Capital murder convictions trump all. Feds can just pound sand until AG Wilson is done with him. Once Wilson has gotten re-elected (or gotten his next office secured) the Feds can “habeus his corpus” all they want.
I am HIGHLY suspicious of the feds wanting to jump in and beat SC in these charges. I don’t trust them at all. It is becoming a partisan issue rather than a law and order issue as far as I am concerned, especially since Murdaugh’s primary attorney and the feds are representing the same party.
In the Feds statement on the charges they explicitly stated they want the public to regain trust in the system and stop self dealing attorneys. The position of the U.S. Attorney is a self dealing position. They are appointed to that position by the incoming President who appoints all state U.S. Attorneys. They change over every new President. The new state U.S. Attorney’s then go and hire assistant U.S. Attorneys beholden to them to work under them thus continuing the self dealing legacy. Is this lost on anyone else? Ohhh and by the way the President is beholden to his donors which is the only way to get elected fulfilling our self dealing system. WTF.
Several errors in the previous four comments and in the way Will Folks holds his i-phone to cause a blue glare on his eyeglasses. But any Will Folks look other than a baseball cap worn backward and indoors is an improvement.
Otherwise, I am NOT a lawyer; but:
1. Neither of Alex Murdaugh’s (“AM”) murder convictions is a “capital” one. The death penalty simply was never sought in that case. Short of a capital sentence, the Inter Agency Detainer Agreement (“IADA”) controls. In his 1 June 2023 federal arraignment hearing, AM was offered transfer of custody but declined it without prejudice, meaning he could accept it later.
2. Other than the District U.S. Attorney (him)herself, most, if not all lawyers in a U.S. attorney’s office are career employees, meaning they do not serve at the pleasure of the U.S. Attorney (or even the President) but can remain in office as long as they wish unless fired for cause, in which case, they have all the administrative and judicial remedies.
3. The District U.S. Attorney certainly has authority to fill vacancies in her/his office but is generally prohibited from patronage and nepotism in those non-political appointments. So, there can theoretically at least be no self-dealing there.
4. What “same party” is AM’s “primary attorney” representing along with the U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina? Such conflict of interest cannot possibly have been allowed by U.S. District Judge Gergel, to whom the Laffitte, Fleming, and Murdaugh criminal cases are assigned, and to whom also the Nautilus v. Murdaugh civil case is assigned.
In reply…yes, you are correct that a lot are great career employees and not part of this pool. It is also known that each new U.S. attorney hires their political side employees as assistant U.S. Attorneys. These hires load their resume with these positions and go on to work privately or pursue political ambitions with the A.U.S.A moniker as a highlight intro to the political world. There are many good people working in these positions that are frustrated with the nepotism and “traditional” self dealing of government jobs for the peoples positions.
6 comments
Capital murder convictions trump all. Feds can just pound sand until AG Wilson is done with him. Once Wilson has gotten re-elected (or gotten his next office secured) the Feds can “habeus his corpus” all they want.
I agree with you The Colonel. Murder convictions should trump any federal conviction.
I am HIGHLY suspicious of the feds wanting to jump in and beat SC in these charges. I don’t trust them at all. It is becoming a partisan issue rather than a law and order issue as far as I am concerned, especially since Murdaugh’s primary attorney and the feds are representing the same party.
I hope SC beats the Feds on this one.
In the Feds statement on the charges they explicitly stated they want the public to regain trust in the system and stop self dealing attorneys. The position of the U.S. Attorney is a self dealing position. They are appointed to that position by the incoming President who appoints all state U.S. Attorneys. They change over every new President. The new state U.S. Attorney’s then go and hire assistant U.S. Attorneys beholden to them to work under them thus continuing the self dealing legacy. Is this lost on anyone else? Ohhh and by the way the President is beholden to his donors which is the only way to get elected fulfilling our self dealing system. WTF.
Several errors in the previous four comments and in the way Will Folks holds his i-phone to cause a blue glare on his eyeglasses. But any Will Folks look other than a baseball cap worn backward and indoors is an improvement.
Otherwise, I am NOT a lawyer; but:
1. Neither of Alex Murdaugh’s (“AM”) murder convictions is a “capital” one. The death penalty simply was never sought in that case. Short of a capital sentence, the Inter Agency Detainer Agreement (“IADA”) controls. In his 1 June 2023 federal arraignment hearing, AM was offered transfer of custody but declined it without prejudice, meaning he could accept it later.
2. Other than the District U.S. Attorney (him)herself, most, if not all lawyers in a U.S. attorney’s office are career employees, meaning they do not serve at the pleasure of the U.S. Attorney (or even the President) but can remain in office as long as they wish unless fired for cause, in which case, they have all the administrative and judicial remedies.
3. The District U.S. Attorney certainly has authority to fill vacancies in her/his office but is generally prohibited from patronage and nepotism in those non-political appointments. So, there can theoretically at least be no self-dealing there.
4. What “same party” is AM’s “primary attorney” representing along with the U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina? Such conflict of interest cannot possibly have been allowed by U.S. District Judge Gergel, to whom the Laffitte, Fleming, and Murdaugh criminal cases are assigned, and to whom also the Nautilus v. Murdaugh civil case is assigned.
In reply…yes, you are correct that a lot are great career employees and not part of this pool. It is also known that each new U.S. attorney hires their political side employees as assistant U.S. Attorneys. These hires load their resume with these positions and go on to work privately or pursue political ambitions with the A.U.S.A moniker as a highlight intro to the political world. There are many good people working in these positions that are frustrated with the nepotism and “traditional” self dealing of government jobs for the peoples positions.