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2/8/22 --LIVE TRIAL BLOG
COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — NOTE @ 12:25 p.m. - The Murdaugh murder trial proceedings were paused as the Colleton County courthouse was evacuated midday Wednesday. They resumed just after 2:30 p.m.
First witness: Megan Fletcher returns to the stand
The defense will begin with cross-examination of witness Megan Fletcher, who began her testimony Tuesday with questions from the State. She's a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) agent in the forensics division and has training in gunshot residue.On Tuesday she told the jury about the gunshot residue participles she collected from the blue raincoat Alex was seen bringing rolled up to his mother's house in the week after the murders of his wife and son, Maggie and Paul.
Attorney Jim Griffin is doing the cross-examination.
He firsts confirms that gunshot residue is not biodegradable. Fletcher says that's correct, there's metal and other components that make it last. She says conceivably it will last for hundreds of years.
Gunshot residue is formed through a gunshot and will come out of the gun through any opening (such as the barrel), she says.
Studies have shown the residue can travel at least 60-ft from the gun, Fletcher says, noting that studies have not been done on farther distances.
Fletcher says gunshot residue (GSR) will stay on the firearm until cleaned.
She says if you touch the gun at any point, there's the possibility of GSR transferring to your hands.
Griffin asks, is it possible there's GSR where she's sitting right now on the witness stand. She says yes.
She confirms she received shirts, shorts and shoes from Alex Murdaugh. Someone else lifted the particles off those items, she didn't do it personally. the collection was done on June 8.
Griffin asks if she knew the clothes were wet. She says when she opened the bag, the shoes and shirt were indeed a little damp. She recalls smelling laundry detergent. Says she did not know it was raining the night before at Moselle.
Three particles were lifted from his white shirt, three particles from the shorts, no particles from the shoes. One particle on Alex's right hand, Fletcher says of their collection.
When she analyzed the evidence, she did not know if Alex was holding a gun. Says the collection was consistent was similar to someone who had a gun in their hand before the collection.
Fletcher confirms her testimony from yesterday.
In terms of the seatbelt collection:
- 1 particle found on the buckle
- 0 on the latch plate
- 0 on the whole belt
Moving on to the blue raincoat, Fletcher confirms GSR could stay on the garment for up to 4 years if not cleaned.
She can't say when or how the particles on the coat got there.
Fletcher confirms the 38 GSR particles found on the raincoat is a "significant" amount.
She can't say the 1 particle on Alex's hand is "insignificant." Griffin tries to get her to explain why. She says she can't say whether the evidence itself is significant, just if the number of particles is compared to the average particle lifts she does.
Griffin asks her about a blue tarp she also received. She confirms the tarp was not tested after consideration with supervisors.
Part of the reason for this was the coat was balled up in a closet and the tarp was found folded in a container.
Fletcher says she did nothing else with the tarp and doesn't know what happened to it.
She confirms her testimony from yesterday that it's a possibility the raincoat came in contact with a firearm based on her results.
Fletchers says she doesn't know and wouldn't have been told if the rain coat was tested for fingerprints.
She says her analysis took place before any other tests were done on the coat.
She says the raincoat was slated for further DNA analysis, which she only knows based on what was written on the outside of the box it was in.
Fletcher now explaining a few evidence pieces and how they were packaged.
She says the raincoat was size "large" and the brand was unfamiliar to her (and me, as Griffin tried to pronounce it).
Redirect from the State starting now.
She confirms, in total there were 52 particles of GSR taken from the raincoat. 14 on the outside, 38 on the interior.
For the interior of a garment, Fletcher says the amount lifted was unusual because typically people wear their clothing right side outside, meaning if they were nearby to a shooting, the particles would land on the outside of the garment.
The State asks, if you were carrying a recently-fired gun, could its GSR be transferred to something you're carrying it in?
She says yes, that's possible.
Again, she says the 38 particles were "unusual" in her expertise because it was a large amount and found on the inside of a garment.
Griffin back up. He says isn't it true there are a lot of possibilities here? yes.
He asks one last question about rim fire ammo and GSR before resting.
Next witness: Annette Griswold
Griswold was one of two paralegals working for Alex Murdaugh at his former law firm, formerly known as PMPED.Griswold said Alex was extremely intelligent in law. She admired and respected that greatly. He didn't keep normal times, might float in late morning or later.
He was always show up right before 5 pm. She would refer to him as a Tasmanian devil because when he came to the office, he was ready to go and all over the place. "It was kind of confusing."
After Griswold finds out a case is settled, she starts determining fees and drafts the sheet of deductions and what not. Alex makes any changes he needs to, signs off on it, and then it would go to the accounting department to cut the checks.
Griswold says Alex was rarely at the office after the 2019 boat crash that killed Mallory Beach; and when he was, the door was always closed and it was almost impossible to reach him.
"He was always dealing with something that was bigger than what we were," she said.
He was just not what his normal self used to be. It was just very tense. You could tell the oat crash was weighing heavy on him and it was consuming his life. He was harder to reach. He would come in, yell their names and just didn't treat them the same way he did prior to the boat accident.
She says he was very protective of who went in his office, which she described as cluttered.
Griswold recalls being confused when Alex asked her to change checks to "forge" instead of "forge consulting."
His explanation: Forge consulting is the large company and Forge is a smaller account under the umbrella.
She would even have to reach out to other offices to get them to rewrite checks to "forge"
Alex said he would always hand deliver the checks to Michael Gunn at Forge Consulting. She was worried the checks would get lost, so she started making notes to remember when he said he would take care of them.
Michael Gunn, as a reminder, was the law firm's main contact with the real "Forge Consulting."
Griswold described working from home after having surgery near Halloween of 2020. She got a phone call from a coworker that December saying a disbursement sheet she got made no sense. Griswold said she's protective of her files and was confused Alex has someone else was drafting a report on one of her cases, without her knowing. The coworker said the draft just wasn't making sense, specifically with the attorney fees identified for "Forge."
Griswold said she asked Alex about it and he said he would just finish the report himself.
Griswold said his explanation was the attorneys can structure the attorney fees that way. It's something they've always been able to do, but he's just starting to take advantage of it. Griswold said his explanation did make sense at face value, but it was always at the back of her mind because she knows there should normally be a paper trial.
This was all regarding the Hershberger case.
At the end of January, Griswold left work early one Friday to take her mom to a doctor's appointment. The same thing happened again, this time on the Tommy Moore case, she said. Nicole was tasked with completing the disbursement report, and called Griswold in confusion.
Both coworkers agreed they needed more information and asked Alex about it again. Again, he wrote it off and they finished the disbursements his way.
She reads off a paper on the Herschberger case. In the he UIM and liability portion of the case- the PMPed attorney fees were routed to "forge" in the amount of $83,383
All the funds- including attorney fees- were being transferred to "forge" on the Moore case.
It was another yellow flag that on multiple instances, Alex asked someone else draft a disbursement on her files. She recalls no reason for a rush in either situation. She believes in hindsight, Alex was doing this deliberately to push Griswold out of the process.
Griswald says it was explained to her that -- because the funds for the Moore case would be tied up in a Workers Comp lien dispute for a long time -- Murdaugh was sending all the proceeds to "Forge" so they could draw interest.
Griswald says she noted it was clearly Alex's handwriting in the signature line for Thomas Moore.
Now moving ahead to the Faris vs. Mack Trucks case aftermath in May 2021, and Griswald being alarmed by learning attorney fee disbursements had been paid in March. No records in her files and no records in accounts payable.
Griswald says she simply assumed Alex had gotten the checks hand delivered and had lost them.
Griswald says she tried to speak to Alex about the missing checks. He was insistent he hadn't received the money and Chris Wilson still had the money.
Griswald checked back with Chris Wilson's firm, and his paralegal explained she was positive because she noted how it was odd the checks had been made out to Alex Murdaugh personally, so she remembered it.
Griswald went back to Alex a few more times, and he remained insistent Wilson's paralegal was wrong, and was shooing Griswald out of his office as if he didn't have time to be bothered with this.
Griswald says it was a huge red flag, and she knew the attorney fees checks should've been made to the firm, not to Alex.
Griswald recalls bringing her concerns to Jeanne Seckinger and Seckinger sharing in her alarm. This was May 27, 2021. Jeanne and Annette formulate a plan to inquire about the payments and records in a way not to suggest Annette had raised red flags and not make it seem like they were suspicious.
"We wanted our suspicions to be wrong," Griswald says.
Griswald recalls being very concerned about the repercussions for raising concerns about the issue. Reached out to Wilson's paralegal Vicky Lyman to share concerns (Judge Newman wouldn't allow text messages in evidence). Griswald recalls daughter telling her to get her resume ready because she might get fired.
June 7, 2021. Jeanne Seckinger comes up to their office suite, gives her a glance, and goes in Alex's office. Seckinger didn't say anything after leaving Alex's office. She left work at 5:15 p.m. Alex Murdaugh was still at work. (Notes Alex tended to work nights and later schedules).
Early the morning of June 8, wakes up to mass number of missed calls and text messages, and voicemail from Randy Murdaugh. Describes emotional call with Randy who informed her "it's bad," Maggie and Paul had been murdered.
Griswald says the immediate reactions were fear and protectiveness. They were worried for Alex and Buster's safety and the whole Murdaugh family. Was a disgruntled client targeting them? Was anyone else at the firm in danger? Went in to extreme "Mama Bear" mode. Trying to shield Alex and the family from bombardment. "What Faris fees?" The missing money was the furthest thing from their mind. The firm basically shut down and rallied around Alex. The larger community and other lawyers did too.
Griswald is asked about the boat crash case and the death of Mallory Beach. Says the community was somewhat divided. Everybody knew someone involved. Mallory's father is her cousin. She was questioned for not quitting her job at Alex's firm over the boat crash in support of the Beach family. She had noted earlier how Alex significantly changed after the boat crash.
Griswald says the Faris fees didn't come back up for a long time. She was looking for a file one day in Alex's office on Sept. 2, 2021, and says a check fell out of a file and floated like a feather to the ground. It was the missing Faris fee check Alex told her didn't exist. Says she was enraged. Called Jeanne Seckinger and said "Guess what I found?" Jeanne said "Oh *advertiser censored*!" They met and shared what each other had found. Alex was fired the next day.
Griswald says all her suspicions were confirmed about the Forge issue.
Right now, Judge Newman has excused the jury for the State and Defense to argue over the admissibility into evidence of an email Alex sent to Griswald regarding his being in rehab, thus alluding to Murdaugh's drug use. Defense doesn't want any info about drug use mentioned or inferred.
Newman doesn't seem convinced that this will impugn or prejudice the jury re: Murdaugh's character. Waters for the state says it's a bridge they have to cross at some point anyway. No explicit mention of drugs in the letter. Waters thinks it's very probative.
Griffin wants Newman to again instruct the jury about not letting evidence assailing Murdaugh's character sway the jury beyond the scope of motive.
Griffin says he will consider the issue further during a recess.
Arguments continuing over testimony re: Murdaugh's drug use.
Griffin says we're venturing into territory too prejudicial by admitting anything about drug use and drug addiction because it is part of the whole story (res gestae) and even explains the financial crimes. It's hard for defense overcome the "piling on" of this. Griffin moves to bar testimony about drug use and to go so far as to strike everything heard so far on the financial crimes from the record.
Judge Newman says he will not approve that motion. Newman say he's amenable to redacting the info about Murdaugh being in rehab from the letter that's being introduced. Griffin says that's not necessary but asks for another limiting instruction. Griffin says he's not going to give the instruction every time for every witness. It's already been given twice and he will give it again at the end of trial.
The letter (a text message, actually) is admitted into evidence. Dated Sept. 26, 2021.
Waters shifts quickly to Murdaugh's cell phone use. Griswald says he had it with him all the time, was always on it, it would be unusual for Murdaugh not to have it on him.
State plays the kennel video for Griswald. She's 100% sure she hears Alex, Paul and Maggie's voice.
Waters shifts back now to the text message. He asks Griswald to read only one excerpt. "The worst part is knowing I did the most damage to those I love the most." Waters has nothing further for Griswald. Jim Griffin now doing cross-examination for the Defense.
Griffin is asking Griswald about Alex being her boss. Notes how Alex was very accommodating to Griswald with her family issues and time off. Family first for her and family first for himself. Griffin asks her if Alex was a good boss. "It was hit or miss. I cared about him, I respected him, I loved him. You can't be that close and work with somebody without developing feelings for them and their family members. But it was hard to work for him sometimes. He was a bit erratic. For all the respect and love I had for him, it was still very difficult to work for him." Griffin reiterates her testimony earlier about Murdaugh being like a Tasmanian devil.
Griswald says Alex "didn't know the word 'no,'" when it came to helping anybody who would come to him and ask.
Griffin continues asking about Alex's closeness to his family. Took them on trips with him, work or otherwise. Very close with Maggie's family. Always in contact. Never put off calls with his family. Always had time for them.
Griswald notes how the firm rallied around the Murdaugh family after the deaths of Maggie and Paul and Alex's father, Randolph.
Griswald says Alex was very different after the murders. Didn't yell at her or the other paralegal Christy like he used to, but was much kinder and gentler.
Griswald notes Murdaugh wasn't working much after the murders. Never stayed at Moselle again after that. Commuted from Summerville where he was staying with Maggie's parents, or the family's beach house, or Randy's house.
Griswald says she was deeply concerned about her livelihood after the fact of discovering the Faris check and turning him in. What if she was wrong? What if she turned him in for something and it wasn't stealing.
Griffin after objecting to any reference to Alex being in rehab or any insinuation of drug addiction, brings up himself the letter Alex sent to Griswald and his other secretary.
Murdaugh was in drug rehab for an apparent years-long prescription painkiller addiction at the time.
Sept. 26, 2021 letter from Alex to Griswald and his other paralegal:
Griffin in redirect. After the murders, Murdaugh still had his job and his law license after the murders, correct? Yes. People came to him for their problems? Yes. He was a prominent lawyer? Yes. And all that came to an end when the stolen money was discovered, correct? Yes.
Next witness: Michael Gunn
Gunn is the principal running the South Carolina office for Forge Consulting, a financial planning firm that handles annuities and structured settlements for people who've won settlements in court cases so they can save money. He testified last week without the jury present.We heard a lot of testimony from Gunn during evidentiary hearings to determine if his testimony re: Alex Murdaugh would be admissible. He's again testifying to the fact he had a longtime friendly relationship with Murdaugh and had even at one time discussed structuring a settlement for one of Murdaugh's clients, but Murdaugh had not actually followed through.
Gunn was presented in Sept. 2021 with several names by Murdaugh's law partners asking if Forge Consulting had any accounts for them. He searched records. There were no names in their records except the one he'd created a file on the one time Murdaugh brought up the idea to him.
Gunn confirms Murdaugh was never taking checks to him for structured settlements. Murdaugh never structured his own fees through the legitimate Forge Consulting. Murdaugh didn't have authority to operate a bank account under the name Forge. And Forge didn't have any bank accounts with Bank of America to correspond with the accounts Alex opened.
In cross exam, Gunn notes for Jim Griffin Alex was a strong family man. Always brought his family with him to conventions and such, appeared to love his family very much.
Next witness: Brian Hudak
Just after SLED forensic data analyst Brian Hudak took the stand, court was abruptly recessed for a bomb threat.Roughly two and a half hours later, court resumed.
Hudak is the one who removed the data from the infotainment system module and OnStar module from Alex's Chevy Suburban after the murders. He notes he had to uninstall the entire system and send it off for analysis because SLED did not and does not have the software necessary to extract that data.
The modules were sent to the FBI and returned to SLED after analysis.
Hudak has been released from the witness stands after the state introduces the infotainment and OnStar modules have been entered into evidence.
Next testimony: Dwight Falkofske
Next on the witness stand, Dwight Falkofske, an electronics engineer and automotive forensic specialist in the FBI's electronic device analysis unit. That unit specializes in collecting data off devices that can't be accessed via commercial tools available to the general public.In other words, he extracts binary code data from computer systems, and he converts it into info humans can read and understand.
Falkofske has been qualified as an expert witness in automotive forensics.
Location data and connected device history (Bluetooth, USB, etc) is contained on the infotainment and telematics modules. Falkofske notes how software isn't available to extract data from the 2021 Suburban. So he removed the computer chip and placed it in a specialized reader.
Read More: Automotive forensic expert says location data on Murdaugh's car surprisingly encrypted
Falkofske says he ran into something with Murdaugh's SUV he'd never seen before: The data was encrypted.
The FBI basically had to write a program from scratch to attach to another Chevy Suburban to find the encryption key that allowed the FBI to decrypt the location and device history data for extraction.
Falkofske says the extraction took a year to complete. When it was complete, there was no location data. The Bluetooth connection showed connections but without timestamps. There were calls in the call log. On a more granular level, they found a "voluminous" amount of data related to the individual movements of the vehicle (gear shift changes, windows up and down, moving or not moving, etc)
The FBI used an identical 2021 Chevy Suburban to create a test key of what these actions looked like in data form. Meaning, they kept a record of actions happening in the car at certain times, and then cross referenced those actions with data collected by the car, and then used the info to basically pair the data info with the corresponding actions they'd performed.
Based on that, the FBI interpreted the data. Falkofske says it was a "challenging" process. Certain actions were more clearly discernible than others. The best indicator they found of the vehicle moving was the gear shift data showing "In Park" or not -- they couldn't tell if it was in reverse or drive, or if the vehicle was physically moving, just that it either was "In Park" or not.
Switching back to vehicle call logs from connected phones. Call made to 911 at 10:06 p.m. on June 7, 2021.
Falkofske now reviewing file of condensed data logs. Narrowed it down to a single page spreadsheet, looking at key indicators of vehicle movement.
Two lines of spreadsheet data color coded in red. They found the data corresponded to the infotainment center starting up. It happened in a variety of instances, could be as simple as someone just opening the door and the screen lighting up on the console screen. There are unexplained times the system seems to initiate a boot for no apparent reason.
Now onto two blue lines on the spreadsheet. Falkofske says they indicate:
- 12:21 p.m. on June 7, someone shifted the vehicle into park.
- 12:23 p.m. - Spreadsheet logs shows multiple things happening all at once. Falkofske says those instances must be analyzed in the aggregate, or taken all together to determine what's happening. The best conclusion was that the vehicle was powering down at that point.
- 6:23:57 p.m. - vehicle shifted out of park. "Vehicle park: False."
- 6:53, 7:11 p.m. - Examples given of infotainment system boot up.
- 9:03-9:06 p.m. - Infotainment system boots up, engine running, vehicle taken out of park.
- 9:22 p.m. - Vehicle put back into park. Approx. 16 minutes elapsed. It could've been moving between those two times, but Falkofske can't say for certain.
- 9:43:05 p.m. - Vehicle out of park
- 9:43:59 p.m. - Vehicle in park.
- About 21 minutes passed between the parking event at 9:22 and 9:43. Less than one minute passed between the vehicle going out of park at 9:43:05 and then back in park at 9:43:59.
- Vehicle goes out of park 9:44:54.
- Back into park at 10:00:36.
- 16 minutes passed.
- 10:01:17 p.m. - Out of park
- 10:01:29 p.m. - In park
- 12 seconds elapsed.
- 10:01:30 - out of park
- 10:01:43 - in park
- 13 seconds elapsed
- 10:04;44-10:04;47 - system powering down.
- 10:04;49 - out of park
- 10:05;55 - in park
- 10:11;45 - out of park
- 10:12;38 - in park
- 10:13;39 - out of park (no matching pair to show it going back in park, Falkofske notes the system sometimes doesn't record data for some unexplained reason, based on what they observed with the test vehicle.)
Nothing further from the state for no. Phillip Barber cross examining Falkofske
Falkofske agrees with Barber the FBI basically had to reverse engineer the infotainment system to get the data and overcome the encryption.
Barber asks why didn't they just send the infotainment module to General Motors and ask them to help decrypt so they could get the most accurate data? Barber says they like to extract data themselves for one, and two, companies like GM (in their experience) don't like to help the FBI on this kinds of stuff.
There's some issue over a report the defense wants to have Barber review. They're looking for a different copy, and the state will require a minute to inspect it. Jury sent to jury room, court in short recess.
Backing up a minute, Falkofske noted the vehicle's data encryption was part of the GM factory design. It wasn't something done by Murdaugh, or anyone else. The SUV came that way.
