User:Philipnelson99/Drafts/Carmen Mullen

Carmen Mullen (born 1968) is an American attorney and judge in the fourteenth circuit of the South Carolina Circuit Court. She has served as a judge since her election by the state's general assembly in 2006. In 2021, she was reelected to a third term that will expire in 2027. During her time as a judge she has issued high profile decisions such as vacating the conviction of George Stinney.

Early life and education
Mullen was born in Columbia, South Carolina. She graduated from Clemson University with a degree in Financial Management and from the University of South Carolina School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree. She graduated in the same year as Alex Murdaugh and Cory Fleming, two lawyers who were involved in a scandal over misappropriating millions of dollars from wrongful death settlements.

Legal career
Mullen began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge L. Casey Manning of the Fifth Judicial Circuit. She then worked as an assistant public defender at the Charleston County Public Defender’s Office and later as a staff attorney for the South Carolina House of Representatives Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee. She is one of only four female circuit judges in South Carolina. She presides over civil and criminal cases in Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, Jasper and Allendale counties.

Personal life
Mullen is married to John Mullen, a lawyer who works at a law firm in Hilton Head Island. They have two children, a son and a daughter. She lives in Beaufort County and enjoys gardening and reading. She is also involved in various community and professional organizations, such as the South Carolina Bar Association, the South Carolina Women Lawyers Association, the Beaufort County Bar Association, the Hilton Head Island Rotary Club and the Clemson University Alumni Association.

Controversies
In 2017, she was accused of trying to interfere with a police investigation involving a homeless man who had trespassed on her property several times. She denied any abuse of power and said she was only trying to help him get mental health treatment. She has also been linked to Alex Murdaugh, a disgraced lawyer who allegedly orchestrated his own shooting and embezzled millions of dollars from his clients. She was his classmate at law school and signed off on a secret settlement for his housekeeper’s death that was later exposed as fraudulent. She recused herself from any cases involving Murdaugh and said she was unaware of his schemes. Mullen is a circuit court judge in South Carolina who presided over the case of former state representative Rick Quinn, who pleaded guilty to misconduct in office as part of a Statehouse corruption probe led by special prosecutor David Pascoe. Pascoe appealed Quinn’s plea deal and sentence, arguing that they were too lenient and that Mullen had erred in accepting them. However, the state Supreme Court upheld Quinn’s guilt and sentence, while scolding Pascoe for questioning Mullen’s fairness and integrity. Mullen refused to recuse herself from the case or to resentence Quinn, saying that she had followed the law and that Pascoe had failed to prove any wrongdoing by Quinn or his father, political consultant Richard Quinn.