Attorney won’t ask SC Judge Mullen about role in alleged Murdaugh inheritance scheme

A Columbia attorney who earlier this week sent an email to state Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen requesting that she give a videotaped deposition in a case where she signed an order that distributed $4.3 million in inheritance proceeds from the estate of a deceased Murdaugh family housekeeper has withdrawn the request.

“It is not necessary at this time to go forward with taking Judge Mullen’s deposition,” said attorney Eric Bland on Wednesday afternoon.

It is highly unusual for lawyers to take judge’s depositions in cases over which they preside, and Mullen might have objected to sitting and answering questions about her actions in distributing $4.3 million from the estate of the late Murdaugh housekeepeer Gloria Satterfield.

Bland said he changed his mind for two reasons.

First, after he made his request to Mullen to appear Oct. 20 at the Beaufort County courthouse, Bland said he came into more evidence in his case against three defendants who are accused in a lawsuit of diverting the proceeds from Satterfield’s rightful heirs. The evidence proves his case and he no longer needs any testimony from Mullen about her actions, he said.

“We now know exactly what happened,” Bland said.

Second, Bland said, after saying he intended to take a Mullen’s videotaped deposition, he “took some heat” and “commentary” from people in the legal profession who objected strenuously to his trying to take the deposition of a judge. He declined to elaborate or identify the critics.

A deposition is a pre-trial sworn statement by people who are potential witnesses in civil cases. Judges preside over cases and are not often, if ever, called as witnesses in lawsuits that arise from their judicial decisions.

In May 2019, Mullen signed an order distributing $4.3 million to several entities, including designating that $2.7 million would go to Satterfield’s rightful heirs, her two sons Michael Satterfield and Brian Herriot.

But that $2.7 million wound up going to suspended attorney Alex Murdaugh and two of his friends, Beaufort attorney Cory Fleming and Hampton banker Chad Westendorf, according to a lawsuit Bland filed in September against Murdaugh, Fleming and Westendorf.

Most of the rest of the $4.3 million went to Fleming and his law firm, Bland’s lawsuit alleges.

In an interview Wednesday, Bland said Mullen acted properly and that she was misled by Murdaugh, Fleming and Westendorf.

Satterfield’s two sons say they never got any money from their mother’s estate. They are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that Bland brought against Murdaugh, Fleming and Westendorf. The lawsuit, filed in September in Hampton County, contends the three men were part of a plan to divert the money from Satterfield’s sons.

Satterfield died in injuries received from a fall at Alex Murdaugh’s house, according to Bland’s lawsuit.

After her death, Murdaugh told Satterfield’s two sons that he had insurance that would make a payment to their mother’s estate, and the sons would receive the inheritance from the estate, the lawsuit contends.

Murdaugh then recruited two friends — Fleming and Westendorf — who would assist him in filing insurance claims and handling the money from the insurance, the lawsuit said. No lawsuit was ever filed.

In May, 2019, Fleming and Westendorf went to see Mullen and got her to sign an order distributing $4.3 million. The order said that $2.7 million would go to Satterfield’s “beneficiaries,” meaning her two sons, according to the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, in a related matter, Murdaugh’s former firm PMPED announced Wednesday afternoon it is suing him.

A lawsuit in the case alleges that “for several years Murdaugh submitted false documentation to the firm and to clients that allowed him to funnel stolen funds into fraudulent bank accounts. In addition the suit states, Murdaugh, on occasion, used firm assets in an unauthorized manner and without the consent or knowledge of his former partners to further his scheme to defraud.

“The filing seeks discovery on where the ill-gotten funds went and if any of it is hidden away. In addition, the firm is requesting to know whether Murdaugh has entered into any agreements that involve future payments related to books, interviews or other publicity,” according to an announcement by the firm.

The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating both Satterfield’s death and the handling of the $4.3 million in insurance proceeds resulting from her death.

This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 2:45 PM.