VERDICT WATCH SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #36

[10ofRods]

That staging is really creepy. I hope it is someone's idea of a joke. Someone with a non Murdaugh surname.

I will be offended on two fronts if it turns out someone from AM's camp was involved. Firstly by the attempt to distract, and secondly by how badly the attempt was executed.

It wasn't bad, though, if the goal was merely to distract the jury from thinking about the grim events at that place. It could have worked for some jurors. These are ordinary people, subjected to grisly autopsy photos, and now they get a field trip with pottery and dog toys and bikes - it's just an ordinary happy property! Their mood might have lifted.

But is it supposed to lift? They are weighing in on Justice, in a terrible and brutal murder case.

Isn't the property still under the management of the Murdaugh's until probate is settled?? I don't know.

IMO.

 

[clearskies1]

Maybe he's a closing guru, but I see this as a massive unforced error. I wasn't impressed with him at all.

I think Meadors did do some effective cross-exams. Plus, I think it's good to bring in someone new after CW's long closing.

 

[passionflower]

court tv just said AM also lied about time Mm and PM died. . Just caught that. Only the murderer would know! Great catch. Vinni P wants that in rebuttal!

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

MM doesn't strike me as someone who'd be biking at Moselle. I could see that as a beach bicycle at Edisto.

Agreed but I think aside from Alex, one or two others said she’d walk if she was dieting, or take her bike, or ride a golf cart or take her car to go visit the dogs in the kennels.

 

[303gmf]

It could be local kids ... hearing details from their parents and others in town and local papers or news casts or social media and they only wanted to have some fun. It might be a group of 14 year olds with too much time on their hands.

How would local kids have Buster’s Christmas themed paint your own pottery and access to gun room inside to hang a shirt??

 

[CityKid]

And, apparently, a keen enough interest to figure out which kennel is Bubba's and that chickens were involved.

We are unlikely to find out, IMO.

Occam's razor says that if that's actually Maggie's bike, then someone had access to where Maggie's bike was.

And do you think the kids also broke into the house and put the shirt in the window? Or did someone else do that? It wasn't there in prior crime scene footage. This is the entire problem with these kinds of tours.

Let's just hope that the jury doesn't take up discussion of any of this. What a mess this could become.

IMO.

I really wonder if this is what the post-court talk with the judge was about. And I hope they get fingerprints off something.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

court tv just said AM also lied about time Mm and PM died. . Just caught that. Only the murderer would know! Great catch. Vinni P wants that in rebuttal!

Interesting. Can you elaborate when Alex stated time of death?

 

[Gardenista]

I think Meadors did do some effective cross-exams. Plus, I think it's good to bring in someone new after CW's long closing.

I hope you are right. I just want to go to sleep and wake up to a Law & Crime verdict alert lol

 

[Twistinginthewind]

I'm personally really impressed with the content of the prosecution's case and think they have established AM's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

I think they have intentionally been very thoughtful in how they have painted things for the jury, and have done it with great care and some hand holding and a bit drily and with a slow burn approach because... well, it's a bit hard to swallow the "whole pill" at once, I think, and "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down".

I'm thinking it's the "Sleeper" approach that is considerate of the sensibilities of the local jury, and hitting AM any harder or any lower would have gone over like a lead balloon, and, again, they know their audience and know what they're doing.

Who cares what people "watching" the trial on TV/streaming all over The Country think?

This is the Low Country, and the prosecution knows their own, and how things work there.

All MOO.

 

[fred&edna]

Did a Court-TV person recently comment on the "email" and a juror??

 

[Luna20]

Vinnie thinks CW nailed it. Lots of "too long" opinions.

Nailed it with lots of too long opinions?

 

[nodamselindistress]

Hope to see you guys on the Daybell case soon!! Been following that for years, too!

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

How would local kids have Buster’s Christmas themed paint your own pottery and access to gun room inside to hang a shirt??

What a mess. I can’t recall where I read it but it was said over the weekend that either JMM or the other brother, whoever is in charge of maintaining the grounds, had to call LE as people were trespassing and filming TikTok videos on the premises so the judge assured everyone there would be none of that today. Hard to know when those items were planted.

 

[justtrish]

Where would local kids get a Buster flower pot?

I'm laughing way harder than I probably should at this comment.

 

[alsleuther]

I just jumped into this case last week when AM was on all the news stations. I've been You'tubing a lot of the more interesting trial testimony and catching some highlights. I though the state did a good job today of laying out all the facts and walking us through the timeline of what happened that night, down to the minute!

Agree with others above the Chevy OnStar data combined with the cell phone data tell you exactly what happened! And I wish the state would have shown a four minute video of a middle aged man getting 283 steps in 4 minutes and exactly what that would consist of while making numerous phone calls. He was racing around to get that many steps so quickly.

Also I wonder why he took MM's phone and disposed of it on the car ride but left PM's phone at the scene? Maybe it was like a typical 22 year old's phone and when he picked it up it was dinging and FT calls were coming in, and TIk Tok alerts were going off and Snapchat notifications were dinging, etc, so he just threw it back down on the ground, as to not risk accidentally accepting a call or FT chat? I do agree it's interesting that he went into Paul's pocket, and yes, I could see it being for pills.

I do hope the jury will find him guilty later this week.

 

[vls12345]

Where would local kids get a Buster flower pot?

I'm laughing way harder than I probably should at this comment.

And, not only a Buster flower pot, but one done with a lettering style that was popular in the 1990s? I mean, Buster probably got that when he was six years old.

Moo.

 

[pizzaman12]

They do have proof of the 300blackout being the murder weapon. They matched fired casing from where Paul's good friend testified they sighted in that gun some months prior. I'd have to look up exactly when he said that was, but earlier in 2021. He said this gun was the replacement to the one Paul had stolen. The person Alex bought the gun off of confirmed he bought a replacement for the one stolen. So the casing from the gun that killed Maggie were 100% fired from the same gun that was sighted in exactly where Paul's friend said they did that. His original gun was missing yes, but the murder weapon was the replacement that someone outside the family had seen recently.

Not 100% at all. You could throw that BCG (bolt carrier group) or even the complete upper onto another gun and get "similar markings" which is what they said. I swap all of the above around many firearms as they're all built on the same platform. Since the gunsmith builds for other people, you could easily find other firearms that would produce the same markings. Machining of barrels, etc...have come so far.

 

[justtrish]

Agreed! But the only person who has told us the dogs didn’t alert was Alex himself. Another lie perhaps. No other still alive witnesses could tell us about the dogs. Sadly.

I think the victims themselves tell a story. If dogs were alerting and barking Paul wouldn't be in that feed room and shot as if he had no warning.. arms down because whoever was there he knew and trusted. Maggie not running away, not on her phone dialing 911.. she was running toward Paul. I think if strangers showed up there the victims would have been further apart.. dogs alerting would have caused them to run or one to yell out to alert the other.. a phone call could have been made by one of them.. something would have looked like at least one of them was alarmed by intruders to their property.

 

[clearskies1]

I just jumped into this case last week when AM was on all the news stations. I've been You'tubing a lot of the more interesting trial testimony and catching some highlights. I though the state did a good job today of laying out all the facts and walking us through the timeline of what happened that night, down to the minute!

Agree with others above the Chevy OnStar data combined with the cell phone data tell you exactly what happened! And I wish the state would have shown a four minute video of a middle aged man getting 283 steps in 4 minutes and exactly what that would consist of while making numerous phone calls. He was racing around to get that many steps so quickly.

Also I wonder why he took MM's phone and disposed of it on the car ride but left PM's phone at the scene? Maybe it was like a typical 22 year old's phone and when he picked it up it was dinging and FT calls were coming in, and TIk Tok alerts were going off and Snapchat notifications were dinging, etc, so he just threw it back down on the ground, as to not risk accidentally accepting a call or FT chat? I do agree it's interesting that he went into Paul's pocket, and yes, I could see it being for pills.

I do hope the jury will find him guilty later this week.

My gut tells me he went into Paul's pocket to retrieve the phone to see if there were any visible notifications. I think he was concerned about Rogan -- for good reason. JMO.

 

[10ofRods]

I am guessing that someone laundered a shirt and hung it near a window to dry.

Someone also decided to put little memorials up to the victims, so that the Murdaugh owners of the house (for the time being) look more sympathetic.

It was a subtle attempt to show that people still care about Maggie, Paul and even Bubba (who did have a thing about grabbing chickens). But it was inappropriate for a crime scene field trip, IMO.

It likely does no harm, though. Poor jurors. I feel for them and the restrictions they've had to endure. It was just visual candy for them. Will they receive an instruction to ignore or will the Judge just let it go, so as not to make a bigger deal of it? I think he'll just let it go. He's probably shaking his head and telling his wife or partner about what a crazy trial this has been. I hope he gets a vacation. If it were me, this would be the one where I decide to retire.

IMO.