SC lawyer calls Murdaugh a ‘liar and a cheat,’ says alleged crimes ‘stained our profession’
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Alex Murdaugh Coverage
The Murdaugh family saga has dominated the news after another shooting, a resignation and criminal accusations — with Alex Murdaugh at the center of it all. Here are the latest updates on Alex Murdaugh.
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South Carolina attorney Eric Bland stood in front of a crowded Richland County courtroom Tuesday and asked the judge to deny suspended lawyer Alex Murdaugh bond on two felony charges related to his late housekeeper’s estate.
Bland got what he wanted — for now.
“Today is the day that Alex Murdaugh needs to get comfortable being uncomfortable,” Bland told Judge Clifton Newman before the judge denied Murdaugh bond and ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation as a condition of bond being reconsidered later.
Bland’s lawsuit against Murdaugh on behalf of Gloria Satterfield’s two sons has become central to the state’s latest case against Murdaugh. Those sons were sitting behind Bland in court Tuesday.
Bland’s civil lawsuit, filed Sept. 15 in Hampton County, was full of many of the same specific details that the state Attorney General’s office and the S.C. Law Enforcement Division used in bringing their criminal charges last week against Murdaugh.
In 2018, Satterfield died from injuries she received from a fall at the Murdaugh’s family home.
Roughly $3.4 million was allegedly owed to her sons, money they never received.
Bland sued Beaufort attorney, Cory Fleming, who handled the estate, and Murdaugh after learning of accusations that Murdaugh took some $10 million from his former law firm. Murdaugh’s law license has been suspended by the state Supreme Court.
“I think it’s a good day for justice,” Bland said after the hearing, “as the arguments that my partner and I made about lawyers who mistreat and steal from their clients it’s a real stain on our profession, and I think that moved the court.”
Before Newman’s ruling Tuesday, state prosecutors and Bland proposed restrictions on Murdaugh.
They said his reported 20-year opioid addiction, selling of assets and the botched murder-for-hire plot should show the judge he is a danger to himself and to the community and that he is a flight risk.
“He is a clear and present danger to the citizens of this state and to my family,” Bland said.
Bland told the judge Tuesday that he did not believe the defense’s claim that Murdaugh has had an opioid addiction for 20 years. He compared Murdaugh’s actions to a person who walked into a bank and stole money.
“When somebody steals with a pen, it’s the same as someone stealing with a gun,” he said.
Bland called Murdaugh a “liar and a cheat” who stole from the family of the housekeeper who helped raise his kids.
Ronnie Richter, Bland’s law partner, said he was concerned that Murdaugh is now “dispossessing assets” — he referenced Murdaugh selling his membership in a hunt club on Oct. 1 and a Grady-White boat he allegedly has put up for sale.
“We’re not the only victims,” Richter said. “We’re the only ones here today.”
When asked by Newman what he thought Murdaugh’s bond should be, Richter said $4.3 million — the same amount Gloria Satterfield’s sons were supposed to receive.
Later, Richter said they would have accepted whatever decision was handed down, but this decision gave the Satterfield family a “taste of justice.”
“I really feel like the court appreciated the weight and gravity of this situation,” Richter said. “It was important to demonstrate that influence and power does not create a second tier of justice in this state, and I think that weighed heavily on the decision to withhold bond in this case.”
This story was originally published October 19, 2021 at 2:21 PM.
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