Nancy Grace slams Alex Murdaugh retrial: ‘Second verse, same as the first’
Former prosecutor Nancy Grace weighed in on Alex Murdaugh’s anticipated retrial in Beaufort, South Carolina, after his murder convictions were overturned. Grace said she expects the case could be moved to a new venue and examined how the defense may try to reshape its argument, including by pointing to requests for additional DNA testing involving evidence from Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernails.
A South Carolina judge has held Murdaugh case reporter and podcaster Mandy Matney in civil contempt, ordering her to pay $171,500 in attorneys’ fees and costs along with a $5,000 fine. The ruling followed the judge’s determination that Matney intentionally failed to comply with a subpoena connected to litigation involving the Murdaugh family.
In a 22-page order filed Monday, Circuit Judge R. Keith Kelly ruled that Matney knowingly ignored a lawful subpoena and an earlier court directive requiring her to sit for a deposition. The judge rejected her argument that concerns about her safety excused her absence.
The contempt order is tied to years of civil litigation stemming from the 2019 boat crash that killed Mallory Beach. Parker’s convenience stores are among the defendants accused of selling alcohol to underage Paul Murdaugh before the deadly incident, and Matney was called as a non-party witness.
Podcaster and Murdaugh crime reporter Mandy Matney attends the premiere of Netflix’s “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.” A South Carolina judge later found Matney in civil contempt over her failure to appear for a deposition. (Getty Images)
Beach, 19, died in the February 2019 crash in Beaufort County. Paul Murdaugh was later charged with boating under the influence, but the charges were dropped after he and his mother, Maggie Murdaugh, were shot and killed at the family’s hunting property in Colleton County in June 2021.
The Beach family’s civil case against members of the Murdaugh family and Parker’s claims the convenience store chain unlawfully sold alcohol to Paul Murdaugh despite his being underage. The lawsuit later played a key role in bringing scrutiny to Alex Murdaugh’s finances, as investigators uncovered the former attorney’s financial crimes.
Paul and Alex Murdaugh smile in family Facebook photo post. (Facebook)
Kelly wrote that Matney refused to appear at the Bluffton deposition site on March 27 despite acknowledging she understood the court had denied her efforts to quash the subpoena and ordered the deposition to proceed. Instead, she remained at another law office in Bluffton while Parker’s attorneys waited at the noticed location.
The order notes Matney instead appeared by Zoom from another law office in Bluffton.
Podcaster and Murdaugh crime reporter Mandy Matney reacts while testifying during a court proceeding in South Carolina. A judge has since found Matney in civil contempt and ordered her to pay $171,500 in attorneys’ fees and costs, plus a $5,000 fine. (Getty Images)
“Based upon the foregoing, there is clear and convincing evidence that Ms. Matney’s failure to appear was not the result of confusion, mistake, or inability, but rather was a deliberate decision to disregard the subpoena and the Court’s March 16, 2026 Order requiring that she be deposed within 14 days,” Kelly wrote.
Kelly also found Matney’s explanation that she feared for her safety was not credible, writing there was “no persuasive evidence” supporting her allegations that Parker’s attorneys were trying to harass her or place her in danger.
Kelly pointed to Matney’s social media posts after the aborted deposition, including photos showing her eating lemon pound cake with attorney Mark Tinsley and later dining in Savannah. The judge wrote the posts “evidence her intent to defy her obligation to appear at the noticed deposition location.”
Parker’s attorneys originally sought more than $310,000 in fees and costs, but Kelly reduced the award by nearly 45%, ordering Matney to pay $171,500, plus a $5,000 fine.
The court 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 in a Facebook post.
“I’m not angry that Judge R Keith Kelly found me in contempt of court. I’m angry that he’s ordering me to pay an unprecedented amount of legal fees ($171,000 + $5,000 in fines),” she wrote.
“The South Carolina Justice system is exactly what I’ve been saying all along — CORRUPT,” she added. “And this is my punishment for calling it like it is.”
Kelly wrote there was “no persuasive evidence” supporting Matney’s repeated allegations that Parker’s attorneys were using the deposition process to harass or bully her.
He also concluded the contempt proceedings resulted from Matney’s own conduct, writing that had she appeared for her deposition or accepted one of several alternate locations offered, “she would not be before the Court on a contempt motion.”
