Carolina Girl
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Your Honor he aimed a gun at us from that doorway yesterday!
SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #28
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Edvis
Life, more to it then just living it!
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Agreed time flies living up in MI. now but soon to be in the rearview mirror and moving back to MO., just miss that life out of the rat race.
Chelly
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I think this paid expert from CT was only person in the US willing to testify on behalf of AM's defense.
MOO
Elliot_Alderson
Well-Known Idiot
So they're worried that an armed killer is hiding yet they're letting lawyers walk all over and letting a cleaning lady clean the house?
ETA: We don't know first responders made those prints or what percentage of the prints were theirs.
Elley Mae
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Then he said to Dick about the paper? Dick ask which one is it, he said tge same one you didn’t object to.
Edvis
Life, more to it then just living it!
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Like getting thrown to the wolves with a steak in your hand.
Diddian
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Your assumption is that the footprints occurred at the same time and I think not.
Elliot_Alderson
Well-Known Idiot
Your assumption is that they were likely made by first responders. How do we know that? How do we know how many were theirs?
Seattle1
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Seeing AM wearing a suit today, caused a rumble in my stomach. The first time Buster wore a suit to court he took the stand.
Michael Allison
@michaelonthecam
Sergeant Daniel Greene, who was first on the scene at Moselle, walking Alex Murdaugh into the Colleton County Courthouse.
6:46 AM · Feb 22, 2023 from Colleton County Courthouse
Michael Allison
@michaelonthecam
Sergeant Daniel Greene, who was first on the scene at Moselle, walking Alex Murdaugh into the Colleton County Courthouse.
6:46 AM · Feb 22, 2023 from Colleton County Courthouse
arielilane
Justice for Liz Barraza
Break time! That's brutal
Diddian
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We don’t. But certainly we can agree that first responders to a scene where an unidentified, armed, and unlocated killer has murdered two people must make securing the scene from danger a higher priority than securing the scene for processing. That is why EMT’s are sometimes held back from a scene until LE gives the okay for them to enter it.
Hopefully, those first responders’ boot/shoe prints are provided to those later investigating. I don’t know whether that was done here or not.
And I do agree that - where members of a family have been murdered at their own property - that entire property should have been shut down. The preliminary crime scene perimeter should have been expanded once the investigation moved from preliminary response to processing.
arielilane
Justice for Liz Barraza
https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks
We are back after lunch, with Harpootlian questioning Zercie.
Harpootlian shows Zercie the crime scene body cam footage from 6/7/21. Zercie notes that deputies weren’t wearing booties on their feet to avoid contaminating the crime scene with their footprints.
Zercie also testifies first responders shouldn’t have covered Paul’s body with a sheet on 6/7/21. Once it was done, the sheet should have been preserved and kept for further analysis in the investigation. The sheet could have picked up trace evidence such hair and loose material
Zercie: It is possible that the shooter might have left trace evidence on Paul’s body, such as hair. That could have been picked up by the sheet. Zercie testifies he saw no indication that the sheet was saved or processed by investigators.
Zercie testifies investigators misstepped by walking into the Moselle feed room without protective coverings on their shoes. He said the proper procedure is to look into the room, determine areas of interest for evidence collection and then make a plan on how to collect it.
He suggested building a makeshift bridge with 2-by-4s to enter the room without contaminating it. Zercie testifies he found no evidence that SLED dusted for fingerprints in the feed room.
Harpootlian: Which of those photographs met the standards required for a comparison? Zercie: None of the photos of the victims.
Harpootlian elicits criticism of SLED's crime scene work. Harpootlian: “Did they do a terrible job here?” Zercie: “I don’t know what their limitations were.” H: “Did they do an adequate job” in searching for evidence? Z: I don’t believe so. … Much more could have been done.”
Harpootlian asks if SLED had done a better job, might they have found evidence that could have incriminated another suspect and helped to exclude Alex Murdaugh as the killer? Prosecution objects. Judge Newman sides with them.
Harpootlian ends his questioning of Zercie.
Prosecutor John Meadors is now cross-examining Zercie.
Meadors jumps on Zercie when Zercie corrects himself after mistakenly saying he created two slideslows for this case. He actually created one with two sections in it. Meadors: “You just said you were mistaken. You have made mistakes in your life.” Zercie: Yes. Okie doke.
Meadors: “You’re basically second-guessing the Colleton County Sheriff’s Department, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. You’re being paid to come in and say they did a bad job, aren’t you?” Zercie: “They may have done the best job they could.”
Meadors’ tactic here would perhaps be more effective if Zercie had been an arrogant or overly critical witness. As it was, Harpootlian had to pry criticism of SLED out of him. Zercie offered it reluctantly.
Zercie has good explanations for his methodology, and he delivers them in a calm voice. He’s quite boring and monotonous, but also seemingly difficult to fluster.
Zercie explains that he doesn’t read witness statements or explanations from investigators about their methodologies because he is a scientist and witness statements are not reliable. Z: “I don’t want to be subject to bias, accusations or undue influence from others.”
Meadors: “Are you referring to me or Mr. Harpootlian?” Zercie: “Both.”
Meadors asks how much Zercie is being paid to testify for the defense. Zercie testifies he is paid $350 an hour and has worked 20 hours on this case. So that’s at least $7,000. The defense also paid for his airfare.
Harpootlian successfully objects to Meadors badgering Zercie as the prosecutor questions the witness about his conclusions about footprints at the scene.
Meadors now has to stand back a few feet as he questions Zercie.
We’re arguing about photos of footprints at the crime scene, and after 4.5 weeks of this trial, we don’t know the significance of these footprints. Which means we don’t know the significance of this argument.
Meadors: “You don’t have a report.” Zercie: “Correct, sir. I’ve said that three times.”
Mercifully, Meadors ends his questioning. Harpootlian stands: “Let me see if I can do this in less than 5 minutes.” Please.
Harpootlian: You were asked if agent Worley did all she can do, and you said she tried. Zercie: Yes, sir. H: The pictures are inadequate, correct? Z: Yes. H: That’s because they didn’t follow simple procedures? Z: Yes.
Harpootlian: “You said she tried. Could she have tried harder? Could she have tried better? Could she have used technology that has been around for 20, 30 years” to better identify evidence at the scene? Zercie: Yes.
Harpootlian wraps up. We're done with Zercie. Taking a quick break now.
We are back after lunch, with Harpootlian questioning Zercie.
Harpootlian shows Zercie the crime scene body cam footage from 6/7/21. Zercie notes that deputies weren’t wearing booties on their feet to avoid contaminating the crime scene with their footprints.
Zercie also testifies first responders shouldn’t have covered Paul’s body with a sheet on 6/7/21. Once it was done, the sheet should have been preserved and kept for further analysis in the investigation. The sheet could have picked up trace evidence such hair and loose material
Zercie: It is possible that the shooter might have left trace evidence on Paul’s body, such as hair. That could have been picked up by the sheet. Zercie testifies he saw no indication that the sheet was saved or processed by investigators.
Zercie testifies investigators misstepped by walking into the Moselle feed room without protective coverings on their shoes. He said the proper procedure is to look into the room, determine areas of interest for evidence collection and then make a plan on how to collect it.
He suggested building a makeshift bridge with 2-by-4s to enter the room without contaminating it. Zercie testifies he found no evidence that SLED dusted for fingerprints in the feed room.
Harpootlian: Which of those photographs met the standards required for a comparison? Zercie: None of the photos of the victims.
Harpootlian elicits criticism of SLED's crime scene work. Harpootlian: “Did they do a terrible job here?” Zercie: “I don’t know what their limitations were.” H: “Did they do an adequate job” in searching for evidence? Z: I don’t believe so. … Much more could have been done.”
Harpootlian asks if SLED had done a better job, might they have found evidence that could have incriminated another suspect and helped to exclude Alex Murdaugh as the killer? Prosecution objects. Judge Newman sides with them.
Harpootlian ends his questioning of Zercie.
Prosecutor John Meadors is now cross-examining Zercie.
Meadors jumps on Zercie when Zercie corrects himself after mistakenly saying he created two slideslows for this case. He actually created one with two sections in it. Meadors: “You just said you were mistaken. You have made mistakes in your life.” Zercie: Yes. Okie doke.
Meadors: “You’re basically second-guessing the Colleton County Sheriff’s Department, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. You’re being paid to come in and say they did a bad job, aren’t you?” Zercie: “They may have done the best job they could.”
Meadors’ tactic here would perhaps be more effective if Zercie had been an arrogant or overly critical witness. As it was, Harpootlian had to pry criticism of SLED out of him. Zercie offered it reluctantly.
Zercie has good explanations for his methodology, and he delivers them in a calm voice. He’s quite boring and monotonous, but also seemingly difficult to fluster.
Zercie explains that he doesn’t read witness statements or explanations from investigators about their methodologies because he is a scientist and witness statements are not reliable. Z: “I don’t want to be subject to bias, accusations or undue influence from others.”
Meadors: “Are you referring to me or Mr. Harpootlian?” Zercie: “Both.”
Meadors asks how much Zercie is being paid to testify for the defense. Zercie testifies he is paid $350 an hour and has worked 20 hours on this case. So that’s at least $7,000. The defense also paid for his airfare.
Harpootlian successfully objects to Meadors badgering Zercie as the prosecutor questions the witness about his conclusions about footprints at the scene.
Meadors now has to stand back a few feet as he questions Zercie.
We’re arguing about photos of footprints at the crime scene, and after 4.5 weeks of this trial, we don’t know the significance of these footprints. Which means we don’t know the significance of this argument.
Meadors: “You don’t have a report.” Zercie: “Correct, sir. I’ve said that three times.”
Mercifully, Meadors ends his questioning. Harpootlian stands: “Let me see if I can do this in less than 5 minutes.” Please.
Harpootlian: You were asked if agent Worley did all she can do, and you said she tried. Zercie: Yes, sir. H: The pictures are inadequate, correct? Z: Yes. H: That’s because they didn’t follow simple procedures? Z: Yes.
Harpootlian: “You said she tried. Could she have tried harder? Could she have tried better? Could she have used technology that has been around for 20, 30 years” to better identify evidence at the scene? Zercie: Yes.
Harpootlian wraps up. We're done with Zercie. Taking a quick break now.
Batman's Mommy
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AM … All those opioids seemed to impair your cunningness, IMO.
All that talk about variables yesterday…. Paul’s use of his camera/cellphone was a variable AM did not anticipate. The fact that the defense hasn’t presented an expert to refute the videos screams volumes to me.
We just listened to 30 minutes of discussion about pictures of flip flop prints….
JMO. moo
All that talk about variables yesterday…. Paul’s use of his camera/cellphone was a variable AM did not anticipate. The fact that the defense hasn’t presented an expert to refute the videos screams volumes to me.
We just listened to 30 minutes of discussion about pictures of flip flop prints….
JMO. moo
legalmomma
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What do you think about Alex not standing when the jury leaves? To me its an obvious disrespect, one he is aware of, and is indicative of his continued obstinance. But he KNOWS what this shows...just amazing.
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