2/22/23
LIVE BLOG: Murdaugh Murder Trial, Day 22
Live blog below authored by Drew Tripp.
Wednesday
Trial begins this morning with Jim Griffin asking Judge Newman to limit the line of questioning strictly to matters probative of the murder charges should Alex Murdaugh decide to testify.
Creighton Waters cites several rules he believes make it clear Murdaugh is fair game to be questioned about any and everything, including his financial crimes.
Judge Newman -- as he has done repeatedly in this trial -- says he will not make a ruling in advance of any objectionable issues. The Court will address them as they arise in the course of the regular trial.
Jim Griffin clarifies he'd like to have a limiting order related to the scope of questioning and preserving his client's right to plead the Fifth Amendment.
Newman tells Waters and Griffin to submit relevant cases and he'll further review.
First witness: Mark Ball
First on the stand, Mark Ball, a longtime lawyer at Murdaugh's former law firm, Peters Murdaugh Parker Eltzroth & Detrick, now known as Parker Law Group. He and Alex have known each other and been friends for 34 years.
Ball says Randy Murdaugh called him the night of the murders, and he rushed over from his home in Rum Gully, another community a few miles from Moselle in the Islandton district of Colleton County.
Ball says he arrived at 10:52, and there were no barricades or police tape up blocking the entrance. Ball says the entrance to the kennels was never blocked off. Vehicles and cars just kept piling in. Ball says there were a "good many" cars there withing about 1.5 hours.
Ball says he was walking around the shed and kennels area, being careful not to walk in the center of the crime scene. Ball says he noticed first responders and people walking around in the crime scene.
Ball says it later started drizzling and misting rain. He noticed the rain was running off the shed roof and kennel roof and dripping onto Paul's body from the roof. The water was pooling around Paul and on the concrete behind him.
Ball says it "pissed me off" that more wasn't done to cover Paul's body. He thought it was disrespectful. There was a sheet over him, but they didn't cover him with a tent or anything the way they did Maggie.
Ball says when he saw Alex he came up and basically collapsed in his arms. He says Alex kept saying "Look at what they did, look at what they did!" Ball thought it was odd.
Ball says coroner Richard Harvey came over and advised him and the numerous other lawyers and friends from the law firm that SLED was on scene and they needed to go up to the house to clear the scene. Ball says he asked Harvey if he was sure that was OK. Harvey went back and asked SLED, and it was approved.
Ball says he was concerned because this was a crime scene. Moselle was a big property. Killers could still be there.
Ball wasn't sure the house was searched at all before all the friends and lawyers were asked to go up there. It looked like a normal house. They noticed pots and pans on the stove, and he and a few of the other lawyers put the pots in the refrigerator. He doesn't recall seeing any dishes.
Ball noted more people kept showing up. Buster and his girlfriend Brooklyn. Greg Alexander, the chief of police for the Town of Yemassee, who is a friend of Alex's.
While up at the house, SLED agents came and took Alex's clothes and swabbed his hands. Ball notes Alex's clothes were damp and so were his own from standing outside in the rain.
Ball came back to Moselle the next morning. He was there to give a deposition, and later went down to the crime scene. He says the scene had been cleared by SLED, and there was still one agent hanging around.
Ball went into the feed room, noticed steel shot pellets all over the room, a buckshot pellet lying on the windowsill, and Paul's biological material everywhere. Then he noticed a piece of Paul's skull was still lying on the floor in the feed room, and the large pool of blood where Paul's body had been. He said it angered him. It was disrespectful.
Ball notes there had been guns on the pool table the night before when he went into the house. They weren't there the next morning when he came back. Blanca told him she had put them back and had done so. Earlier down at the scene, he'd asked what type of gun had been used to kill Maggie. A SLED agent told him a "3 something."
He asked if it as a .300 Blackout? SLED said yes, and he told them there's a .300 BLK rifle in the gun rack at the house. Ball says the agent told him, "No there's not."
Ball was certain there was, and sure enough they found the rifle inside.
Ball notes walking around at the Moselle property, he saw an unfamiliar truck with no license tag and a bottle of bleach in the bed of the truck. He thought it was odd, so he took photos. Turned out to be CB Rowe's truck. Ball turned the photos over to SLED.
Ball noted there was a cooler on the ground outside near the shed the day after the murders, and there were beer cans all around it. He thought it looked tacky, but it was still there the next day when he went back.
Griffin asks Ball if he'd ever been asked to identify voices on a video from the kennels. He says he identified Alex, Paul and Maggie's voices. Griffin plays the video of the second SLED interview with Alex and the disputed "I did them so bad" vs. "They did them so bad." Ball is certain Murdaugh said "They," similar to the things Alex said to him the night of the murders.
Ball says he was about to join in the boat crash civil case when the murders happened.
Ball recalls after Murdaugh was fired for stealing money, he went into Alex's office and found a bunch of check stubs showing where Alex was stealing, and also found a ledger in Alex's desk on a notepad. It appeared to show Alex's net worth - debts and assets.
Ball recalls Alex being a very devoted family man throughout their relationship. He would always take their calls even in the middle of a deposition. Their kids grew up together. He thought Paul was a good kid who made mistakes. Recalls telling Alex once after seeing Paul driving fast that they needed to rein Paul in a bit. Obviously once the stealing details all came out, Ball says he obviously didn't know Alex as well as he thought.
Creighton Waters in cross exam now for the State. Waters immediately asks if Ball really knew Alex Murdaugh as well as he thought. Ball says obviously not. They were like family for 34 years.
Ball is certain he heard Alex's voice on the kennel video at 8:44 p.m. the night of the murders. Ball says Alex told him and others on several occasions he never went down to the kennels that night, instead taking a nap after dinner.
Ball says Murdaugh's story changed a few times whether he went to check Maggie's body or Paul's body first after arriving at the kennels the night of the murders. Ball chalked it up to the trauma of the event.
Ball says he, Randy and other law partners were very concerned about threats and safety of the entire Murdaugh family and law firm after the fact of the murders. Ball even made calls to investigators asking for updates. But to Ball's eye, Alex wasn't nearly as concerned. He didn't appear to be worried about threats. He wasn't to Ball's knowledge worried or making the same calls.
Ball notes Alex showing up with a pistol at Ronnie Crosby's 4th of July party after the murders.
Waters asking about the Murdaugh family history with the law firm, and power of Murdaugh's family and family name. Ball notes Alex's great grandfather started the law firm. His great grandfather Randolph, grandfather Buster and father Handsome were all solicitors.
Ball notes Alex was an assistant solicitor for a time. He frequently rode around with his solicitor's office badge on the dash of his truck. Alex as a partner at the law firm wouldn't be very involved in the firm meetings, unless it was about potential name changes. He even thought himself about running for solicitor at one point, Ball says.
Ball says Alex was "an obnoxious user of his cell phone." It would be very unusual for him to go anywhere without it.
Ball says Alex as a lawyer had the gift of being able to talk to anybody. "He could talk to a fence post." He was cunning. Ball says it's true Murdaugh effortlessly lied to everyone in the law firm for years and went undetected.
Ball earlier noted re: Alex and the Murdaugh family's influence how SLED and other law enforcement agents were almost too delicate, accommodating and deferential to the family and other lawyers from the firm when they were there at Moselle after the murders.
Ball now discussing the issue of Murdaugh stealing a check from the firm in 2018 that was meant for his brother Randy, where Alex basically stole the same money twice.
Alex explained it all away as a big mistake, paid the money back with interest. It went away. Ball says there were other instances where Murdaugh "had trouble following the rules," billing things to the law firm, and using the firm's credit cards to buy things he shouldn't have. But like with everything, Alex would pay it back and it would go away.
Ball rehashed the missing Faris vs. Mack Truck case fees and Jeanne Seckinger being relentless in her pursuit. Ball acknowledges the murders caused the law firm to back off, they didn't want to be cruel. Murdaugh got loans from John E Parker and off-the-books money from Palmetto State Bank, and Chris Wilson sent the email saying he had the money in July. The issue went away again, just like with every other instance of Murdaugh and money issues.
Mark Ball has spoken glowingly of Paul Murdaugh several times. He says repeatedly Paul was a good kid who had some devilish ways and made mistakes. He feels Paul had great unmet potential, and was a very kind and helpful young person.
Mark Ball back on the stand after recess, discussing more of Alex Murdaugh's thefts.
Ball notes how Murdaugh stole $75K from his own family friend and real estate investment partner Barrett Boulware while he was dying in the hospital of colon cancer.
Ball says he personally called many of the clients Alex stole from. "Sweet old ladies." All very nice people, Ball says. Several of them were friends of Alex's.
Waters brings up with Ball how Alex got in some bad land deals around the time of the Great Recession. Ball recalls he and everybody at the firm felt Alex had recovered from his financial losses after winning huge settlements in several cases in the early 2010s.
Waters: "But it wasn't enough for him, was it?"
Waters brings back up with Ball how he'd personally called the cleanup company to clean the crime scene. Ball says they never got a call back, and he and Ronnie Crosby went out to clean themselves. Ball says he got blood all over his clothes, up to his sleeves. He and Ronnie couldn't take it, and quickly left.
Ball notes Alex had no blood on him the night of the murders.
Ball asked about the confrontation and firing of Alex, and the roadside shooting the following day. Ball says he got a call, and his immediate thought was "Don't tell me this jackass killed himself?" No, he'd been shot.
Ball didn't believe it. Ball says he went to the scene, and it was immediately apparent something wasn't right.
The tires were run-flat tires. The back hatch of the SUV wasn't open. There was no spare tire out and the back hatch wasn't open. He walked up and saw the tire had been stabbed. He told law partners at the scene he didn't believe. He agrees with Waters it turned out that Murdaugh was playing the victim after being confronted with his crimes.
Jim Griffin in re-direct briefly notes how Alex was under suspicion of tampering / obstructing justice in the boat crash. Griffin suggests to Ball that might be why Alex didn't seem overly concerned with finding the killers.
Griffin asks Ball about cell phone service in the Islandton area -- Moselle, Rum Gully (where Ball lives), and if that could be why Alex didn't carry a cell phone. Ball says he's been on the Moselle property, and Alex always had his phone with him.
Griffin asks Ball about the "did the jack*ss kill himself" comment. Ball notes there was rage, for sure.
Ball:
"I don't know the guy - after Sept. 3 and leading out - I don't know who that guy is. I mean, that's not Alex that I knew, and Alex that I loved, and Alex that all of us loved. Did he have imperfections, you bet. Did he do things that aggravated the hell out of me? You bet. But you don't kick your brother out the door because they snore at night, or they've done things that aggravate you. You get past it. But when they do things that are criminal, and they do things that effect not only him, but he's torn down an entire legacy, a law firm - I spent 33 years in this one place. It's the only law firm that I've ever worked at. I put everything in it. It's all my children have known, my family has known, and it's gone. We had to change the name, we had to do all these things because of his acts on all this financial stuff. When it comes to that, I'm mad as hell. You just don't know how mad I am. But on the other hand I'm not saying that because he did that, he's done what he's accused of. That's sort of the bottom line of it. I mean, he was doing that way back and we never knew it. And when we found out about, it just makes you doubt everything."
Ball concedes it made sense why Murdaugh wanted to kill himself in that moment. He'd assumed Alex had lost everything. He wasn't aware Alex had $12 million of life insurance, he'd have to see it to believe it.
Water in re-cross. Confirms Ball questions everything ever thought he knew about Alex Murdaugh.
Ball confirms the firm has had to pay back north of $12 million because of Alex's actions.
Waters asks if it's true while Murdaugh didn't seem to be worried about solving the murders, he was obviously working diligently to cover the money he'd stolen in the Faris vs. Mack Trucks case. Ball agrees.
Creighton Waters: "He denied to you three times that he ever went to those kennels, did he not?
Waters: "His buddy, his friend, and his law partner of 34 years -- told you three times 'I was never there?'
Waters: "And you know now that's a lie?
Ball: "When I saw the video a month or so ago.
Of note, Alex Murdaugh after Mark Ball was allowed to step down immediately turned to look at Jim Griffin, inhaled as if he was about to say something, but didn't. Jim Griffin didn't look at him. Murdaugh turned back to look at Mark Ball as he walked down. Ball didn't look at him either.
Next witness: Morris Dawes Cooke Jr.
Next on the stand, Dawes Cooke, civil attorney for Alex Murdaugh in the boat crash case. He's being questioned by Margaret Fox for the defense, Jim Griffin's law partner we haven't previously heard from in the trial.
Cooke says he thought the boat crash was defensible because there was nothing in his opinion in South Carolina law addressing the "negligent parenting" allegations against Alex and Maggie's estate because they apparently let Paul drink underage and knew he was using his brother Buster's ID.
Fox brings up the motion to compel discovery of Murdaugh's financials in the boat case. Cooke says it's a way to let the defendant know the plaintiff is serious and put pressure on them with the threat of punitive damages. Cooke says the motion to compel from Mark Tinsley predated him coming into the case, but he "never" would've produced all those records at the stage of the case pretrial when the motion was filed.
Fox asks if Cook ever thought the motion to compel would be granted. Waters objects citing speculation and 401, 402 rule violations. Judge Newman sustains objection.
Fox asks if anything changed in the case to make him or the rest of the defense team immediately concerned about the motion to compel. He says no, he thought focus was elsewhere. (Cooke, however, previously acknowledged John Tiller and Mark Tinsley were dealing with the motion to compel financials, and Tinsley testified it was essentially a done deal).
Cooke points to an October 2021 order from Judge Daniel Hall noting Tiller hadn't been able to get the info Tinsley had been seeking since the previous fall. The October order, in Cooke's reading, said Tiller and Tinsley would keep working together to get the financial records, a hearing on the motion to compel could be scheduled later if they couldn't work it out.
Cooke also testifies he didn't think there was a "cataclysmic event" looming at the June 10 hearing that would've resulted in Murdaugh's finances being immediately turned over.
Creighton Waters now in cross examination. He immediately notes how Cooke said the motion to compel financial disclosure is always meant to "really worry" the defendant. Noting Murdaugh's worry, Waters points out how Tinsley says Murdaugh came and got in his face at a trial lawyers convention and questioned him about the motion to compel. Cooke notes "he doesn't get invited" to those conventions, getting a big laugh.
Waters points out how Cooke didn't join the case until May 2021, and wasn't privy to ongoing discussions with Alex's other lawyers about the motion to compel. Cooke notes he also had no idea about Alex's years of thefts at that time, and how he was scrambling to replace that money before he was found out.
Cooke notes how despite his previous testimony about there being no immediate concern in his opinion about the motion to compel, there still was the possibility Judge Daniel Hall at that June 10 hearing could've ruled on the motion to compel, setting in motion "a train" that would ultimately lead to a decision on the matters in court -- a conclusion.
Fox in redirect asks twice for Cooke's opinion on if it was likely the motion to compel would've been granted in the June 10 hearing that got canceled by the murders. Waters objects both times, and Newman sustains both objections. Fox settles on asking if it's true the financial records wouldn't have been due to be turned over immediately. Cooke agrees that's correct. Waters in brief re-cross asks if Cooke agrees the records would have to be turned over eventually.
Next witness: Kenneth Zercie
Next witness for the Defense, Kenneth Zercie, a forensics expert. 11 year career in law enforcement before being forced to medically retire. Afterward joined the forensics department at the Connecticut Dept. of Public Safety. Retired as the Director of the Division of Scientific Services.
After retiring in 2012, he's been an adjunct professor offering training in forensics at New Haven University, and he has his own private forensics service.
Zercie has been admitted as an expert witness in fingerprints, footwear and tire impressions, and crime scene examination.
After a lunchbreak, defense resumes questioning Zercie.
Harpootlian starts by showing the police body camera video from the night of the murders. He starts the video on officers checking Paul Murdaugh's body to see if Paul had a gun under him. Harpootlian notes several officers briefly step inside the feed room, where blood and biological material is everywhere.
Zercie notes none of the officers appear to be wearing "booties" or "shoe cots" inside the feed room. Zercie says wearing those are a basic precaution and should be standard operating procedure.
They prevent contamination of the crime scene, including errant shoe prints and materials from the bottom of the police officers' shoes.
Zercie remarks on the sheet used to cover Paul's body. Notes it's raining lightly, which has the potential to dilute or wash away evidence.
Zercie says it should've been a tarp, something non-porous covering Paul at the very least. Tarp, sheet, etc should also be sent to crime lab for examination of possible evidence afterward. Same is true for Paul's clothes.
Zercie says in his review of the records for the Moselle murders, he sees no record of the sheets being used to cover Paul and Maggie being sent to the crime lab for analysis. Nor were their clothes examined.
Dick Harpootlian asks Zercie if SLED investigators did a "terrible job." Zercie declines to opine on that, saying he doesn't know the agency's limitations, nor does he know the extent of the training the agents had.
Harpootlian rephrases. Did they do an adequate job? Zercie: "I don't believe so. ... Much more could've been done."
State prosecutor objected to this line of questioning. Harpootlian responded. "The key here is the absence of evidence. And certainly, the absence of evidence -- if there was evidence they could've uncovered had they done the process right -- it would've helped at the minimum prove there was another person who did this crime." However, Newman sustained the objection.
John Meadors now in cross examination for the state. Notes that given Zercie's crime scene background, he must've found himself wanting to be in
Detective Laura Rutland's shoes. Zercie says he doesn't who know that is.
Meadors says he thought Zercie testified he read the whole case file, in which case he would've known who Laura Rutland was. Zercie says no, he testified his opinions were based on the records provided to him, and he was not provided the full case file -- only what the Defense sent him.
Zercie notes for Meadors he only got files to review in this case beginning about 3 months ago, and as recently as yesterday. He didn't prepare a report in this case as he's often asked to do, he was mainly asked to testify on procedural things.
Meadors seizes on Zercie saying he misspoke after Meadors asked when the Defense's PowerPoint presentation was created, saying first it was 2 PowerPoints instead of two sections of one PowerPoint.
Meadors asks if everybody makes mistakes. Zercie agrees. And Meadors says to that point, Zercie when he was a crime scene investigator must've made mistakes. He didn't always wear booties in a crime scene for example. Zercie says that's true, but he did after it became standard practice.
Meadors makes the point Zercie is being paid to come in and second-guess the Colleton County Sheriff's Office and SLED -- to say they did a bad job, in other words. Zercie is clear he qualified his opinion by saying he made that evaluation without knowing the agency's limitations or agents' training.
Meadors brings up the photo of Maggie's flipflop footprints underneath the shed, which Harpootlian pulled up in direct exam to make the point of all the other footprints around it, which Harpootlian tried to make the case shows poor caretaking of the crime scene.
Meadors asks if it would've been important to have the original photos and records from Laura Rutland to indicate when she first saw the flipflop prints, there were no other prints. Zercie says not really, he was simply asked to evaluate what was put in front of him, again reminds court he wasn't getting the full case file.
Zercie is getting $350/hour, travel reimbursement. He's logged 20 hours so far, plus today.
Zercie in cross exam concedes to Meadors crime scene investigators tried to do their best.
In redirect, Harpootlian has Zercie note again more could've been done to gather useful evidence by using modern technology and industry best practices.
Next witness: Barbara Mixson
Now on the stand for the Defense, Barbara Mixson. She's a housekeeper and in-home caretaker for Libby Murdaugh, Alex's mother, for the last 42 years. She's 71-years-old. She says the Murdaugh family is her family. She knows the Murdaugh children - Randy, Alex, John Marvin and Lynn - as well as her own children.
"They're my kids," she says."
She knows Alex well. Maggie was a close friend in addition to being like a daughter to her.
Mixson says she also spoke to Alex on the phone the afternoon of June 7. John Marvin had taken the father Randolph to the hospital. Barbara says Libby became very agitated and was crying with Randolph gone. Just before 4 p.m., she called Alex and saying he needed to come to the house to be with his mother because she was so agitated. Alex said he would.
Mixson says she never saw a blue tarp laid out in the house the way Shelly Smith described.
Very brief cross from Meador, no redirect from Griffin.
Next witness: Micah Sturgis
Next witness, Micah Sturgis, a digital forensic analyst. Formerly of the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina. He's an expert in Cellebrite and other digital forensics tools mentioned in this trial.
Sturgis is now a private investigator running his own private forensics lab.
Sturgis is being paid $300/hour to work for the Defense, he notes at Phil Barber's prompting. $600/hour for being on the stand. He also notes he's working entirely off data provided by the State, not like the selective data the Defense shared with Zercie.
No GPS data on Maggie Murdaugh's phone from June 7. Nothing until June 9, a day after it was collected. Defense shows a photo of Maggie's phone screen from June 9 indicating the location services were turned on for the phone that day. Sturgis testifies if Maggie Murdaugh's phone had been placed in a Faraday Bag, it likely would've preserved location data from June 7. He doesn't explain why, however, the location data was missing from June 7 or June 8.
Defense transitions to Alex & Maggie Murdaugh's Apple Health steps data. Sturgis reminds jury the steps are tracked through accelerometers. Barber notes phones also track distance. Sturgis notes steps are more accurate than distance due to technology used.
Barber transitions to phone orientation changes.
Sturgis says orientation changes are not logged if the phone screen is off. However, he notes modern phones have wakeup features that cause the screen to come on if the phone is moved.
Sturgis agrees with Barber the phone would require very little movement for the screen to come on .. however Barber leaves out whether or not the "wakeup" feature was actually on for Maggie's phone to show if this info is even relevant.
Sturgis looked into Maggie's phone's metadata further to show the camera turning on was the result of the Springboard app launch on the locked home screen. That means it wasn't the camera trying to recognize a face, someone specifically opened the camera even if only for one second.
9:04:23 - Backlight turns off at the same moment the call came in from Alex.
Sturgis isn't aware of anything with the phone that could cause the backlight to turn off with an incoming call except a person hitting the lock button on the side or placing the phone face-down if the "wakeup / sleep" feature was enabled.
Barber has Sturgis point out the last call from Alex before leaving Moselle was ended 1 second before Maggie's phone screen went off for about 25 minutes.
John Conrad now cross exam for the state. He asks Sturgis about the fact no location data was recorded on Maggie's phone. Sturgis says it was likely due to the data being overwritten in the phone's cache. He doesn't know how big the phone's memory cache is.
Conrad asks Sturgis about what version of iOS was on Maggie's phone. He believes it was 14.6 or something. Conrad notes how Apple had changed several settings with its iOS version 15 and higher specifically when and how they record orientation changes. Sturgis wasn't aware of that change.
Barber in redirect clarifies the "raise to wake" feature was active on Maggie's phone.
Barber has Sturgis say again the "wakeup" feature on Maggie's phone could've activated the phone screen with very little movement, and without an orientation change.
Sturgis says again the camera activating was definitively a personal activating it. He also notes phone orientation changes could be due to jostling in a pocket or being held in a hand while walking.
Barber has Sturgis note there's no instance of Maggie and Alex's phones recording steps at the same time after 8:49 p.m.
Brief cross from Conrad. No new ground covered.
Court adjourns before 5:30 p.m. and is in recess until 9:30 a.m.
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