SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #30

[kaen]

I hope I'm wrong. But, unfortunately, I don't see AM getting a guilty verdict in this case. Or, if he does - it will be one of the much lesser charges. Too bad, since he definitely deserves to go to prison for the rest of his life - at the least.

It's obvious to anyone that's been following this case that if AM were poor/middle class & under the exact same circumstance (i.e., his wife & son found murdered on his property) that he would have been arrested & taken to prison from Day 1. However, in this case - as in many similar ones over the years - his wealth & respected position in the community have given him entitlement & preferential treatment from the beginning.

I thought the prosecution did a great job hammering out the issue of privilege with the badge, the boat accident, and getting AM to admit he was well off. He spent lots of time this morning dripping his privilege unchecked in direct. From the dove field to the multiple games the weekend before the murder, 3x in detox, we heard more than enough about how this man lived but never a bit about the people he harmed. He expressed his love for his wife and son (that might make me cry as well if I had not been privy to the things we non-jurors are) and it is hard to hear someone describe their kid's brain matter and crumpled bloody bodies. I hope tomorrow gets past trying to have him acknowledge that he hurt people in a real way and moves on to the timeline of the murders AND the confusion this man has for human facts rather than dog, chicken, corn, sunflower and dove facts.

 

[mickey2942]

How the prosecution of Alex Murdaugh has tried to overcome a lack of direct evidence

Legal experts who have followed the trial told CNN the prosecution's lack of direct evidence makes it harder to convict the disgraced former South Carolina attorney -- though certainly not impossible.

www.cnn.com

This goes directly back to what I posted previously, in this case, the evidence is circumstantial. There is no direct evidence. No DNA, no blood splatter evidence.

Instead, the defendant lied to the police, until he finds out about the video that placed him at the scene at 8:44. Then, he uses drug use as a reason for lying. But, why would he lie?!

It will probably be a hung jury. Everyone wants a ton of evidence now. No common sense.

 

[Seattle1]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1628909720185585665

 

[vls12345]

At the end of the day Judge Newman said the cross went to AM's credibility, which is fair game for all witnesses. So I guess that answers my question. But it is a bit messy I think.

As guilty as I think AM is, I agree.

And, I think if he's convicted, all the financial/character testimony will be grounds for an appeal. (Yes, AM and his defense dug their own very deep hole. But I think there are some rulings which make it a bit of a tightrope and, therefore, perhaps arguable that an appeal is warranted.) MOO.

And all those dogs weren’t fussing with an intruder on the land? Mine would go crazy!

I agree. But, it seems like Moselle was party central at times so I wonder if the dogs were used to others coming and going fairly often?

Can't see another SC judge overturning this on appeal. For one thing Judge Newman is really well respected. For another, judges here tend to stick up fpr their fellow judges and finally AM has flicked his forked tongue out at every law enforcement person and insitution in this state. He's run wild over the court system for decades and his day of judgement has arrived. There is no way this gets turned over on appeal. The Murdaugh name is literally mud. This verdict will stand.

I think the good ole boy network is still very strong. AM's actions have exposed some others (like Laffitte, etc.) and threatened to expose the system in general, imo. I think those who (still) hold power in that system are willing to sacrifice AM in order to protect the larger system. As far as they are concerned, he can sit in jail forever. He's brought too much of a spotlight to it and the players/those who benefit are not willing to give up their seats at the table. I think at this point, they want the attention to die down so business can get back to "normal".

Otoh, that same network/system holds immense sway... and has for generations. I still think there's a chance of one or more jurors not convicting AM because of the general thought of not going against the "system/network". (AM was a big, well known part of the system. The family name is still a big, well known name. AM's network is still there, still the same people in charge with influence in the area. Some people will not go against it, even if they don't like it.) People might not express their real opinions or vote a certain way because they may fear that word will get out as to who did or said certain things in the jury room. There doesn't have to be a plant because the adherence to the system/network is so ingrained people will censor themselves even when not being directly watched. It's a system of power and of fear (for those not benefiting from the good ole boy system) and those who are the victims in a system like that learn to censor themselves and their actions to avoid problems. (Kind of like DV victims will do a lot to avoid having their abuser notice anything they are doing, knowing that anything they do may set off problems.) I hope I'm explaining it well enough to make sense. That's really why I can imagine that a hung jury may be the outcome. All very much IMO and MOO.

 

[Seattle1]

How the prosecution of Alex Murdaugh has tried to overcome a lack of direct evidence

Legal experts who have followed the trial told CNN the prosecution's lack of direct evidence makes it harder to convict the disgraced former South Carolina attorney -- though certainly not impossible.

www.cnn.com

This goes directly back to what I posted previously, in this case, the evidence is circumstantial. There is no direct evidence. No DNA, no blood splatter evidence.

Instead, the defendant lied to the police, until he finds out about the video that placed him at the scene at 8:44. Then, he uses drug use as a reason for lying. But, why would he lie?!

It will probably be a hung jury. Everyone wants a ton of evidence now. No common sense.

When your wife and child are murdered, why would you lie to investigators?

And if you were overwhelmed and felt paranoid, there was always the next day when AM was given another opportunity to come clean with the answers.

For an innocent man, there's no reason to lie about anything.

 

[mickey2942]

When your wife and child are murdered, why would you lie to investigators?

And if you were overwhelmed and felt paranoid, there was always the next day when AM was given another opportunity to come clean with the answers.

For an innocent man, there's no reason to lie about anything.

I completely agree. But we are not on the jury.

 

[vls12345]

Side note. Isn't Busters girlfriend a practicing attorney? I guess she must be taking a leave of absense for this trial.

I wondered that too, not just for her but for so many of the people who have been routinely sitting in the courtroom every day.

 

[Snoods]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1628909720185585665

Oh, no! I’m not mad, just disappointed Skanky Leg got caught up in all this.

 

[citizen_sleuth]

When your wife and child are murdered, why would you lie to investigators?

And if you were overwhelmed and felt paranoid, there was always the next day when AM was given another opportunity to come clean with the answers.

For an innocent man, there's no reason to lie about anything.

I agree that in Alex's case, he had no reason to lie (and continue to lie about the lie) about being at the kennels that night if he is innocent. But there are a myriad of reasons why an innocent person might lie to police -- intimidation by police, domestic abuse, having a criminal record, etc. However, given the influence AM had with LE and LE's initial unwillingness to challenge AM in any way shape or form, he had no reason to suspect that telling the truth, if innocent, could backfire on him.

 

[Pruddennce]

Your right but if they can point to the involvement of someone else it behooves them to enter that into the record to provide reasonable doubt. They need to show something to counter the fact that Alex was at the kennels minutes before the murders with a weapon in his hand. Without it, there is no reason to doubt that Alex is the shooter.

The fact is they can't because there is no evidence that points to someone else being there and pulling the triggers of both weapons. That's a problem and without putting forth any evidence to the contrary there is only one reasonable explanation..Alex is the shooter.

I agree...no evidence to point to someone else. and more interesting is he was so quick to deflect from himself I have to go get 'ma gun..and babbling immediately to LE about threats to Paul, but no tangible evidence exists there are any other suspects given the timeframe. but he tried to plant the seed.

 

[Seattle1]

I think the good ole boy network is still very strong. AM's actions have exposed some others (like Laffitte, etc.) and threatened to expose the system in general, imo. I think those who (still) hold power in that system are willing to sacrifice AM in order to protect the larger system. As far as they are concerned, he can sit in jail forever. He's brought too much of a spotlight to it and the players/those who benefit are not willing to give up their seats at the table. I think at this point, they want the attention to die down so business can get back to "normal".

^^rsbm

I somewhat agree about a generation that does not want to expose that "old system and players" but I've also been encouraged by the youth and/or the survivors of the boat crash that crossed the generation gap to go against the Murdaughs after one of their own was killed and the threat of another being sacrificed for manslaughter he did not commit.

Just the fact that Buster and now AM have testified that PM was not driving and/or responsible for the boat crash is a good indication that the "old system" is still working around Hampton. MOO

 

[SuziQ]

It was really hard not to throw my tablet across the room when AM said, paraphrasing, I loved all those people I stole from, I still do. He is one world class gaslighter. IMO.

 

[Marysmith]

It was really hard not to throw my tablet across the room when AM said, paraphrasing, I loved all those people I stole from, I still do. He is one world class gaslighter. IMO.

Just ridiculous that he said that!

 

[Seattle1]

Yup -- AM wanted to be in front of this community. No change of venue.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1628777859870236672

 

[clearskies1]

I agree...no evidence to point to someone else. and more interesting is he was so quick to deflect from himself I have to go get 'ma gun..and babbling immediately to LE about threats to Paul, but no tangible evidence exists there are any other suspects given the timeframe. but he tried to plant the seed.

I thought it was interesting that he did not really have an explanation today for why he went to the house to get the gun. He stammered and said something like "I didn't know." Then again, I don't really see what explanation he could give -- just makes no sense to put yourself in danger, to drive alone, go into the house -- when you don't know where the killers are. JMO.

 

[rahod1]

When your wife and child are murdered, why would you lie to investigators?

And if you were overwhelmed and felt paranoid, there was always the next day when AM was given another opportunity to come clean with the answers.

For an innocent man, there's no reason to lie about anything.

Precisely. AM could have come forward at ANY TIME to set the record straight, but he NOW does so because he knows he's caught in a lie. The defense was trying to refute this as late as the other day, when they called BM to the stand to rebut the argument that it was his father's voice on the video at the kennel! Now they decide to do a 180* and fess up to diffuse the situation. Yeah...I lied because I was scared. A LOAD OF BS served up for the jury to digest.

 

[Seattle1]

dbm

 

[Marysmith]

Precisely. AM could have come forward at ANY TIME to set the record straight, but he NOW does so because he knows he's caught in a lie. The defense was trying to refute this as late as the other day, when they called BM to the stand to rebut the argument that it was his father's voice on the video at the kennel! Now they decide to do a 180* and fess up to diffuse the situation. Yeah...I lied because I was scared. A LOAD OF BS served up for the jury to digest.

Totally - if he wanted to find “the real killer or killers” he would have told the full facts as soon as possible…
I think he will be found guilty.

 

[Luna20]

Eric Bland just said among other things that “AM has been clean for 531 days and not once admit to any wrongdoing. So why is he confessing now?”

 

[Knox]

I thought the prosecution did a great job hammering out the issue of privilege with the badge, the boat accident, and getting AM to admit he was well off. He spent lots of time this morning dripping his privilege unchecked in direct. From the dove field to the multiple games the weekend before the murder, 3x in detox, we heard more than enough about how this man lived but never a bit about the people he harmed. He expressed his love for his wife and son (that might make me cry as well if I had not been privy to the things we non-jurors are) and it is hard to hear someone describe their kid's brain matter and crumpled bloody bodies. I hope tomorrow gets past trying to have him acknowledge that he hurt people in a real way and moves on to the timeline of the murders AND the confusion this man has for human facts rather than dog, chicken, corn, sunflower and dove facts.

There were a few times today, I actually felt sorry for AM. He initially came across as a southern good ole boy. I haven't listened to any cross examination yet, hoping Waters showed the jurors who he really is.