Examining Capital Punishment in South Carolina

This episode examines the South Carolina Capital punishment.
How is it decided whether a murder becomes a capital offense? Who decides whether someone might face the death penalty?
Why was Alex Murdaugh not charged with a capital offense?
Those questions and more are answered by former U.S. States Attorney for the District of South Carolina, Bill Nettles.
Nettles discusses a very interesting case in which he defended a man on death row.
Bill Nettles possesses an extraordinary, almost unparalleled depth and breadth of experience. You cannot find an attorney who will be better equipped to provide you with the high-quality representation you deserve.
Mr. Nettles was appointed United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina by President Obama and was sworn into that office on May 3, 2010. As the US Attorney, he dramatically overhauled the office to focus on public corruption, fraud and white collar crime, while also greatly increasing resources to the extraordinarily important false claims whistleblower division. Under Mr. Nettles’ leadership, the US Attorney’s office made white collar crime and public corruption the highest priority of the criminal division’s efforts. He also earned national praise for the innovative and intelligent approach his office took to drug crimes.
Mr. Nettles was the longest serving US attorney since the 1960’s, ensuring he had an extraordinary impact on the personnel and the policies of that important office. Because of his service as the United States Attorney for the entire state of South Carolina he has worked with the heads of the Department of Justice to help shape policy for the last 5 and a half years.
Before being appointed a US Attorney, Mr. Nettles graduated from The Citadel and earned his law degree at The Widener University School of Law, where he was on law review and was a member of the moot court honor society. After graduating, he began a career that has taken him into every corner of the legal system.
Starting in 2005, he worked at Sanders & Nettles, LLC until being appointed the US Attorney.
If you find yourself in need of an experienced lawyer in South Carolina and you want to speak with our attorney about your case, please call the Law Office of Bill Nettles at 803-284-8906 for a free consultation.
Seton Tucker and Matt Harris began the Impact of Influence podcast shortly after the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. Now they cover true crime past and present from the southeast region of the U.S.
Impact of Influence is part of the Evergreen Podcast Company.
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The Murdaugh family was one of South Carolina's most powerful legal families. Three generations of Murdaughs held the position of solicitor in the lowcountry for almost one hundred years.
In February of 2019 a boat crash killed 19 year old Mallory Beach. Paul Murdaugh, the son of prominent SC attorney, Alex Murdaugh, was charged with three felony counts of boating under the influence, including causing the death of Mallory Beach.
June 7, 2021 Alex Murdaugh found his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, brutally murdered, shot to death on their property known as Moselle.
On March 2, 2023 Alex was convicted of murdering Maggie and Paul.
Between the murders and the convictions many other crimes came to light.
No one could have expected the twists and turns the story has taken and it is not finished.
Seton Tucker and Matt Harris started the Impact of Influence podcast soon after the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
You may have seen them talking about the Murdaugh saga on CourtTV, Murdaugh documentaries on Oxygen and Fox Nation and episodes on American Greed and Nancy Grace.
Seton and Matt continue updating the Murdaugh story and are now covering other crimes that have occurred throughout the Southeast.
Impact of Influence is now a Youtube channel
You can find them on their Impact of Influence FB page or Mattharrispodcast@gmail.com

• No. of episodes: 244
• Latest episode: 2025-05-02
• True Crime

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