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

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After that graphic photo of Maggie & Paul and CW's poignant closing, AM still had the nerve to smirk with Jim after the jury was excused. I'm telling you the man has no true emotions whatsoever, he's ice cold.

MOO
 
justtrish said:
I wish CW would have said 2 people that didn't have a voice Paul and Maggie, but Paul the little detective did have a voice with that video.. the one he never got to send.. the one that exposed the biggest lie his dad told.
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There's still a chance that he will speak some of our thoughts on what would be effective but I have to add that I believe CW knows his audience and will deliver what each one of the jurors needs to hear to make their decision.
 

Judge Newman to the jury: “You have heard all of the testimony, received all of the evidence. You’ve visited the scene of the alleged crimes, and now it is time for closing arguments.” Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters is up first.

Waters: Maggie and Paul were “brutally and maliciously murdered at the kennels by the defendant, Alex Murdaugh.”

Waters: “After an exhaustive investigation, there is only one person who had the motive, who had the means, who had the opportunity to commit these crimes, and also whose guilty conduct after these crimes betrays him.”

Waters: AM was a person of prominence in his community. But he was also living a lie. He gave off an image of wealth. Even his law partners didn’t know how bad his money problems were. AM became addicted to money. Even his significant legitimate pay “was not enough.”

Waters: AM fast-talked his staff and his clients and stole their money through Palmetto State Bank. “The client was also getting a big check, and they were walking out of there thinking everything had been fine. It was not fine.”

Waters: Then the boat crash happened. That set everything in motion because of the criminal and civil cases. “The pace of his stealing increased. In fact, that’s when he stole the money from Tony Satterfield.” Instead of taking some of the money, he took all of it.

Waters is walking the jury through AM’s thefts and borrowing and the risks that they could be exposed. “On June 7, when all those pressures were mounting, the defendant killed Maggie and Paul.” “The timeline puts him there. The forensic timeline puts him there.”

Waters: In the wake of the slayings, everything changes for AM. “It’s a different world.” Nobody is asking about missing fees anymore. The 6/10/21 boat crash hearing is canceled. “And everyone immediately rallies around Alex Murdaugh.”

Waters: AM then borrowed $250K from John E. Parker. He went to Palmetto State Bank and got $350,000 from an off-the-books loan and sent that money to Chris Wilson. And he got Wilson to cover $192,000 of the missing fees so it seemed AM hadn’t stolen the money from PMPED.

Waters: “It seems like a story that is far removed from most people’s experience because it is. It is a different story. … He is a different man than the kind of stories you’ve seen before. This is a different set of circumstances than you’ve seen before.”

Waters: This is a story about a middle-aged man from a prominent family, carrying a massive reputation. “But he was living a lie.”

That last bit was seemingly meant to counter the defense’s argument that the state’s theory of this case is unbelievable and implausible. Waters is saying this whole story is unbelievable and different. Waters again calls AM a “family annihilator.”

Waters giving a presentation now to the jury. “Y’all are the judge of the facts.” It’s your job to determine each witness’ credibility. “Is what somebody is telling you believable?” Does the witness have a reason to be biased?

Waters is now defining reasonable doubt and the difference between direct and circumstantial evidence.

Waters is now walking the jury through the elements of murder.

Waters walks the jury through everything AM stood to lose if his thefts and lies were exposed. His family legacy, prominence in the community, reputation as a wealthy and successful lawyer and his role as a part-time prosecutor.

Waters: Murdaugh was about to “face consequences like he’s never seen.”

Waters describes Murdaugh’s “constant hamster wheel” of debts and thefts. “The stress and the pressure of that would have been extreme because it has been going on so long, always staying one step ahead.”

Waters accuses Murdaugh of rehearsing his answer on the witness stand that he lied, misled, and stole from people. He notes AM didn’t want to talk about any one victim in particularly.

Waters: “Alex’s situation, I think, is akin to a Ponzi. A Ponzi is like a pyramid scheme. It relies on new money coming in from investors.” You can keep it going as long as there are new investors, new money coming in. When that stops, it “crashes and burns.”

Waters on the pressure of the 6/10/21 hearing in which AM’s finances might have been exposed. “He would lose his career, he would lose his livelihood, he would face investigations and consequences like he’s been able to avoid his entire life.”

Waters: “The pressures on this man were unbearable, and they were all reaching a crescendo on the day his wife and son were murdered by him.”

Waters again repeats that AM's alleged scheme worked. He bought himself time to try to cover up the theft of $792,000 from PMPED. “He had time he didn’t have on June 7. … And that’s the first thing he did. That’s the main thing he did.”

Waters: “He has proven over and over again that he will do anything to keep that hamster wheel going and avoid accountability. He has been doing it for 10 years.”

Waters on Murdaugh’s dealings with Palmetto State Bank: “I think it was called the most generous overdraft policy ever conceived.” Buddy, you’re the one who said that.

Waters makes clear he doesn’t believe AM’s claims that he was taking dozens of 30mg Oxy pills a day. “Does that sound survivable?”

Waters says AM’s record of thefts and debts “reflect an insatiable desire for money.” His thefts escalated over the years, but his payments to a drug dealer only escalated in 2021, he says.

Waters says common sense tells you AM couldn't have taken 2 grams of Oxy a day and survived, much less been a functioning lawyer. Medical professionals I've heard from agree with the prosecutor here.

Waters makes clear he thinks AM was addicted to money, his reputation, his lifestyle.

Waters brings up the May 2021 confrontation about AM’s drug use. “They were watching him like a hawk.” Opiates have powerful withdrawals. AM previously testified he would do “almost anything” to stop the withdrawals.

We are taking a one hour, 15 minute break for lunch. Should be back at 2:20 p.m.


Second half after returning from lunch:



Court is back in session. Creighton Waters will resume his closing argument.

Maggie was killed with a family weapon, a .300 Blackout. Waters says it was Paul’s replacement .300 Blackout, which didn’t have a thermal scope, that was used to kill Maggie.

Waters notes Paul’s friend, Will Loving, had shot the replacement Blackout on the stoop of the Moselle house’s gun room that spring. SLED found Blackout casings by the stoop that matched the casings by Maggie’s body on 6/7/21.

Waters: “A family Blackout killed Maggie. It was present just a couple months prior to the murders, and it’s gone now. A family weapon the defendant cannot account for killed Maggie.”

Waters tells the jury they have heard testimony that AM’s favorite shotgun was a Benelli Super Black Eagle 1 12-gauge shotgun. SLED searched Moselle and never found it. “The defendant had the means to commit these crimes,” he says.

Waters moves on to the forensic timeline SLED created of 6/7/21. He says it’s normal for people to misremember times. But Alex’s inconsistencies were beyond that, Waters said. “He almost never was right,” Waters said.

Waters has walked the jury through AM’s alleged motive (financial crimes) and means (missing family guns). Now he is walking them through the opportunity (kennel video placing AM at the scene of the crime shortly before the shootings).

Waters: “We know that the defendant was there just minutes earlier at the scene of the crime with the victims.” 8:49:01 p.m.: Paul’s phone locks. He never sends the kennel video to Rogan.

Waters is focusing hard on 8:49 p.m., just two minutes after AM supposes he left the dog kennels and made the two-minute golf cart drive back to the Moselle residence. Paul’s phone locked forever at 8:49:01 p.m. Maggie’s phone locked forever 30 seconds later.

Waters again notes the lie AM told for the months after the slayings - that he was never at the kennels with Maggie and Paul that evening. Waters: “Why would he lie about that, ladies and gentlemen? Why would he even think to lie about that if he was an innocent man?”

Waters on AM’s new version of the events of that night: “It doesn’t make sense, ladies and gentlemen,” Waters said. “It’s a new story to fit facts he can no longer deny.”

Waters, getting loud now: You heard Maggie and Paul had no defensive wounds. There was no indication Paul perceived a threat. “Why? Because it’s him,” he says, referring to AM.

Waters: The crime occurred 8:49 p.m. to 8:53 p.m. “It wouldn’t take long to strip down, wash yourself off, get in that cart and head back to the house.”

Waters: And then at 9:02 p.m., AM’s phone is picked up for the first time in nearly an hour. Step count from 9:02-9:06 p.m. shows “he is as busy as he has ever been,” Waters says.

Waters: At 9:06 p.m., “Maggie’s phone has that orientation change" 2 seconds before AM calls her. Is that some random vigilante who somehow knew the call was about to come in and picked up the phone?

Waters: “Or was that Alex turning the phone … checking it as he manufactured his alibi that it was coming through?”

Waters: Why didn’t AM go by the dog kennels on the way out and check on Maggie? Why call her, text her, but not take that driveway to see her? AM wanted Maggie to come home that night, “made sure of it.” “With all of that … why would he not drive down there?’

This quote Waters just offered pretty well summarises his closing statement and his approach to this trial: “All the pieces fit together.”

Waters notes AM drove by the side-of-Moselle-Road location at which Maggie’s phone was later found around the time Maggie’s phone stops recording activity.

Waters on Murdaugh’s speed on the way to/from his mother’s house:
“What’s he in a hurry about?” Waters asked. “Why’s he in a hurry? Because he knows he has to compress that timeline.”

Waters reminds the jury about how AM couldn’t remember what he did from 9:02-9:06 p.m., as he prepared to leave Moselle to visit his mother. AM also couldn’t remember his last conversation with Maggie.

Waters: “Those are questions he doesn’t want to answer. But would a reasonable person remember those things?”

Waters: “He’s manufacturing an alibi. He’s smart. He’s a good lawyer. His family has a history of prosecution. He understands these issues.” That’s why this case played out this way. “He knows what to do to try to prevent evidence from being gathered.”

Waters on the questions AM asks during his interviews with investigators. “He’s trying to figure out, what do the police have? What do they know?”

Waters on the 19-second gap between AM parking his Suburban at the dog kennels and calling 9-1-1: Waters: “19 seconds. Is that enough time for a surprised human being to come across that scene, process what they were seeing, get out of the car ….

"... get over there, check both those bodies and call 9-1-1?” “The reason why it was so quick is because he knew exactly what scene he was going to find.”

Waters questions why AM repeatedly called Paul’s friend Rogan, who had been texting and calling Paul that night, even before calling his other son Buster. Waters says AM was “worried about what Rogan may have known, may have heard.”

Waters: AM told his sister-in-law Marian Procter “whoever did this thought about it for a very long time. Why would he say that?”

This is a strong closing argument from lead prosecutor Creighton Waters tying together the most important evidence jurors have heard from the state's witnesses over the past 6 weeks.

Waters is playing a video of Murdaugh’s lies to investigators under a slide labeled “CONSCIOUSNESS OF GUILT.”

Waters: This was June 8, 2021, hours after the slayings, and AM is lying to investigators. “Look how easily he did it.”

Waters asks rhetorically about AM’s 6/10/21 interview with investigators: “Is that an aggressive interview? Is that something that would make somebody paranoid?”

Waters on the disagreements between the state’s forensic experts and the defense’s: The defense is trying to make claims that it definitely was a short shooter or it most likely was two shooters, and that is just not how it works.

Waters says the difference between Kenneth Kinsey, the state’s expert, and the defense’s experts is that “Dr. Kinsey isn’t going to get out over his skis and try to make assertions to you … that simply cannot be supported by the evidence.”

The jury has been excused for a 15-minute break.

Waters says he has 30 minutes to go on his closing. Defense attorney Jim Griffin says his closing argument will last about 2 hours. Judge Newman said he will let the defense close at a time when the jury is fully attentive.

So, like everything else in this case, this is taking longer than expected. Can't imagine the defense will begin its closing today.

Waters on AM’s new story about leaving the dog kennels on 6/7/21: “He didn’t say, ‘if only I had been there. If only I had gone to the kennels. If only I could have stopped it. If only I could have been there a little longer.’ He says, ‘I got out of there.’”

Waters: “Why would he lie about that time unless he is manufacturing an alibi?”

Waters continues to bonk AM over the head with his own lies.

Waters notes AM took the stand and disputed previous witness testimony by Mark Tinsley, Blanca Simpson, Shelley Smith and others. He reminds the jury AM is a liar. Bonk.

Waters on AM’s story that he took a short nap before leaving for Moselle shortly after 9 p.m. “He dozed off in the shortest nap in the history of the South.” Bonk.

Waters says the murderers must have been 5-foot-2 vigilantes who arrived somehow in that tiny time period between 8:49 and 9:02. Waters: That’s if you believe every bit of AM’s new story, which was sprinkled in with lies as well. Bonk.

Waters: “No one knew who he was. No one knew who this man was. He avoided accountability his whole life. He relied on his family name. He carried a badge and authority. He lived a wealthy life.”

Waters: Murdaugh knew he was about to be exposed, his reputation ruined. “His ego couldn’t stand that, and he became a family annihilator.”

Waters: “We couldn’t bring you any eye witnesses because they were murdered. But common sense and human nature can speak on behalf of Maggie and Paul. Look at this in its totality. … They deserve a voice.”

Waters: Everything he did was meant to frustrate forensics. Deleting call logs. Moving Maggie’s phone. Changing clothes. “One man controlled these crime scene issues.” That was AM, Waters says.

Waters says he agrees with AM that whoever did this had anger in their heart and had planned this for a long time. He also agrees with AM that he hurt the ones he loved.

Waters to the jury: Alex Murdaugh lied to you, just like he lied to everyone in his life. “And he was good at it.” BONK.

I thought Waters was about to wrap up there. Now we are hearing more of AM's interview with investigators. I don't know when this will end.

Waters: “Maggie and Paul deserve a voice. They need a voice because they can no longer speak. This has been a tough job. But the system depends on people who take that oath as jurors, and they’re willing to honor that oath and make the tough decision to…”.

Waters: "... vindicate these victims, to vindicate Maggie and Paul, who were cut down in the prime of their lives.”

Waters shows the jury a sealed exhibit. I assume crime scene or autopsy photos. “This is what he did. This is what he did right here.”

Waters: This defendant has fooled everyone in his life. He fooled Maggie and Paul, and they paid for it with their lives. “Don’t let him fool you too.” Waters ends his closing argument.

That is it for the day, Judge Newman says. Back at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. Jury is excused.
 
kaen said:
Did the officers just take a pen from the jacket of AM as they were leaving the court room? Hmmm.... seems like he keeps trying to get away with stuff
Click to expand...
Indeed.
But they didn’t check the binder his sister handled in the time between when he put it his pocket and they took it away. AM and sister were bent over with it.
MOO
 
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