Tony Satterfield — Direct/Cross
232 linesMR. WATERS: Thank you, Your Honor. State calls Tony Satterfield.
IN-CAMERA HEARING
MR. WATERS: Thank you, Your Honor. State calls Tony Satterfield.
The witness, MICHAEL TONY SATTERFIELD, was first duly sworn and testified as follows:
COURT CLERK: Take a seat in the witness stand. State your name again for the record and spell your last name.
TONY SATTERFIELD: My name is Michael Satterfield. My last name is spelled S-a-t-t-e-r-f-i-e-l-d.
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. WATERS:
MR. WATERS: How are you doing today?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Good. How are you?
MR. WATERS: All right. Pull that mic to you just a little bit closer so we can hear you good. How old are you?
TONY SATTERFIELD: I'm thirty-three.
MR. WATERS: All right, and where do you work?
TONY SATTERFIELD: I work at Beaufort Memorial Hospital.
MR. WATERS: Okay, and where did you grow up?
TONY SATTERFIELD: In Hampton.
MR. WATERS: Okay. For the purposes of this hearing we're just on a hearing in front of the judge to determine the admissibility of some testimony, so I'm just going to ask you a few questions, not everything that I might ask you will be in front of the jury. Do you understand that?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes, sir.
MR. WATERS: Speak up for us because the court reporter and everybody needs to hear you.
TONY SATTERFIELD: Okay.
MR. WATERS: Who was your mother?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Gloria Satterfield.
MR. WATERS: Gloria Satterfield?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: And is Gloria still with us?
TONY SATTERFIELD: She is not.
MR. WATERS: And when did she pass?
TONY SATTERFIELD: February 26th, 2018.
MR. WATERS: 2018?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes, sir.
MR. WATERS: And who did she work for when she passed?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Alex and Maggie Murdaugh.
MR. WATERS: Okay, and do you know Alex Murdaugh?
TONY SATTERFIELD: I do.
MR. WATERS: Do you see him here in the courtroom today?
TONY SATTERFIELD: I do.
MR. WATERS: Can you point him out?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes, right there.
MR. WATERS: Your Honor, can the record reflect that he identified the defendant? I mean, it's in-camera.
JUDGE NEWMAN: Yeah. Where is he? Where is he?
TONY SATTERFIELD: What was that sir? I'm sorry.
JUDGE NEWMAN: Pardon?
MR. WATERS: Point him out again.
TONY SATTERFIELD: Oh, he's right there.
MR. WATERS: Can you tell me what jacket he's wearing?
TONY SATTERFIELD: A navy blue jacket.
JUDGE NEWMAN: It does.
MR. WATERS: Thank you, Your Honor.
MR. WATERS: Over -- how long did your mom, roughly how long did she work for Alex, do you know?
TONY SATTERFIELD: If I had to make an estimated guess 20 something years maybe give and take. I don't know the exact years.
MR. WATERS: Okay, and slide up just a little bit more and talk right into that mic. There you go. I'm going to aim it just a little bit -- you need to get up on the mic so we can hear you back here. All right. What did your mom do for Alex?
TONY SATTERFIELD: She was their housekeeper, she babysat for them, she cleaned their house, and kind of anything else they kind of needed.
MR. WATERS: All right. Had she been doing that for a long time?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: During the course of that, you got to know Alex and his family to some extent as well?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Did you trust Mr. Murdaugh?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: What happened to your mom?
TONY SATTERFIELD: She fell and hit her head.
MR. WATERS: And where was she when she fell?
TONY SATTERFIELD: She was at Alex's house at Moselle.
MR. WATERS: At Moselle?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Did she pass right away or did she live for awhile?
TONY SATTERFIELD: She lived for a few weeks.
MR. WATERS: Was she ever able to say to you what happened, how she fell?
TONY SATTERFIELD: No, she was not.
MR. WATERS: After she passed, did you have any conversation with Alex about what to do about it?
TONY SATTERFIELD: I did.
MR. WATERS: And what was the conversation you had with Alex?
TONY SATTERFIELD: I vaguely --
MR. WATERS: Go ahead.
TONY SATTERFIELD: I vaguely remember, but it was, like, you know, let me go after my insurance company for this or whatever, you know, kind of get these medical bills and stuff paid.
MR. WATERS: Okay. So, he said he was going to go after his insurance company?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: And get medical bills for your mom paid?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Did he say he might could get money for you and your brother?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: All right. Did he say how much that might be?
MR. WATERS: Ultimately was there a lawsuit filed?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: And he -- who did you consider your lawyer was in all of this?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Alex.
MR. WATERS: At some point in time, did he bring another lawyer in?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: And what did he tell you about that?
TONY SATTERFIELD: He said if I understood him correctly, you know, I can't do it myself because there's a conflict of interest. I'm going to send you to my buddy Cory Fleming.
MR. WATERS: Cory Fleming?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Did he tell you anything about his relationship with Cory Fleming other than they were buddies?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Can you repeat the question? I'm sorry. I didn't hear you.
MR. WATERS: Did he tell you anything more about his relationship with Cory Fleming?
MR. WATERS: After he brought in Cory Fleming, were you still communicating directly with Alex about the case?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Who did you think your lawyer was?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Alex.
MR. WATERS: The whole time?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Did he ever bring in a person, or did they ever bring in a person by the name of Chad?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Do you remember Chad's last name?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Westendorf.
MR. WATERS: And what did they tell you about Chad?
TONY SATTERFIELD: That he should be my PR.
MR. WATERS: Your PR?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Did you ever meet with Chad?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Did you meet with him a lot or just --
TONY SATTERFIELD: One time I can think of.
MR. WATERS: Alex told you that he was going after his insurance company. Did he say how much that insurance was?
TONY SATTERFIELD: One of them that I know of was, like, $500,000, and that's the only one.
MR. WATERS: That's the only one he told you about?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Did he ever tell you there was also an umbrella policy worth upwards of $5 million?
MR. WATERS: Never mentioned that to you, did he?
MR. WATERS: Court's indulgence one moment.
(Break in proceedings.)
MR. WATERS: I want to show you what's been marked as State's 372 to your testimony and just have you take a look at that, and do you recognize that document?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Tell me what that is.
TONY SATTERFIELD: That is a coversheet of a fax that I sent him, Alex.
MR. WATERS: And what is -- what's the reason that you sent that to Alex?
TONY SATTERFIELD: I got something from the trailer company and a medical bill, I believe, and I just wanted to be sure what I needed to do with it.
MR. WATERS: You had received some paperwork about your mom?
TONY SATTERFIELD: It was a bill.
MR. WATERS: It was a bill?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yeah.
MR. WATERS: And who did you send that to?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Alex Murdaugh or the law firm.
MR. WATERS: All right, and why did you send it to Alex Murdaugh?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Because he said if we had any medical bills, just forward them to him, and I didn't know if I needed to do anything with it.
MR. WATERS: Because you thought he was your lawyer.
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: And this had your phone number on there but we blacked it out, correct?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: As time went on, did you have conversations with Alex asking him about the case and what was going on with the case or anything like that?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes. Not very rarely, but every few months or so.
MR. WATERS: And what would he tell you just generally?
TONY SATTERFIELD: First it was hard, hard, you know. Like, I was making progress and kind of left it at that.
MR. WATERS: He said it was hard and they were making progress?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Did he tell you anything about whether or not you and your brother would get any money so the medical bills are paid?
TONY SATTERFIELD: He said he was hoping.
MR. WATERS: Did he give you any idea of the amount?
TONY SATTERFIELD: If I remember correctly, one time he said he would try to get each of you at least $100,000 apiece.
MR. WATERS: Each of you, you and your brother?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: At some point in time, did your family advise you that there were some media reporting about a settlement in the case?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: And at that time, had you heard anything from Alex, or Cory or Chad or anybody about a settlement in the case?
MR. WATERS: All right, and what, if anything, did you do after your family -- did they ask you to do anything?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yeah. They said you might want to kind of follow up on it and kind of see.
MR. WATERS: And did you make a phone call to Alex?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: All right, and what month was that in?
TONY SATTERFIELD: I believe the last time I talked to him would have been June of '21.
MR. WATERS: June of '21?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Around the time of the murders?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Well, what did you ask him?
TONY SATTERFIELD: I can't remember what I asked him, but it was still making progress and be ready to settle, you know, by the end of year.
MR. WATERS: He told you it was still making progress and he was hoping to settle by the end of the year?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Did he tell you that they had already gotten a settlement for $505,000?
MR. WATERS: Did he tell you that they had already gotten a settlement for $3.8 million?
MR. WATERS: Had he ever told you that there was an umbrella policy for $5 million?
MR. WATERS: Did he ever mention to you anything about Forge?
MR. WATERS: Did he mention anything to you about structuring any settlement?
MR. WATERS: Did you give him permission to steal your money?
MR. WATERS: Ultimately in the wake with of all of this, you've come to find out that there was a settlement of $505,000, correct?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: And it was diverted by Alex Murdaugh, correct?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: And ultimately you've come to find out that there was a settlement under the umbrella police for $3.8 million, is that correct, or thereabouts, correct?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: And a large portion of that was diverted by Alex Murdaugh. Is that right?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Did you ever get one cent from Alex Murdaugh when he was still -- before all of this happened?
MR. WATERS: And it took after this happening and it took a legal process for that to happen. Is that right?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: And ultimately is it your understanding that he confessed judgment to taking money for both of those? Is that right?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: In June of 2021, you made a call to him asking the status of this case. Is that correct?
TONY SATTERFIELD: I can't remember if he called me or I called him, but yes, I talked to him in June of 2021.
MR. WATERS: You talked to him in June of 2021.
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: And there were reports in the media about that settlement, correct?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. WATERS: Thank you. Thank you. Please answer any questions that the defense has, okay?
JUDGE NEWMAN: By the defense?
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. GRIFFIN:
MR. GRIFFIN: Good afternoon, or morning, I'm sorry.
TONY SATTERFIELD: Morning.
MR. GRIFFIN: Been a long week. You had a family member who saw an article in -- somewhere. Do you remember where the article was?
TONY SATTERFIELD: I don't remember exactly where they found it at or seen it at.
MR. GRIFFIN: But after that article was published, that's when you started making inquiries and made contact with Mr. Murdaugh?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes. Once they seen the article or whatever, they were, like, you need to follow up on it, yes. And I can't remember if he called me or if I called him.
MR. GRIFFIN: And do you know whether you called him on his cell phone?
TONY SATTERFIELD: It was on his cell phone. Normally that's how I called him, yes.
MR. GRIFFIN: You called him on a cell phone.
TONY SATTERFIELD: Yes.
MR. GRIFFIN: And his cell phone records would reflect --
TONY SATTERFIELD: What was that?
MR. GRIFFIN: How many times did you call him?
TONY SATTERFIELD: Like once, twice, or three -- we talked, like, three or four times, you know, throughout the whole year if I remember correctly.
MR. GRIFFIN: And when you called him after reading some article about a settlement, do you know if that was before or after Maggie and Paul were murdered?
TONY SATTERFIELD: It was around the time, but I don't remember if it was before or after.
MR. GRIFFIN: Thank you.
MR. WATERS: Nothing further, Your Honor.
JUDGE NEWMAN: Thank you. You may step down.
(The witness exited the stand.)
JUDGE NEWMAN: You may call your next witness.
MR. WATERS: Your Honor, can we have just a quick break to get the exhibits ready for that?
JUDGE NEWMAN: Yes, sir, take 5 minutes or so.
MR. WATERS: Thank you.
(A break was taken.)