Jim Griffin begins cross-examining SLED agent Jeff Croft.
Griffin establishes again that SLED had the family's permission to search the Moselle home from top to bottom on 6/8/21, the day after the slayings.
Griffin establishes with Croft that the parade of guns seized from Moselle and shown to the jury yesterday were not the weapons used to kill Maggie and Paul, and that those weapons remain missing.
Worth noting here that Griffin is a hunter himself with plenty of familiarity with firearms. As we noted in our profile of Harpootlian and Griffin, Griffin is going to be counted on to go toe to toe with the state's witnesses on highly technical evidence.
Here's something: Griffin establishes with Croft that he did not find any ammo at Moselle matching the shotgun rounds that delivered the fatal shot to Paul. G: “And you didn’t find any similar ammunition at Moselle on June 8 or any time after that?” C: “I did not.”
Griffin and Croft are discussing where the shooter must have been when they fired at Maggie, given where the shell casings landed. But yet again, we can't see what they are talking about because we can't view the non-graphic exhibits in real time.
Griffin is cooking today. Just established someone at the Moselle main house can't see people at the kennels. G: “So the fact of the matter is you can’t see people at the dog kennels from the house, based on your personal observation.” C: “From where I was standing, no sir.”
Griffin then tells Croft that it was Alex Murduagh who provided SLED the passcode to Maggie Murdaugh's phone after they found it on the side of the road.
Griffin establishes with Croft that Alex was essentially the only person SLED was looking at on the 8th, the day after the murders. Croft testifies they start with a small circle - the folks at the crime scene - and work their way out. Only one alive there was Alex.
Griffin suggests in cross-examination that no one from SLED went to Murdaugh's parents' house in Almeda to search it after Murdaugh told investigators he was there on the night of the slayings. They didn't go there until September 2021, months later.
Croft testifies he can't verify that because he doesn't know what other agents did. Griffin said Croft was in the know at SLED and got daily updates on the investigation.
Griffin continues to establish that Alex Murdaugh cooperated with investigators. G: "Alex Murdaugh gave consent any time he was asked by SLED if they could go on the property." C: “My understanding is that consent was obtained each time.”
We're moving on to the June 10, 2021, interview with Murdaugh and SLED agents at John Marvin's hunting lodge in Barnwell.
Griffin establishes that SLED met with the Murdaughs 6/10/21 and did separate, simultaneous interviews with Alex, Buster, John Marvin and Randy Murdaugh.
Griffin says SLED brought "the cavalry" - at least four SLED vehicles and two agents per interview subject.
Griffin now questioning Croft on "I/they" recording.
A lot going on rn. Want to capture this accurately. Stand by.
Griffin really pummeled Croft on the stand there, by my estimation. Challenges Croft on why he didn't ask Alex what he meant if he really heard "I," why he didn't make a written note of it, etc.
Now we're hearing the audio again.
Played it twice in real-time. Now playing it at one-third speed.
On the third play-through, at one-third speed, I clearly hear it as "they." Griffin asks Croft if he hears "they" as well this time. “No sir, I did not," Croft says. They agree the jury can make up its own mind.
Earlier, Griffin asked Croft: “Are you 100 percent confident that Alex said ‘I did him so bad’ rather than ‘they did him so bad.’” Croft: "I’m 100 percent confident” that’s what I heard.
Griffin: “What did you do in response to that?” Croft: “I made a mental note on it, of it.” Says SLED didn't have enough info to challenge Alex at the time. Griffin says asking for clarification isn't "challenging" him.
Croft testified that he planned to follow up on the purported "I" admission later on. But under questioning from Griffin, he then testified that he never did follow up.
Croft testified that he was taking written notes on the interview at the time but says he could not recall writing down the purported "I" admission. He took only a mental note, he said.
Griffin repeats over and over that Murdaugh at that point was the only person in SLED's "circle" of interest, who Croft apparently believed had just potentially confessed to the murders, and Croft didn't ask Murdaugh for clarification or even write it down. Yikes.
Prosecutor Waters mocks the defense's notion that there could have been 2 shooters because of the distance between Paul's shooter and the shell casings around Maggie's body. Waters: “Can people move?” Croft: "What?" Waters: "Can people move?" Croft: “People can move, yessir.”
Waters establishes with Croft that SLED's interviews of Alex Murdaugh were not aggressive and that agents wanted to keep him open and cooperative in the investigation. Possible explanation for SLED's lack of follow-up on the purported "I" admission.
Waters is now having Croft detail the variety of unfired shotgun shells found all over Moselle. It is clear the Murdaughs had an arsenal of weaponry and ammo at the property. None of that stuff is cheap. Perhaps that's a partial explanation of where all his money went.
Waters establishes again that SLED agents didn't aggressively question Alex Murdaugh or take him into custody. His lawyers were there during the conversations.
Griffin re-crosses Croft. He notes that .300 Blackout bullets were found at the murder scene. He establishes again that SLED didn't collect .300 Blackout bullets from the scene to compare them, though they could have.
