Judge unloads $176K penalty on Murdaugh podcaster Mandy Matney after finding subpoena defiance

A South Carolina justice recovered Alex Murdaugh transgression newsman and podcaster Mandy Matney successful civilian contempt and ordered her to wage $171,500 successful attorneys' fees and costs, positive a $5,000 fine, aft concluding she willfully refused to comply with a subpoena successful litigation tied to the Murdaugh family.

In a 22-page bid filed Monday, Circuit Judge R. Keith Kelly concluded Matney deliberately disregarded a valid subpoena and anterior tribunal bid requiring her to look for a deposition, rejecting her assertion that information concerns justified her refusal.

The contempt uncovering stems from long-running civilian litigation arising from the 2019 vessel clang that killed Mallory Beach. Parker's convenience stores are among the defendants accused of selling intoxicant to underage Paul Murdaugh earlier the fatal crash, and Matney was subpoenaed arsenic a non-party witness.

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Podcaster and Murdaugh transgression newsman Mandy Matney attends the premiere of Netflix's "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal." A South Carolina justice aboriginal recovered Matney successful civilian contempt implicit her nonaccomplishment to look for a deposition. (Getty Images)

Beach, 19, was killed successful the February 2019 clang successful Beaufort County. Paul Murdaugh was aboriginal charged with boating nether the influence, but those charges were dismissed aft helium and his mother, Maggie Murdaugh, were fatally changeable astatine the family's Colleton County hunting property successful June 2021.

The Beach family's civilian suit against members of the Murdaugh household and Parker's alleges the convenience store concatenation illegally sold intoxicant to the underage Paul Murdaugh earlier the crash. The litigation yet helped exposure Alex Murdaugh's finances arsenic investigators uncovered the disgraced attorney's fiscal crimes.

Paul and Alex Murdaugh grin successful household Facebook photograph post. (Facebook)

Kelly wrote that Matney refused to look astatine the Bluffton deposition tract connected March 27 contempt acknowledging she understood the tribunal had denied her efforts to quash the subpoena and ordered the deposition to proceed. Instead, she remained astatine different instrumentality bureau successful Bluffton portion Parker's attorneys waited astatine the noticed location.

The bid notes Matney alternatively appeared by Zoom from different instrumentality bureau successful Bluffton.

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Podcaster and Murdaugh transgression newsman Mandy Matney reacts portion testifying during a tribunal proceeding successful South Carolina. A justice has since recovered Matney successful civilian contempt and ordered her to wage $171,500 successful attorneys' fees and costs, positive a $5,000 fine. (Getty Images)

"Based upon the foregoing, determination is wide and convincing grounds that Ms. Matney's nonaccomplishment to look was not the effect of confusion, mistake, oregon inability, but alternatively was a deliberate determination to disregard the subpoena and the Court's March 16, 2026 Order requiring that she beryllium deposed wrong 14 days," Kelly wrote.

Kelly besides recovered Matney's mentation that she feared for her information was not credible, penning determination was "no persuasive evidence" supporting her allegations that Parker's attorneys were trying to harass her oregon spot her successful danger.

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Kelly pointed to Matney's societal media posts aft the aborted deposition, including photos showing her eating citrus lb barroom with lawyer Mark Tinsley and aboriginal eating successful Savannah. The justice wrote the posts "evidence her intent to defy her work to look astatine the noticed deposition location."

Parker's attorneys primitively sought much than $310,000 successful fees and costs, but Kelly reduced the grant by astir 45%, ordering Matney to wage $171,500, positive a $5,000 fine.

The tribunal awarded $39,900 to Bannister, Wyatt and Stalvey, LLC; $45,950 to Deborah B. Barbier, LLC; and $85,650 to Maynard Nexsen, PC.

Matney criticized the ruling Monday successful a Facebook post.

"I'm not aggravated that Judge R Keith Kelly recovered maine successful contempt of court. I'm aggravated that he's ordering maine to wage an unprecedented magnitude of ineligible fees ($171,000 + $5,000 successful fines)," she wrote.

"The South Carolina Justice strategy is precisely what I've been saying each on — CORRUPT," she added. "And this is my punishment for calling it similar it is."

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Kelly wrote determination was "no persuasive evidence" supporting Matney's repeated allegations that Parker's attorneys were utilizing the deposition process to harass oregon bully her.

He besides concluded the contempt proceedings resulted from Matney's ain conduct, penning that had she appeared for her deposition oregon accepted 1 of respective alternate locations offered, "she would not beryllium earlier the Court connected a contempt motion."