Could justice be coming to SC families affected by the Murdaughs’ criminal and civil cases?

At Alex Murdaugh’s late October bail hearing, attorney Ronnie Richter said a judge’s decision not to grant Murdaugh bail gave his clients “some taste of justice.”

His clients, the family of Murdaugh’s late housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, have been waiting for justice for years.

Murdaugh has become the subject of multiple investigations and multiple news stories as each new twist in his complicated story is made public.

The once prominent attorney from a wealthy family has been the subject of profiles in everything from People magazine and the New York Times to NBC’s Dateline program.

But back in 2018, the Satterfield family believed Murdaugh when he said they could sue him and win an award from his insurance company following Satterfield’s death, but the family is still waiting for the multi-million settlement, the proceeds of which Murdaugh apparently diverted to his own bank accounts.

That’s why Judge Dan Hall’s Tuesday order to freeze Murdaugh’s assets and place them in receivership is good news for his victims.

Reporters John Monk and Jake Shore noted in their story Tuesday that “The judge’s order came in response to a motion by attorney Mark Tinsley, who represents the estate of Mallory Beach, to appoint receivers to oversee Murdaugh’s assets in a pending wrongful death lawsuit in which Beach’s estate seeks damages from Murdaugh.”

In that case, Paul Murdaugh, who was murdered on June 7 along with his mother Maggie, had been charged with driving the boat that Beach was in when it crashed in 2019.

Attorney Eric Bland, who also represents the Satterfield family, said, “You are seeing our justice system act in a way it’s designed to act, to protect victims and people who have been defrauded.”

That’s meaningful for South Carolinians who have watched this case from afar to see if the legal system we rely on serves all of us, including the wealthy and the well-connected, equally.

We don’t know what the next revelation in the Murdaugh saga might be, but Tuesday’s ruling gives us hope that, in this case at least, it can.

This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 1:15 PM.