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by WILL FOLKS
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A South Carolina circuit court judge has ruled that a true crime podcaster willfully disobeyed a valid subpoena – and a court order – by failing to appear for a deposition in a high-profile civil lawsuit.
According to S.C. circuit court judge Keith Kelly, Lowcountry-based podcaster Mandy Matney “disobeyed both a valid subpoena and this court’s order” when she did not appear for a March 27, 2026 deposition in a case tangentially tied to the ‘Murdaugh Murders‘ crime and corruption saga.
“It is undisputed that despite a valid subpoena, Ms. Matney did not attend the deposition,” judge Kelly wrote in his order (.pdf).
Matney, a former FITSNews reporter, is not a party to the lawsuit – a spinoff of a since-settled 2019 wrongful death case that many believe initiated the unraveling of convicted killer Alex Murdaugh. The spinoff case continues to attract attention within true crime circles given its proximity to the late Paul Murdaugh, who was murdered on June 7, 2021 along with his mother, Maggie Murdaugh. A Colleton County jury determined Alex Murdaugh committed both murders, although those verdicts are now in serious jeopardy due to documented jury tampering and alleged jury rigging.
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The spinoff case focuses on allegations related to the improper disclosure of confidential mediation materials related to the original wrongful death lawsuit – which was settled in July 2023. Among the materials allegedly released in violation of a court order were photographs of the dead body of Mallory Beach, whose family filed the wrongful death action against a host of defendants.
It is not immediately clear why attorneys in the case sought Matney’s deposition.
Matney insists she did not appear at the March 27, 2026 deposition because she believed the location was “an obvious security risk,” and that the attorneys seeking to depose her “were behaving like bullies who wanted revenge on me by intentionally inflicting emotional distress.”
“I was unable to put myself in harms way,” she stated.
According to Matney, she wanted the deposition to be held at another location – a facility “where I had paid for private security to protect everyone in attendance.”
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“I sat ready, willing and able to be deposed at the location where I felt safe communicating and ready to answer questions,” Matney insisted.
A tearful Matney appeared in court last month for what she referred to as “brutal” questioning from attorneys representing Savannah, Georgia convenience store magnate Greg Parker, one of the defendants in the spinoff lawsuit. According to the podcaster, Parker’s attorneys “were using the power of the court to harass me in any way they could.”
Matney was accompanied at the hearing by a bodyguard, but reporter John Monk of The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper – the only journalist present in the courtroom during the hearing – noted the absence of any threat to her safety.
There were no threats while she was there; in fact, the courthouse was nearly empty,” Monk wrote.
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RELATED | MURDAUGH APPEAL RUMORS SWIRL
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Nonetheless, Matney has consistently claimed she fears for her life owing to the powerful people she exposes on her podcasts.
“Women who are in fear for their lives should not be punished by the court for standing up for their safety,” Matney wrote. “Journalists who expose powerful attorneys and billionaires should not be scared into silence. People who speak truth to power shouldn’t fear lawyers using the court system to seek revenge. Attorneys who use their positions (as) officers of the court to bully, harass and defame journalists should be held accountable.”
Kelly has ordered Matney to appear at the Moss Justice Center in York, S.C. on Friday, May 15, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. EDT “to show cause, if she can, as to why she should not be held in contempt of court for willfully failing to comply with the duly issued subpoena… and the order of this court.”
Matney’s husband and business partner, David Moses, has asked her supporters to appear at the courthouse on her behalf, while Matney has specifically requested they wear pink in solidarity.
While it is unclear what sanctions judge Kelly might impose in the event he determines Matney to have been in contempt, the podcaster told her audience this week that “jail is not on the table (as far as I’m concerned).”
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THE ORDER…
(S.C. Judicial Branch)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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9 comments
On appeal Matney will walk IF she’s held in contempt. Kelly shut down every attempt her lawyers made to “reach an amicable deposition”, she is a journalist and most importantly, she isn’t a party to the actual lawsuit. Parker is a POS and his lawyers are worse.
The Colonel: can anything be worse in your book than arranging for the shooting of a man’s beloved wife and younger son then ensuring the shootings are pinned on the grieving widower and father?
Has anyone other than I really read Malicious Mandy Matney’s (“MMM”) book cover to cover?
Any intelligent reader with impartiality would be compelled to conclude that MMM happily and “giggly-ly” arranged for the shooting of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh and for the pinning of the shootings on Alex.
I pray this all comes out in her contempt hearing.
Just another loony liberal blogger or what today’s generations would call a “journalist”
Oh my God. Shades of Karen Read … all of my supporters should wear pink! This is so high school.
Nothing against YOU, Tamara Rhoads, Top Fan; but Malicious Mandy Matney (“MMM”) should not be mentioned in the same breath as the long-suffering but thank-God-ultimately-exonerated Karen Read of Massachussetts.
This, with full attribution, is from the Boston Globe of two days ago:
By Abby Patkin
April 29, 2026
1 minute to read
Share
A judge has allowed Karen Read to use materials from Michael Proctor’s cellphone in an upcoming lawsuit after her lawyers argued the ex-trooper’s “staggeringly anti-woman, racist, homophobic, [and] antisemitic” texts were key to Read’s new claims against Canton and Massachusetts State Police.
More on Karen Read:
Proctor’s phone data back in the spotlight as Karen Read teases lawsuit against State Police, Canton
Karen Read, Turtleboy facing defamation lawsuit from witnesses in her murder case
‘His killer, or killers, still walk free’: Karen Read files lawsuit alleging coverup in death of John O’Keefe
Read was already allowed to use the messages to defend herself against a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of her late boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. Monday’s order from Norfolk Superior Court Judge Michael Doolin expands Read’s access to the materials while continuing to shield their content from public view under strict confidentiality protocols.
Read was acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges last year after prosecutors alleged she drunkenly backed her SUV into O’Keefe following a night of bar-hopping in January 2022. Proctor, who led the murder investigation, shot to national infamy after a federal probe into the state’s handling of the case revealed he sent lewd texts about Read to friends, family, and coworkers.
State Police fired Proctor in 2025, citing his conduct during the case.
Norfolk County prosecutors previously confirmed Proctor’s personal phone contained “images of intimate body parts” and other sensitive information, but a hearing last week shed further light on the ex-trooper’s purportedly vulgar messages.
According to attorney Rosemary Scapicchio, who is representing two other murder defendants Proctor investigated, the texts also show a bias against “Black and brown individuals.”
“He’ll say things like, ‘It’s kill an n-word in Canton day,’” Scapicchio alleged.
Aaron Rosenberg, one of Read’s civil attorneys, said Proctor’s messages are “highly relevant” to Read’s forthcoming claims of negligent hiring, supervision, and training by state and local police. Read intends to file that lawsuit “in a matter of weeks,” he said.
In addition to her forthcoming suit, Read is suing Proctor and several other investigators and witnesses she claims conspired to frame her for murder. Some of those witnesses have also filed a defamation lawsuit against Read and Turtleboy blogger Aidan Kearney.
Profile image for Abby Patkin
Abby Patkin
Staff Writer
Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.
More stark differences between MMM and Karen Read: All MMM’s book makes of her (faux) Catholicism is a claim that it gave her guilt after her many one-night stands. True Catholicism makes not have have one-night stands ab initio, or any extra-marital or even pre-marital sex for that matter.
By contrast, Karen Read’s devout Marian Catholic father, who unfailingly stood by his daughter, said in a radio interview shortly after Karen’s acquittal, “we always believed Jesus Christ and his mother” would see [us] through this.
In May, the Month of Mary for Catholics and Maronites, I needed to give a shout-out to the Blessed Virgin Mother of Christ.
Heard that children? “Virgin” is not an joke. It is a guide to pride in purity against this age of promiscuity of bodies and souls.
Nothing against YOU, Tamara Rhoads, Top Fan; but Malicious Mandy Matney (“MMM”) should not be mentioned in the same breath as the long-suffering but thank-God-ultimately-exonerated Karen Read of Massachussetts.
This, with full attribution, is from the Boston Globe of two days ago:
By Abby Patkin
April 29, 2026
1 minute to read
Share
A judge has allowed Karen Read to use materials from Michael Proctor’s cellphone in an upcoming lawsuit after her lawyers argued the ex-trooper’s “staggeringly anti-woman, racist, homophobic, [and] antisemitic” texts were key to Read’s new claims against Canton and Massachusetts State Police.
More on Karen Read:
Proctor’s phone data back in the spotlight as Karen Read teases lawsuit against State Police, Canton
Karen Read, Turtleboy facing defamation lawsuit from witnesses in her murder case
‘His killer, or killers, still walk free’: Karen Read files lawsuit alleging coverup in death of John O’Keefe
Read was already allowed to use the messages to defend herself against a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of her late boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. Monday’s order from Norfolk Superior Court Judge Michael Doolin expands Read’s access to the materials while continuing to shield their content from public view under strict confidentiality protocols.
Read was acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges last year after prosecutors alleged she drunkenly backed her SUV into O’Keefe following a night of bar-hopping in January 2022. Proctor, who led the murder investigation, shot to national infamy after a federal probe into the state’s handling of the case revealed he sent lewd texts about Read to friends, family, and coworkers.
State Police fired Proctor in 2025, citing his conduct during the case.
Norfolk County prosecutors previously confirmed Proctor’s personal phone contained “images of intimate body parts” and other sensitive information, but a hearing last week shed further light on the ex-trooper’s purportedly vulgar messages.
According to attorney Rosemary Scapicchio, who is representing two other murder defendants Proctor investigated, the texts also show a bias against “Black and brown individuals.”
“He’ll say things like, ‘It’s kill an n-word in Canton day,’” Scapicchio alleged.
Aaron Rosenberg, one of Read’s civil attorneys, said Proctor’s messages are “highly relevant” to Read’s forthcoming claims of negligent hiring, supervision, and training by state and local police. Read intends to file that lawsuit “in a matter of weeks,” he said.
In addition to her forthcoming suit, Read is suing Proctor and several other investigators and witnesses she claims conspired to frame her for murder. Some of those witnesses have also filed a defamation lawsuit against Read and Turtleboy blogger Aidan Kearney.
Profile image for Abby Patkin
Abby Patkin
Staff Writer
Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.
More stark differences between MMM and Karen Read: All MMM’s book makes of her (faux) Catholicism is a claim that it gave her guilt after her many one-night stands. True Catholicism makes not have have one-night stands ab initio, or any extra-marital or even pre-marital sex for that matter.
By contrast, Karen Read’s devout Marian Catholic father, who unfailingly stood by his daughter, said in a radio interview shortly after Karen’s acquittal, “we always believed Jesus Christ and his mother” would see [us] through this.
In May, the Month of Mary for Catholics and Maronites, I needed to give a shout-out to the Blessed Virgin Mother of Christ.
Heard that children? “Virgin” is not an joke. It is a guide to pride in purity against this age of promiscuity of bodies and souls.
This reply of mine keeps disappearing or never appeared ab initio. So, here it is again:
Nothing against YOU, Tamara Rhoads, Top Fan; but Malicious Mandy Matney (“MMM”) should not be mentioned in the same breath as the long-suffering but thank-God-ultimately-exonerated Karen Read of Massachusetts.
This, with full attribution, is from the Boston Globe of two days ago:
By Abby Patkin
April 29, 2026
1 minute to read
Share
A judge has allowed Karen Read to use materials from Michael Proctor’s cellphone in an upcoming lawsuit after her lawyers argued the ex-trooper’s “staggeringly anti-woman, racist, homophobic, [and] antisemitic” texts were key to Read’s new claims against Canton and Massachusetts State Police.
More on Karen Read:
Proctor’s phone data back in the spotlight as Karen Read teases lawsuit against State Police, Canton
Karen Read, Turtleboy facing defamation lawsuit from witnesses in her murder case
‘His killer, or killers, still walk free’: Karen Read files lawsuit alleging coverup in death of John O’Keefe
Read was already allowed to use the messages to defend herself against a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of her late boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. Monday’s order from Norfolk Superior Court Judge Michael Doolin expands Read’s access to the materials while continuing to shield their content from public view under strict confidentiality protocols.
Read was acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges last year after prosecutors alleged she drunkenly backed her SUV into O’Keefe following a night of bar-hopping in January 2022. Proctor, who led the murder investigation, shot to national infamy after a federal probe into the state’s handling of the case revealed he sent lewd texts about Read to friends, family, and coworkers.
State Police fired Proctor in 2025, citing his conduct during the case.
Norfolk County prosecutors previously confirmed Proctor’s personal phone contained “images of intimate body parts” and other sensitive information, but a hearing last week shed further light on the ex-trooper’s purportedly vulgar messages.
According to attorney Rosemary Scapicchio, who is representing two other murder defendants Proctor investigated, the texts also show a bias against “Black and brown individuals.”
“He’ll say things like, ‘It’s kill an n-word in Canton day,’” Scapicchio alleged.
Aaron Rosenberg, one of Read’s civil attorneys, said Proctor’s messages are “highly relevant” to Read’s forthcoming claims of negligent hiring, supervision, and training by state and local police. Read intends to file that lawsuit “in a matter of weeks,” he said.
In addition to her forthcoming suit, Read is suing Proctor and several other investigators and witnesses she claims conspired to frame her for murder. Some of those witnesses have also filed a defamation lawsuit against Read and Turtleboy blogger Aidan Kearney.
Profile image for Abby Patkin
Abby Patkin
Staff Writer
Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.
More stark differences between MMM and Karen Read: All MMM’s book makes of her (faux) Catholicism is a claim that it gave her guilt after her many one-night stands. True Catholicism makes not have have one-night stands ab initio, or any extra-marital or even pre-marital sex for that matter.
By contrast, Karen Read’s devout Marian Catholic father, who unfailingly stood by his daughter, said in a radio interview shortly after Karen’s acquittal, “we always believed Jesus Christ and his mother” would see [us] through this.
In May, the Month of Mary for Catholics and Maronites, I needed to give a shout-out to the Blessed Virgin Mother of Christ.
Heard that children? “Virgin” is not an joke. It is a guide to pride in purity against this age of promiscuity of bodies and souls.
I put this comment on the other recent Murdaugh story of yours:
Your “sources” are toying with you, FITS, although I continue to say it is highly improper for South Carolina’s supreme court to have have among its staff persons who talk to the press on background.
But then again, most of what South Carolina’s supreme court itself is highly improper, including its playing with money.
A lot of money which no ones dares question or audit.
Where do the filing fees and fines go?
No one knows or dares to audit.
Yes, sadly, South Carolina’s Constitution names the state’s chief justice as the administrative head of the state’s courts and allows him/her to appoint a director of court administration to assist him/her in administrating the courts.
But what does that mean?
What could that mean in a republican (lower case r) form of government which the federal constitution guarantees each state?
It certainly cannot mean the mess in South Carolina.
Where does the money from filing fees and fine go? And who dares audit them?
The Chief Justice of the Unites States does appoint the Clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court and the director of the administrative of the U.S. courts. But neither serves at the pleasure of the Chief Justice of the United States.
In fact, no one other than his law clerks serves at the pleasure of the Chief Justice of the United States.
The Chief Justice of the United States cannot even fire his own secretary at will. That person is a civil servant with civil tenure.
Not so in South Carolina.
Judicial reform cannot start and end, as FITS proposes, with a magical governor appointing magical judges who will impose draconian sentences which will magically make crime disappear.
It should begin with limiting the administrative powers of South Carolina’s chief justice to the absolute minimum necessary and increasing transparency AND strengthening recusal laws with penalties of impeachment of jurists who sit on cases in which they have a conflict of interest.
Transparency, FITS, means naming your sources within South Carolina’s supreme court.
But of course, you will never do that, not out of journalistic integrity, but because you have little left to peddle.
And so will Lawyer Laurie who is all wet now that the work week is over and no Murdaugh opinion.
BTW, South Carolina’s advance sheets do not necessarily come out “every” Wednesday. On many Wednesdays they do not come out because there were insufficient published opinions to fill them.
And since I will be branded arrogant and insulted anyway, let me air a peeve of mine.
Alex Murdaugh did not have a “double” murder trial; he had a two-murder trial.
You cannot “double” murder anyone since the definition of murder is taking a human life. If you do that, you cannot go back and “double” up on your work because the life would have already gone out of them. You can double or triple shoot someone but you cannot double murder them.
When will you people learn to write good English?
When will you people learn that “literally” is not a superlative of “very.”
And will you people learn that a 360-dgree turn is not a turn at all but leaves in the exact direction you started.
A 360-degree turn is not a superlative of a 180-degree turn.
But why should I have hoped that people who do not know the basics of English would know the basics of geometry?
BTW, if you’re guilty, just confess it.
If you’re innocent, represent yourself.
In either case you will get better results for yourself than these lawyers who pretend to have inside tracks will get for you.
And another BTW, April Sampson’s daughter, previously arrested for attempted murder and discharging a firearm into a building, among ten felonies stemming from the same incident, got “sentenced” to one day time served for “disturbing the peace” and the rest of her youthful offender sentence suspended on one year’s probation.
The problem? Lela Gabrielle Sampson is already a defendant for marijuana possession. Does that not fail her probation before it starts?
Why are you, FITS, not on the case of the judge who issued that sentence? Or on the case of the solicitor who recommended it and dropped all other felonies?
I am not a fan of Byron Gipson; but I think the push to impeach him ignores what other solicitors are doing. All of them!
BTW, Malicious Mandy Matney (“MMM”) also reportedly claimed on her website that she has inside information that Alex Murdaugh’s two murder convictions were going to be reversed last week.
A deposition-taker who has public confidence in the judiciary best interest at heart should ask MMM about that. After all, the standard for a deposition is “reasonably calculated to lead to discoverable evidence.”
The issue of MMM Mafia-like network of soft prostitution and covert bribes to get information or to smuggle it to jurors is relevant to all cases related to the Murdaughs directly or derivatively, all in my opinion free from false humility but always with a reminder that I am NOT a lawyer but have been complimented ON THE TRANSCRIBED RECORD by at least one federal judge as better that lawyers who appear in that jurist’s court.