SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #15

[worm]

There wasn’t much to cap in the recap that I read on foxcarolina. I tuned in to the audio once and it was during the long list of witnesses and I wore of that pretty fast. There is that photo that’s a bit shocking, perhaps that’s the intention, of Alex, dressed lawyer-like, with folders in hand and he is grinning real big. Confidence? Foolish confidence?

 

[Seattle1]

<modsnip - quoted post removed>

Last I saw anything in MSM re Maggie and DNA was in Oct 2022 when the defense was needling in court about it! I doubt it's been positively identified as the defense would be screaming this from the rooftops!

Alex Murdaugh's Defense Lambasts Prosecutors For Not Testing DNA Under Wife's Fingernails | Oxygen

In yet another pre-trial hearing for disgraced South Carolina legal scion Alex Murdaugh, his defense accused the prosecution of withholding more evidence and failing to investigate alternate suspects in the murders of his wife and son.

www.oxygen.com

"There’s unidentified DNA under Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernails," Harpootlian told the court. "They indicted him months ago, and now they’re telling us there’s still, for instance, DNA ."

"They’re still looking at DNA!" he added. "At what point do they stop investigating this case?”

Harpootlian's comments about the prosecution's failure to identify the DNA under Maggie Murdaugh's fingernails — more than three months after Alex Murdaugh was indicted and 15 months after the murders — is just one of many arguments he's made in pretrial hearings that indicate the defense believes the prosecution has ignored other suspects in the case.

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/NewsNation

https://twitter.com/BrianEntin

Murdaugh Murder Trial: Jury selection began Monday in the trial of the former South Carolina lawyer accused of killing his wife and son.
@BrianEntin reports. More: https://trib.al/3PKnvIK

 

[Seattle1]

Jenn Woods last report 1/23/23

'Murdaugh Murders' Saga: Alex Murdaugh's Attorneys File Last-Minute Motion On Blood Spatter Evidence - FITSNews

Lawyers ask judge to exclude any discussion of disputed forensic report ...

www.fitsnews.com

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/cathyrusson

UPDATE: Jury selection continues Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon will be a motions hearing that we will be able to live stream. Wednesday morning the jurors return for final selection and opening statements could be Wednesday afternoon.

18 jurors will be selected, this includes 6 alternates. Trial is slated to last approx. 3 weeks.

Judge in SC v. #AlexMurdaugh tells potential jurors that have qualified that they may be called back tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday morning. There is one more panel coming in Tuesday morning. I suppose we could get a jury by end of day tomorrow. (Seems crazy-quick)

"Mr. Murdaugh has been indicted and charged with murdering his wife Maggie Murdaugh and son Paul Murdaugh.." Third group of jurors brought in. (4 groups scheduled a day). Judge Newman informs jurors of what #AlexMurdaugh is charged with.

MURDAUGH MURDERS: A new motion from Alex Murdaugh’s defense team is challenging a second blood spatter expert hired by the state of South Carolina & analysis of a stained white t-shirt.

 

[Seattle1]

'Murdaugh Murders': Latest Eleventh-Hour Defense Motion Points To Possible Murder Weapon - FITSNews

Gun that killed Maggie Murdaugh belonged to one of her family members ... but it has yet to be recovered.

www.fitsnews.com

1/23/23

Another last-minute filing from attorneys for accused killer Alex Murdaugh – the man at the heart of the ‘Murdaugh Murders’ crime and corruption saga – addresses firearm evidence believed to be central to the state’s case against the disbarred South Carolina lawyer, who stands accused of murdering his wife and son nineteen months ago.

A new motion – filed on the first day of the Palmetto State’s ‘Trial of the Century’ – asks S.C. circuit court judge Clifton Newman to exclude “or limit” the introduction of firearms identification evidence and the “purported expert testimony” of Paul S. Greer.

Greer is a forensic firearm expert and key witness for the prosecution in its case against Murdaugh.

Murdaugh’s attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin noted in their filing (.pdf) that Greer’s testimony should be excluded or limited because “his opinion testimony does not aid the trier of fact to understand the evidence.”

Specifically, they claimed ballistics evidence Greer might address would cause “unfair prejudice” to Murdaugh.

[..]

Greer is expected to testify that the .300 blackout cartridges fired at the murder scene “came from the same weapon that fired .300 blackout cartridges at (a) shooting range and near the residence.”

In other words, the gun that killed Maggie Murdaugh in all likelihood belonged to someone who lived at Moselle.

For those of you unhip to rifle rounds,.300 blackout ammunition is preferable in some hunting and home defense situations to the AR-15’s typical chambering (5.56) because it offers increased power without the intense recoil and over-penettration associated with heavier rounds.

Greer is expected to further testify that “some of the .300 blackout cartridges retrieved from the firing range and near the residents “were fired and/or loaded into, extracted and ejected by the .300 blackout rifle taken from the property.”

 

[legalmomma]

In addition to the blood evidence motions to be heard:

Jury selection in Alex Murdaugh double murder trial trudges on after day 1 of questions

The Alex Murdaugh trial began with jury selection, a process that is expected to wrap up on Jan. 24.

www.postandcourier.com

..”The Murdaugh team’s third motion seeks to suppress a forensic analyst who opined that at least one of the firearms seized from the Moselle property was used in the slayings.

That’s significant because, until now, it was thought that state investigators had not recovered either of the weapons used in the slayings.

Paul Greer, the analyst in question, indicated that testing of the guns seized from the Murdaugh home indicated that one of them, a .300 Blackout rifle, could have been the weapon that killed Maggie Murdaugh.

Greer found that tool marks on the cartridges near her body matched the marks inside the gun.

But Murdaugh’s attorneys say such analysis is not accepted science and can’t be used to determine the murder weapon with certainty.

If the judge won’t outright exclude Greer’s testimony, Murdaugh’s lawyers want an evidentiary hearing to argue over the merits of his forensic analysis.

Newman is expected to consider and rule on this issue and other pre-trial motions after the jury is seated but before opening arguments begin, likely later this week.”
…

 

[Seattle1]

I don't doubt if there was identifiable DNA under MM's fingernails that would help AM, this would have been leaked by defense attorney DH months ago! MOO

Murdaugh investigators comparing Curtis Smith's DNA with evidence found at crime scene

State investigators are in the process of comparing the DNA of Curtis Edward Smith, a reported accomplice in Alex Murdaugh’s alleged drug-trafficking and money-laundering schemes, to DNA found at the

www.postandcourier.com

10/20/22

Circuit Judge Clifton Newman called the hearing after a flurry of motions by Murdaugh attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin were filed seeking more evidence from prosecutors while also criticizing the state’s investigation and seeking to implicate Smith as Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s real killer.

[..]

Waters accused Murdaugh’s attorneys of overhyping the fact that Smith failed a polygraph exam when questioned about the Murdaugh slayings. Waters said Murdaugh’s attorneys also have already been provided much of the evidence they accused prosecutors of withholding.

Aimee Zmroczek, Smith’s defense attorney, attended the hearing. She told reporters afterward she is confident the ongoing DNA analysis will clear her client.

“All it’s going to do is help my guy,” Zmroczek said. “Then Dick can try to find somebody else to blame. That’s what this whole hearing was about.”

Ultimately, Judge Newman ruled state prosecutors have followed their legal obligation to provide discovery in the case.

 

[Seattle1]

This hearing from October 2022 is incredible and goes to the arrogance and sense of entitlement by the accused, AM, and his team.

AM's defense had the audacity to challenge the Attorney General that the defense should have blanket subpoena power to bypass the court motions and obtain information about the state's case via subpoena power! Of course, the court rightfully denied this request and had the prosecutor fuming that he met with one of AM's attorneys the day before who had zero requests outstanding.

And to hear defense attorney DH pontificate that the SLED should cease investigating the case because AM had already been indicted just blows my mind!

The speedy trial was all part of the defense strategy and I hope it blows up in their faces! MOO

Judge denies defense motions in Murdaugh murder case

A state circuit court judge mostly sided with the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office Thursday, denying motions filed by the defense team of former Lowcountry attorney Alex Murdaugh.

www.live5news.com

 

[Seattle1]

Murdaugh murder mystery: Full special report details layers of the case

A NewsNation special report reveals details of the Murdaugh murder mystery as Alex Murdaugh faces trial in South Carolina.

www.newsnationnow.com

Posted: JAN 23, 2023 / 04:57 PM CST

 

[mewmew]

Alex Murdaugh trial: Video sent by Paul Murdaugh considered critical part of case, prosecutors say | CNN

Paul Murdaugh sent a Snapchat video to several friends just minutes before he was killed, according to a motion filed by the South Carolina state attorney prosecuting Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced former lawyer standing trial starting this week in the killing of his wife and son.

amp.cnn.com

From the link:
View attachment 397252

That picture made me choke on my vitamin.

Very curious about this SC video!

 

[Elley Mae]

Page 2

https://www.counton2.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2023/01/2023-01-23-DEFs-Motion-in-Limine-Greer-FA-Rpt116405.pdf

He’s toast.

Jmo

 

[legalmomma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1617849632461324295

 

[legalmomma]

This hearing from October 2022 is incredible and goes to the arrogance and sense of entitlement by the accused, AM, and his team.

AM's defense had the audacity to challenge the Attorney General that the defense should have blanket subpoena power to bypass the court motions and obtain information about the state's case via subpoena power! Of course, the court rightfully denied this request and had the prosecutor fuming that he met with one of AM's attorneys the day before who had zero requests outstanding.

And to hear defense attorney DH pontificate that the SLED should cease investigating the case because AM had already been indicted just blows my mind!

The speedy trial was all part of the defense strategy and I hope it blows up in their faces! MOO

Judge denies defense motions in Murdaugh murder case

A state circuit court judge mostly sided with the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office Thursday, denying motions filed by the defense team of former Lowcountry attorney Alex Murdaugh.

www.live5news.com

BBM- I too have always thought that Harpo's strategy to request speedy trial was to create chaos in discovery to result in something...delay, sanctions, confusion...something! And yes, hopefully it all backfires and the State is ready. Not to mention the State must win the pretrial motions to be heard today/tomorrow on the blood spatter and the ballistics experts. MOO

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/cathyrusson

Elizabeth Millner

@_emillner
·
8m

It is Day 2 of jury selection for the trial of Alex Murdaugh. Murdaugh arrived to the courthouse at 9am this morning. He is on trial for the murders of his wife Maggie and his youngest son Paul. For the latest head to
@LawCrimeNetwork

 

[legalmomma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1617841680346148866

 

[meanmaryjean]

BBM- I too have always thought that Harpo's strategy to request speedy trial was to create chaos in discovery to result in something...delay, sanctions, confusion...something! And yes, hopefully it all backfires and the State is ready. Not to mention the State must win the pretrial motions to be heard today/tomorrow on the blood spatter and the ballistics experts. MOO

I think the speedy trial was driven 100% by AM who thinks he is teflon-coated and wants out of jail ASAP. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[legalmomma]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1593350855817846784

 

[Betty P]

Alex is sporting a wardrobe change today, more casual.

https://twitter.com/cathyrusson

He looks very healthy, unlike his wife and son.

 

[arielilane]

WATCH LIVE: Murdaugh Family Murders — SC v. Alex Murdaugh — Jury Selection (AUDIO ONLY) Day Two​