Feb 7, 2023
COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) —
Tuesday marks "Day 12" in the Murdaugh double murder trial --LIVE BLOG
Court resumed at 9:30 a.m.
Live blog embed authored by Drew Tripp.
Court is now in session.
7 hours ago
Judge Newman is once again rehashing the admissibility of the rain jacket / blue tarp with the state and prosecution.
7 hours ago
Both state and defense have made their case once again for and against allowing the jacket specifically into evidence.
7 hours ago
Judge Newman rules the jacket is admissible and not prejudicial due to the circumstantial nature of the case.
7 hours ago
Jim Griffin for the defense says their objection is not about what Shelly Smith testified yesterday, but to bar testimony by SLED's next gunshot residue analyst about the GSR found on the jacket.
Updated: 7 hours ago
7 hours ago
Newman says it's the jury's job to make findings of facts, not his. The jacket is already in evidence, and it will be up to the jury to decide based on the state and defense's presentations whether or not the jacket is significantly valuable as evidence. State's motion denied.
7 hours ago
Judge Newman says juror who raised yesterday the issue of length of trial has made arrangements with their job and no longer has an issue with continuing.
7 hours ago
However, Judge Newman notes an alternate juror has been excused from the panel after needing to miss today's proceedings due to an emergency hospital visit.
7 hours ago
Now on the stand for the first time in front of the jury, Jeanne Seckinger, chief financial officer for Murdaugh's former law firm.
7 hours ago
We learned outside the jury's presence last week (and in the Russell Laffitte trial in November) Seckinger confronted Murdaugh about missing money the day of the murders
Seckinger is currently giving the jury background we have heard and reported on multiple times.
7 hours ago
Seckinger: Murdaugh was always in a rush, frenetic, gift of gab, constantly on his cell phone. Chaotic.
7 hours ago
Seckinger: Alex was gifted in the "art of ."
7 hours ago
Seckinger says Alex was more reliant on his personality and his ability to read people to win big results as an attorney than he did his technical skill. She can't deny he often got good, very lucrative results on clients' behalf.
7 hours ago
Seckinger says in hindsight, she thinks Murdaugh's forgetful, inattentive, nature was an act. He had a really strong memory but pretended to not care about small details or to have simply forgotten things, when in reality he was well aware and capable of juggling several stories at once with several different people.
7 hours ago
More from Seckinger. Successful not from his work ethic, but from ability to establish relationships and manipulate people into liking him.
6 hours ago
Seckinger notes how several years ago (2015), Alex through a clerical error was issued a refund check intended for his brother Randy for a loan Randy had made into the firm's operating account at the beginning of the year. Seckinger noted Alex NEVER made loans into that operating account in her 20+ years working with him.
6 hours ago
Seckinger says Murdaugh came to the finance office and told them he'd lost his refund check and asked them to cut him a new one. (Remember, this was never his check to begin with.) Murdaugh got the new check, went and cashed it, and held onto the original one. He then cashed the original one a year later. So he cashed the same $121K check (that wasn't his) twice.
6 hours ago
Seckinger says the firm discovered the issue when Murdaugh cashed the check a year later. Danny Henderson at the firm confronted Alex, and he explained it away as a simple mistake and misunderstanding. Seckinger says Henderson accepted this explanation, Alex was allowed to simply pay back the money, and the whole thing was "swept under the rug."
6 hours ago
Seckinger acknowledges her awareness of the boat crash involving Paul Murdaugh, and the lawsuit against Alex.
Seckinger brings up how in early 2021, she became aware of an improper check for attorney fees in a case Alex worked.
6 hours ago
Seckinger says Alex had sent the proceeds from his attorney fees on the "Hershberger case" directly to a business called Forge Consulting (or so she thought). Attorney fees are never supposed to be directly paid to an attorney or any other entity at Murdaugh's law firm. She explained earlier if an attorney were to take fees directly instead of sending them to the firm to hold and distribute, it would be stealing.
6 hours ago
In the Hersberger case, Seckinger says she learned Murdaugh was attempting to "structure' his fees so that he wouldn't get a lump sum, but instead several payments. Seckinger noted Alex had gone about doing that improperly by sending the money directly to what she thought was Forge Consulting (which is legitimate business).
6 hours ago
Seckinger said she had a conversation with Alex saying that for him to structure fees properly, the fees have to be part of the disbursement agreement from the settlement, and should go straight from the insurance company to the structuring firm (Forge Consulting) and that the law firm also has to be notified first.
6 hours ago
Seckinger says she also discussed with Alex how this method of structuring fees wasn't a tax benefit to him. Seckinger says Murdaugh in response said he wasn't worried about tax benefits or ramifications, but instead, he was trying to put money aside in Maggie's name because of the boat wreck lawsuit. Seckinger says Alex also brought up how he was trying to structure some of his own fees through Forge as a favor to Forge Consulting principal Michael Gunn in exchange for Gunn helping him get money put into Maggie's name.
6 hours ago
Seckinger says Murdaugh's admission about the "Forge" plan was highly concerning to her because it was amounting to hiding assets, and the firm didn't want anything to do with it.
6 hours ago
Seckinger said she advised Murdaugh of the right and wrong way to do things, but kept a mental note about what Alex had said he was trying to do with the money. This was in May of 2021. Seckinger said she planned to go talk to other law firms about what they were going to do as far as figuring out how to properly get things on the books for the firm, and also making sure Alex's opposing attorneys in the boat crash case were properly informed of Alex's income. It wasn't immediately pressing to her, however, because she didn't have to balance the books until December. Fair to say the issue was put on the backburner for the time being.
6 hours ago
But then later in the same month (May 2021), Seckinger says she got a request to meet privately with Alex Murdaugh's paralegal, Annette Griswald. Griswald says she discovered the check for Alex's fees was missing in a case he'd recently settled ("Faris vs. Mack Trucks case"). Alex had worked on the case with Chris Wilson, his longtime friend and fellow attorney at another law firm.
6 hours ago
Seckinger says Griswald told her she hadn't received a check from Chris Wilson's firm for Alex's attorney fees, and when she contacted Wilson's firm about that, Wilson's staff told Griswald the fees had already been paid. That's all secondhand according to Seckinger. (Griswald is also listed as a possible witness).
6 hours ago
Seckinger says her concern was immediately that Alex had been paid the fees himself when the Faris case fees were missing.
Seckinger says she requested full documentation of disbursements, etc in the Faris case from Wilson's law firm. This was on May 27.
6 hours ago
Meantime, Seckinger says she met with law firm partners Lee Cope and Mark Ball about the issue and came up with the plan to question Alex and Chris Wilson's firm without bringing backlash on Griswald.
6 hours ago
A day after the inquiries into the records, Seckinger says Alex came into her office wanting to know why she was requesting that info, and assured her the money was in Chris Wilson's account and they could get it anytime.
6 hours ago
Seckinger says she told Alex they either needed the money or proof it was there. She didn't tell him she thought it was missing, and she just needed documentation.
6 hours ago
Seckinger says the Issue came back to a head on June 7, 2021. Chris Wilson had not responded ton inquiries. She goes upstairs to Alex's office. He gives her a dirty look unlike anything he'd ever given her, clearly very frustrated, "What do you need now?" They went in Alex's office, closed the door, told him she had reason to believe he received the money himself, and she needed proof he hadn't.
6 hours ago
Seckinger says Murdaugh assured her the money was with Chris Wilson and they could get it. Conversation got interrupted when Alex took a call. Alex took a call saying his father was going to die soon. They stopped talking about business and started talking as friends. She left his office soon after under the impression he was going home for the day.
6 hours ago
Seckinger says she was surprised late in the afternoon on June 7 to get a call on her office phone from Alex saying he was working on financials for a hearing in the boat crash case later in the week, and wanted information on his 401(K) balances.
6 hours ago
Later the night of June 7, Seckinger says she started hearing rumors of a shooting involving Maggie and Paul.
6 hours ago
Seckinger says it was very shocking, very scary. Nobody knew what was going on. Law firm was a like a brotherhood and family. Everybody rallied to Alex's aid, no work done. Everybody spent time with Alex and family, bringing family meals, attending funerals. The fees issue got put on the backburner.
6 hours ago
Seckinger says Alex was erratic, taking pills, everybody was worried about his mental state, and they didn't want to press him on the missing fees issue.
Meantime, weeks pass. It's now July. PMPED partner Lee Cope takes over communicating with Chris Wilson in the background. Murdaugh continues to assure them money is there. July 19, Wilson finally responds that he has $792K in fees from Faris case in his trust account. Seckinger says she was hesitant to accept this, still seemed shaky, but says she had to believe what was in front of her.
6 hours ago
September 2021, Griswald comes into Seckinger's office with a check dated March 10, 2021, for $225K made out directly to Alex Murdaugh personally for "Faris fees." Again, attorney fees were supposed to go to the law firm directly. Seckinger said she immediately knew Alex had been stealing and had lied about it for months.
6 hours ago
Griswald had found the check on Alex's desk while going through files looking for something. Seckinger says she began looking into other cases of Murdaugh's based on the check.
6 hours ago
Seckinger says she printed a ledger of all disbursements by the firm to "Forge." Then started printing off all documents and copies of checks from those disbursements. Seckinger says she started feeling sick like she was about to throw up when she saw every check she printed out was signed by Alex Murdaugh.
5 hours ago
The bank on the checks was listed as Bank of America. The account was listed as "Forge." Seckinger brought in firm partners William Barnes and Mark Ball to get second opinions, and they agree it' Alex's signature. Ball also recognized one of the checks was obvious fraud because it was from a case where disbursements hadn't been approved yet.
5 hours ago
They then brought in Lee Cope, who called Michael Gunn at Forge Consulting to find out if their company banked at Bank of America. Gunn confirmed they hadn't used Bank of America in several years. Cope sent Gunn a sample list of clients whose names were on the checks they'd discovered. Gunn confirmed they had no records of any of the clients.
5 hours ago
On Sept. 3, 2021, a majority of the law partners met to discuss the findings of Alex's apparent thefts. After all agreeing, they brought in Alex's brother Randy to show him, and Randy agreed Alex appeared to be stealing, and something had to be done. So Randy and Danny Henderson went to confront Alex and demanded his resignation.
5 hours ago
Court has been in recess for a few minutes as the state prepares to go blow-by-blow with Seckinger on all the money Murdaugh stole from the firm between 2015 and 2021 using the fake "Forge" account.
5 hours ago
Court is back in session.
5 hours ago
Editor's note: We will not be going through these fraudulent disbursements line-by-line, dollar-for-dollar.
Seckinger notes on one of the cases she's reviewing, Murdaugh created not only a fraudulent bank account and illegally diverted funds from the law firm and his clients using it, but he was also charging bogus fees. "Phantom fees" as Seckinger described it.
5 hours ago
Seckinger is noting how the law firm had to pay back every single one of the people Alex stole from using the law firm's own funds.
5 hours ago
Seckinger keeps repeating the refrain "Because Alex stole it" as the state inventories all the funds taken from the firm.
5 hours ago
Seckinger says they found airline and limousine service fees billed to a client by Alex after the case had already concluded, meaning there's no way the fees were applicable. They again had to refund.
4 hours ago
Seckinger now establishing the collusion between Alex Murdaugh and her brother-in-law Russell Laffitte at Palmetto State Bank to steal money from clients and manipulate the law firm.
4 hours ago
Seckinger now going over "loans" Alex took out of the conservatorships of Hannah Plyler, and how he stole money from other clients accounts to pay it back after using the funds to pay personal debts and send money to his family and friends.
4 hours ago
Creighton Waters brings up how Murdaugh had on several occasions used his law firm credit card to pay for personal expenses in the past (before all the thieving was discovered.) Each time it happened, the balance was deducted from his bonus at the end of the year and was forgotten.
4 hours ago
Waters circles back to Seckinger's point about the law firm operating on trust. Says the irregular checks cut by the law firm at Murdaugh's direction (allowing the thefts) were made possible by the law firm staff's trust in and respect for Alex.
4 hours ago
Seckinger knew Alex Murdaugh for 40 years (since she was 16), worked with him for 22 years.
Creighton Waters: "Did you really know Alex Murdaugh?"
Seckinger: "I don't think I ever really knew him. I don't think anybody knows him."
4 hours ago
One of the last points Waters had Seckinger make was the fact Alex was taking legitimate attorney fees in addition to everything he was stealing. Substantial sums of money.
Defense now in cross examination. Jim Griffin starts by asking for renewed jury limiting instruction on the fact the evidence of financial crimes is only to prove the state's theory of motive for murder, not to be considered under any other light.
4 hours ago
In other words, the financial crimes can't be used to assess Murdaugh's character or to infer he had the propensity to commit crimes even to the extent of murder.
4 hours ago
Griffin begins by noting Murdaugh's former law firm has had to pay out north of $4 million to cover for Alex's thefts, and the law firm itself is therefore a victim of Alex. Seckinger agrees.
Updated: 4 hours ago
4 hours ago
Griffin notes how the thefts had been going on for 10 years before they were discovered. Says Seckinger has the right to be hurt and angry.
Seckinger: "(Alex) managed to fool a lot of people, myself included." ... "I take it very personally. It haunts me that I let this, or that this happened.'
Griffin: "And you feel like you let it happen on your watch?"
Seckinger: "I think anybody would feel like that. It's a big betrayal of trust."
4 hours ago
Seckinger says there were fears of unknowns about the murders because of rumors. They didn't think Alex had killed Maggie and Paul because of the confrontation.
4 hours ago
Griffin and Seckinger establish there wasn't a great rush to collect the missing money from Alex and Chris Wilson after the murders.
4 hours ago
Seckinger says there were issues in her personal life and other professional obligations that prevented her from doing a more thorough background on Alex's disbursements for many months after initially discovering the Hersberger matter, and the murders were part of that.
4 hours ago
Griffin makes the point the records of Murdaugh's stealing were there in the system all along, dating back 10 years.
"I had no reason to suspect anything was going on. We had no clients complaining about money missing. We trusted him. We had reason to look."
4 hours ago
Griffin seizes on that point. No clients complaining about missing money around June 7?
Seckinger: No and shamefully when we did talk to clients, they talked about how that they were shocked and confused by the fact he had manipulated and confused them all those years."
4 hours ago
Griffin: So around June 7, Alex wasn't in a pressure cooker over missing money and how he was handling his business?
Seckinger: "I don't know about anybody else's pressure cooker. I know I was putting pressure on him about the Faris fees."
Seckigner says she believes Murdaugh was going to other partners in the law firm complaining about her hassling him about the missing fees and improperly structured fees.
3 hours ago
Griffin offers Alex had no life insurance policies on Maggie and Paul.
3 hours ago
Jim Griffin has no further questions.
3 hours ago
Creighton Waters back in redirect. Has Seckinger restate how Murdaugh was specifically trying to shield assets in the boat crash case in their original conversation months before the murders.
3 hours ago
Waters: once the murders happened, did it seem right to pressure Murdaugh about the money?
Seckinger says it didn't. They were concerned about Alex's well-being, and wanted to be sure he was mentally OK before bringing it back up.
3 hours ago
Seckinger says she still had suspicions in July when she got the email from Chris Wilson saying the Faris fees were accounted for because the email didn't include the accounting documents and ledgers proving the money was there.
3 hours ago
Waters concludes the inevitable outcome of the discovery of all Murdaugh's misspending and thefts would be that he'd damage his respected family name, lose his law license and job and go to jail if any of it as discovered. Seckinger affirms.
3 hours ago
Court in recess for lunch.
2 hours ago
Court resumes. Next on the stand is Ronnie Crosby, former law firm partner of Alex Murdaugh.
2 hours ago
Crosby restating a lot of what we heard from Seckinger we heard earlier.
Crosby says Murdaugh never really developed a technical expertise as a lawyer. More of a general practitioner. The firm was often amazed, however, at some of the large settlements he was able to win.
2 hours ago
Crosby says around the mid-late 2000s, Murdaugh and his friend Barrett Boulware along with some others were doing some real estate speculation. In 2008, the Great Recession hit. Some of his partners in the deals weren't able to pay into the loans, and Alex was having to carry a lot of the burden financially.
2 hours ago
Crosby says he thought Murdaugh was able to rectify his financial strains in 2010, 2011 after winning very, very large settlements in several cases: Plyler sisters, Badger, Pinckney and Thomas. The judgments were very, very large, and Mr. Murdaugh would've earned good income off those cases, Crosby said.
2 hours ago
Crosby is aware of the boat crash case in 2019 involving Paul Murdaugh and the death of Mallory Beach. Crosby says he knew Mallory personally, as she worked for his wife. Says he also knew Paul, and the other two girls (Miley Altman, Morgan Doughty) on the boat. He was also aware of the lawsuit that followed by Mallory's family.
2 hours ago
Crosby says he had a conversation with Alex and other lawyers over the years about structuring fees. Sometime in the spring in 2021, he and Alex spoke about it. At that time, Crosby says he thinks he's the only one at the firm who was doing it at the time.
2 hours ago
Crosby says he advised Murdaugh structuring would be of no real benefit to him because of low interest rates at the time.
2 hours ago
Crosby says he knew of Gloria Satterfield. Knew her for many years, both through her relationship with Alex, and his own family. Says Gloria helped his wife out with laundry and stuff when their children were first born. Crosby says he heard Satterfield died after Alex's dogs knocked her down the steps.
an hour ago
Crosby says Alex told him he would be going after his own insurance company in a "friendly" suit to try to get Satterfield's sons money to help them out. Doesn't recall any other conversations about it.
an hour ago
Crosby detailing his involvement in the Faris vs. Mack Trucks case from a products liability standpoint. He assisted Murdaugh on the case, but didn't help him try the case in court. Crosby explaining how a lawyer in Columbia was working on the case first before getting Chris Wilson (Alex's friend) involved, then Alex. Not unusual. Alex and Chris worked on cases together a lot.
an hour ago
Soon after the Faris case was settled, Crosby says he heard from partners and Jeanne Seckinger about missing fees in the Faris case Alex was supposed to have gotten.
Crosby gives context, saying the May 2021 discovery of the missing Faris case fees happened in close proximity to Alex talking to him about structuring fees
an hour ago
Crosby says Seckinger mentioned to him Alex had told her he wanted to hide money in relation to boating case.
Crosby: "I said, 'Oh no we are not!,' To do that under any circumstance was illegal, unethical, and he would be putting us at risk, and we absolutely were not going to participate that was illegal, unethical or subjected us to liability or created issues with the South Carolina bar."
an hour ago
Crosby says Jeanne told them she was being told the money was held in trust with Chris Wilson. "I had no reason to doubt that. I thought he was trying to just take the money out in some other way so it didn't go through our system, which would've also been tax fraud on our part not to have that accounted for. There was myriad reasons why that wasn't ever going to happen, but I thought if they were saying the money was there, I just said Jeanne get the money, take care of it. I didn't think any more of it. I didn't think he was stealing. I thought, OK he's got this boat case, and maybe he thought if he did it through Chris's trust account, maybe it wouldn't be accounted for. But it had to be accounted for.
an hour ago
Crosby: There was just no damn way we were going to do that.
an hour ago
Crosby knew Paul Murdaugh since he was born. Crosby is very emotional as he recalls this. Both Paul and Buster referred to him as Uncle Ronnie. They lived close to each other. Paul and Buster hunted a lot on Ronnie's property. Crosby choked up. "I didn't think this would be that hard." "Paul was really good with kids. He took a liking to my son who was younger." Spent a lot of time together, hunted with his son all the time. "He had a great personality, just a kid I really loved." As his son got older, he would go over to Moselle to hunt with Paul.
an hour ago
Alex is weeping and rocking back and forth as Crosby testifies about Paul.
an hour ago
Crosby says he doesn't recall seeing Murdaugh the day of the murders. He found out what had happened late that night, sometime after 11.
an hour ago
Ronnie left home and drove to Moselle. Drove to the scene. Arrived sometime around 11. Stayed there until around 3:30 a.m. Everybody left around that time. Returned to Moselle the next day. Had multiple conversations with Alex the night of and day after.
an hour ago
Crosby says Alex told him and others from the firm he worked up until around 5:30-6, went home, rode around the property with Paul, went home and had dinner. Maggie was there at the house. Maggie and Paul went to the kennels after dinner. Alex said he sat on the couch and fell asleep sometime after 8 and woke up around 9. Drove to his mother's house. Sat on the bed with her. Came back to Moselle. Realized Maggie and Paul weren't at the house, drove to the kennels and discovered Maggie and Paul's body.
an hour ago
Crosby says Murdaugh specifically said in one of the conversations they had Alex specifically said he didn't go down to the kennels with Maggie and Paul.
State plays for Crosby the video from Paul's phone at the dog kennels on June 7, 2021 at 8:44 p.m. Crosby says the voices heard in the video are Paul Murdaugh, Maggie Murdaugh and Alex Murdaugh. He's 100% confident.
an hour ago
Crosby says the law firm is very close knit. Sent shock waves through the law firm. Horror and disbelief. Firm took extra security measures. Insecurity and fear because they didn't understand what might be happening. Paul, Maggie and Buster had come to the law firm many times over the years. They all knew them.
an hour ago
Crosby says everyone needed to be together to support each other, especially Alex after the murders. Recalls a conversation where the partners decided not to bring up the money again immediately after the murders.
an hour ago
Crosby gave the eulogy for Paul at the funeral. Was around him all the time. He pretty much had free reign over Crosby's property to hunt and fish. Very polite. Killed his first deer on Ronnie's property. He got to watch him grow up.
an hour ago
Crosby recalls how Paul often used a camo Benelli Super Black Eagle shotgun and a .300 Blackout rifle.
an hour ago
Crosby remembers noting at the murder scene what he thought were .223 rifle cartridges, but then was surprised to learn the next day they were .300 BLK shells.
an hour ago
Crosby says they enquired with Alex about the .300 BLK rifles and he said one was inside and he didn't know where the other one was. Later mentioned a third one that had been stolen.
an hour ago
Crosby says he was much later called by a partner to come to a meeting at Danny Henderson's house. He was told he was going to need a drink. Says he ultimately needed more than one. He was handed the files showing Alex's theft, and quickly determined they had to fire Alex. They launched an internal investigation and reported it to authorities.
an hour ago
Had he known earlier, he would've moved to fire Alex and turn evidence over to authorities. Conduct would've been also reported to the bar.
an hour ago
Jim Griffin in cross examination for the Defense.
Crosby says he and other law partners were asking a lot of questions and theorizing about who could've committed the murders.
44 minutes ago
Crosby recounts that he in the aftermath of murders he went to a local mechanic shop and checked to see if Paul had removed his guns from his truck before dropping the truck off the Friday before the murders. Crosby said he observed some loose ammo and a pistol in Paul's truck, but no long guns.
43 minutes ago
Crosby says he also reviewed surveillance video at the mechanic shop, and it wasn't apparent from the video if Paul had removed any guns from the truck when he left. Picked up by Moselle caretaker Claude Rowe.
41 minutes ago
Crosby describes going to the murder scene the day after the killings with law partner Mark Ball. Bodies had been removed but there was still blood and body tissue everywhere.
35 minutes ago
Jim Griffin asks Crosby if he tried to collect any evidence when he went to the feed room where Paul was killed after the murders.
Crosby: "Jim -- I mean, Mr. Griffin -- We know each other, I apologize. That area in that room ... it was so bad. We thought we were going to at some point clean it up, but it overwhelmed both my partner Mark and I. We could see the (shotgun shell pellets) and all the other aftermath. We were getting biological material on our -- I mean, we just couldn't be there. It was bad, and it was overwhelming us. So no, I didn't try to collect evidence."
Griffin: "And the scene inside that feed room I take it is something that still is etched inside your mind's eye, your memory?"
Crosby: "Yes."
33 minutes ago
Crosby says he isn't qualified to say if crime scene was being handled correctly. Doesn't recall any comments by anyone else about the same.
32 minutes ago
Crosby says when the law partners were all sent away from the crime scene the night of the murders and went to the house, it was his perception hadn't been searched yet.
32 minutes ago
Crosby says he recalls Alex being brought up to the house to change clothes and SLED seizing his clothes.
30 minutes ago
Griffin asking Crosby how Alex had an annoying quirk of taking phone calls at any time, during depositions, partner meetings, etc. Crosby acknowledges.
28 minutes ago
Crosby notes for Griffin that Alex was having trouble sleeping and didn't come to the office much. Taking medicine from anxiety -- the pills Seckinger mentioned earlier. Was losing weight, wasn't eating. Falling asleep at work.
Crosby recalls how Alex in the aftermath of the murders told him how much Paul loved him, and it was emotional every time.
26 minutes ago
Griffin asks Crosby about seeing Alex over the 4th of July weekend after the murders. He came over to Crosby's beach house with Randy by boat. Noted Alex was carrying a gun. He hadn't known Alex to carry a gun for protection before that.
23 minutes ago
In re-direct, Creighton Waters again asks the question he asked of Jeanne Seckinger earlier, and of Will Loving before that: Did you
really know Alex Murdaugh. This time, Jim Griffin objects citing the state attacking the character of the witness. Judge Newman sustains the objection. Crosby allowed to step down.
23 minutes ago
After brief recess, the state intends to call its gunshot residue analyst to testify.
15 minutes ago
Now on the witness stand for the State, Megan Fletcher. She's a SLED agent in the forensics division. Began training on gunshot residue analysis in 2007 when she started.
8 minutes ago
Fletcher says at SLED they specifically test for gunshot PRIMER residue. Primer has a dual meaning within ammunition. Primer is both the chemical compound substance that is ignited to initiate the combustion of gunpowder inside ammunition, and primer is also the name of the small component on the ammo itself where the primer compound itself is housed.
7 minutes ago
Primers produce a specific three-part trace evidence cocktail, and gunshot primer residue analysts are required to find all three parts on a test to be able to declare gunshot residue for evidentiary value is present.
4 minutes ago
Fletcher notes the circumstances for collecting GSR are very narrow when it comes to being able to collect usable samples. GSR is easily washed away or wiped away. It's also highly transferable. Fletcher notes it's very difficult to determine if GSR is transferred from another person or object, was carried along with the bullet, or was directly deposited on the person by firing a firearm.
Tuesday, PM continued live blog testimony:
Fletcher notes no GSR was found on Alex's shoes.
5 minutes ago
Fletcher repeatedly notes how the GSR particles on Alex's hand, shirts and shoes could've come from transfer or proximity, not necessarily from firing.
7 minutes ago
One GSR particle found on Alex's left hand.
9 minutes ago
Fletcher notes 3 particles combined from right and left groin area of Alex's shorts.
11 minutes ago
Fletcher notes three GSR particles combined were found on right sleeve / chest and left sleeve / chest.
12 minutes ago
Fletcher notes Alex's shirt had gunshot primer residue on it, which can come from vicinity of firearm discharge or transfer from other object.
16 minutes ago
Fletcher notes light staining on the shirt. Cargo shorts were clean.
17 minutes ago
Fletcher now reviewing Alex Murdaugh's white t-shirt from the night of June 7. Notes how she immediately noticed smell of fresh laundry detergent like her technician described yesterday.
20 minutes ago
Fletcher notes its now SLED policy (recommended prior to 2022, now policy) not to test gunshot victims for GSR because there's essentially no value to that evidence. Bullets and other discharged materials from fired ammo carries gunshot residue with it, so you'll expect to find GSR on a gunshot victim. No real way to tell if that GSR would've come from shooting or being shot.
22 minutes ago
Fletcher, who has been qualified as an expert witness, says the best place to collect GSR is from the hands of a person, but also some key places on the body, like a shirt sleeve, shoulder, center of chest, pants legs or shoes.