Accident Law

Powerful SC family faces scrutiny following the boat crash that killed 19-12 months-vintage female

The night 19-12 months-vintage Mallory Beach died in a ship crash near Beaufort, investigators arrived at the health center to interview teens suspected of using the boat while drunk. The father and grandfather of one suspect unexpectedly showed up, telling officials they have been lawyers. They stopped all interviews and prevented the teenagers from taking any sobriety tests. The father and grandfather weren’t everyday citizens. They were members of one of the maximum powerful criminal households in South Carolina.

They have been the Murdaugh. Unlimited Digital Access: Only $zero.Ninety-nine For Your First Month. For nearly a century, the Murdaugh name has stood for three things throughout South Carolina: electricity, justice, and considerable money. Three generations of Murdaugh’s had been stating prosecutors, placing heaps of human beings in prison and sending extra than a dozen to loss of life row in a five-county, low-mendacity place of swamps, Spanish moss, and forests where moonshiners once plied a thriving alternate. And 12 months after 12 months, the family regulation firm in Hampton has gained millions of bucks in civil proceedings, relentlessly pursuing those at fault in deadly collisions.

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But in an ordinary twist of fate, four members of the Murdaugh dynasty at the moment are implicated within the deadly boat crash, exposing the youngest to possible crook costs and older generations to civil legal responsibility. The dominant family is within the highlight, like never earlier than. It started like this: on a cold, foggy February night time in a creek close to Beaufort, a 17-foot Triton boat slammed into a piling below a bridge that connects to the principal entrance of the U.S. Marine base at Parris Island. All six passengers, between 18 and 20 years old, were ejected. One never made it lower back to shore.

The frame of 19-12 months-vintage Mallory Beach, carried away with the aid of tides and currents, turned into located seven days later, in a marsh 5 miles from the crash web page. The coroner stated she obtained a blow to the pinnacle from the crash, after which she drowned. The five survivors have been defined as “grossly intoxicated,” a police record said. But none were given sobriety tests — the shortage of which has sparked outrage and questions within the network. The boat is owned via Alex Murdaugh, 50, a fourth-generation member of the dynasty, a partner within the circle of relatives regulation company, and component-time prosecutor for the 14th Circuit covering Allendale, Beaufort Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper counties.

Alex Murdaugh’s son, 19-year-old Paul Murdaugh, is a likely driving force, police reports display. A video posted to social media seems to reveal him riding sooner or later that night. Connor Cook, 19, changed into additionally named as a likely motive force. The case is now being investigated using the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Paul Murdaugh’s father and grandfather, former chief prosecutor Randolph Murdaugh III, are those who went to the clinic that night time and avoided the young adults from cooperating with law enforcement, consistent with DNR Capt. Robert McCullough.

Paul Murdaugh has, due to the fact, retained two high-profile criminal lawyers — Jim Griffin and Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland, both of Columbia. Connor Cook has maintained attorney Joe McCulloch of Columbia. None of them will remark. Meanwhile, the younger lady’s mother, Renee Beach, filed a wrongful death lawsuit on March 29 against three other individuals of the Murdaugh circle of relatives for allegedly turning a blind eye to underage drinking.

Paul Murdaugh is noted in the trial but not referred to using call. His older brother, father, and grandfather are, but. The Murdaughs had no comment approximately the lawsuit or the boat crash and its aftermath. The circle of relatives firm issued a blanket assertion for all questions about the boating incident: “Our thoughts and prayers have and could hold to go out to the Beach family, and all the families and pals tormented by this tragedy.”

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