SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #19

[BUF]

Now that the judge rules they have to hand over that tape to the prosecution…all of a sudden the defense CAN find it,

 

[lonetraveler]

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Believe me, in this area where a lot of hurricanes have hit, everyone knows what a blue tarp looks like.

 

[BeachSky]

There was a camera in the mama’s room.
Ah,prob why AM laid down in bed with Ms Libby.
AM is chasing this alibi like a shot of whiskey! IMO

 

[Tiger Stripes]

She is very afraid, this whole type of awful thing is not anything she ever thought she'd have to be a part of. People she knew and knows. This lawyer shouting obnoxious. She's doing INCREDIBLE. Keeping herself calm throughout though her fear in general probably and answering perfectly. She is super clear to understand, so don't know what some others are hearing or not. His clothing HAS to be in that tarp, makes allll the sense in the world, a plastic blood proof tarp, easily rinsed off and put away later. He was probably going to somehow burn those clothes at some point I'd think?

Speaking of stuff that may have been "rinsed off", just wondering: What about that sound of a hose (entirely MOO) from the Snapchat video in PM's phone? Has anyone else wondered about that sound, what may have caused it, and...the presence (per various SLED agents' testimony) of water around PM and MM?

 

[girlhasnoname]

Hahaha, the Defense flubbed that one up. The State requested a copy of the conversation the caregiver had and now they are having to produce it to the State. That makes me happy. I hated seeing the Defense trying to bully this witness.

MOO

 

[arielilane]

Court will break for lunch shortly.

 

[Megnut]

Hahaha, the Defense flubbed that one up. The State requested a copy of the conversation the caregiver had and now they are having to produce it to the State. That makes me happy. I hated seeing the Defense trying to bully this witness.

MOO

Can the judge sanction the defense for not having provided that earlier?

JMO

 

[arielilane]

Break for lunch - resume at 2:30 pm ET.

 

[housewife]

Looks like Alex is getting sweaty, wiping his palms on this trousers

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks

The state calls its 28th witness, Muschelle "Shelley" Smith, caregiver for Murdaugh’s mother.

The prosecutor questioning Smith is John Meadors, hired in January by the S.C. AG's Office and added to this case.

To my knowledge, this is the first time we've heard from Smith in this saga.

Smith testifies Alex Murdaugh’s mother, Libby, was suffering from Alzheimer’s in June 2021, at the time of the slayings. Meadors: “Was she aware of what was going on around her?” “No,” Smith says.

Reminder: A big part of Alex Murdaugh’s alibi is that he left Moselle to visit his ailing mother on the evening of the slayings.

Smith testifies she got to Alex Murdaugh’s parents’ house at 7:45 p.m. on the evening of the slayings. Smith says she didn’t want to disturb Miss Libby, who was sleeping in bed when she arrived.

Smith testifies about Alex Murdaugh coming to visit that night. He arrived late. That was unusual in her two years working for the Murdaughs, Smith testifies.

Smith testifies that it took her a few minutes to let Alex Murdaugh in after he called the house phone and said he was outside. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. He had on cloth shoes. Like Sperry’s. No socks.

Smith on Alex Murdaugh's demeanor on the night of the slayings when he came to visit his mother. “He was fidgeting.”

Smith testifies Murdaugh stayed with his mother for 20 minutes. He spoke with her initially, telling her he was there and had come to check up on her because his father was in the hospital. Meadors: “In your opinion as a caregiver, did she even know he was there? Smith: “No.”

Oh boy. Smith testifies that a few days after the slayings, Alex Murdaugh met with her in his mother's room and told her he had been visiting with his mother for 30-40 minutes on the night of the slayings. Smith testifies he was there for 20 minutes.

Smith is weeping on the witness stand. She says the Murdaughs are a good family. She said the conversation with Murdaugh, when he claimed to have been visiting with his mother for longer, disturbed her so much she called her brother about it.

Smith testifies that after the slayings, Alex Murdaugh asked her about the fact that she was planning to get married soon. He mentioned that weddings can be expensive and offered to help her with the expense. She said that was the first time they had talked about her wedding.

Smith testifies Murdaugh also offered to pull strings to get her a better job at the school where she worked.

Smith testifies that a few days after the slayings, Alex Murdaugh came by his parents house at 6:30 a.m. He had never come by that early in the two years she worked with the Murdaugh family, Smith testifies.

Smith testifies Murdaugh knocked on the door, and she let him in. Murdaugh’s mother was sleeping. Smith says she can’t recall if Murdaugh checked on his mother. Murdaugh had “blue something” in his hand. He was cradling it in his arms, she says. It looked like a tarp.

John Meadors is so good at this.

Smith is obviously distressed on the stand, and Meadors is figurately holding her hand as he walks her through this testimony that only she can offer.

A photo of the blue raincoat/tarp Murdaugh brought into the house is admitted into evidence. We should get a look at it this evening when the pool photographers are allowed to make photographs of the exhibits.

Smith testifies Murdaugh left the house after dropping off the blue coat and came back later in a white truck that she thought was his father’s. Then he left again in a black truck. She testifies he also had a cut/bruise on his forehead that day. Not sure what all this means.

We appear to be at more than 400 exhibits.

Yet again in this trial, it’s becoming difficult to follow important moments when lawyers/witnesses are directly referring to exhibits we cannot see.

Meadors has Smith identify Alex Murdaugh for the record and then ends his questioning. Defense attorney Jim Griffin rises to cross-examine Smith.

Griffin unfolds a big blue tarp in the middle of the courtroom. He asks Smith if something like this is what she saw Murdaugh bring into his parents’ house days after the slayings. She says yes. Griffin asks if she would confuse a blue tarp with a blue rainjacket. She says no.

Griffin seems to be challenging whether the blue, GSR-coated rainjacket the state has is the same thing as the blue tarp that Smith saw Murdaugh bring into his parents’ house in the days after the slayings.

Griffin asks about Alex Murdaugh's offer to help pay for Smith's wedding. “He was just being nice, wasn’t he?” Griffin asks. “Yes," she says. Smith says she was referring to "Mr. Alex Murdaugh" when she said the family were good people.

Griffin undercuts what the jury just heard about Alex Murdaugh’s behavior when he visited his mother on the night of 6/7/21. Griffin: “Is his normal behavior kind of fidgety?” “Yes.” “He’s just kind of a fidgety person, right?” “Yes.”

Griffin establishes that Murdaugh lay in bed beside his mother when he visited her. But he didn’t have blood on his shoes or hair. And he didn’t leave blood on the bed.

Griffin establishes that Smith initially told SLED Murdaugh was there at his parents’ house 30-35 minutes on the night of the slayings. Not just 15-20 minutes.

Griffin establishes that Smith didn’t tell SLED about the blue tarp in her first interviews with investigators. She told them about it in a follow-up with SLED in September. Griffin has her repeat over and over that what she saw was a blue tarp, *not* a blue rainjacket.

We are on a short break. But Griffin has done a lot here to try to establish that the blue tarp Smith saw and the blue, GSR-coated rainjacket that prosecutors have mentioned are not the same thing.

We are breaking for lunch until 2:30 p.m.

 

[sunshineray]

Yes, I don't like this tarp/raincoat thing.. she KNOWS what a tarp looks like. I can see that he could of, as some said, wear a big blue raincoat. It might be balled up INSIDE THE BLUE TARP. He wore to protect himself or cover himself.

He just got her to clarify, was it as big as this? No, it was all bunched up. She's telling true that to her it looked like a tarp you throw over a car BUT all BUNCHED up. That was how her brain interpreted what she saw, the color and vinyl-like material, not the size of what it would be
un-bunched. JMO

 

[girlhasnoname]

Boy-o Jim crapped in his mess kit as my sweet daddy used to say. Why didn't they turn that over to the State before now anyway.

 

[sds71]

@BlairSabolTV

Breaking for lunch now until 2:30pm Judge says he will meet with a juror individually during this time..

 

[sunshineray]

Sooo one of the the elephants in the room for me, AM showed up in RM's truck?

 

[SpyBot]

Speaking of stuff that may have been "rinsed off", just wondering: What about that sound of a hose (entirely MOO) from the Snapchat video in PM's phone? Has anyone else wondered about that sound, what may have caused it, and...the presence (per various SLED agents' testimony) of water around PM and MM?

I thought about that too and the hose/water seems to turn on while Paul is in the pen. Half way through vid you can see what looks like a bright green hose on the ground.

 

[Cindizzi]

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[lonetraveler]

She didn't know what to tell the police, she was scared and conflicted. My heart goes out to this lady.

JMO but she probably thought that AM owned the police.

 

[bestill]

Will be interesting to see if there is video of the visits to his mom and who had that recorded. I guess it could be a fake camera that the caregivers think was real. jmo

 

[housewife]

There was a video in Miss Libby's room. Caregiver doesn't know who controlled it.

Is this the video where the defense said they are working on a transcript? I need to see this video.

Also:
I'm calling it now, Shelly Smith should $ell the film rights to her story and EGOT Viola Davis can play her character.

 

[Edvis]

I thought about that too and the hose/water seems to turn on while Paul is in the pen. Half way through vid you can see what looks like a bright green hose on the ground.

The tarp may have been used to haul bloody clothing and weapons away then returned to be hosed down. I'd be asking AM... Why you packing the tarp around?.