SC - Paul Murdaugh, 22 and mom Margaret, 52, found shot to death, Islandton, 7 June 2021 #2

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stmarysmead said:
But not PM…not if he was convicted in the boat trial. At least I don’t think so.

So, am I reading this right? It will be months before LE is compelled to release info?

Asking again, is there any way LE can ascertain from the location services… if MM’s cell was in the road from the time of the crime…or placed there later?
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PM could've become a lawyer working at PMPED even with a felony conviction although licensing may have been tough. With his connections and family clout, he would be in for sure. Only 3 states prohibit a felon from becoming a licensed lawyer - Kansas, Mississippi & Texas.

And he didn't have felony convictions yet - PM may have been acquitted or had his charges from the boat accident reduced to misdemeanors.

LE is only going release information when they feel they are ready and have investigated thoroughly what they are going to release.
No judge is going to force them to release anything that may or may not compromise the investigation just to appease the masses.

No idea on your phone question.

JMO
 
Sustained said:
PM could've become a lawyer working at PMPED even with a felony conviction although licensing may have been tough. With his connections and family clout, he would be in for sure. Only 3 states prohibit a felon from becoming a licensed lawyer - Kansas, Mississippi & Texas.

And he didn't have felony convictions yet - PM may have been acquitted or had his charges from the boat accident reduced to misdemeanors.

LE is only going release information when they feel they are ready and have investigated thoroughly what they are going to release.
No judge is going to force them to release anything that may or may not compromise the investigation just to appease the masses.

No idea on your phone question.

JMO
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Was PM in law school? Big shoes to fill and not everyone inherits those lawyer
genes.
 
Elley Mae said:
With out knowing the amount that would satisfy the suit or that settling the law suit would admit guilt.
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A lawsuit and related criminal charges are completely separate matters- at least on paper. Agreeing to a settlement would not mean admitting guilt to the criminal charges.

Then again, juries are comprised of humans and some members of the jury may make either a conscious or unconscious linkage between the two matters.
 
evilwise said:
I think someone said they had like 50 open lawsuits currently in court. Who knows how many settled ones that would have still been hurting the defendants. Have fun digging through all that.
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I agree, that the lawsuits are fertile grounds for a motive.

As a side note, the cited number of pending local originating lawsuits was 70.

Though some of these may have been targeting large companies via "I slipped and fell" at Walmart type suits, a substantial majority were probably targeting locals, either as individuals or as small to midsized businesses.

The Firm has 17 attorneys willing to take their cases either on a full time or part time basis. There are not that many big companies operating in those rural counties.

In short, targeting locals may well have been the bread and butter of the Firm- despite advertising implying otherwise.

Even one of the Firm's million dollar verdict "successes" was against a local company with ten employees. Big verdicts are easy to get, especially when running a lawsuit machine. Big verdicts, however, are routinely appealed, or in the case of a small target-uncollectable.
 
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Razz said:
Was PM in law school? Big shoes to fill and not everyone inherits those lawyer
genes.
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I imagine passing the bar would be more difficult than being a personal injury attorney (at least below the truly elite level).

In the end, Personal Injury does not require extensive knowledge of any laws, and often does not require any real trial skills etc. Rather, it is primarily about placing the target under pressure via a filed lawsuit, then negotiating as large a settlement as possible.

In many cases, nothing really needs to be proven. Even most easy to win big jury verdicts are just part of the pressure, and are not necessarily proofs that will stand up with the appellate courts. But... that is where the negotiating comes in.
 
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Cryptic said:
I imagine passing the bar would be more difficult than being a personal injury attorney (at least below the truly elite level).

In the end, Personal Injury does not require extensive knowledge of any laws, and often does not require any real trial skills etc. Rather, it is primarily about placing the target under pressure via a filed lawsuit, then negotiating as large a settlement as possible.

In many cases, nothing really needs to be proven. Even most easy to win big jury verdicts are just part of the pressure, and are not necessarily proofs that will stand up the appellate courts. But..,. that is where the negotiating comes in.
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Some prosecutors seem to follow a similar model. File charges, accused is under tremendous pressure, often agree to plea to a lesser charge whether guilty or not. Easy-Peasy.

I know one case where charges were filed months before the victim was ever even interviewed. In fact, the victim was never interviewed. Accused were never interviewed either. The DA refused to view exculpatory evidence from the accused as well. He thought he would run a media campaign which he did, and force plea deals.

Quite a teaching moment for those of us that naively believed in integrity, fairness and justice by people who held such positions.
 
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stmarysmead said:
Some prosecutors seem to follow a similar model. File charges, accused is under tremendous pressure, often agree to plea to a lesser charge whether guilty or not. Easy-Peasy.

Quite a teaching moment for those of us that naively believed in integrity, fairness and justice by people who held such positions.
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Very well said.

My general understanding is that since a prosecutor's job is to prosecute people, it is very difficult to establish unethical conduct regarding politically motivated charges, use of artificial pressure tactics to win conviction "points", ignoring exculpatory evidence ("Sure, I reviewed it- but it just was not "uhhmmm "probative"- enough" etc.
 
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Wanted to pop in and share my thoughts/theories (MOO) on the reason for signing the properties over to Maggie in 2016.
I know nothing about the M's tax situation all of this is my opinion.
Assets could have been moved solely in preparation for the Tax Cuts and Job Acts and or to take advantage of the North Carolina 2016 Tax Code which had a bunch of changes regarding estate and property tax that I tried to read and got an instant migraine.

Code of Laws - Title 12 - Chapter 6 - South Carolina Income Tax Act Here is where I started I just did "Control + F" and searched for 2016 to see if some tax law change would benefit the M's, but given I have no clue how things are setup I couldn't begin to even guess.
HOWEVER, my very strong opinion on why assets were moved is purely financial.
 
Sustained said:
So the case could be solved by the time the Post and Courier gets a decision on the their request for information ...

JMO
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@Sustained, Yes, it could be solved before then and hopefully it will be.
SLED did comply by releasing the police reports within 10 days (although heavily redacted).

As for a judge ordering SLED to release more unredacted information or the 911 call, that's all subject to the South Carolina Code of Laws Freedom of Information Act: , and in particular 4 (3) A

"CHAPTER 4"
"Freedom of Information Act
(3) Records, video or audio recordings, or other information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information:
(A) would interfere with a prospective law enforcement proceeding;



to continue reading more reasons to deny the information, here is the link:
Code of Laws - Title 30 - Chapter 4 - Freedom Of Information Act
 
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zencompass said:
@Sustained, Yes, it could be solved before then and hopefully it will be.
SLED did comply by releasing the police reports within 10 days (although heavily redacted).

As for a judge ordering SLED to release more unredacted information or the 911 call, that's all subject to the South Carolina Code of Laws Freedom of Information Act: , and in particular 4 (3) A

"CHAPTER 4"
"Freedom of Information Act
(3) Records, video or audio recordings, or other information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information:
(A) would interfere with a prospective law enforcement proceeding;



to continue reading more reasons to deny the information, here is the link:
Code of Laws - Title 30 - Chapter 4 - Freedom Of Information Act
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Thanks for digging that up - 4(3)a is all I need to see to understand LE is not obligated to release anything that would interfere with the Murdaugh murder investigation.
 
‘Troubled marriage’ focus of probe into mysterious Murdaugh family killings

SABBM from CrimeOnline article above:

Sources reportedly told FITS News that Maggie and Alex Murdaugh’s marriage was troubled. The report does not specify precisely what was at the source of the purported marital conflict, but FITS News confirmed that the couple’s relationship is one focus of the investigation.

____________________

Well, now.

Here's an interesting little plot twist...

JMO.
 
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GordianKnot said:
‘Troubled marriage’ focus of probe into mysterious Murdaugh family killings

SABBM:

Sources reportedly told FITS News that Maggie and Alex Murdaugh’s marriage was troubled. The report does not specify precisely what was at the source of the purported marital conflict, but FITS News confirmed that the couple’s relationship is one focus of the investigation.

____________________

Well, now.

Here's an interesting little plot twist...

JMO.
Click to expand...

"Sources" - lol - someone saw them arguing over where to put their towels on the beach.
 
Sustained said:
"Sources" - lol - someone saw them arguing over where to put their towels on the beach.
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Possibly.

There are also other possibilities.

From what I've seen, that local news source Ellen Killoran from CrimeOnline cited in her article appears to have done solid reporting on this case.

That particular news group appears to have the inside track on the investigation, i.e., sources within the LE community.

I don't think CrimeOnline would report or repeat a baseless rumor.

JMO.
 
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GordianKnot said:
Possibly.

There are also other possibilities.

From what I've seen, that local news source Ellen Killoran from CrimeOnline cited in her article appears to have done solid reporting on this case.

That particular news group appears to have the inside track on the investigation, i.e., sources within the LE community.

I don't think CrimeOnline would report or repeat a baseless rumor.

JMO.
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If this is the article you're referring to ...

‘Troubled marriage’ focus of probe into mysterious Murdaugh family killings

Ellen seems to be using Fitsnews reporting.

Edit - apologies for the cynicism but the longer these cases go unsolved, the harder is it to consider news quoting "sources" for clickbait. What are we to really believe ?
 
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You know how you'll sometimes have a thought tickling the back of your brain but you just can't call it up?

I've had that feeling for a while now, and finally, FINALLY, it's come to me.

Thinking about all the tragedy and wreckage associated with this family, I'm reminded very much of this line from The Great Gatsby:

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

~ F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
 
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