Murdaugh Murders Podcast - TSP #8 - Exclusive Interview With Mark ‘The Tiger’ Tinsley After Reaching $15+ Million Settlement In Boat Crash Case

Episode Date: July 20, 2023

After Mallory Beach’s family, attorney Mark Tinsley, and other boat crash victims have spent several years fighting for accountability, the parties have finally reached a multi-million-dollar settlement with Parker’s Kitchen. This week, Liz Farrell sat down for an exclusive interview with Mark Tinsley, who became known to the world as Zero Dark Tinsley and Tinsley the Tiger during the Alex Murdaugh trial. Want to look at the documents referenced in this episode and others? Consider joining our Luna Shark Premium Membership community to help us SHINE THE SUNLIGHT! CLICK HERE to learn more: https://bit.ly/3BdUtOE. Through lunasharkmedia.com, Premium Members will get access to searchable case files, written articles with documents, case photos, episode videos and exclusive live experiences with our hosts - all in one place.  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 has launched as its own weekly show. 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, Simplisafe, and others. Use promo code "MANDY" for a special offer! Find us on social media: facebook.com/TrueSunlightPodcast/ Instagram.com/murdaughmurderspod/ Twitter.com/mandymatney Twitter.com/elizfarrell youtube.com/@LunaSharkMedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I don't know if the Beach family or any of the survivors of the horrific 2019 boat crash could ever possibly be made whole. But I believe that the $15 million settlement reached this week by Mark Tensley and other attorneys was a massive step toward accountability. And that is a big deal. My name is Mandy Matney. This is True Sunlight, a podcast exposing crime and corrupt. previously known as the Murdoch murders podcast. True Sunlight is written with journalist Liz Farrell and produced by Luna Shark. Well, we are back after another world win of a week.

I wanted to start off by sharing some really good news. The defamation lawsuit filed against me has been dismissed by Judge Jocelyn Newman, and that also is a big deal. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from me, and now that this nightmare is over, I'm ready to take on more battles and keep fighting the good fight. I've learned a lot from this lawsuit about the justice system and how unfair it all can be, and I'm ready to work really hard to change that. No one should ever be able to use the justice system to terrorize truth tellers.

As I mentioned on Cup of Justice this week, I've been having a hard time with a lot of different things going on in my life. in the past few months, especially online harassment. And I've been taking more time to myself and more time away from the cruel virtual world of my work. I'll say this again, there is no shame in taking time off, which I did a lot of in the last week. David and I visited our friends in Colorado and I got to see Taylor Swift and Denver, and it's crazy. What just a few days away from Twitter and the ugliness of the internet can really do for

a person. So while I was away, Liz was able to carry a majority of the load for this episode, and I just want to give her some major props and say thank you for always being up when I'm down and always being there to help carry the enormous weight of the Murdoch story dating back to 2019. Which brings me to the next good news that we got in this last week, the boat crash settlement. The settlement means a lot of things. Starting with the fact that the highly anticipated Beach case civil trial will not take place in August. After the trial of Elic Murdoch, it was hard to imagine that there would be another dramatic, character-driven and quotable case like that ever to be televised again.

But, as perverse as it may sound, there was a reasonable assumption that the Mallory Beach boat crash case could come close. Not only because it features some of the same players, but because this has been a monster of a case. It is a case that has come to symbolize the effects of profiting from the sale of alcohol to minors. It is highlighted the bottomless lows that the rich and politically connected will go to for self-preservation. It has exposed the inner workings of a powerful family, a powerful law firm, and a powerful gas station owner. It has led to the discovery of millions of dollars in stolen client funds. It has also given us an inside look into South Carolina's very broken legal system and system of justice. It has put law enforcement agencies, including the state's Department of Natural Resources and State Highway Patrol in the hot seat.

It has created all sorts of headaches for other attorneys who have been forced to preemptively defend themselves. with clients to assure them that they, quote, aren't like Alex. Over the past few years, the case has been surprisingly and wildly adversarial and included seemingly unprecedented defense tactics that often cross the line. The past few months have been even more intense because the widely anticipated civil trial against Elyk Murdoch in Regional Gas Station Chain Parker's Kitchen was set to begin August 14th in Hampton County, South Carolina. But then things changed and changed fast.

This past Friday, the Beach family scored yet another win in pretrial decisions with Judge Daniel Hall, once again denying Parker's kitchens second motion to move their case out of Hampton County and their second motion to sever themselves from the case, meaning they wanted their own trial without ELEC being a co-defendant. Two days later, the Beach family had settled. with Parker's Kitchen for $15 million, and they thought with Elyke Murdoch for whatever portion of his assets, a judge decides they are due. According to the Beach family's attorney, the agreement with Ehrlich came after the beaches agreed to waive a payout from Ehrlich's $500,000 boat insurance policy

in exchange for Ehrlich not gumbing up the works with the Parker settlement. Then on Monday, the attorney for Ehrlich's boat insurance company ostensibly after consulting with Elyke's. himself or perhaps with Elyke's other two attorneys, Dick Harputtlian and Jim Griffin, apparently said, wait a minute, you misunderstood me. Because, of course, everything Ehrlich Murdoch does seems to defy logic. The boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach in 2019 turned out to be the beginning of the end for the Murdoch family's legacy. Or, I should say, the beginning of the end of the legacy that the family wanted to have. The story they told themselves, and the story that they trained others to tell about them over the years.

Their real legacy, of course, the one felt deeply by those who had no choice but to exist among their rubble of deceit and to quietly accept their subservient role in good old boy society, had already been tainted by four generations of unchecked power. But no one knew then just how much this family had been rotting from the inside. And no one knew that February 24th, 2019, the day a member of their fifth generation would drunkenly plow his father's boat into a Beaufort County Bridge with five friends on board, would end up being a day that would eventually lead to double murder. The day of the boat crash, what we call the ground zero of the Murdoch murders, represented a cultural fork in the road for residents of the low country.

The Beach family and the boat crash survivors, as well as some members of law enforcement and the press, could have taken the road to the right of the fork. The road that the Murdox had long ago paved for moments like this. On this road, the Murdox get to be oblivious to the damage that's been caused. The hardest and most confronting parts of consequence fade away. Accountability gets deleted from the docket. Their downplayed version of events gets recorded into the history books as fact. On this road, they get to passively write the script, the playbook,

for how those hurt by them will react, which is to say, like them, as if nothing happened at all. The script is generally this. Someone gets assigned the blame temporarily and without conclusion, everyone just moves on. It's an arrogance that has worked for them for all of time, to the point that some could successfully argue that the younger members of the family just don't know any better. Maybe now they have a chance to learn. Because this time was different for all of them. The Beach family and the boat crash survivors,

as well as some members of law enforcement and the press, decided to take the other fork in the road. the unpaved portion of road. Needless to say, that road has been a challenging one filled with unexpected darkness, new and sometimes worst villains, bureaucratic lethargy, heads in the sand,

and more uncharted territory than can be contained on a two-dimensional map. But this group, grounded by their faith, their belief that justice should not be for sale, and their desire for change so that no one else will be hurt by such recklessness in the future, carried on for four difficult years,

And at the very front of this caravan for justice was one man leading the way, Mark Tinsley. You may know him by the nickname Zero Dark Tinsley, as the internet calls him. Or Tinsley the Tiger, as Judge Clifton Newman referred to him. Or, if you're Ehrlich Murdoch, you might know him as Bo. Here's Mark on February 6, 2023, when the world first got to meet him, testifying in an in-camera hearing about a confrontation he had had with Ehrlich about a year or so before. the murders. Yeah, I think I'm not 100% certain that it was a fundraiser either for Mr. Harputleon or it was a fundraiser for Lindsey Graham. As you come into the hotel, there's a

gathering area. It's in the evening before everyone goes to dinner or it's immediately after. I'm not 100% certain. But the room's full of lawyers and Alex sees me and he comes across and he gets up close in my face and says, hey, Bo, what's this I'm hearing about what you're saying? I thought we were friends. And I replied, Ellick, we are friends. If you don't think I can burn your house down and that I'm not doing everything and I'm not going to do everything you're wrong, you need to settle this case. Okay. And so what was the point of that conversation? What was, if you can explain to the core of what y'all were talking about. What is, what is that like upset to

as you understood it? That he was going to have to pay was what he was hearing. That's what it was, that's what the point of it was, we're friends, I took it as he tried to intimidate me, he didn't intimidate me, and sort of bully me into backing off. Mark's candor and confidence on the witness stand and his unforgettable presentation of receipts

showed the world the force of nature that existed behind the scenes in Elyke's world. But like we said, Ehrlich is just one part of the boat crash case. He is just one side of a gold coin. He is heads. Tails is billionaire wannabe Greg Parker, owner of Parker's Kitchen. No matter how that coin flipped, Mark had his work cut out for him. Until now, the very complex story of the boat crash case has only been told in bits and pieces. and because of the cases many tentacles and technicalities, it can get confusing.

Today, we have Mark Tinsley himself to help us put it all together. Let's start at the beginning. You know, I remember getting a call that there had been a boat crash and Paul Murdick was involved. It was a girl that was missing. I remember it was Sunday. I remember, I don't remember what the weather was like here, but for whatever he was. reason I was in the house. And in the moment when I heard that there had been a boat crash,

now it was the same sort of immediate reaction that when my mother called me and told me that a plane that hit the World Trade Tower, I just thought that was a single-engine plane, you know, just some person had flown into the World Trade Tower and not that it was in fact what it turned out to be and this is a lot like that. Mark took the case immediately after the crash. He thought it would be a simple one because it seemed so clear cut. Yeah, you know, I mean, you come into something thinking one thing, you come out of it thinking something completely different.

And, you know, one of the things that Parker's like to do and Parker's trolls like to do is just talk about how early on I said, look, um, this is, this is, this. This case will be resolved. These are sophisticated people. I really thought the case would be resolved all the way around. I never imagined that there would be the personalities in this that over four years later, we'd still be fighting about it. Now we should mention, Mark is an attorney at Gooding & Gooding, a small firm in rural Allendale County, which is one of the five counties that make up the 14th Circuit in South Carolina. meaning he was a lawyer deep in the heart of Murdoch country.

When we saw that he had taken the case, we weren't sure what to make of him. We immediately wondered whether he was there to actually fight for the beaches, or if he was there to protect the Murdoch family's interests while having the appearance of fighting for the beaches. For one, he knew Alec. I thought I knew Alec Murdoch. I mean, I knew the people involved. I didn't know the people necessarily. I didn't know all the people.

I didn't know any of the kids involved in the dog crash other than Paul. But, yeah, I mean, this is a small area, and you know lots of people, and I thought I knew who Ellick was, and I thought I knew that Ellick had to wear with all to realize just how serious it was and take it seriously and not try to ELEC it, but pretty quickly it was apparent. He was trying to do that. As you know by now, from the second law enforcement arrived on the scene, an intentional muddying of the water seemed to ensue. Port Royal Police Department allegedly forgot to turn on their body cameras.

A Beaufort County Sheriff's Office deputy filled out his report with his own opinion about how the crash might have occurred, and he introduced the false narrative that no one would say who was driving. Paris Island's military police recorded incriminating statements against Paul that were made when a DNR officer was present, yet those statements weren't included in DNR's own reports. Even worse, a DNR officer was ordered to administer a field sobriety test to both Paul Murdoch and passenger Connor Cook,

the person the Murdox immediately blamed for the crash. But DNR, whose officers had close connections with the Murdoch family, only gave that test to Connor. I knew about the things that were happening. I knew about the DNR connections and the law enforcement connections and I knew the things that the beaches and other people may have been telling me that had been done. I was assured early on by General Counsel for DNR that changes had been made after the first day.

Now, little did I know what all had happened in the first day. But, you know, from then on, from where I sat, watching, overseeing. making sure the parts that I could see, you know, I told law enforcement where the alcohol had come from. They told me where the alcohol had come from. So we secured the video. I mean, you know, there was a concerted effort of which I was a part of and I was overseeing it. So I didn't see how anything untoward could be happening. I didn't know what had happened before.

I got involved. So, no, for a long time, no, I didn't. It wasn't until I get the copy of the file that I realized what had happened. And when I said the file, I'm talking about the prosecution file materials from the criminal case. Mark was seeing the corruption at hand and knew that the Murdox considered him to be a friendly attorney in the case and that others were starting to think that same thing about him. To put it mildly, he wasn't going to stand for that. The case was different for a lot of reasons.

I mean, the first probably reason was the one that you pointed to and you were suspicious. of in the beginning. I didn't appreciate that Spector when I agreed to get involved, that there would be a contingent, a group that would think, oh, he's in the area, he's in the network, he's in the good old boys group, whatever click it is, and somehow this is a friendly lawsuit. I didn't appreciate that.

And I didn't appreciate the significant impact that that would have in the moments when I agreed to do this. So I felt compelled, not that I would. I mean, you've looked at a lot of the cases I've tried and been involved in. I don't really pull punches. I mean, I have a lot of cases, but your case, the moment that I'm working on it is the only one I care about, whether it's a little send-de-bender with no damage or it's as significant as you lost your daughter. But in addition to that, I mean, I have a daughter about, and she's a little younger than Mallory.

So it's easy to put yourself in that position. And then the beach family themselves is just the most wonderful people. They really are. And when you spend this much time with someone, you really feel like you're a part of their family, they're a part of your family. And that's the way they've treated me and received me and prayed for me when I had cancer and prayed for me when I get attacked and prayed for me, you know, all the way along. And I've said it many times. I don't feel for them the way I do because of what they've been through.

I feel for them the way I do because of who they are in spite of what they've been through. They're just fantastic people. Speaking of the beaches, we asked Mark how they feel now that the case is settled. You know, before Sunday, they've always had this determination that they had a sense of what it was going to be like. They don't, you know, in terms of the trial and the victim blaming and all of the things that we're going to come from that. And then when you have to relive it, they had an idea what the trial was going to be like. So in the moments when they realize they're not going to have to do that, there's a sense of relief. But, I mean, there were a lot of things that went into settling the case.

Even on Friday when we had our hearing in the courthouse in Hampton, the sheriff came up after the hearing was talking to me and told me, said, the county can't afford a trial. You know, I had, I had concerns about having a platform to spend whatever narrative or lie he wants to spend now and having a break or providing, allowing this video deposition to be taken and how it may be used and profited from. So there were those factors. The video deposition would have taken place this week had the case not settled, and it was a point of contention for Mark. The deposition was organized by Parker's attorneys, but Mark felt that the Murdoch camp, which is behind an upcoming docu series from Fox Nation, might be planning to use ELEC's dubious testimony from prison, as well as

a potential appearance in court for the trial itself, as vehicles to make more money for themselves and further spread ELEC's unreliable narrative. It was going to be deposed in all the cases and was going to be videoed, and Parker's lawyers were sent to do it today, in fact, which is Tuesday. And Alex lawyer had moved for a protective order to make sure that no one could use that. And if the lawyers could use that, release it on YouTube, give it to Netflix or anyone else. And so that video would have been video of him in jail saying, who knows what? what. So it was important. I mean, you know, there was a press release just last week about Fox Nations program that was coming out and the exclusive nature of access to Lick in the jail.

And so it was just a concern. Not how it plays out. I don't know, but I, but I didn't want to create some value for someone where they shouldn't be receiving some benefit. For a long time, the quote unquote boat crash case referred to the wrongful death complaint filed by Mallory's mother, Renee Beach, in 2019. In December 2020, a different kind of case emerged for Mark. So the boat crash case obviously is related to the boat crash, the sale of alcohol that occurred, and then the boat crash and the injuries as a result of that. And then out of that case, spawned this conspiracy case where it alleged that the people involved

or some of the people involved in the boat crash case did things intentionally to victimize with each family, go after, harass, not the least of which included the release of photos of Mallory's body when it was recovered eight days after the crash. So the first time I filed suit in the boat crash case, I filed sued in Beaufort County. I sued Luther's, I think. I sued the people who owned the home where the oyster roast was. I sued the Murdoch Trust that owned the River House where the boat was launched. I sued Randolph Murdoch, who would have been the trustee, one of the trustees for the trust that had allowed the usage of the house. And then pretty quickly thereafter, I dismissed that case. And then I refiled it in Hampton also suing.

ELEC and Buster. And so there's first, of the first parties in the law state, Luther settled, the oyster roast people settled, Randolph Burtig settled, the trust settled, and which left Parker's Ehrlich and Buster. One person not included among the defendants at the time was Paul Murdoch. There were a few reasons for that. For one, Paul, along with his mother Maggie, was Mark's age. in the hole. He knew Ehrlich did not want this crash attached to Paul's name. Paul was charged with

three felony counts of boating under the influence in April 2019, but at the time of his death, the charges still had not been adjudicated. The Murdox plan seemed to be to wait out the press and the public and law enforcement on this, to delay the criminal case as long as they could. And as far as the civil case, Ehrlich had one way out that would not involve a settlement. You might remember this stunning moment from Mark's testimony in the Murdoch trial. But if I think that Ehrlich has fixed the jury, that he's done anything to affect the outcome of the trial, that I'm going to sue Paul and Maggie the next day in Beaufort. It was just another average day in South Carolina.

A seasoned attorney taking the stand and talking openly about how jury is getting fixed in Hampton County could be a possibility. Something that everyone seems to know exists but won't put on the record, and something that no one, including the bar, the South Carolina Supreme Court, and insurance companies seem to want to do anything about.

So there was that reason for not immediately including Paul in the suit. But also Mark and the beaches considered Paul to be a victim in this as well. Like Mallory, like the other boat crash survivors, Paul was, in their view, harmed by Elex's permissive parenting, meaning Elex facilitating of Paul's underage drinking and his covering up of the problems that emerged from that drinking.

They also believed Paul was harmed by Parker's kitchen, meaning he was sold alcohol that day because of a known and preventable issue, which is Parker's alleged lack of training and the cashier's alleged failure to adhere to their own policies on alcohol sales. I remember getting a call from David Leslie, who's over alcohol enforcement, and sled when we were arranging for Morgan to meet with one of the sled agents. And at the time, he said, you know, from my perspective, I view all of the kids as victims. And I know that people out there, they say, I know they're 19 or they're 18, and they have responsibility.

You might not like it. But the law in this state is, Is it illegal because people under the age of 21 do not appreciate the dangers? And, you know, I mean, I have a bull master, if you know this, and it kills small animals. And if I leave it along with a small animal, it will kill the small animal. Is it the master's fault? Did it's going to do what's in its nature? Or is it my fault?

I think it's my fault but there's a little bit of that but you know what the Beach family wanted was they wanted to affect some change and if you think that blaming the drunk driver blaming the person who gets behind the wheel

is somehow going to scare someone into doing the right thing you are wrong no drunk driver's ever gotten behind the wheel and thought tonight's the night I'm going to I'm going to cross the line and hit somebody. The people who enable the behavior is the only place. And statistics go. I mean, Sledd's got a program called prep program, the Palmetto Retailers Education Program.

The very first introductory paragraph in the participant manual explains that. I mean, prevention is the way. Not blaming the kids. I blameing the jocks. I mean, that may have its place. But the way you're going to stop it is you're going to stop it by the people who allow it to happen, whether it's from indifference or whether it's a part of a commercial. So technically, in the Boat Crash case, there were two claims. There was the claim to the sale, it's illegal in this state to sell alcohol to someone under the age of 21, period.

And so when you sell alcohol illegally, you violate a statute. And in the civil realm, that violation could serve as what they call negligence per se. And you're presumed to have acted negligently by the violation of that statute. They still have to prove that the alcohol that was sold contributed to causing whatever the damages are. But that's along and the short of the legal side of that. And then the Alec Murdoch side was the negligent entrustment claim. And that's a claim that you have a responsibility when you know that somebody has a propensity to drink too much, get drunk, and you entrust them with a vehicle. And you can be liable for that under a negligent entrustment theory.

and that's not just negligent parenting or bad parenting, although a lot of people would say that probably is bad parenting, if not child abuse. But those were the gist of the civil claims. For the past four years, and particularly since the murders of Maggie and Paul, there has been a steady group of critics online. Some possibly paid for, others merely expressing their own opinions, who point out that the boat crush victims, including Mallory, deserve the real blame for the...

their own injuries and her own death. Here's Mark's take on that. I was asked that question, I mean, early on talking about Mallory, and to different degrees, all those kids, assuming that were the law, assuming that was a consideration that they had somehow contributed to causing their own injuries, this death. They've all paid their share. Mallory paid the ultimate price, but the other people who contributed to calls them hadn't paid anything. So, you know, legally, I don't really think it's a consideration. If you want the world to

be safer, you'll hold the people who enable this bad conduct, this foreseeable bad conduct. I mean, we know that when you allow underage kids to drink, bad things are going to happen. Nearly two people a week die in the state of South Carolina alone from underage drinking. 11% of all alcohol consumed in the United States is consumed by underage drinkers. How on earth does that happen? Well, when the Supreme Court addressed the issue of underage drinking and claims, whether it be a third-party claim, someone injured or killed by an underage drinker or what they call a first-party claim, if you are, in fact, the underage drinker,

or you're in the group of the underage drinker, then the law didn't go to the, statutory law didn't go far enough. And so the Supreme Court decided it's a matter of public policy that they could recover, that they are not held to the same standard as an adult as it relates to whether or not they have a claim. You know, I think maybe a good example is dogs. It used to be at some point in time that there was this idea that a dog got one free bite. The owner wasn't responsible for the dog bite until you knew that the dog would bite somebody. Maybe it bit someone.

We changed that. We decided that was not acceptable because child gets my dog. It can be a bad thing. And at the time when the statute got enacted, and we changed the law, no dog gets a free bite now. And the idea is to incentivize people to put their dogs up. You don't allow your dog to be around it. young child because we don't want anything. We don't want to take the chance that something bad is going to happen.

And I think that's exactly what our Supreme Court rightly did with underage drinking. We're going to incentivize you to do the right thing. And if you don't, you're going to be held to account for it. You cannot like it, but you shouldn't sell alcohol to minors. We'll be right back. From the creative team behind the Brutelist and starring Academy Award nominee Amanda deciphered in a career best performance. Searchlight Pictures presents

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So a question we've been asking since the beginning and that we wonder if Ehrlich Murdoch and Greg Parker ever ask themselves is why didn't they settle from the beginning? Because think about it. Think about how much could have been avoided had they done that. We asked Mark this same question. Why didn't Elek settle? Well, why don't you tell me to answer?

Because I don't know the answer. I mean, you know, if you were a criminal mastermind who'd been stealing for over a decade and you had $3.5 million that you had just stolen from the, Fetterfield's in your pocket in May, you would think a rational criminal would say, I'll pay for it with stolen money. He had to have thought he was going to get away with it. He had to have fault that at some period of time that I wasn't going to go after him. And he in fact called that, which was the whole guy in my face and said, hey, Bo, what's this? I've been hearing comment. And why didn't Parker settle? I think the same reason.

I don't know. You know, it's mind-boggling. It defies logic. It's nonsensical. Maybe he wanted to use this case to try to make a statement how unfair he thinks the law is when you sell alcohol to a minor who then caused a serious injury of death. You know, the idea that joint in several is somehow some draconian law that may, it unfair and is going to drive all the convenience stores out of business where they can't sell beer and wine.

It's really ridiculous. The law has been this way forever. And in 2005, when the legislature changed, joint and several, the legislature decided that it was not in the best interests of the people of the state of South Carolina or really anybody to allow someone who causes harm as a result of a sale of alcohol or the intoxication of drugs or alcohol to not be held jointly liable. And so it's only in those instances where they've made an illegal sale to a minor that joint and several does not apply. I don't understand how anybody could think that that's not fair or right. Another thing to note, this was not Parker's first rodeo when it came to this.

There'd been a case in 2016. Two people died. The drunk driver and then a young man had also died in the crash. And there was a lawsuit filed in Buford County. And David Savage was involved in representing the plaintiffs and had deposed some of Parker's employees. And the testimony in my case was that David had offered Parker's general counsel to provide him with some resources because obviously the training program seemed to be ineffective based on the testimony. The testimony was essentially they weren't worried about it. And so that would have been, and I believe that was in 2017 when that conversation occurred.

And then 2018, the cashier in my case goes through that same training program, it appeared. And 2019, just a month and a half after, or about a month after the cashiers moved from the kitchen to the front, they sell alcohol to Paul. And Molly Altman. And the Molly Altman, you know, Molly Altman ID was a Georgia ID, but it didn't have a hologram. And they didn't scan that ID. So that purchase happens right before Paul's, Parker's Wooden, produced the video for a long time. Ultimately, we got it after filing the motion to get it.

But I had told Parkers, you know, we sometimes lawyers in preservation letters, in a letter immediately after the boat crash that one or more underage patrons had purchased alcohol in the store and the saved video footage. So the footage had been saved, but they didn't want to produce it. And they didn't produce it because it showed the cashier didn't scan that ID. And I'm told that it wasn't scanned because it was a concern. that the scanner would reject IDs from Georgia. That makes life so much of it, right.

The thing that's always struck us as weird about this case is how Parker's Kitchen supporters and critics of the Beach case in general could not seem to wrap their heads around why Parker's wasn't considered the victim here. They depicted Mark and the beaches as simply being greedy people who were suing Parker's kitchen for the sole reason that there were deep pockets there. For its part, Parker's has maintained that it had been tricked by Paul Murdoch, that the sale was lawful because they were not cited by Slead for it, and that Paul's ID, meaning Buster's legitimate driver's license that Paul was using as ID that day,

cleared the scanner. But the bottom line is this. The law puts the responsibility on the sellers of alcohol to prevent the sale of alcohol to minors. And there are plenty of ways for businesses like Parkers to meet that responsibility. Smed suggest keeping a log of alcohol-related instances. And that's not just something that actually contains to alcohol. That means that someone come in and try to buy alcohol with a safe ID. And they try to use a borrowed ID because underage kids can only buy alcohol with either a fake ID or a barred ID. There's really no other way unless they don't get carded at all.

Well, Parker doesn't keep a lock. And the cashiers that were deposed in the bank crash case, none of them had ever seen a fake ID. None of them had ever seen a barred ID. None of them had ever turned away a sale because someone had tried to use a fake ID. Now, statistically, that can't happen. It's just the only way it happens is they've been told they could rely exclusively on that point of sale scanner, which really just checks the birthday. And we filed an affidavit from a young lady who had for years purchased alcohol with either her stepmothers or her.

Ants ID, I think is what the evidence says, but they want to look at it. The standard is not, does the picture bear no resemblance to the person in front of me? And if the picture bears no resemblance, then we might do something further. That can't be the standard. Because even if you were going to go and get a fake ID from somebody if you were underage, you wouldn't likely go and get one from somebody that didn't look anything like you. And that's the way the trainers expressed their concern for the identifying information. Every license in the country has heightened weight on it.

Lots of stores have a measure and stick by the door when you come out and the parkers doesn't. This store right down the block from Parkers 55 where the sales may does, but Parkers doesn't use that. The cashiers didn't know to look, even though the written policies said that even if the ID resembles the person standing before you, make sure you check height and weight. They didn't know that. The other confusing factor here was that Parker's had three insurance policies. totaling $21 million in coverage that would have covered them in this case and, in fact, ended up covering them in this case.

They had plenty of coverage because we were willing to settle within their coverage. Ultimately, Parker's Kitchen settled with the Beach family for $15 million. According to Connor Cook's attorney, Conner settled with Parker's for $1 million. The amounts of Miley Altman's Morgan Dowdies and Anthony Cook settlements have not been disclosed. In the lead up to the settlement, Parker's fought, hard. It employed alleged journalists, private detectives, public relations firms, and social media knife fighters. At one point, it replaced its legal team with a whole new team, one that often seemed behind in their homework. Parkers had argued that Mark should be removed from the case because

of his assertions in that second case. They argued that he only filed the second case to get insight for the first case. They argued they wouldn't get a fair trial in Hampton County, and they argued that being tried in the same courtroom as Ehrlich Murdoch would unfairly prejudice the jury against Parker's kitchen, that they should be severed from the case and there should be two trials, as if a jury would confuse a gas station with a convicted murderer. We asked Mark why Parker's made that about face. You know, sometimes when I represent people, I tell them insurance companies, defendants, a lot of times it's sort of like a person who thinks that their power bill may be doing the first, but they've got 10 extra days and they don't pay

to the 10th day and then they might mail it on the 11th of the 12th. And that's sort of the way it is. And so most cases resolve. Most cases settle. But oftentimes they don't settle until they have to. So when you're coming down the home stretch,

there are a lot of things that people may have thought were going to happen. We'll get tensely kicked off. We'll get the case moved. We'll do this. We'll do that. And as those contentious sees sort of fall away and the certainty of what you're left with begins to set in, it often stimulates discussions.

And, you know, we were very clear about what we wanted. I mean, we insisted there was no confidentiality. We insisted that it was going to be a number that objectively represent some accountability. I mean, I wasn't under any illusion that Craig Parker himself was going to come in and suddenly admit any responsibility, same as I wasn't under any illusion that Elicus going to suddenly start telling the tree. So, you know, within our ability, that's what we were looking for. The Beach family actually gave up claims against the boat insurance that had been offered to get the case settled. It wasn't about the money. It was about the money to the extent that

the people on the other side had made it about the money and tried to make it seem like this was the money grab. But, you know, people will only pay $15 million unless they think that the case is going to be a whole lot worse if you go to a jury. Why wouldn't we just go to a jury? Why not? If they're unfairly tethered jail at murder and he's a convicted murder and all of these things and we've got the apprehended, if that's all it's about, if that's all it's about, why not just go and try out a case and get the big verdict and get all. all the money. It wasn't about that. It was about

responsibility. It was about doing the right thing. And I think we've demonstrated that throughout. I mean, Buster Murdoch is a good example. After Paul and Maggie were killed, the Beach family is important to them.

You know, let's use Buster Murdoch, for example. I mean, you know, Paul had Buster's ID. And the testimony was such that we felt like we had a strong claim against Buster. But at the same time,

they felt like Buster was a victim. And whatever he had done, he had suffered enough. And so we made sure that we were able to reach a deal that got Buster out of the case, got some of Madge's estate money to Buster,

and it got Buster out of it, out of the circus. And we're proud about that. I mean, you know, that was a good thing. You might not like it. You might not understand it, but at the end of the day, it was the right thing to do. And they've been guided by the right thing all the way through, but it had to do with not having Paul removed from the scene of the boat grass because Renee's thought that he needed to be able to work

through what he had done to pray him with Paul on the causeway and forgiving him, that Philip did in the days while they were looking for Mallory's body. I mean, they've done the right thing throughout, and I'm proud of them. We'll be right back. On Sunday night, word came out that not only had the boat crushed plaintiffs settled with Parker's kitchen, they had settled with Ehrlich. Then Monday, Ehrlich's camp denied that a settlement had been reached. This is where it gets super complicated, but it's actually kind of simple when you remember

that we're talking about the worst human alive. I'm going to explain it really quickly before giving the floor back to Mark. The first thing to know here is that Ehrlich Murdoch had $500,000 in boat insurance from Progressive. This is different from the Philadelphia indemnity insurance on Moselle. Around the time of the murders, a federal judge ruled that Philadelphia indemnity did not have to cover Ehrlich in this case. So Ehrlich was left with the progressive policy and his assets.

But what assets, right? Remember, he had told Mark that he was broke, which made no sense to anyone. Also, he was in huge alleged debt to Palmitter State Bank. I say alleged because who believes that paper was. After the murders, Mark suspected that Ehrlich and the Murdox were liquidating assets and hiding Elyke's money. He made a motion to have Elex assets placed under a receivership, someone who would account for the assets and legally be considered the owner of those assets. In November 2021, a state judge approved that motion. It was also around this time that it started to become ultra clear that should they win their cases,

the Beach family and the boat crash survivors, weren't going to be the only. ones in line to collect what Ehrlich owed them. That line was already snaking around his metaphorical building, obviously. Now, you know how Ehrlich is clearly the kind of guy who goes back on his promises and is like, psych, when it's time for him to live up to his end of the deal? This kind of feels like that. It feels like a psych. When the Beach family won their motion for a receivership that was, for all intents and purposes, the end of Ehrlich in terms of money, whatever the receivership collected would be up for grabs unless Ehrlich objected to the receivership and tried to appeal the decision. In March 2023, in connection with the settlements the beaches had reached with Buster Murdoch

two months earlier, Ehrlich Murdoch waived his right to object to the receivership or appeal that decision, meaning the receivership, which had been put in place to preserve his assets and anticipation of him owing money to the beaches was basically final. In other words, he had, for all practical purposes settled. Add to that, the beaches waived their right to the $500,000 in Eleg's boat insurance money in exchange for Ehrlich not messing with the Parker settlement. But still, Ehrlich, for no clear reason, has decided that he does not want the beach family to stand in line with the rest of his victims. So, according to him, he has not yet settled. Here's Mark. I don't know if it's really Ehrlich. I don't know who it is who's walking at the progressive money

going and trying to sort of obstruct the deal as it relates to ELEC. But I hope that's about to be worked out. And if it could not work out, then I think what the plan is to do is go forward and liquidate the receiver account. And then we'll revisit the claims against ELEC later if those things aren't all resolved. I think they will be resolved. They're fighting about nothing. I mean, at the end of the day, whatever's left in the receiver account,

is not enough to satisfy all the claims that are out there. I mean, it's hard to make sense of it because I think everybody wants it to be black and white. I mean, the reality is that ELEC lost everything that ELEC owned, and the receivers got appointed in, what was it, November of 21. So all of ELEC's assets then become technically owned, held by the receivers. to be administered, to be distributed, pursuant to a court order that's going to come later. So it's all gone from ELEC.

And the only way that ELEC gets to get those assets back is to appeal. And, you know, I mean, the beaches are not the only claimants. The kids in the boat crash are not the only claimants. You've got everybody from Dick and Jim, the law firm, you've got financial victims that are still out there. You've got Eric's clients. You've got Justin's clients. Maybe there are other people.

Maybe the federal government's in line. Maybe the state's in line. There are a lot of hands out, and there's not enough money there to pay all the people. It's going to be divided by the court. The Beach family wasn't trying to jump in the head of the line. I mean, the deal that we thought we worked out, and I think that we will work out, is a process through which the receiver funds get administered by the court. and if the people who are making those claims can all agree on the division, fine.

If they can't agree, the court's going to decide. And the court's ultimately going to bless it regardless of whatever happens. Now, one big question we've been fielding since Monday is this. Does this hiccup mean that there's a chance that the beaches could actually take their case against ELEC to trial? No, it's not happening. And, you know, I think that if I were being cynical, I think ELEC wants it to happen. It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen because the county can't afford it.

It's not going to happen because Ehrlich wants it. It's not going to happen because it's unnecessary from where I stand. And, you know, I mean, everything he's got has been taken. And if that doesn't send the message to you when you allow kids to drink and drive and use your vehicles and when you turn a blind eye to your own child's behavior, that you can lose everything that you've got, I don't know what will. We asked Mark if it was possible that this latest move from Alec spoke more about his ongoing desire to quote clear Paul's name. Well, no. I mean, what he's saying is is that if the insurance company works a deal that allows the Beach family to get in line, I'm not agreeing to it.

And I didn't really care about anything else. It doesn't care about the fact that the insurance is being paid on because Paul's the driver. doesn't care about the fact that, you know, immediately after the crash and the sort of excited utterances coming out of Anthony Cook that Paul had killed his girlfriend, that there's that evidence, doesn't care about the physical evidence that demonstrates that Paul was, in fact, the driver, that Connor was thrown into the center console and suffered a broken jaw and couldn't possibly have been on the left side of the boat driving the boat. You know, I mean, the evidence is overwhelming that Paul was the driver. There is no real dispute. Why would Ehrlich be in the hospital be doing the things that were done to try to cover it up, not for Connor Cook? Speaking of the hospital video, we asked Mark about his thoughts when he first saw the footage with Ehrlich going room to room with his 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office badge hanging out of his pocket. I guess if you know, Ella, it was just classic Ella.

You couldn't see the badge the whole time. I think after a while he put the badge up, but in the beginning I saw the badge and, you know, he's what I didn't realize is how small the emergency room was. I mean, I remember what week it was, I went down there and went through and it's very close. The Connor's room was sort of on the other side of the nursing station. from where Elick was at Paul's door, and Oregon wasn't very far away. Just it's a very confined space, and when I watched the video, it seemed much more spread out. Looking back on the ups and downs of this case and all the cases related to the boat crash,

we asked Mark if he'd ever seen anything like this, in terms of the online harassment we've seen and that he's seen and that the Beach family has seen, and also in terms of the tactics that were used. At one point in the civil conspiracy case, Greg Parker's attorneys shockingly subpoenaed Mark's phone records to search for any calls and text messages to and from me, Mandy, and other journalists. Well, all of it. I mean, you know, all of it. I'm a little constrained in what I can say at this point because the outrage case is still going on. But, you know, I mean, I've never seen anything like this. I mean, the people that I talk to, at least in this sleepy part of the world,

and I don't think that we're so far behind the times that we're missing out on what the rest of the world is doing. I mean, this just cannot be the way it is. We cannot weaponize the legal system so that he who has the most money can pull the most extreme acts wins. That can't be it. And, I mean, that's part of the reason I think I fight so hard for so many people. pulling for the underdog, I like giving it to the people who think that they're entitled,

that whatever it is, their station, their money, their powers, their influence, entitles them to something. I remember, I don't remember who said it, but we live in a republic, not a democracy, where the rights of a single person are as important as the rights of the group. And that's really the way it is and the way it should be. I remember in October of 2020, and there were motions filed, and you and Mandy were really the only ones watching the filings. So you would see, and I don't know when you leave and work for the county for some period of time, but, you know, it's pretty safe to say something gets filed. There's going to be an article. And Parker's knew that.

I mean, Parker's objected to me filing things at some point. But in October of 2020, I remember getting a call. I'd filed a motion to compel against Parker's that morning. That afternoon, I got a call from Mandy, who was horrified that someone on Reddit. I'd never even heard of Reddit. It's kind of funny. This is how long this case has been going on. Never heard of Reddit.

Never heard of TikTok. I didn't know what those things were. But someone on Reddit with an account that had never been posted on, just been created earlier, had accused Mandy of augmenting Mallory's breast and photo for clicks. And I think that's the startup. And that's the first time you sort of see a concentrated attack against the people who are really trying to seek the truth, trying to pursue justice for whoever it may be. There have been a bunch of attacks, and I think that some of those attackers have,

had been common attackers. Now, who those people really are or whether they're really people or not, I guess we'll see. I think that we've got evidence about some of those accounts. And I hope that before the lawsuit's over, we had more evidence some more. Ultimately, these cases were about accountability. They didn't really want a pound of flesh from Greg Parker in the boat crash case. We're never going to get a pound of flesh from Greg Parker in the boat crash case. I mean, technically, the defendant in the boat crash case is Parker's company. And it's a legal distinction.

And I think at times it's been a distinction that without a difference in terms of what's going on and who's calling the plays. But the accountability that they wanted in the boat crash case was something that the other parkers of the world would see and recognize and hopefully take stop. talking how they're doing things, what they're doing, how their boys are conducting themselves, to make sure that this doesn't happen if it can be prevented. The civil conspiracy outrage case is very different. I mean, it's, you know, under the, in a civil case, there's an idea of compensatory damages. That is, the law will put you in the place you would have been in, but for whatever wrong happened to breach of contract is the easiest to see.

We had a deal, I would have paid $5, you broke the deal, you owe me $5. It's harder to do that when you've got a serious injury. Even harder, I think, to do that when you've lost your daughter. It's a no amount of money. That's not what this was about. The civil conspiracy case, on the other hand, the law also allows for something called punitive damages, to punish, to make an example of. And that's what we're pursuing in the end.

of the day in the conspiracy case to make an example of, to punish the people who conspired against this family and their lawful constitutionally guaranteed right to seek redress and accountability for Mallory's death. And we're going to punish those people for what they did. It might not affect Parker, but I think that the average convenience store or bar or whoever it is that sells alcohol, I sure think it ought to. Mark Tinsley's fight for accountability on behalf of Mallory Beach and her family, a fight that neither Ehrlich Murdoch nor Greg Parker seemed to expect, nor seem to know how to deal with,

is what continues to give us hope in all of this. It was no surprise to us that Mark won people over when he took the stand in Eleg's trial. He is the good guy in this. He is the hero of death. this story. He is the man holding the lantern and taking those first steps down that unfamiliar fork in the road, walking forward despite the jeers from the sidelines, and the constant hills he's had to climb, and despite his own life-threatening illness. Nearly every single thing that has happened in this case leads back to Mark in some way. It would take us all day to list all the

good he has done behind the scenes in the murder case, all the effort he has put into getting people to see the things that he himself sees so clearly. Like, Elie. motive for the murders, for instance. You hear a lot about someone thinking that they're the smartest person in the room. Mark does not think that, but he is. He is the smartest person in the room and he uses that talent, that power for good. And by the way, just like the other regulars on our shows, Mark is exactly who he seems to be in real life too.

I have three dogs at my feet now. One is asleep. One is pawing in my foot and one's wagging her tail. I have Daisy, who's bragging her tail, peanuts, pawing at my foot, and bear is asleep, and then I have Bella, the small animal-killing master. She's sweet. She's a good dog. You just can't have her around cats.

And predictably, Mark Tinsley is not fully accustomed to this newfound fame. You know, my mother likes it, but my father doesn't go anywhere. It's a little weird. It's a little weird at first, you know, to be in Franklin. tend to see at an Elfuss impersonator concert at intermission and stand up and people see you and want to take selfies with you. And that's not a normal experience. You know, everybody's nice. So that helps. I mean, if they weren't nice, it probably wouldn't be as the same experience. But I, you know, I wasn't looking for some, you know, I wasn't looking for recognition for any of that.

That's the thing, though. Sometimes the good guys do win. And sometimes they get recognition when they win. And that is a good thing. I hope this story inspires pesky lawyers like Mark Tensley and families like the beaches to fight the good fight until accountability is reached. Our justice system needs to celebrate people like that.

those who stick their necks out when it's terrifying, and those who keep going, even when it's heartbreaking and cruel. The good guys won this time. Remember that. Thank you again to Mark Tensley for joining us today. Thanks again to Liz for nailing that interview. And for those of y'all who want more of Zero Dark Tinsley,

we are planning something super special exclusively for Luna Shoeh Shark Premium members only. So stay tuned, stay pesky, and stay in the sunlight. True Sunlight is created by me, Mandy Matney, co-hosted by journalist Liz Farrell and produced by my husband, David Moses. True Sunlight is a Luna Shark production. Right, Luna?