Eric Bland says state has 'met their burden' in Alex Murdaugh prosecution
Lawyer for sons of Murdaugh housekeeper tells 'America Reports' disgraced S.C. attorney likely culpable in double murder.
The attorney representing the kin of the late housekeeper for Alex Murdaugh said Thursday he believes the prosecution has met its burden of proof in the double murder trial of the South Carolina legal scion.
Housekeeper Gloria Satterfield's son had testified that Murdaugh filed insurance claims over his mother's death and kept the payouts for himself. Satterfield, a longtime housekeeper for the Murdaughs, died in 2018 after reportedly falling in the family's house,
Eric Bland, the attorney representing Satterfield's sons, told "America Reports" that Murdaugh did not confess to lying about the insurance money until very recently.
"He didn't give us the money. We had to sue a lot of other culpable parties, and we recovered over $7.5 million," Bland said. "In fact, when he was charged with Gloria's crime last year, last year, he pled not guilty. So it wasn't until he gave a confession of judgment to us in April of 2022 where he agreed to the judgment, but he still was pleading not guilty to the actual crime that was charged."
ALEX MURDAUGH EMBEZZLED FROM DEAF QUADRIPLEGIC, PATROLMAN INJURED IN LINE OF DUTY: LAWYER
Alex Murdaugh is led out of the Colleton County courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Murdaugh is on trial for the double slaying of his son, Paul, and wife, Maggie, in June 2021. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)
When asked about the high-profile murder trial, Bland said prosecutors for the state of South Carolina did their job well.
"I think the prosecution has more than met their burden. Circumstantial evidence is every bit as good as direct evidence," he said. "And why would an innocent man lie about the most material fact of being at the kennel minutes before your wife and son were killed and then tell those lies to your only surviving son for two years later?"
"And it was only when the devil was at the door last Thursday that he finally came clean and said, 'I've been lying to the world. I've lied to my son and everybody else. I'd been a drug addict, a thief and a liar. But today is the day I'm going to tell you the truth,'" Bland added.
Bland said he has not heard from people who believe Murdaugh to be innocent, with the closest sentiments being that of the former Democratic solicitor being guilty but with the state having not met its burden of proof in a court of law.
"It's going to be interesting to see about the jury deliberations. We lost another juror this morning," Bland said.
"There's been some contentious comments between jurors as they're exiting and going back to the jury room. I think we're going to see a lot of fireworks coming from that jury room over the next couple of days."
BODY OF ALEX MURDAUGH'S HOUSEKEEPER TO BE EXHUMED
Tony Satterfield prepares to take the stand during Alex Murdaugh’s trial for murder at the Colleton County Courthouse on Thursday, February 9, 2023. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Pool)
Bland later concluded that if the case ends in a hung jury, prosecutors may elect to go forward with other pending financial crime cases against Murdaugh, which the counsel said could potentially add up to 99 charges and 999 years in prison.
"Then they'll make a decision. Do we go forward and spend the millions of dollars that they spent already to retry him for murder? I don't think he will ever be retried for murder if there's a hung jury."
Gloria Satterfield, who worked for the Murdaugh family for more than 20 years as a nanny and housekeeper, died at a hospital on Feb. 26, 2018. She was 57. She never regained consciousness weeks after Maggie Murdaugh placed a 911 call on Feb. 2, 2018, claiming that her housekeeper tripped up steps outside the home at the Moselle, S.C., estate.
At his housekeeper’s funeral, Alex Murdaugh allegedly convinced Satterfield’s sons that the alleged accident was his fault and that the two should sue him through attorney Corey Fleming for an insurance payout. But the two sons later alleged years went by without them hearing anything about the money.