Beaufort attorney Cory Fleming’s defense team has asked a judge to grant him leniency for acknowledging his role in
helping infamous ex-lawyer Alex Murdaugh plunder millions from the family of Murdaugh’s late housekeeper.
Fleming is set to become the second of Murdaugh’s convicted co-conspirators to face a possible federal prison term. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel will decide his sentence in Charleston’s federal courthouse Aug. 15.
Fleming faces a maximum prison term of five years, but his attorney argues that he deserves less than 46 months behind bars because he pleaded guilty to his crime, has agreed to cooperate fully with prosecutors, has a clean criminal record and a long history of community involvement.
“Not only has Mr. Fleming admitted to the criminal conduct for which he is pleading guilty, he is genuinely remorseful and ashamed of his conduct,” his attorney, Deborah B. Barbier, wrote in a motion released Aug. 11. “Since he began cooperating, he has done everything possible to accept full responsibility and atone for his actions.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has no plans to file a sentencing recommendation for Fleming ahead of the proceeding, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Limehouse said.
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Pleading guilty to a felony May 25, Fleming said he knew Murdaugh was going to
steal money belonging to the family of Murdaugh housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, even if he didn’t know the extent of the scheme.
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Fleming told Gergel in May that he thought Murdaugh was going to skim about $100,000 from the $4.3 million that Murdaugh’s insurers agreed to pay to settle with Satterfield’s family.
Instead, Murdaugh, 54, allegedly stole every dollar the family was supposed to receive, one of myriad state and federal financial crimes he is accused of committing. Fleming told the judge that he thought Murdaugh wanted a cut of the attorney’s fees.
“The way he described it was he’s gonna get some of this, too,” Fleming said.
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Fleming’s plea agreement with federal prosecutors doesn’t resolve the nearly two-dozen charges brought against him at the state level, including 18 related to the Satterfield case. He is scheduled to stand trial on the Satterfield-related charges on Sept. 11 at the Beaufort County Courthouse. The S.C. Attorney General’s Office has said his federal charge doesn’t affect its plans to proceed with the trial.
Cory Fleming is set to become the second of Murdaugh’s convicted co-conspirators to face a possible federal prison term. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel will decide his sentence in Charleston’s
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