the response made a point of saying that a number of the victims in Alex federal crimes and it listed Palmetto State Bank and PMPD among those victims had already been made whole. The implication being that this money, the dick and gym say they want for the victims that supposedly when seized for the victims wouldn't even necessarily go to the victims. Additionally, Elyk has victims beyond the crimes he's been charged with federally.

And this federal seizure would only apply to the victims of those cases. So is it possible that Dick and Jim, one preemptively, seized the assets before the public can learn more about Elyk Murdoch's victims. Is this what it's about? Anyone who thinks their owed money by Elyk has until this month to petition the court to get in line for it, is team Murdoch trying to prevent that from happening? Because dick and gyms reply to the government response borders on his sterical,

like they wrote the filing through tears of self-pity and defeat. Now, the most interesting thing to us about the government's response was how many times it's pointed out the team Murdoch lied to the court. For one, Alex motion wasn't truthful about how the process would work for the victims if the government took over the reimbursement of assets.

Surprise, surprise. Dick and Jim want the court to believe that the process would be better for the victims if the government took the money and the government is basically like not really though. The government also noted the team Murdoch wrongly claimed that private attorneys will unnecessarily spend the assets. That's Dick and Jim's second big noble argument by the way, that the lawyers are the problem here. We'll get to that.

In its response, the government pointed out to the court that the co-receivers have already been paid and quote, these fees were approved by the state's Circuit Court Judge, absent objection from Murdoch or any potential claimants or creditors. Meaning, they clearly didn't have an issue with this before. And I have to point this out, Eleg, waived his right to object to the receivership when he signed off on Buster's settlement with the Beach family. But here we are again. These guys have routinely made a seemingly written and stone decision only to get their way on something in the moment, only to say psych afterward. Like they did with a satirfield confession of judgment and the decision to allow the receivership to have more than $400,000 from Elix 401k in exchange for Elix getting to keep $600,000 to pay for expert witnesses at his murder

trial. So as a part of the government's response, we have affidavits. One is from Walter Tolison III, the lawyer who has been assigned to manage the distribution of Alex assets to his victims and creditors. In their emergency motion, Dick and Jim told the court that this man planned to charge hundreds of thousands of dollars to do this. Here, Tollison tells the court that is not true. I am aware of the assertion that my involvement as special referee would result in my fees totaling several hundred thousand dollars

based upon the facts known to me at this time and my experience with state and federal receivership matters. I am currently unaware of any facts or circumstances that would require or warrant by fees coming remotely close to this assertion. So another lie from Team Murdoch. Now for the most telling part of the government's response, the affidavit of the co-receivers John T. Leigh and Peter M. McCoy. It's a doozy. On the very first page, Leigh and McCoy pointed out one of Dick Harpoteleon's famous lies when he told

the court on September 16, 2021 that Elick was, quote, essentially, broke. The word Dick would later use for that during During their bond hearing, redo with a second judge because the first judge didn't give them what they wanted was impacunious. Meaning the entire reason for the receivership's existence was because, A, there was evidence showing that Ellic was wasting and hiding assets. And B, because Ellic and his team insisted he had no money,

which wasn't true, because here dick and J team insisted he had no money, which wasn't true because here Dick and Jim are arguing about who gets to control the more than two million dollars that belongs to Ellic. Let's take a look at some of the curious things mentioned in the Safa David. 1. The receivers use the word purported when talking about Buster's appointment in September 2021 as Ellic's power of attorney. It's not clear why they use that word,

meaning whether they're indicating that Buster was named POA in name only, and Alex was still acting on his own behalf, or whether they're hinting at this act being part of an overall fraudulent scheme. Two, they don't just say that they were appointed as co-receivers as a result of Eric hiding and wasting assets, they came with receipts.

For instance, they note that on September 23, 2021, the same day that Hampton County recorded Eric's power of attorney filing, Old Buster forgave an almost million-dollar loan that Eric allegedly had given to alleged drug trafficker Barrett Boller's wife. That loan was somehow attached to Mozel, property that Eric had gotten from Boller's wife. That loan was somehow attached to Mozel, property that Ellic had gotten from Boller. Property that Ellic didn't own because he'd transferred it into Maggie's name. Then, on October 1st, Ellic sold his stock in Green Swamp Club and sold his Grady White 306 boat for $115,000. Then, he transferred his quote, beneficial interest in other real property to a friend and former law partner,

Visa V, a deed in lieu of foreclosure. What were they doing with that money? Apparently they were paying down debt owed by Randolph-Mordoxa State and allegedly conspiring with Palmetto State Bank to do so. Why? Because the less money Randolph's estate owed, the more elegant God in his untouchable multi-million dollar trust that Randolph had left to him. Isn't it amazing how team Murdock acts

like we can't see them? Unlike their past, just simply doesn't exist. They are constantly rewriting history, but it's like spraying a cow pasture with a can of blade Hawaiian breeze. We can still smell it, guys. 3. I like apparently owed back taxes on the Etistopeach home so much so that the home was said to be auctioned off if the taxes weren't paid by December 10th, 2021. Did I like use the money he'd gotten from the sale of his boat or the stock and green swamp to pay off those taxes?

No. Was he going to let the house go up on the auction block so a pal could buy it back and keep it for safekeeping in the Murdoch economy? Who knows. Because four, the receivers stopped the undervalued sale of a number of Ellic's properties, meaning Ellic and his family were allegedly trying to offload his properties at below market prices and weren't not for the receivers stepping in, that money would have been lost. And again, it's so sickening what these guys keep doing. I'm going to remind you again

that Palmetta State Bank and PMPAD partners played roles in all of this. And yet, the federal government sees them as victims. Victims! After everything came to light, Eleg chose to pay off an unsecured bank loan that he and his father owed to PSB. A loan that was written off fast, afterward on the street, was that Eleg was in some trouble. He chose to do that instead of paying down the loans that were attached to his properties. What bank considers itself to be a victim when the person in question who owed them money

seems to have worked with them to give them priority standing in repayment? And what bank testifies it was about to give Ellic a loan for a beach house that was in danger of going to public auction? In the affidavit, John T. and Peter wrote, quote, The goals of our involvement are to ensure transparency. Do our part to restore confidence in the justice system. Ensure assets are protected, and while not picking winners and losers, make sure creditors and victims stand shoulder to shoulder, so that no one unfairly gets ahead of anyone else

in collection of monies. Oh, hey, remember when a federal judge ordered Cory Fleming to pay restitution to PMPED in a case that he hadn't even been charged with? That's the same judge Dick and Jim want to grant them an immediate seizure of Alex assets. Judge Richard Gurgle, a man who says he has great respect for Alex attorneys and who Phil Barber dicks associate and the apparent author of Dick and Jim's reply used to clerk for. That's right, Phil Barber was a law clerk for Judge Gurgle, which explains why he did a few verbal pirouettes and a big ballet bow in his latest filing. Gotta impress that form of boss. Now, Dick and Jim

have degraded the receivership to Judge Gurgle and have done their best to paint the receivers as greedy attorneys just after a big payday. The payday is big, by the way. It's more than $600,000. Here's what the receivers have to say about that. Quote, the complexity of Murdoch's vast network of financial property and business interests, as well as extensive legal maneuvers employed by Murdoch's vast network of financial property and business interests, as well as extensive legal maneuvers employed by Murdoch to undermine their receivers, and by others seeking to maximize their claims, have required that the co-receivers and their council expend more than 3,000 hours of work in furtherance of the receivership, meaning this cost more because

of the games, Elic and Dick and Jim played throughout the past two years trying to get at that money. To counter Dick and Jim's depiction of them, the receivers listed 25 of the things they've done in those two years to increase the value of Elic's state. Some of those things included keeping an eye on PMPED and their civil claim against ELEC to quote, ensure that any judgment entered in favor of PMPED would be supported by competent evidence and reflective of Murdoch's share of civil liability for the misconduct Murdoch committed against PMPED's clients.

They successfully thwarted ELEC's attempt in March 2022 to disclaim interest in Maggie's state. This was another scheme in which Alex was trying to move assets out of his name in violation of a court order that had frozen his assets. The receivership also successfully negotiated down Alex alleged mortgages with Palmetto State Bank. Mortgages that some saw as invalid because of how lacks the bank had treated Alex Payback Plan and because the bank hadn't made a move to collect on those loans until after it became clear that Alex was in trouble. Okay, now we're ready to talk about Alex's reply to the government from Dick and Jim and apparently written by Judge Gurgles former head boy Phil Barber. Now, one thing that

team Murdoch has been really good at in their replies is being petty. Every chance they have to phrase something in a petty way, they go for it. And every chance they have at recharacterizing something in a negative way that benefits them, they go for it. In this reply, they are treating the federal government like a roided out boyfriend who is trying to do the right thing and not punch the little guy who his girlfriend is annoyed with. In this scenario, Dick and Jim and Phil are the girlfriend being like, oh, you're going to let this wimp of a guy tell you what to do, huh?

I thought you were strong. He's making a fool out of you, but okay. Now, first, I want to point out that on page one of their reply in a footnote, they erroneously tell the court that the quote, Sadderfield claims against Mr. Murdoch have been reduced to judgment, which has been satisfied by offsets from other settling defendants. We'll let Eric handle that one. I mean, it's laughable. If it wasn't so serious, it really would be truly laughable, but it's very serious what they continue to do.

Now they have served the function of a judge and a jury and have unilattled, they declared that the Sadderfields have been made whole without really acknowledging what our claims were. They lose and they continue to use the justice system to Alex's advantage. And it's to the disadvantage of his victims. Okay, now for the stand-up comedy portion of their reply. I'm going to try to get through this next bit without laughing, but there's no promises. Quote, no criminal defendant convicted of financial crimes against the United States has ever before had to beg a court to force the United States to seize his own assets to preserve them for the benefit of his victims and the public treasury. You know that, Alec Murdoch trying to preserve assets for victims and the public

Murdoch trying to preserve assets for victims and the public treasury. Are we supposed to believe he's in his cell right now ringing his hands about how his money needs to go back into the government's coffers? This man confessed to judgment in the Satterfield case to make it look like he was sorry. And when this bit of nonsense didn't convince a judge that he should be let out on a personal recognizance bond, he then tried to rescind the confession of judgment so the Satterfields can't get money from him. And when his insurance company came after him for the stolen Satterfield settlement, he literally asked the government.

He asked the same judge to make the insurance company go after the satirfields for the money instead. And still, team Murdoch comes at this like no one is ever going to question the veracity of their words. They are that confident that Judge Gurgle won't consider their past lies and the current context. This is the sheer arrogance that exists in South Carolina's legal system. Another funny line in the reply is when they tell the court that quote, the lawsuit against Mr. Murdoch in the beach case has nothing to do with

any criminal conduct by Mr. Murdoch. Oh really? How about those murders, Elik? We know what was on your mind that night. Here's another good one. Quote, when his many financial crimes were revealed, it was apparent that his assets would not be sufficient to satisfy all claims against him. And there was fear that he would attempt to hide assets before his victims could obtain and execute judgments against him.

There was fear, fear that he would do something, assets before his victims could obtain and execute judgments against him. There was fear, fear that he would do something, that he would do the thing he actually was caught doing several times. Perhaps the most hilarious part in the reply came in the form of this sentence where they explain the co-receivers' role to the court. Quote, their duties are someone like the duties of the personal representative of a decedence estate, which include locating and taking control of the decedence assets. I mean, guys, can you believe this?

They are literally talking about the scheme, elegused, to steal money, as if this isn't the way he stole money. And beyond that, they are purposely likening what the co-receivers did to this much more simple role because in normal circumstances, a personal representative is only entitled to a small percentage of the estate.

Again, they are overlooking the giant amounts of money that Ellic allowed Russell Lefitte to keep as personal representative in Ellic's cases in exchange for allowing Ellic to treat Palmetto's state bank, which is apparently a victim, as his personal piggy bank. Yet another good one for you, and this is rich." Quote, in the approximately two years since their appointment, the co-receivers have marshalled $2,159,981.29 in liquidated assets, including $424,941.34 voluntarily paid into the receivership by Mr. Murdoch from a retirement account outside the co-receivers' authority. I don't say this often, but y'all. Notice what

wasn't mentioned there. That A, the only reason that 401k came within reach of the co-receivers authority is because Alec wanted to cash it out. But here was the problem. The second he cashed it out, it would become in the domain of the co-receivership. And the reason he wanted to cash it out was so that he could use more than $600,000 of it to pay, dick, and gem. In order to get that money to pay, dick, and gem, he had to negotiate with the co-receivers so that they wouldn't take all the money. The co-receivers agreed to a 60-40 split of the cash.

It was win, win. Ella got to keep his money to pay Dick and Jim, and the receivership got even more money but the victims otherwise would not have gotten. But then, Ella asked for that portion, too. Dick and Jim came back after the murder trial and asked the receivership to give them some of that money, too. Is this mentioned in the reply? Nope. Sure isn't. Instead, they're presenting it like Eleg did this selfless, noble thing, and here, the

ungrateful receivers, these private attorneys, are trying to get more money from him. Will Judge Cargill buy this nonsense? No seriously, will he? Because we just don't know. These guys, whether it's Eleg Murdoch or David Miller or Russell LaFete or Boen Turner or Corey Fleming, every single one of them acts like they are entitled to more understanding and benefits of the doubt and that they're entitled to being believed and trusted and given more things.

It's insane. So team Murdoch's argument is primarily that, and we're quoting here. The Murdoch's assets, to which the United States holds title-pending distribution to Mr. Murdoch's victims, are in imminent danger of waste. Quote. The court could order Mr. Murdoch's assets to be deposited in the registry of the court to preserve the status quo safekeeping

until such time as the government is inclined to follow the law. Then they go on to quote, Herman Melville, quote, but the statute does not. Contemplate the Attorney General giving the Bartleby response to a for-fitter order the government requested. And see, Phil Barber and Moby Dick Harputley and everyone, let's give them a round of applause. Could there be a broier moment? Quoting Melville, what is a Bartleby response?

You ask? It's from Bartleby. The scriptener, a story of Wall Street. Bartleby responds to things he's not inclined to do with I would prefer not to. I really hope this is peak dick and gym y'all because I don't know how much more we can take of this. Okay, to wrap this up for the the PS Day Resist Dumps, the part we all knew would be there.

Remember when we told you the government's response kind of through Dick and Jim of Bone by vaguely indicating that this whole C's LX assets now thing couldn't really be about funneling money to Palmetto State Bank or PMPD by saying that victims and they listed them among them who have already been made whole wouldn't be entitled to funds if the federal government took over the money. The government said this to say, basically, you're telling us this is about the victims and we're telling you this really wouldn't do anything for the victims.

While also trying to sneak PMPD and Palm Mettostate Bank in there, as if they'd already been made whole, even though the government did leave that open. Here is why it was left open. Under federal remission procedures, all Murdock assets will go to the victims of Mr. Murdock's financial crimes until they are all fully compensated. Victims already fully compensated receive no further payment, but the persons who compensated them may themselves seek compensation if they otherwise qualify. If there is not enough money, it will be allocated pro-rata.

If there is a surplus of money, it will be used for public purposes like funding law enforcement agencies. Unsecured creditors? Get nothing. And then there's a footnote. Unsecured creditors cannot seek remission of four fitted funds. But since Mr. Murdoch's entire estate has been seized, fourth-circuit precedent allows them to recover in ancillary proceedings.

Nevertheless, Murdoch's attorneys have stated publicly that they will seek no funds from the Murdoch assets to pay their attorney's fees fees and they make the same representation to the court. Mr. Murdock's position is that no attorneys should receive any more legal fees from the Murdock assets. So one, the man whose grandfather got him into law school and who used his law license to steal suddenly has a moral code of conduct when it comes to attorney fees.

And, too, notice the wording there. Murdoch's attorneys have stated publicly that they won't seek fees, that is a fact. But do they actually intend to not seek funds? They've gone back on just about every noble promise they've made publicly. And it is exhausting. It is truly amazing how expert they are at reframing the truth in their favor, with absolutely no fear of getting called out on it. Or maybe not no fear. Maybe without caring. when they get called out on it. No matter how many times we call these men out on their bad behavior, they bounce back.

Like Eric Land once said back in the early days of MMP, there is no bottom to Elik Murdoch. We believed him then in 2021, but we had no idea how far these men were capable of going. It will be something to see how Judge Gryrkel rules in this because they're right about one thing. It is extraordinary to have a criminal begging the federal government to seize his own assets. But it's the federal government's own fault that they are in this weird position. They are the ones who decided to do all of this, meaning Alex flip floppy pleadial on Dick and Jim's timeline. They are a part of the system that continues to allow this behavior from good old boys in power.

You give these guys one inch and they will take the entire world. These men, like David Miller, like Brad Haddo, like Dick Harputlan, like Bill Weeks, for example, they will keep going as long as the system keeps giving them the green flag. But as the justice system harves out an easy road for the good ol' boys and allows them to victimize everyone beneath them, it is up to us to create resistance and sunlight. Just because the bad guys continue to keep bouncing back

like whack-a-moles does not mean the solution is to give up hope. Remember, pressure breaks pipes. Stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight. True Sunlight is created by me, Manny Manny, co-hosted by journalist Liz Farrell and produced by my husband, David Moses. True sunlight is a Luna shark production. Buh, buh, buh, buh.