Judge separates Murdaugh from Parker’s convenience stores in fatal boat crash trial

Disbarred lawyer Alex Murdaugh has been dropped as a defendant in an upcoming wrongful death trial involving the deadly boat crash that killed Mallory Beach, a 19-year-old Hampton County woman.

That 2019 crash, which was followed by numerous investigations, began the unraveling of the once-respected image of the prominent Murdaugh family, who for generations had been political, legal and law enforcement powers in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. The boat was allegedly piloted by Paul Murdaugh, a 19-year-old fifth generation member of the Murdaugh dynasty.

Now, Renee Beach, Mallory’s mother who represents her daughter’s estate, will have a trial where the only remaining defendant before the jury is the corporation Gregory M. Parker Inc., which owns a chain of convenience stores whose questionable sale of beer and hard seltzer to an underage Paul Murdaugh allegedly led to Mallory’s death.

The trial is set to begin Oct. 10 in Hampton County before state Judge Daniel Hall, who severed Murdaugh from the case Wednesday morning. Murdaugh will still go on trial in the case — just not with Parker.

A second trial would likely be held at a later date with Murdaugh and other Murdaughs, or their estates, as defendants.

Hall did not write an opinion explaining why he severed the Murdaughs from the trial. In a terse order, he wrote only that he made the decision “after careful consideration.”

Mallory Beach died in late February 2019 during a wild ride in a boat allegedly piloted by an intoxicated Paul Murdaugh, the then-19-year-old son of Alex Murdaugh. The boat crashed into a piling off Beaufort Bay, and Mallory was thrown into the water and drowned. Evidence in the case allegedly shows that Paul Murdaugh bought alcohol at a Parker’s convenience story earlier that night using his older brother’s ID.

Not having Murdaugh as a co-defendant at the Oct. 10 trial is a victory for Gregory M. Parker Inc., which fought to get Parker out of any joint case tried before a jury.

Widespread publicity about Murdaugh, a disbarred attorney facing murder and numerous fraud charges, would hurt Parker’s chances of a fair trial, Parker’s lawyers had argued in an Aug. 19 motion. Murdaugh is accused of killing his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, at their rural estate in Colleton County in 2021.

Those criminal charges and the “unprecedented national and international sensationalism by the media of the Murdaugh family” are potentially “the most divisive and publicized proceedings in the history of the South Carolina judiciary,” but they don’t have anything to do with Beach’s death and will prejudice any jury, Parker’s motion said.

“Parker’s is constitutionally entitled to a fair trial by an impartial and unbiased jury,” the motion said.

Pankaj Shere, an attorney for Parker’s, said in a statement, “We are looking forward to presenting our case to a jury next month and exonerating Tajeeha Cohen and Parker’s.”

Cohen, who is not a defendant in the Beach lawsuit, was the clerk who sold the underage Paul Murdaugh alcohol he was not eligible to buy, according to legal filings and news reports. She is likely to be a witness in the trial. The Beach lawsuit does not name her, but alleges that Parker’s didn’t train employees to follow multiple accepted procedures to ascertain a buyer’s correct age.

Ruling a setback for Beach family

Hall’s ruling is a setback for Mark Tinsley, the Allendale lawyer who had fought for a trial that would have had both Parker’s and Murdaugh as defendants.

Tinsley wrote in an Aug. 30 motion that severing Murdaugh from the case will burden the Beach family with two trials on the same set of facts, forcing them “to endure and relive the horrific events of their daughter’s death and the unbearable recounting of the week-long search for her body.”

“No family should have to deal with such despicable acts in seeking justice for the death of their daughter,” Tinsley wrote.

Tinsley’s motion also said that severing Murdaugh from the upcoming trial would deprive the Beach family of the chance to collect monetary damages under the South Carolina legal doctrine of “joint and several liability” in cases where intoxication and the sale of alcohol is involved.

That means if there are two defendants in such a case, and one of them cannot pay the jury award, the other defendant is fully responsible for paying the entire amount, Tinsley wrote.

Severing Murdaugh and having two separate trials goes against the long-established “joint and several liability” doctrine, Tinsley wrote, because if juries in two separate trials deliver verdicts against both Parker’s and Murdaugh, “ How will the Court enforce the law of joint and several liability? The answer is clear. It cannot be done. It is impossible,” Tinsley wrote.

Tinsley indicated Wednesday an appeal is being considered.

“We are weighing our options to make the best decision we can about where we go from here given the court’s ruling. At this point, I plan on asking the judge to reconsider his ruling in hopes that the family won’t be put through two full trials,” Tinsley said.

“The Beach family wants to hold everyone who contributed to the death of their daughter accountable in one trial,” he said.

The Beach’s lawsuit originally had other defendants but most or all have reached out-of-court settlements with the family.

Alex Murdaugh was listed as a defendant because he allegedly encouraged a culture of drinking for his son Paul and was the owner of the boat the teens were riding in when it crashed.

Also listed as current defendants are Buster Murdaugh, Alex’s adult son who allegedly gave younger brother Paul his driver’s license so Paul could buy beer and hard seltzer, and the estates of the late Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh, both of whom allegedly contributed to Mallory’s death. Alex Murdaugh and his late wife owned the boat Paul was driving, according to evidence in the case.

Alex Murdaugh is being held without bond in the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County on charges he killed his wife and son in June 2021.

Besides Shere, Parker’s other lawyers are S.C. House of Representatives Speaker Murrell Smith, Sharonda Barnes, Mitchell Appleby and David Williford.