Crazy murder case in South Carolina

[Stephanie B]

The dad “was shot,” or, perhaps, he shot himself?

The news broadcast last night called it “an alleged shooting”.

[OldRunner/CSAT Neighbor]

would like to see a solid workup on how many bodies might be tied to this monstrous clan.

[Stephanie B]

"Revenge is a dish best served cold" has been attributed to various cultures over the past several hundred years. I think that sums up pretty well who we are as a species.

“Ah, Kirk, my old friend. Do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? It is very cold in space.” — Khan Noonien Singh

[BobM]

There are people in southeastern New England who still have a grudge against the Red Cross for the Hurricane of 1938.
The Red Cross came into town after the hurricane and sold coffee and donuts for a quarter. There were a lot of survivors who escaped their homes with just the close on their back‘s, and they didn’t have cash money for coffee and donuts. They weren’t very happy. The grudge is in its second and third generations.

My wife said her grandpa’s beef with the Red Cross was because they were charging GIs for donuts and coffee; he was in Europe during WWII. She’s going to ask her mom tomorrow what her dad’s issue was.

[ssb]

My uninformed speculation is:
- The shooting on the side of the road is a failed suicide attempt reported as an assault
- The rehab is an attempt to avoid or mitigate bar discipline and, perhaps, mitigate/delay criminal charges

It’s been my observation that when a lawyer screws up in a may-never-get-to-practice-law-again sort of way, one of the first things they do is enter rehab.

[vcdgrips]

In the vast majority of states, the vast majority of the time, the ONLY thing that gets you disbarred with an order not to reapply for 5 years plus etc. is the comingling of clients' money with the atty's.

As referenced above, attys have to maintain a "trust" account for all incoming monies held on behalf of their clients. Using that money for anything other paying contractually agreed upons costs/fees
and the client themselves is a huge no no. Every year, attys in private practice have to swear/declare/affirm they have trust accts set up and that are being run properly under penalty of perjury and bar discipline.

You can take a client's fee and let the statute of limitations expire on a million dollar contract claim and not lose your license well before you commingled 10k to make a college tuition payment when that bill is due on the 5th and the next big settlement check (100K) is not coming in until the 15th.

Indeed, you can often get your license back after a felony conviction in many states, particularly when they were drug related faster than if you were found to have comminged your clients' money with your own.

WILD SPECULATION FOLLOWS

1. Part of the reason I said earlier that I wanted to see the wound was to assess the likelihood of it being self inflicted/not a serious attempt

2. I suspect that the person(s) who killed his son and wife may very well be "known" to LE. Knowing it and proving it to a jury are two very different things.

3. If there was forensic evidence (unexplainable presence of fingerprints/dna/electronica) in and/or around the home that linked to a perp, an arrest would have already been made.
while DNA takes time, given the parties involved, the processing would have a tier 1 priority and SLED has capable folks at quality labs to do the work.

4. Given the manner of how the son/wife were killed (in home, multiple gunshots, DRT), a similarly motivated individual would have finished the job at the roadside on the father if they had wounded him from distance.

5. Other reports indicated significant civil litigation re the death of the young lady the son allegedly killed in the boating incident. That litigation included insurance companies of the rich folks seeking declaratory judgements limiting/eliminating coverage such that there was going to be a mid 7 figure settlements/judgements and no liquid way to satisfy those debts. (See my post #16 in this thread)

This is not going to end well. This is probably not over...civilly, criminally or socially.

[Stephanie B]

It’s been my observation that when a lawyer screws up in a may-never-get-to-practice-law-again sort of way, one of the first things they do is enter rehab.

I agree. My dim recollection of the professional responsibility class in law school was that 80% of it boils down to “Thou shall not take nor comingle clients’ assets. Probably more lawyers get disbarred for that then for any other reason.

[ssb]

I agree. My dim recollection of the professional responsibility class in law school was that 80% of it boils down to “Thou shall not take nor comingle clients’ assets. Probably more lawyers get disbarred for that then for any other reason.

I remember a guy who was sent by the Board to tell students about the potential pitfalls of his conduct. He’d been a dope lawyer along a major trafficking corridor, and one thing led to another and he took payment in cocaine. Eventually that became a regular practice, and I believe the quote was “I realized I had a problem when I had a literal trunk full of cocaine in my office.” One thing led to another, something something under investigation, something something the cops, and so he self-reports to the Board and checks himself into rehab. He received a three month suspension from the practice of law and an order to go talk to law students about why it’s bad to trade legal services for drugs.

I remember thinking at the time that attorneys have the reputation they do for a reason. Years down the road, nothing about my observations of lawyers doing lawyer things has dissuaded me from that belief. You truly can get away with pretty much everything so long as you don’t steal.

[Bio]

I remember a guy who was sent by the Board to tell students about the potential pitfalls of his conduct. He’d been a dope lawyer along a major trafficking corridor, and one thing led to another and he took payment in cocaine. Eventually that became a regular practice, and I believe the quote was “I realized I had a problem when I had a literal trunk full of cocaine in my office.” One thing led to another, something something under investigation, something something the cops, and so he self-reports to the Board and checks himself into rehab. He received a three month suspension from the practice of law and an order to go talk to law students about why it’s bad to trade legal services for drugs.

I remember thinking at the time that attorneys have the reputation they do for a reason. Years down the road, nothing about my observations of lawyers doing lawyer things has dissuaded me from that belief. You truly can get away with pretty much everything so long as you don’t steal.

Defending a client against drug charges while receiving payment in drugs is some impressive mental gymnastics.

[vcdgrips]

Just did a quick survey of Missouri Supreme Court Orders re disbarment. Going back for the last 5 years-80%+ were for commingling, the others were for default as in they never answered the charges.

I came across a Schoolmate. They took his license in 2007 for much less than 7 figures of commingling. It took him 11 years to get his license back and they put him on a 3 year probation when he finally got it back.

Another Schoolmate was suspended for a year for commingling re monthly operating expenses. No clients lost a dime. After self reporting, wife with diagnosed alzheimer's, his documented depression, cancer and a ton of charitable legal work which was part of the problem re staying in his legal lane v being overextended professionally. 2 yr probation after reinstatement.

i concur that my legal compatriots often behave in a manner that makes it quite difficult for the rest of us-even those of us doing Govt agency work.