SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #22

[Knox]

I assume the lady with the device to her mouth is the court reporter. What a job that must be, talking into that thing all day, I've never seen that before.

 

[escape2sc]

The defense has portrayed Alex as a loving father. Innocent or guilty wouldn't a loving father tell/demand his only remaining son to not be in the courtroom to hear the horrific details of how his mother and brother were killed ?

 

[arielilane]

Warning: graphic content

https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks

The jury is coming back in.

Riemer testifies she found no defensive wounds on Paul.

Further update on whether Alex Murdaugh will testify: I'm told again the defense has made no decision on whether to put him on the stand.

Dr. Riemer: Maggie Murdaugh's first two wounds featured gunpowder stippling. That indicates her shooter was no more than three feet away, Riemer testifies.

Riemer: Maggie's first three wounds were not immediately fatal. The fourth was. It traveled with an upward trajectory in and out of her chest, up under her jaw and into her head. “When it entered the left side of the face, it basically destroyed the brain.”

Riemer: The fourth wound had an upward trajectory. She wouldn't have been moving after that. The fifth wound came at a downward trajectory into the back of her head.

Prosecutors have said Maggie was shot as she ran away. Riemer supposed the fourth wound - with the upward trajectory - came as she was bent over away from the shooter. That would explain how the trajectory.

Riemer testifies the fifth wound - into the back of Maggie's head - came as she was lying on the ground. It would have been immediately fatal, even if the fourth shot hadn't been.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1625258448194797568

Alex Murdaugh listening to the testimony regarding Maggie's autopsy. (He's going to break that highlighter)

Waters elicits testimony from Riemer that Maggie’s wounds are consistent with her being circled by her shooter during the shooting. That’s why one shot comes at an upward trajectory from behind her and another shot is to the back of Maggie’s head from the other direction.

Riemer testifies Maggie and Paul's stomachs included roughly the same recently digested food, indicating they had just shared a meal together.

Riemer: No defensive wounds on Maggie or Paul.

Riemer: Maggie had caffeine in her system - but not alcohol or other drugs.

Riemer testifies both deaths were homicides. "Death at the hands of another.”

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian offers to start his cross-examination of Riemer in the morning. He said it would take until 7 if he started tonight. Judge Newman takes him up on that offer. The jury is excused.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters says the state is still on track to rest its case on Wednesday, even with the new General Motors data, which he calls "confirmatory." Two more days for the state to wrap up.

 

[Seattle1]

In SC it's up to the Judge:

<snipped>

5. Jury Note-Taking

The allowance or disallowance juror note taking notes during trial rests with the sound discretion of the trial judge. State v. Trent, 234 S.C., 26, 156 S.E.2d 527 (1959). However, except in complicated cases, the allowance of note taking by jurors is rare, as all material which may be considered as evidence will be sent to them in their deliberation room for consideration.

South Carolina Bench Book for Summary Court Judges - Civil Section

From the quoted link -- a good example of final instructions to the jurors.

The magistrate himself should charge the jury. It should never be done by one of the parties or their counsel. The following are suggested instructions:

"You have heard all the evidence presented by the plaintiff and the defendant.
"It is your duty to determine the facts, and to determine them from the evidence and the reasonable inferences arising from the evidence, and in so doing you must not indulge in guesswork or speculation. You must not be influenced by prejudice, passion, or sympathy.
"The evidence which you are to consider consists of the testimony of witnesses and the exhibits admitted in evidence. You must not concern yourself with the objections or the reasons for any rulings. You must not consider testimony or exhibits to which an objection was sustained, which has been ordered stricken, or which I have instructed you to disregard.
"Opening statements and closing arguments of the attorneys are intended to help you in understanding the evidence and applying the law, but they are not evidence.
"No statement, or ruling or remark which I may have made during the course of the trial is intended to indicate my opinion as to what the facts are. You are to determine the facts. In this determination, you alone must decide upon the believability of the evidence and its weight and value. In considering the weight and value of the testimony of any witness, you may take into consideration the appearance, attitude and behavior of the witness, the interest of the witness in the outcome of the suit, the relation of the witness to any parties to the suit, the inclination of the witness to speak truthfully or not, the probability or improbability of the witness' statements, and all other facts and circumstances in evidence. Thus, you may give the testimony of any witness just such weight and value as you believe the testimony of such witness is entitled to receive."

 

[arielilane]

View attachment 402702

I assume the lady with the device to her mouth is the court reporter. What a job that must be, talking into that thing all day, I've never seen that before.

Yes, perhaps she is. First that I've seen that type of device too. There is also a male that is there daily and he appears to be a court reporter too. moo

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1625266655382372354

 

[StarryStarryNight]

Gosh. I had that all wrong in my thinking.
I thought she ran but the shooter was within three feet and she had no chance to run. It’s really shocking.

 

[girlhasnoname]

What is defense going to do with their cross of this excellent witness? She is amazing and telling the real story. jmo

I would suggest that DH will need to step lightly around this witness, she is an expert, no nonsense, logical woman. Not somebody he can talk down to and treat like a subpar witness like he has to so many others.

MOO

 

[Megnut]

There's NO REASON for Bubba to be kenneled.

He didn't stay at the kennel. He traveled with Maggie (per Blanca). Maggie would've been leaving shortly for Edisto IMO....

In the video, it's Alec who is calling for Bubba. He is the only person who had reason to kennel Bubba.

This is not insignificant.

IMO it's huge.

JMO

 

[Cindizzi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1625258760833835012

 

[TDoc72]

I’ve seen it in other trials before but I have no idea how it works. Is she just repeating what’s she heard? Also to me, I imagine her talking like Charlie Brown’s parents.

 

[Cindizzi]

I’ve seen it in other trials before but I have no idea how it works. Is she just repeating what’s she heard? Also to me, I imagine her talking like Charlie Browns parents.

I’ve seen it in a Florida trial.

A stenomask is a hand-held microphone built into a padded, sound-proof enclosure that fits over the speaker's mouth or nose and mouth. Some lightweight versions may be fitted with an elastic neck strap to hold them in place while freeing the user's hands for other tasks. The purpose of a stenomask is to allow a person to speak without being heard by other people, and to keep background noise away from the microphone.


A trained operator using a stenomask connected to a pre-trained speech recognition system can exceed 180 words per minute while at the same time exceeding 95 percent accuracy. They may also modify the pronunciation of the words they are speaking in order to improve accuracy.

In comparison to conventional approaches like Gregg shorthand and stenotype technology, the main disadvantage of stenomask technology is the distinctive visual appearance of the operator when speaking into the stenomask. As the Dallas Morning News put it, they "can channel their inner Darth Vader."[3] In covering Wisconsin's first official voice writer, the Racine Journal Times began by explaining that the mask is not "a way to summon his minions to build the Death Star."[4]

Microphones that work much like a stenomask are used by aircraft ground crews to communicate with cockpit crews in airport environments with extreme engine noise, and are usually part of their headsets.

Stenomask - Wikipedia

 

[bestill]

Every time I have been in a courtroom that is how the court reporter works. I am a South Carolinian.

 

[justtrish]

Maybe this has been discussed before, but just thinking and trying to make sense of this so if it's already been talked about I missed it.

What if he wanted to kill Maggie to get access to her homes so he could pay off these debts and for this pending court case with the boat accident. If 2 of the homes were in her name, would the courts be able to seize those properties for his debts (if she was alive)? If her will left properties to him, then her being dead might allow him to use those to get out of his mess.

A second thought was what if he was trying to pin Maggie's murder on Paul. I recall this gun that was used to kill Maggie was one that Alex bought Paul, but it's now missing? Then he could claim he shot Paul defending Maggie.

For some reason I get the feeling he didn't WANT to kill Paul. He seems most emotional/upset/bothered by Paul. Was Paul not an original intended target.. did he want to kill Maggie, use her assets to clear up his mess and get Paul out of trouble? Did he mess up somehow and it had to go different than he planned?

 

[sunshineray]

Maggie was certainly listening to her killer while he circled her. First shot to her abdomen as they're facing each other may as she asking what he'd done to Paul. Then he comes closer, maybe she starts backing up looking around to escape. He shoots her in her thigh so she can't run causing her to hunch over. As she's doing so she's shot through her body organs on one side. Her pain must have been excruciating. She may even have passed out hopefully before the last shot to her head.

Killer circled her, sounds like he was full of anger and IMO must have been vocal about it. This was done by someone who knew her well, not some random killer. The killer knew his prey very well, like a partner would. AJMO and suppositions.

 

[Edvis]

https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks

The jury is coming back in.

Riemer testifies she found no defensive wounds on Paul.

Further update on whether Alex Murdaugh will testify: I'm told again the defense has made no decision on whether to put him on the stand.

Further update on whether Alex Murdaugh will testify: I'm told again the defense has made no decision on whether to put him on the stand.

Dr. Riemer: Maggie Murdaugh's first two wounds featured gunpowder stippling. That indicates her shooter was no more than three feet away, Riemer testifies.

Riemer: Maggie's first three wounds were not immediately fatal. The fourth was. It traveled with an upward trajectory in and out of her chest, up under her jaw and into her head. “When it entered the left side of the face, it basically destroyed the brain.”

Riemer: The fourth wound had an upward trajectory. She wouldn't have been moving after that. The fifth wound came at a downward trajectory into the back of her head.

Prosecutors have said Maggie was shot as she ran away. Riemer supposed the fourth wound - with the upward trajectory - came as she was bent over away from the shooter. That would explain how the trajectory.

Riemer testifies the fifth wound - into the back of Maggie's head - came as she was lying on the ground. It would have been immediately fatal, even if the fourth shot hadn't been.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1625258448194797568

Alex Murdaugh listening to the testimony regarding Maggie's autopsy. (He's going to break that highlighter)

Waters elicits testimony from Riemer that Maggie’s wounds are consistent with her being circled by her shooter during the shooting. That’s why one shot comes at an upward trajectory from behind her and another shot is to the back of Maggie’s head from the other direction.

Riemer testifies Maggie and Paul's stomachs included roughly the same recently digested food, indicating they had just shared a meal together.

Riemer: No defensive wounds on Maggie or Paul.

Riemer: Maggie had caffeine in her system - but not alcohol or other drugs.

Riemer testifies both deaths were homicides. "Death at the hands of another.”

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian offers to start his cross-examination of Riemer in the morning. He said it would take until 7 if he started tonight. Judge Newman takes him up on that offer. The jury is excused.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters says the state is still on track to rest its case on Wednesday, even with the new General Motors data, which he calls "confirmatory." Two more days for the state to wrap up.

Took close note of those shot placements an angle of where the bullets hit MM. Again it's like a hunter who has taken shot's at moving pray, non-lethal but as the pray goes down the last several shots focus on the head, deadly.

 

[justtrish]

I would suggest that DH will need to step lightly around this witness, she is an expert, no nonsense, logical woman. Not somebody he can talk down to and treat like a subpar witness like he has to so many others.

MOO

Exactly! Then he said he needed a lot of time.. for what? Facts are facts.. how they died is not up to debate.. I mean what could he possibly ask that could help his client not be guilty of this crime?

 

[Cindizzi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1625254189059174400

 

[Megnut]

After listening to the pathologist, I'm as convinced as ever that Maggie was running. Not away from the shooter but toward her shot son.

IMO Maggie may have been returning to her vehicle (where was it? Did Alec move it?) She'd be expecting Bubba to follow...

Meanwhile in a very deliberate series of swift actions, I think Alec collared Bubba, kenneled him. Picked up the rifle and shot Paul.

Maggie IMO turned toward the sound, probably unable to process what she was seeing, likely thought it was an accidental discharge and was preparing to tend to Paul's initial injury which means she would have seen the devastating kill shot.

I don't know where the second weapon was or why Alec grabbed it.... perhaps he figured he needed the scope. I think this part must have occurred in seconds before Maggie could process that Alec purposefully fired into her injured son. Alec picks up the second weapon....

I think we could pinpoint Maggie's position just prior to Paul's first hit, draw her movement toward the kennel room and have her still facing Alec as she then tries to escape. I place her trajectory essentially on a diagonal.

I'm reeling after the autopsy details.

All that's left is to weep.

JMO

 

[arielilane]

A stenomask is a hand-held microphone built into a padded, sound-proof enclosure that fits over the speaker's mouth or nose and mouth. Some lightweight versions may be fitted with an elastic neck strap to hold them in place while freeing the user's hands for other tasks. The purpose of a stenomask is to allow a person to speak without being heard by other people, and to keep background noise away from the microphone.

Stenomask - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org