Murdaugh case shows there’s a need to kick legislator-lawyers out of courtroom | Opinion

They think we don’t see them.

Or that we’re too dumb to care.

But the whole world now sees lawyers making a farce of justice in the Murdaugh cases of death and deceit that have rattled the South Carolina Lowcountry like a hurricane shaking a palmetto.

The problem is the power brokers know the bottom line: There’s not a thing we can do about it but cringe.

It is egregious that at least two lawyers who also are powerful state legislators are working the courts in the bundle of cases to wash up so far in connection with the Murdaugh family of Hampton.

Justice involving the Murdaughs was already in doubt because they controlled the criminal justice system in this five-county area for 87 years as lead prosecutors for three generations.

And now anyone looking for justice is blinded by the oversized presence of state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Columbia, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and state House Ways and Means Chairman Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, who chairs the legislature’s Judicial Merit Selection Commission, working the courtrooms.

That should be against the law.

Their mere presence — which is not against the law and, in fact, fits neatly within the legislature’s concept of ethical behavior — makes a cartoonish farce of the notion that all parties are treated equally in our criminal justice system.

Welcome to South Carolina.

South Carolina ‘justice’

Remember that South Carolina is one of only two states where the legislators elect most judges.

Legislators, therefore, control the livelihoods of all judges who will preside over any criminal or civil cases to come of the Murdaugh mayhem, which, so far, totals five deaths, a so-called fake suicide, millions of missing dollars and allegations of backroom chicanery among lawyers and judges.

So, right off, any state legislator working a courtroom has a heavy thumb on the scales of justice.

They apparently think we peons don’t get that.

But it gets worse.

The legislature’s Judicial Merit Selection Commission, chaired by Murrell Smith, decides which candidates for a judgeship are taken to the legislature for a vote.

And that brings us to this lovely recent scene in our halls of justice: Smith standing before a judge who faces reelection next year.

Smith, who sees not conflict in that scene, represents a defendant in a wrongful death civil lawsuit.

The suit was filed by the mother of 19-year-old Mallory Beach. She was killed in the 2019 crash of a boat owned by Alex Murdaugh, allegedly driven by his drunken son Paul Murdaugh, who faced three felony charges in the case before he and his mother were shot to death June 7.

Paul Murdaugh was represented by Harpootlian, who now represents Alex Murdaugh, who faces criminal charges in connection with his alleged scheme to have himself killed after being accused of “misappropriating” millions from the family law firm, Peters Murdaugh Parker Eltzroth and Detrick (PMPED) in Hampton.

The convenience store where underage Paul Murdaugh bought beer the afternoon prior to the fatal boat crash on foggy Archer’s Creek is a defendant in the wrongful death lawsuit.

Which brings up another potential conflict.

An argument for change

The owner of the convenience store chain has recently lobbied the state legislature to change state law to better protect businesses from having to pay a disproportionate share of damages awarded to plaintiffs because they have money when others do not.

It’s a good point, but a legislature controlled by lawyers was unreceptive.

But it has long been a potential conflict when legislators are hired by people with a personal interest in legislation.

In the good old days, not that long ago, the most powerful state legislators were put on retainer by the utilities, giving the old boys an extra paycheck.

That practice was banned.

With all the attention the Murdaughs have now brought to this area (we’ve even been graced by Nancy Disgrace), it’s hard to remember that what’s on trial here is justice itself.

And if justice is to ever prevail in this state, legislators need to get out of the courtroom.

Sitting legislators should not be allowed to practice law.

Like that will happen. I’m told that 30% of the House and 40% of the Senate consists of lawyers.

And it would cost us two of our best — state Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, and state Rep. Weston Newton, R-Bluffton.

But something has got to change.

Former Gov. Carroll Campbell argued for that specific change, and it’s a good idea.

Campbell was not a lawyer. He was a successful businessman, a congressman at 30, and two-term governor from 1987 to 1995 who brought the Republican Party back into vogue in South Carolina.

He worked hard to wrestle some of the power in this state away from the legislative branch and onto the executive branch. He did this amid the legislature’s disgraceful “Lost Trust” vote-buying scandal.

He also saw a need to curb the legislature’s lock on the judicial branch.

He was right. Now we can all see why he thought that. And we’re not too dumb to care.

David Lauderdale may be contacted at LauderdaleColumn@gmail.com.

This story was originally published October 2, 2021 at 9:00 AM.