Black eye & busted knuckles unexplained in court today
During the hearing, Murdaugh maintained a steady look of consternation on his masked face.
Murdaugh faces 51 charges related to financial crimes and his alleged suicide-for-hire insurance fraud incident Labor Day weekend. According to the indictments that have already been issued, he is accused of stealing more than
$6.2 million in alleged schemes dating back to 2016.
He Stole Every Dime I Had’: Judge To Issue Written Decision In Alex Murdaugh’s Action-Packed Bond Hearing
Shocking testimony and angry arguments in today’s hearing.
After an hour and a half of tense arguments from the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office and Murdaugh’s attorneys, as well as testimony from witnesses, Lee informed the court that she would issue her ruling in writing before adjourning.
Harpootlian requested a five-figure bond for Murdaugh with the option to pay “up to 10 percent.”
The prosecution asked for the judge to keep the bond at $7 million with no option to pay 10 percent.
Four weeks after Judge
Alison Lee set
Alex Murdaugh‘s bond at
$7 million — with no option to pay 10 percent — the disgraced former attorney and his defense team appeared before Lee again Monday afternoon to ask her to reduce bond.
After an hour and a half of tense arguments from the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office and Murdaugh’s attorneys, as well as testimony from witnesses, Lee informed the court that she would issue her ruling in writing before adjourning.
The dramatic hearing included testimony from
John T. Lay, who is one of the attorneys assigned to comb through Murdaugh’s frozen assets;
Eric Bland and
Justin Bamberg, attorneys for several alleged victims of Murdaugh; and a South Carolina Highway Patrol lieutenant who was injured in the line of duty and went to Murdaugh for help with a workman’s compensation claim.
During the hearing, Murdaugh’s attorney state Sen. Dick Harpootlian told Lee — who has faced criticism for setting lenient bonds — to “do what she’s done.”
Harpootlian requested a five-figure bond for Murdaugh with the option to pay “up to 10 percent.”
The prosecution asked for the judge to keep the bond at $7 million with no option to pay 10 percent.
In powerful testimony,
Lt. Thomas E. Moore told the court that Murdaugh was always nice to him and he trusted him. Now, he has to face the fact that his attorney took advantage of him and stole money that he needed for his recovery.
“Here’s the problem …,” Moore said. “He treated me that nice — and he stole every dime I had from the injury occurred, I was working for the Highway Patrol, and was struck by a car and had to have three levels of my neck repaired, two levels fused, and one has artificial disc. And now there’s permanent nerve damage. There’s no question about that. And the injury is only going to get worse, it’s not going to get better.”
Moore spoke about the permanent injuries he suffered, his monthly medical bills and the financial distress he is dealing with because Murdaugh stole from his settlement.
https://www.fitsnews.com/2022/01/10...tten-decision-in-alex-murdaugh-bond-hearing/#
Four weeks after Judge
Alison Lee set
Alex Murdaugh‘s bond at
$7 million — with no option to pay 10 percent — the disgraced former attorney and his defense team appeared before Lee again Monday afternoon to ask her to reduce bond.
After an hour and a half of tense arguments from the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office and Murdaugh’s attorneys, as well as testimony from witnesses, Lee informed the court that she would issue her ruling in writing before adjourning.
The dramatic hearing included testimony from
John T. Lay, who is one of the attorneys assigned to comb through Murdaugh’s frozen assets;
Eric Bland and
Justin Bamberg, attorneys for several alleged victims of Murdaugh; and a South Carolina Highway Patrol lieutenant who was injured in the line of duty and went to Murdaugh for help with a workman’s compensation claim.
During the hearing, Murdaugh’s attorney state Sen. Dick Harpootlian told Lee — who has faced criticism for setting lenient bonds — to “do what she’s done.”
Harpootlian requested a five-figure bond for Murdaugh with the option to pay “up to 10 percent.”
The prosecution asked for the judge to keep the bond at $7 million with no option to pay 10 percent.
When Lee’s decision becomes available, we will publish it on FITSNews.com.
In powerful testimony,
Lt. Thomas E. Moore told the court that Murdaugh was always nice to him and he trusted him. Now, he has to face the fact that his attorney took advantage of him and stole money that he needed for his recovery.
“Here’s the problem …,” Moore said. “He treated me that nice — and he stole every dime I had from the injury occurred, I was working for the Highway Patrol, and was struck by a car and had to have three levels of my neck repaired, two levels fused, and one has artificial disc. And now there’s permanent nerve damage. There’s no question about that. And the injury is only going to get worse, it’s not going to get better.”
Moore spoke about the permanent injuries he suffered, his monthly medical bills and the financial distress he is dealing with because Murdaugh stole from his settlement. He said he is only working right now because he has to.
Moore also questioned how someone like Alex who supposedly has no money has two of the most expensive defense attorneys in South Carolina representing him.
“So I guess my thing is, if he didn’t have money, like some people are saying, and there’s so many questions about money, how does he have all these attorneys? These attorneys I’ve seen on TV and in the newspaper, but I couldn’t afford the hire them,” Moore said.
He shockingly told the judge that if Alex Murdaugh were to be released today, he wouldn’t be surprised if Murdaugh or one of his family members showed up at his house with a gun.
Moore said that if Murdaugh is released, he will either disappear, flee or “there will be more victims.”
During the hearing, prosecutor Creighton Waters made several references to Murdaugh’s jailhouse phone calls, in which the state accused him of behaving like a man who believed he had access to his assets, noting that Murdaugh mentioned his
$2.2 million retirement account and even told a family member to go ahead and spend money on golf.
“Those jail calls don’t seem to be from someone one who is destitute, who has less than $10,000,” prosecutor Creighton Waters said. “It’s very clear he is telling relatives go ahead and spend money. ‘I’ve already worked it out, I’m going to pay you back.’”
Waters said Alex Murdaugh is heard on jailhouse phone calls telling family members to spend money because “he has it worked out.” Specifically, Alex is heard on the phone telling relatives “you need me to send you $4,000 or $5,000 for golf? I don’t want you to play golf without at least being able to get some drinks at the bar and a souvenir shirt.”
In another call, Waters said Murdaugh is heard telling someone else that a relative is loaning him money.
Murdaugh’s attorney state Sen.
Dick Harpootlian also mentioned the jailhouse calls, referencing Murdaugh’s instructions to a family member to make a check payable to another inmate’s commissary account.
He said the $60 a week limit on commissary account deposits at Richland County Detention Center was challenging to Murdaugh.
“He’d like to get some more underwear,” Harpootlian said.
At times during the hearing, Harpootlian appeared to lose his temper and even berated Waters, accusing the state of using Murdaugh’s 48 financial charges as a “distraction” from their failure to solve the June murders of Murdaugh’s wife and son.
Calling media coverage of Murdaugh’s alleged crimes “paparazzi,” Harpootlian lashed out several times during the hearing and said that things had been “ginned up so much in the press that it’s denied Mr. Murdaugh the same treatment” as everyone else.
“He’s being punished because of his position in his community,”
In his arguments, Harpootlian used Bernie Madoff as an example of an accused criminal whose bond was nowhere near the amount he stole.
Murdaugh is accused of taking more than
$6.2 million from clients and his law firm so far. His bond was set at
$7 million.
“Bernie Madoff stole $65 billion. His bond was $10 million,” Harpootlian said.
Bamberg — who represents several victims, including the family of a deaf quadriplegic man from whom Murdaugh allegedly stole — said, “Bernie Madoff isn’t a South Carolina lawyer. Bernie Madoff didn’t live in South Carolina.”
Despite Harpootlian’s repeated assertions over the past month that Murdaugh has less than
$10,000 in his bank account and “limited assets,” Lay told the court about what most would consider to be significant assets, including a
$2.2 million retirement account, a
$360,000 retirement account from his father, other “substantial” inheritance from his father, the proceeds from his wife’s estate, as well as real estate of “substantial value.”
