GUILTY SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #38

[Cindizzi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1631481086181007362

 

[Seattle1]

How many hours were JURY deciding????

Less than 3 hours -- shorter than State's closing:

The jury was dismissed from the courtroom to begin deliberations at 3:50 p.m. on Thursday. They returned with a verdict at 6:41 p.m.

 

[10ofRods]

Law and Crime talking heads pretty much ignoring the GUILTY verdict---they are still arguing that AM probably hired someone to beAt up Paul, to gain public sympathy about the boat trial.

OK, even if he did, it would be Felony Murder against AM because of the deaths.

Wow. I stopped tuning into them, but am not surprised. TY, Katydid (GOOD to see you).

Yeah. Well, if Alec thought someone else did it, he missed the opportunity to finger them (and if he tried to invoke felony murder - he'd still be guilty).

It's still possible he had help and he's covering up for them. But who could it be?

Alec knows he's in for life, so if in fact he's part of a larger criminal nexus (which he probably is), it's best for him to take the fall for this, as none of his cronies wanted to kill Maggie and Paul, IMO. Only him.

IMO

 

[otto]

What did Newman say exactly about leading AM out of the courtroom? ‘You may take him in custody’? Something like that, I didn’t hear it well.

The circled man in the centre sat behind Alex throughout the trial, the Bailiff. For the verdict, he wore his uniform, stood directly behind Alex, flanked, and he slapped the cuffs on Alex as soon as the Judge said convicted. After Alex was led past the jury out of the courtroom, defence and prosecution lawyers shook hands. Their lives go forward. Alex's life stops frozen in time on the night he shot his wife and son in the head, twice.

As soon as he was surrounded by officers for the reading of the verdict, everyone in the room knew the verdict. Those officers wouldn't be there if he was not guilty or hung jury.

 

[10ofRods]

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I sure hope SLED and all law enforcement agencies have learned from this case to stick with their training and not let anyone else tarnish their investigation . For goodness sakes, it goes back to Jon Benet and how family and friends ran all over the crime scene! Do your job!

Not always possible to prevent and in the interests of not living in a police states, probably not always the best idea when family find members murdered.

Being LE is a delicate balance and in no way easy. And I'm still not sure what "trampling" the crime scene would have done, one way or another, on a property with many comers and goers. DNA doesn't have a clock built in. There were no cameras.

What evidence would have been gained if more had been done? SLED actually declined to use public resources on a fool's errand, IMO.

 

[Sonny Crockett]

I hope so. If she was leaning not guilty, which was my impression this morning, she would have changed history had she not screwed up. Hung jury. Murdaughs would rule the roost until a re-trial, which would have emboldened them.

Exactly! One juror can obviously seriously influence the outcome. Glad that didn't happen in this case.

 

[skyedaze]

I agree. In the end, the jurors knew that 3 Murdaughs were at the kennels together and seconds later, only one Murdaugh was standing. JMO

Exactly! He summoned them to the fateful property, escorted them to their death scene , and did the execution.
Then as he put it, "I got outta there."

 

[minor4th]

Wow! I just checked back, not expecting there to be a verdict. How long did they deliberate? I’m so pleased they got it right, and so quickly!

 

[10ofRods]

The circled man in the centre sat behind Alex throughout the trial, the Bailiff. For the verdict, he wore his uniform, stood directly behind Alex, flanked, and he slapped the cuffs on Alex as soon as the Judge said convicted. After Alex was led past the jury out of the courtroom, defence and prosecution lawyers shook hands. Their lives go forward. Alex's life stops frozen in time on the night he shot his wife and son in the head, twice.

As soon as he was surrounded by officers for the reading of the verdict, everyone in the room knew the verdict. Those officers wouldn't be there if he was not guilty or hung jury.

View attachment 406648

Post of the day, IMO.

 

[DeDee]

Incredibly ironic that Paul's cellphone video was crucial in convicting AM.
Testimony from the grave.

I'm a little confused about Bubba the dog. Was he barking as if something was amiss? People are online crediting the dog for helping. ??

Yes, indeed. It's a South Carolina story rich in irony.

Bubba caught a chicken which made Alex hollar at him: Bubba! in a frustrating tone. Kinda thought Bubba might be a handful til learning Bubba was Maggie's favorite dog. Then, Paul got a video on his phone of Cash, the brown lab at the kennels, where Alex's voice is heard in the background telling Maggie it's a chicken and not a guinea that Bubba has in its mouth. Thereby, proving once and for all, that Alex was at the kennels at the time of the murders when he lied and said he didn't go to the kennels.

Bubba has been exonerated of any wrongdoing and has been hailed as a Hero!

 

[Cindizzi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1631481698129944576

 

[Tiger Stripes]

If Paul didn't do anything else in his life he nailed his killer with a video...... I love it.

Hoping that the cell phone video in the Delphi double homicide (that Libby took, of "Bridge Guy"/"BG") will bring justice for Abby & Libby in *that* case!

Here, in AM's trial, it was incredible to me that someone in the 21st century would ignore all the possible incriminating evidence of a crime/potential criminal activity that was gathered, thanks to "technology": things like cell phone data, GPS info, SnapChat & texts, etc.

 

[bestill]

@bestill guess what day it is for SC inmate, AM!

It's another Disney day!!! LOL

 

[justtrish]

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I sure hope SLED and all law enforcement agencies have learned from this case to stick with their training and not let anyone else tarnish their investigation . For goodness sakes, it goes back to Jon Benet and how family and friends ran all over the crime scene! Do your job!

I know the right thing is to not care who it is or what family it is, but can you imagine the story if he was innocent and they went in treating him like he was guilty, not letting anyone in, etc. I can't recall exactly the timing of his dad being hospitalized being on the news, but seems it was that night. I think how they handled this case isn't necessarily how they handle all cases, they likely wanted to be kind and I'm sure thought they were doing the right thing for this family and its the time it turned out the family man, lawyer, volunteer solicitor from this well known family was the killer. Again, doesn't make it right, but I can understand how in good faith they wanted to treat him as if he's one of them. I do think it would be different now when the next case happens.

 

[Kemug]

He didn't look at jurors walking by them. Previously all smiles.

I know, but he would have been in deep shock - never in a million years did he see this coming!

 

[Mysticeilis]

It's tragic and forced me at times to reflect on moments in the service where lives were taken in a blink of an eye, witnessing it myself and having to put it in a box for a time to protect my brothers. These lives PM and MM should have never been taken in that way and it burned in me that these monsters exist among us and the ease in which AM did this horrific thing without an ounce of sympathy other then saving his self. I've seen the same look on the enemy at the time as they put their family in the line of fire to protect themselves, no remorse, no sympathy, not a care in the world. It was on AM's face time and time again and that in itself told me once again what a heartless killer looks like.

Edvis, I thank you for your service. Our country is being protected by people like you. I just wish evil people like Alex didn’t exist

 

[Edvis]

I see that I have 119 notifications. I'm guessing I won't get to check them all out. So I'll just say that it has been a pleasure spending time with the group on this forum. Everyone cared (no matter their opinion of the outcome) and we all found a way to find moments of relief through humour. (ok, I just gave myself away as a Canadian, didn't I?)

Special thanks to @Edvis for stocking the train and keeping us on a somewhat even keel, despite the offerings from the bar, chickens, feral hogs and our unruly behaviour at times. (sorry, gotta go with my Canadian/British spelling again. Can I interest any of you in a Bloody Caesar?)

Yup had to keep an eye on you at time lol, good times and thank you for being a great member to our crazy train club. We can add your drink to our selection and be on hand when you stop in.

 

[Snoopster]

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I sure hope SLED and all law enforcement agencies have learned from this case to stick with their training and not let anyone else tarnish their investigation . For goodness sakes, it goes back to Jon Benet and how family and friends ran all over the crime scene! Do your job!

I believe that the chief prosecutor in the district was a good buddy of the Murdaughs (who worked in the prosecutor's office). I'm sure LE were cautious and handling the situation with kid gloves due to the politics of the situation. It wasn't until Aug 13 that Duffie Stone stepped down from the case.
I think this had a huge negative impact on the intial investigation.

This just shows that the Good Ol' Boy network needs to be dismantled. The verdict today and the ruling in the Lafitte case are steps in the right direction.

 

[keek]

I know, but he would have been in deep shock - never in a million years did he see this coming!

He wasn't going to be flashing any AM nods and smiles on that LAST walk past them!

 

[vls12345]

I didn't give the jury enough credit. I thought there would be a couple who would fall for his schtick. luckily I was wrong.

I haven't finished reading all the comments.

I made my prediction on a quick verdict (figuring it would be guilty) based on the fact that the jury is made up of those in the community. AM's family has wielded extraordinary power for generations in that area. Probably everyone knew of someone whose lives were touched (good or bad) by the Murdaugh family. And people in small communities have the measure of others -- other people, other families, tendencies that run in families, etc. So I think AM's crimes were probably shocking in the sheer amount, but also not shocking because... those in the community already knew the type of person AM was. There were whispers for years about Gloria Satterfield, Stephen Smith, Hakeem Pinckney, & others. People in the community *know* things, when justice is being bent or abused and who is doing it. Just because people can't always stand up & say who is abusing power or committing crimes doesn't mean they don't know who is doing it. They usually know very well who is doing it.

Once the tide turned (with the Mallory Beach lawsuit), the dominoes started to fall.

As Judge Newman said, the evidence of guilt was overwhelming. And I think that's what the jurors saw too, on top of their community knowledge. They didn't really need to see or discuss more.

IMO and MOO.