Judge denies state’s request for alcohol monitoring on Murdaugh at Beaufort boat crash hearing
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2019 Boat Crash Coverage
The crash of a Murdaugh family boat in 2019 killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach and started a chain of events that would remain in the news two years later. Here are the stories from that crash.
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This story first published July 29, 2019.
The 20-year-old from a powerful South Carolina family who pleaded not guilty in May to charges in the Beaufort-area boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach and injured others in February will be allowed to travel anywhere in the state, a judge ruled Monday. He also will not be subjected to alcohol monitoring.
A judge approved a request Monday to change the only restriction in the original bond agreement and rejected prosecutors’ request for monitoring.
The judge also re-emphasized that Paul Murdaugh, of Hampton, facing three charges of felony boating under the influence, should have no contact with witnesses or victims in the case, whether in person, over text or over social media. Any infraction of the order, the judge noted, would result in Murdaugh’s arrest.
Murdaugh appeared Monday morning in front of Judge Michael G. Nettles of the 12th Judicial Circuit of Florence and Marion counties at the Beaufort County Courthouse. Murdaugh attorney Jim Griffin argued that Murdaugh needed to have his bond agreement changed so he can return to the University of South Carolina in Columbia this fall. The agreement prohibited him from traveling outside the 14th Judicial Circuit.
Megan Burchstead, a prosecutor with the S.C. Attorney General’s Office, told Nettles that, while the state recognized the request as “reasonable,” it was asking that Murdaugh be monitored for alcohol consumption.
Burchstead said the state had concerns about Murdaugh’s ability to refrain from drinking when he returns to college in Columbia.
“At bond, we stated to the court we were concerned about stress and the use of alcohol and the potential abuse of it and the potential harm to the community,” she said. “Specifically, if he is going to college, most of us who have been to college understand the potential peer pressure for alcohol.”
Griffin said Murdaugh has not violated his bond agreement in the past three months.
“Paul’s under 21. The condition of his current bond is that he not violate the law. It is illegal for him to drink,” Griffin said. “This case has gotten a lot of media attention and scrutiny. ... If there was any indication he was drinking alcohol underage, I’m confident the attorney general’s office would learn about that.”
On behalf of the Beach family’s attorney, Burchstead also asked that the judge re-emphasize the order barring Murdaugh from contacting any of the witnesses or victims.
Beach’s father, Phillip, and stepmother were present in the courtroom Monday, but did not want to speak at the hearing.
Murdaugh attended the hearing with his father, Alexander Murdaugh, who is owner of the boat. He also did not address the judge.
“There’s been no indication that he’s been in contact with the victims, correct?” Nettles asked.
Burchstead hesitated briefly before saying there had been “nothing unpleasant ... but we would rather it be no contact.”
Griffin indicated it would be easier for Murdaugh to avoid the witnesses and victims in the case if Murdaugh weren’t required to remain only in the 14th Circuit, where the witnesses and victims live.
Burchstead also asked the judge to consider an increase in bond or alcohol/ GPS monitoring.
Murdaugh’s attorney said the alcohol-monitoring device is usually reserved for DUI cases.
“This is a boating accident,” Griffin said, “not a car accident. People drive cars every day. They don’t drive boats every day.”
Nettles denied the state’s request for a higher bond and GPS monitoring. He approved Murdaugh’s request to travel and live anywhere in the state unrestricted.
The hearing lasted less than 10 minutes.
The bond agreement
Griffin and Murdaugh’s other attorney, state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, filed the motion last week asking the court to allow Murdaugh to travel anywhere within South Carolina so that he may “attend college, work, live, consult with his attorneys and for any other lawful purpose,” according to court records.
Originally, Murdaugh, who pleaded not guilty in May, was ordered not to leave the 14th Judicial Circuit — Beaufort, Hampton, Allendale, Colleton and Jasper counties — without permission from the court while he awaits trial.
He was released on a $50,000 recognizance bond. Even though Murdaugh faces BUI charges, the state did not restrict him from drinking alcohol or driving a boat.
In some DUI cases involving defendants under the drinking age, such as that of a S.C. 17-year-old accused of killing another teen while driving drunk the same week of Murdaugh’s hearing, a judge will require the defendant to wear an alcohol-detecting ankle monitor while awaiting trial.
Beaufort County court records show Murdaugh received a citation for “purchase or possession of beer or wine by a minor” by a South Carolina Department of Natural Resources officer on May 29, 2017. The charges were dismissed on July 5, 2018, after Murdaugh was sentenced to an alcohol-diversion program. This charge was not mentioned at Murdaugh’s bond hearing in May when discussing his criminal background, nor was it discussed on Monday.
At the hearing Monday, Griffin said Murdaugh is a sophomore at the University of South Carolina. Officials at the university confirmed in May that Murdaugh has been enrolled there for three semesters and has declared criminology as his major.
Attorney General Alan Wilson’s Office decided to prosecute the case after current 14th Judicial Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone’s office recused itself the day after the crash. Three of the occupants of the boat, including Murdaugh, are related to current solicitor’s office employees.
The case
A Beaufort County grand jury directly indicted Murdaugh on April 18 — what would have been Beach’s 20th birthday — on one count of boating under the influence causing death and two counts of boating under the influence causing great bodily injury.
For the BUI charges causing great bodily injury, Murdaugh faces up to 15 years in prison with a minimum sentence of 30 days for each count. For the fatal BUI charge, Murdaugh faces up to 25 years in prison with a minimum sentence of one year, according to South Carolina law.
Beach, also of Hampton, was ejected from the 17-foot boat Murdaugh is accused of driving when it crashed into a bridge around 2:20 a.m. Feb. 24 in Archers Creek. Her body was found a week later in a marshy area about 5 miles from the crash.
The five surviving passengers in the boat, including Murdaugh, were injured, according to police reports. Law enforcement officers at the scene also noted that all five appeared to be “grossly intoxicated,” according to a Port Royal Police Department report.
The boat was traveling at a high rate of speed when it struck the bridge, according audio between emergency officials that night.
A sobriety test was not offered to any of the boaters at the scene the night of the accident, Robert McCullough of SCDNR previously told the Packet. It also was unknown to law enforcement investigators at the time who was driving the boat.
He was taken to Beaufort Memorial Hospital, where S.C.South Carolina Department of Natural Resources officers say Randolph and Alexander Murdaugh blocked investigators from questioning him and another boater who had also been identified as a possible driver, agency officials later said.
The elder Murdaughs also told investigators that neither Paul Murdaugh nor the other boater would submit to sobriety tests, DNR officials have said.
Two judges in the 14th Judicial Circuit, Judge Perry Buckner and Judge Carmen T. Mullen, recused themselves in April from a wrongful death case filed by Beach’s mom, Renee Beach.
From 1920 to 2006, three generations of Murdaughs have held the elected position of solicitor of the 14th Judicial Circuit.
Randolph Murdaugh III served as solicitor from 1986 to 2006 and is now a contract employee with the solicitor’s office, according to the office’s spokesperson Jeff Kidd.
Paul Murdaugh’s father, Alexander Murdaugh, is a prominent Hampton County attorney. He assists with cases in the solicitor’s office but is not a paid employee, Kidd previously told the Island Packet.
At the bond hearing in May, Murdaugh was never handcuffed. His jail mugshot, taken with an iPhone 7 Plus in the hallway of the courthouse, shows he was wearing regular clothes. Other defendants typically are booked at the detention center wearing orange jumpsuits.
The case has drawn widespread media attention, as well as outrage on social media. Commenters are looking for any perceived special treatment given to Murdaugh.
The lawsuit
Mallory’s mother, Renee Beach, filed a wrongful death suit in Hampton County on March 29. Mark Tinsley, Beach’s attorney, filed an amended complaint in the case on May 24, removing several of the defendants from the lawsuit.
The suit blames Paul Murdaugh’s father, identified as Richard Alexander Murdaugh in court documents, and his older brother, Richard Alexander Murdaugh Jr., for allowing the 20-year-old to use false identification to obtain alcohol before the fatal crash. Paul Murdaugh is not named in the suit.
The recently amended lawsuit also accuses Parker’s 55 convenience store in Ridgeland of selling the alcoholic beverages to Paul Murdaugh on Feb. 23.
Tinsley of Gooding and Gooding law firm in Allendale, previously said he didn’t plan to sue the driver of the boat because he believed Paul Murdaugh lacked money.
While the initial lawsuit painted a more detailed picture of the timeline of events that allegedly took place in the last hours of Beach’s life, the new lawsuit focuses solely on Murdaugh’s family members and Parker’s — eliminating all of the defendants who were accused of allowing the boaters drink on their properties.
This story was originally published July 29, 2019 at 11:47 AM with the headline "Judge denies state’s request for alcohol monitoring on Murdaugh at Beaufort boat crash hearing."
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