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Mark Tinsley, the attorney who represented the family of Paul Murdaugh boating accident victim Mallory Beach, won over people once again after taking the stands to testify during Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial.
He said that he initially thought of dropping the case against the Murdaughs following Paul and Maggie’s murders.
Tinsley reportedly sued Alex Murdaugh over the boat wreck incident and began seeking knowledge of his financial situation after the latter claimed he would fail to pay the amount of money the Beach family demanded.
Speaking during his testimony, Tinsley opened up about his initial doubts on Murdaugh’s financial situation:
“When you practice law and go to a (court) roster meeting, if there are 50 cases on the roster in Hampton County, 50 or 60% are Alex’s. I know he’s making money. He can’t possibly be broke.”
Mark Tinsley then asked the court to allow him access to Murdaugh’s finances to force a settlement in the case:
“He doesn’t want me to have access to his accounts, to see how much money he is making and actually has, so let’s enter into an agreement and settle the case. If you’re a good plaintiff’s lawyer, everything you do in a case is to put pressure on the other side.”
When defense attorney Phil Barber asked Tinsley about how he received permission to gain access to Murdaugh’s financial information, the lawyer dramatically pulled out an order from the judge dated October 7, 2021, and claimed that it would have allowed him access to the documents.
Mark Tinsley also testified that Alex Murdaugh tried to “bully” him to withdraw seeking compensation for the Beach family during a 2019 conference on Hilton Head Island:
“Alex sees me and he comes across the room, gets up close in my face and says, ’Hey Bo, what’s this I’ve been hearing about what you’ve been saying, I thought we were friends?’”
He continued:
“I said, ‘Alex, we are friends. But if you don’t think I can’t burn your house down and that I’m not doing everything, if you think I’m not going to do everything, you’re wrong, you need to settle this case.’”
Later in the trial, Judge Clifton Newman referred to Mark Tinsley as a “tiger” while speaking to Murdaugh during his sentencing:
“I can just imagine on that day June 7 when a lawyer was confronted and confesses to stealing over half a million dollars from a client and he has a tiger like Mark Tinsley on his tail pursuing discovery in the case involving the death of Mallory Beach. And having a father for the most part on his deathbed... I know it had to have been quite a bit going through your mind on that day.”
Shortly after, netizens took to social media to hail Tinsley as a “tiger,” with many acknowledging his work as a lawyer as well as his as a cancer survivor.
Prosecutors often claimed that it was pressure from Tinsley’s lawsuit and the possibility of the revelation of his alleged financial crimes that motivated Alex Murdaugh to commit the murders.
What is known about Mark Tinsley?
Mark Tinsley is an American lawyer at Gooding & Gooding, South Carolina. He reportedly graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1998 and specializes in the area of immigration, civil & human rights alongside general practice.
The attorney has been practicing law for 25 years and is best known for his role in the Mallory Beach case, where 19-year-old Beach was killed in a potential boating accident. Reports suggest Alex Murdaugh’s youngest son Paul Murdaugh was piloting the boat after a drinking session.
Tinsley made the news after filing a personal lawsuit against Alex Murdaugh in relation to the case and demanding a monetary settlement for the victim’s family. Beach’s parents reportedly resolved part of the wrongful death case with Murdaugh’s surviving son Buster earlier this year.
On a personal front, Mark Tinsley is married to Stephanie Sawyer Fletcher. The couple reportedly Facebook with the help of Mark’s sister Kristy and eventually tied the knot in March 19, 2022.
Tinsley was also diagnosed with prostate cancer but fearlessly battled the disease and is now cancer-free.
Twitter dubs Mark Tinsley as “tiger” following Murdaugh trial testimony
Mallory Beach attorney Mark Tinsley was dubbed as a “tiger” by Judge Newman during Alex Murdaugh’s sentencing.
Shortly after, several social media users took to Twitter to hail the lawyer as a tiger and applauded him for fighting Mallory Beach’s case while battling cancer.
Following a six-week trial, Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2021 murder of his son Paul and wife Maggie Murdaugh. The former attorney is also facing 99 state charges for his financial crimes.
