Court Digest

South Carolina
Alex Murdaugh’s friend gets almost 4 years in prison for helping steal from his dead maid’s family

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A longtime friend of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was sentenced Tuesday to nearly four years in prison for scheming to steal millions of dollars in insurance settlements from the sons of Murdaugh’s dead housekeeper.

Cory Fleming said he knew the lawyer now serving a life sentence for killing his wife and son was going to steal something from the family, but he thought it might be $100,000 — not the entire $4 million-plus award.

Federal judge Richard Gergel sentenced Fleming to 46 months in prison, which was the lower end of the sentencing guidelines. Fleming, 54, turned himself in to federal marshals and immediately began serving his time.

Fleming and his law firm made about $675,000 over the settlement, which has since been paid back, according to court records.

Fleming is the second associate of Murdaugh sent to prison since investigators began scrutinizing every aspect of his life in June 2021 after his wife and son were shot to death at their South Carolina home. Murdaugh was convicted of their murders and is serving life in state prison.

Banker Russell Laffitte was sentenced to seven years in prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to helping Murdaugh steal money from settlements the now disbarred attorney got for clients after vehicle wrecks or work injuries. Laffitte is appealing his conviction and sentence.

While Fleming knew Murdaugh was asking him to do wrong, he said he didn’t realize the depth of his old friend’s depravity.

Murdaugh still faces more than 100 charges in state and federal courts for crimes prosecutors say range from stealing from clients and his family’s law firm to running a drug and money laundering ring to tax evasion to unsuccessfully arranging for someone to kill him so his surviving son could get life insurance money.

In Fleming’s case, the victims were Gloria Satterfield and her two sons. Satterfield cleaned the Murdaugh’s house, babysat their two sons and did anything else the family asked for more than 20 years. She died after hitting her head in a fall at the home in February 2018.

Murdaugh promised the sons, who were young adults, he would take care of them and recommended they hire Fleming as their lawyer. He didn’t tell them Fleming was a longtime friend, college roommate and godfather of one of his sons.

Murdaugh told insurance companies that Satterfield tripped over their dogs and convinced them to pay more than $4 million to what they thought was Satterfield’s estate through Fleming. But instead, Murdaugh had Fleming send the checks to him. The sons didn’t see a dime until Murdaugh’s finances began to unravel and they hired a different attorney.

Fleming surrendered his license to practice law in both Georgia and South Carolina, saying he dishonored the profession.

Dozens of letters from friends. family and colleagues talking about Fleming’s charity work, kind heart and willingness to help others were filed with the court.

Fleming pleaded guilty in May to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He faces similar state charges in the theft from Satterfield’s family and South Carolina prosecutors have said they plan to bring him to trial in September.


Louisiana
Parole board recommends release for woman convicted in her baby’s death

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana’s pardon board has recommended release for a woman serving a life sentence for second-degree murder in the November 2005 malnutrition death of her 5-month-old baby.

It will be up to Gov. John Bel Edwards to decide whether to commute the sentence of Tiffany Woods, now 43. The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported that the board’s recommendation came over the strong objection of a state prosecutor, who evoked haunting images of the child in pre-autopsy photos.

A state judge convicted Woods and the baby’s father in 2006 in Caddo Parish in northwest Louisiana, where the couple had fled to ahead of Hurricane Katrina. The storm hit southeast Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2005, leading to catastrophic flooding in New Orleans when levees failed.

Woods told the board Monday that she made poor choices and mistakes while suffering depression and stress during the evacuation — including giving the sickly infant, who had been born prematurely in June 2005, cow’s milk instead of infant formula. She had three other children at the time.

Arguing against clemency was prosecutor Suzanne Ellis, who said Woods never accepted responsibility for her baby’s death until Monday’s hearing.

“I will go to my grave remembering this baby,” Ellis said. “This baby was the most pitiful thing I have seen in 26 years. Please do not give her an opportunity at release. Do not give her an opportunity to harm another child, because I am convinced that if she can, she will.”

Ellis said lack of money was not the problem in the household. She said the baby was not taken to a doctor despite obvious deteriorating health.

Woods’ four other children supported her release. Three, including one born after the storm, were with her at the hearing, and a fourth appeared by video from Alaska, where he serves in the U.S. Air Force, according to The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate.

Monday’s meeting was held online. Woods participated from the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women in Baker, where Warden Kristen Thomas said she was a “low-risk, low-need” inmate.

“We really don’t have any issues with Ms. Woods,” Thomas said, describing her as a “jack of all trades” who is “very helpful for us on the compound.”

Board member Curtis “Pete” Fremin said Woods had only a minor disciplinary record in prison, her last writeup coming a dozen years ago.

Kerry Myers, director of the Louisiana Parole Project, told the board the organization was set to house Thomas while she adjusts to release if Edwards commutes the sentence.


Texas
Woman accused of threatening to kill judge in Trump election case and a congresswoman

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas woman was arrested and has been charged with threatening to kill the federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former President Donald Trump in Washington and a member of Congress.

Abigail Jo Shry of Alvin, Texas, called the federal courthouse in Washington and left the threatening message — using a racist term for U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan — on Aug. 5, court records show. Investigators traced her phone number and she later admitted to making the threatening call, according to a criminal complaint.

In the call, Shry told the judge, who is overseeing the election conspiracy case against Trump, “You are in our sights, we want to kill you,” the documents said. Prosecutors allege Shry also said, “If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you,” and she threatened to kill U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat running for mayor of Houston, according to court documents.

A judge earlier this week ordered Shry jailed. Court records show Shry is represented by the Houston public defender’s office, which did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Wednesday.

Trump has publicly assailed Chutkan, a former assistant public defender who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, calling her “highly partisan” and “ VERY BIASED & UNFAIR!” because of her past comments in a separate case overseeing the sentencing of one of the defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Chutkan in a hearing Friday imposed a protective order in the case limiting what evidence handed over by prosecutors the former president and his legal team can publicly disclose. She warned Trump’s lawyers that his defense should be mounted in the courtroom and “not on the internet.”


California
Ex-mayor to plead guilty in federal corruption case

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — The former mayor of the Southern California city of Anaheim agreed Wednesday to plead guilty to obstructing an FBI corruption investigation into the $150 million sale of Angel Stadium to the owner of the Major League Baseball team, federal prosecutors announced.

Harish “Harry” Singh Sidhu acknowledged in a plea agreement that he provided confidential city information to people working for the Angels while serving on the city’s negotiating team for the deal, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.
The information was intended to help the team buy the stadium under favorable terms.

“Sidhu later was recorded saying he expected a $1 million campaign contribution from the Angels after the baseball club purchased Angel Stadium,” the statement said.

The charges to which Sidhu will plead guilty — including obstruction of justice, wire fraud and lying to authorities — carry a combined maximum possible penalty of 40 years in federal prison.

Sidhu “appreciates the thorough and fair investigation by the United States attorney’s office leading to a resolution in this matter,” his attorney, Paul S. Meyer, said in a statement.

Marie Garvey, spokesperson for the Angels, said in a statement Wednesday that “it is important to note both the plea agreement along with the city’s investigation showed no evidence of any wrongdoing by the Angels organization.”

Sidhu, 66, resigned as mayor last year after word broke that he was under federal investigation. The day that he resigned, the City Council voted to void a 2020 agreement to sell the city-owned ballpark and 151 acres (61 hectares) to Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno and his business partnership for development.

Under that deal, Moreno would have paid $325 million but would only pay about $150 million in cash while his company would receive a $170 credit for including some 500 units of affordable housing and a park in the redeveloped land surrounding the stadium.

In return, the team would have committed to stay in Anaheim through 2050.

After the deal collapsed, Moreno and the Angels began exploring a possible sale of the team — which outraged fans in the Orange County city of 345,000 — but announced in January that a sale was off the table.

“We realized our hearts remain with the Angels, and we are not ready to part ways with the fans, players, and our employees,” Moreno said in a statement at the time.

Sidhu had denied wrongdoing, saying his negotiations were lawful and in the city’s best interests. But in his plea agreement, prosecutors said he acknowledged deleting emails and documents related to the sale and lying to FBI agents about the negotiations.

Sidhu also admitted “cheating California tax authorities and making false statements to the Federal Aviation Administration in relation to his purchase of a helicopter,” the U.S. attorney’s office statement said.

Sidhu will plead guilty to one count of obstruction of justice, one count of wire fraud and two counts of making false statements to the FBI and the FAA. No sentencing date was announced.

“Mr. Sidhu was elected by and pledged to work for the residents of Anaheim, but he violated that pledge and their trust on numerous occasions to look out for special interests,” said Donald Alway, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.