I can understand that particularly if she's sitting where a vent blows on her. Perhaps a hat would help keep her ears from hurting from the cold air. moo
SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #31
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Thanks, I only have seen the 2 older gentlemen sitting behind the defense table.
I think many of us are experiencing hearing from attorneys and others (on TV or YouTube) who seem to think AM was a good witness. I find that shocking and absolutely disagree. I’m so tired of all these “experts” and I personally agree with the WS members who did not find AM believable or a good witness. I will admit I wouldn’t bet my own money on a guilty verdict because I think one or more jurors may have been influenced by AM’s emotional displays, which I found fake. Not all jurors have a background in following true crime or experiencing how narcissists and addicts lie. Even though there may not be direct evidence, I found the digital evidence created enough of a timeline showing that the circumstantial evidence adds up. I would vote guilty if I were a juror. And thank you to Cash the chocolate lab. Your tail helped tie AM to the murder scene … sending virtual treats to you! 
Elley Mae
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. I have to say that I have noticed the thermostat behind the witness chair, it’s on 68.
We keep thermostat on 72, 68 I would not be comfortable.
Jmo
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BeachSky
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He was a high riding money addict who killed people’s dreams and took out his own family.
And don’t get me started on the death and disrespect of Mallory Beach.
“ and THEN I lied” - AM
MOO
detectivewannab
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Alex for the Grammy!
Skigirl
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The way I am thinking about the motive (to the extent that people even really need a great motive to kill) is (IMO):
- The pressure from the boat crash cases was mounting. Tinsley, the Beach family's attorney, had told him that he was going to have to pay a lot of money to settle the case. Alex told Tinsley that he was broke. Tinsley didn't believe it based on what he knew of Alex's caseload and was going to force Alex to turn over financial information. If his financial information came to light, it was going to become clear that he was stealing from clients. That would have gotten him disbarred and would have stopped him from making a legitimate living. Worse, it was going to turn off the spigot on his illegitimate income. Even worse, Alex would probably have to go to prison.
- If the boat crash case were to settle -- or go to trial -- he was going to lose everything, including Maggie's beloved beach house and Moselle, which was Paul's "absolute passion"
- Paul's criminal defense was costing a fortune and would have been making its way through the courts for years, which caused more financial pressure.
- Alex's usual modus operandi of tampering with the jury was not going to fly in the boat crash cases, because Tinsley told him that if he had even a hint of a whiff of tampering, Tinsley was going to immediately file new suits in Beaufort County -- where the Murdaugh family name isn't as powerful and Alex wouldn't be able to jury tamper -- naming Buster and Maggie. More financial pressure.
- Maggie was encouraging Alex to settle the suits, but Alex was backed into a corner and couldn't without all of the above consequences, which she did not know of.
- IMO, Maggie and Paul were becoming aware of financial issues through declined credit cards and bounced checks. Maybe Paul ("Little Detective") had even done some snooping and had unearthed some evidence of the ill-gotten gains.
- Maggie and Little Detective were putting pressure on him by finding drugs and confronting him. They were coming between him and opioids.
- IMO, Alex was having an affair and he also had to worry about that coming to light, because if Maggie divorced him, he would be financially ruined (I am basing my opinion about the possibility of an affair on Mushelle Smith's testimony that he had only been by at night to visit his mother a couple times in the years that she worked for Miss Libby coupled with testimony by Marian about how much time he spent there and Maggie's text saying that she was worried about Alex because he wasn't getting enough sleep due to all the time he was spending with his parents at night.)
- Alex's father, who was his protector and fixer for his entire life, was dying. There would be no daddy to help him soon.
- The above consequences -- becoming penniless and being found to be a thief and a liar and an addict -- would have ruined his social standing as a powerful Murdaugh.
Killing Maggie and Paul would remove several pressure points. The criminal boat case would be dismissed. Juries would be less likely to award big damages against him and maybe Tinsley would even drop the case. He wouldn't have to worry about letting down Maggie and Paul by being found out to be a con man and a thief and by losing Moselle and the beach house and the rest of the lifestyle they had become accustomed to. He would no longer have to worry about hiding things from Maggie and Little Detective. Maybe he would be able to find a way to replace some of the missing money before anyone became any the wiser, or at least before anyone made public accusations, enabling him to avoid prison.
Do I think these are great reasons for murder? No, of course not, but it doesn't matter what I think is a good reason -- these were good reasons to Alex. People have murdered for much, much less.
- The pressure from the boat crash cases was mounting. Tinsley, the Beach family's attorney, had told him that he was going to have to pay a lot of money to settle the case. Alex told Tinsley that he was broke. Tinsley didn't believe it based on what he knew of Alex's caseload and was going to force Alex to turn over financial information. If his financial information came to light, it was going to become clear that he was stealing from clients. That would have gotten him disbarred and would have stopped him from making a legitimate living. Worse, it was going to turn off the spigot on his illegitimate income. Even worse, Alex would probably have to go to prison.
- If the boat crash case were to settle -- or go to trial -- he was going to lose everything, including Maggie's beloved beach house and Moselle, which was Paul's "absolute passion"
- Paul's criminal defense was costing a fortune and would have been making its way through the courts for years, which caused more financial pressure.
- Alex's usual modus operandi of tampering with the jury was not going to fly in the boat crash cases, because Tinsley told him that if he had even a hint of a whiff of tampering, Tinsley was going to immediately file new suits in Beaufort County -- where the Murdaugh family name isn't as powerful and Alex wouldn't be able to jury tamper -- naming Buster and Maggie. More financial pressure.
- Maggie was encouraging Alex to settle the suits, but Alex was backed into a corner and couldn't without all of the above consequences, which she did not know of.
- IMO, Maggie and Paul were becoming aware of financial issues through declined credit cards and bounced checks. Maybe Paul ("Little Detective") had even done some snooping and had unearthed some evidence of the ill-gotten gains.
- Maggie and Little Detective were putting pressure on him by finding drugs and confronting him. They were coming between him and opioids.
- IMO, Alex was having an affair and he also had to worry about that coming to light, because if Maggie divorced him, he would be financially ruined (I am basing my opinion about the possibility of an affair on Mushelle Smith's testimony that he had only been by at night to visit his mother a couple times in the years that she worked for Miss Libby coupled with testimony by Marian about how much time he spent there and Maggie's text saying that she was worried about Alex because he wasn't getting enough sleep due to all the time he was spending with his parents at night.)
- Alex's father, who was his protector and fixer for his entire life, was dying. There would be no daddy to help him soon.
- The above consequences -- becoming penniless and being found to be a thief and a liar and an addict -- would have ruined his social standing as a powerful Murdaugh.
Killing Maggie and Paul would remove several pressure points. The criminal boat case would be dismissed. Juries would be less likely to award big damages against him and maybe Tinsley would even drop the case. He wouldn't have to worry about letting down Maggie and Paul by being found out to be a con man and a thief and by losing Moselle and the beach house and the rest of the lifestyle they had become accustomed to. He would no longer have to worry about hiding things from Maggie and Little Detective. Maybe he would be able to find a way to replace some of the missing money before anyone became any the wiser, or at least before anyone made public accusations, enabling him to avoid prison.
Do I think these are great reasons for murder? No, of course not, but it doesn't matter what I think is a good reason -- these were good reasons to Alex. People have murdered for much, much less.
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He never really answered JG’s question…did he?
Griffin: “Alex, did you murder Maggie?”
AM: “I would never hurt Maggie.”
G: “Did you murder Paul?”
AM: “I would never hurt Paul.
If I was under the pressure that they’re talking about here, I can promise you I would hurt myself before I would hurt one of them, without a doubt.”
Griffin: “Alex, did you murder Maggie?”
AM: “I would never hurt Maggie.”
G: “Did you murder Paul?”
AM: “I would never hurt Paul.
If I was under the pressure that they’re talking about here, I can promise you I would hurt myself before I would hurt one of them, without a doubt.”
auburnmomof2
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I'm starting to think the motive was pills. I think they had limited his access to pills and he lost it. Just my opinion
That's why I think one of the boat victims might be a rebuttal witness - perhaps the young man that Alex tried to frame? Alex testified today that he, at no time, attempted to coerce any of the boat accident victims. Netflix just released (two days ago) footage of Alex doing exactly that.
At the end of the day, the Judge asked about remaining witnesses and whether any new charges would be brought. No decision today. An additional charge of perjury would help secure a conviction.
Gardenista
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There was about 1 hr 45 min of financial crimes yesterday and about 30 minutes today, so the vast majority was spent on the murders
Cindizzi
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[…]
After more than four hours of questioning Murdaugh about financial crimes, drug addiction, and lies he told about his alibi, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters asked him directly if he killed his wife and son.
“Mr. Murdaugh, are you a family annihilator?”
“You mean like did I shoot my wife and son?” Murdaugh asked. “No. I would never hurt Maggie Murdaugh. I would never hurt Paul Murdaugh, under any circumstances.”
[…]
“The reality is Mr. Murdaugh, the reason why no one’s ever heard that before is because you had to sit in this courtroom and hear your family and your friends come in one after the other and testify that you were on that kennel video,” Waters said. “So you, like so many times over the course of your life, had to back up and make a new story that kind of fit with the facts that can’t be denied. Isn’t that true, sir?”
“No sir, that’s not true,” Murdaugh said.
[…]
Trial Day 24: Murdaugh denies being ‘family annihilator’, offers his theory on murders
After more than four hours of questioning Murdaugh about financial crimes, drug addiction, and lies he told about his alibi, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters asked him directly if he killed his wife and son.
“Mr. Murdaugh, are you a family annihilator?”
“You mean like did I shoot my wife and son?” Murdaugh asked. “No. I would never hurt Maggie Murdaugh. I would never hurt Paul Murdaugh, under any circumstances.”
[…]
“The reality is Mr. Murdaugh, the reason why no one’s ever heard that before is because you had to sit in this courtroom and hear your family and your friends come in one after the other and testify that you were on that kennel video,” Waters said. “So you, like so many times over the course of your life, had to back up and make a new story that kind of fit with the facts that can’t be denied. Isn’t that true, sir?”
“No sir, that’s not true,” Murdaugh said.
[…]
Trial Day 24: Murdaugh denies being ‘family annihilator’, offers his theory on murders
Arkay
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Lol I think you mean the Oscar, unless he sang to the court!
Regardless, an Oscar would be for superlative acting, and I think his acting was deplorable, but I think some of the jury believes him so what do I know?
Gardenista
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Cindizzi
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Wonder if Alex has a nickname for Connor..
Maybe Con Con.. or wait that seems more appropriate as a nickname for Alex himself. Big Con Con man.
He would never say that he didn’t shoot or murder Maggie and Paul, just that he would never hurt them.
What eyes you must have! I’m envious
clearskies1
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I've been asking that question -- did Maggie need to approve? -- since the evidence came in last week about AM's June 3 request for the additional $600k Moselle line of credit. AM's email to Laffitte at Palmetto said this: "I need to extend farm credit line another 600k. My dad will sign also if needed. How much turnaround would that take?" This was on Thursday, June 3.
Things seemed very questionable with the large overdrafts that Palmetto was allowing AM before this -- I'm not sure what they would have required for the added $600k. As we know, AM's father was severely ill at this point, and there's been no evidence (that I'm aware of) about whether AM asked MM about it. Even if MM hated being at Moselle I can't imagine she would want to risk losing that asset, especially since it was in her name. JMO.
Murdaugh trial to begin 5th week Tuesday; Here’s what jurors have heard so far
As prosecutors rested their case in the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial they hoped to convince 12 jurors that Murdaugh is guilty of murdering his wife and their youngest son without the jury seeing a smoking gun, both figuratively and literally.
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