SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #23

[Gardenista]

Wow, Bart is next!

 

[arielilane]

Welcome to the Big Top we been riding this crazy train for awhile with our popcorn and balloons flying all over the place.

All aboard! Hahaha

 

[Seattle1]

HOLY CRAP! Was Alec mad because Paul found his pills???????

What a nasty man: AM angry enough to shoot = PM hunting down his (pill) stash and MM nagging him over allegations from 2007.

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks

We are back after lunch.

The state's 55th witness is Marian Proctor, Maggie's sister and Paul's aunt. Here we go.

Finally, a witness is called to humanize Maggie.
Proctor: “Maggie was sweet. She was kind of a free spirit. She was always up for anything that was going on. She loved her family. She loved her boys. Buster and Paul were her world. She loved her parents.”

Proctor: Maggie was a girl’s girl, but she would go fishing and hunting with her sons. She would get in the hunting stand with her sons, and the boys would tell her she was making too much noise turning magazine pages.

Proctor on Paul Murdaugh: “Paul was a sweet, sweet boy. Misrepresented in the media. He had such a kind side to him. He was always wanting to help. ... He was a kind soul, and I loved him a lot.”

Proctor testifies Maggie had nothing to do with the family finances. “They had a comfortable life. Maggie was happy. It wasn’t a lavish life, but it was a comfortable life.” “Money was never an issue for her, that she knew about.”

Proctor testifies Maggie began staying at the Edisto Beach house after the boat crash. “That was a devastating blow for their family. It was a horrible accident, but it was an accident. Maggie felt like the Hampton community had turned against her. Paul was being mistreated.”

Proctor continued: "People would say mean things to him, call him names. Social media. Inappropriate things were said to him. Inappropriate things were said to him when he went back to school. It was very hard on the family. It was very stressful.”

Proctor testifies Maggie was looking for a new home for the family in the Hilton Head/Bluffton area. She found one house she liked. Maggie thought they might put in an offer. “But I think Alex advised her the timing was not right with the boat case going on.”

Proctor cries on the stand as she testifies she encouraged Maggie to go to Moselle that evening to be with Alex, given his father's deteriorating condition.

Proctor on her reaction to the news Maggie and Paul had been killed: “I just couldn’t believe it. I didn’t think it was true. I said there has to be a mistake.”

Proctor on telling her parents that night: “I think my mom went into shock. She just couldn’t be still. She just kept making these noises. It was just the worst.”

Proctor on the aftermath: “I didn’t talk to Alex a lot. Alex was just really busy. The whole town was coming to see him. He was very, very, very torn up.” I did at one point ask him if Maggie had suffered. He assured me she had not. “Now I’m not sure that that’s true.”

Proctor: Later, I asked Alex if he had any idea who had done this. We’ve got to find out. He said that he did not know who it was, but he felt like whoever did it had thought about it for a really long time.

Proctor testifies it struck her as odd that Maggie didn’t go to Almeda with Alex that night. She said that was the whole reason Maggie went to Moselle.

Proctor testifies Alex talked about the boat case after the slayings. “He was very intent on clearing Paul’s name,” Proctor said. “He said his No. 1 goal was clearing Paul’s name. I thought that was so strange because my No. 1 goal was to find out who killed my sister and Paul”

“I know he must have wanted that too. But I don’t know how he could have thought about anything else," Proctor said.

Waters ends his questioning.



Defense attorney Jim Griffin rises for cross-examination.

Griffin takes a while to compose himself, but he is tearing up while trying to ask questions. He knew Maggie from defending Paul in the boat crash criminal case. "Maggie was a very special person, wasn't she?" he asks. "She was," Proctor says.

It feels like if prosecutors had any evidence or inkling of marital strife or money problems or divorce attorneys or anything like that, it would have come out in their questioning of Proctor, Maggie’s sister. They were close.

Griffin notes that Maggie went to every one of Buster and Paul’s sporting events. He asks Proctor if Alex was there too. He was, she says. He was coaching them.

Proctor testifies that it was “probably not” odd, in hindsight, that Maggie didn’t go with Alex to Almeda that evening since his father wasn’t there. He was in the hospital.

Proctor said she didn’t find it unusual that Alex asked Maggie to come back to Moselle that evening. Alex didn’t like being by himself at Moselle, she said. “That’s why I encouraged her.”

Proctor: Alex and Buster came and stayed with Maggie’s parents in Summerville a lot after the slayings. Alex didn’t stay another night at Moselle. At the end of July, he went to Key West on vacation with Maggie’s family. He stayed with his brother Randy at times, too.

Proctor on Alex wanting to clear Paul’s name in the boat case: “I just thought his priority should have been focusing on finding out who killed Maggie and Paul.” Griffin asks how he knows Alex wasn’t focused on that.

Proctor: “We never talked about it. We never talked about finding the person, who could have done it. It was just odd. We were sort of living in fear because we thought this horrible person was out there. We were mostly afraid for Alex and Buster…"

Proctor continued: "... but we didn’t know the motive behind the killings. We thought it probably had something to do with the boat case. And we thought that up until September. And then things started to change a little bit.”

Proctor on Alex and Paul: “I think they had a very good relationship. They loved all the same things. They loved to hunt. They loved to fish. They loved to work the land. I think the plan was for Paul to take over Moselle one day. They had a great father-son relationship.”

Proctor on Alex and Maggie: “It was good. It wasn’t perfect, but Maggie was happy.”

Waters asks Proctor what happened in September 2021 that led her to change her mind that the slayings were about the boat crash case. Griffin objects. Jury is excused.

Griffin tells Newman that Proctor was about to testify about the Labor Day weekend roadside shooting. Griffin says the defense objects to any mention of the roadside shooting.

The court reporter reads out a transcript of the exchange between Griffin and Proctor. Griffin asked Proctor why she thought Murdaugh was more focused on clearing Paul's name in the boat case than finding Maggie and Paul's killer.

With the jury excused, Proctor testifies she got a phone call in September 2021 from a friend who said they were sorry to hear about Alex. Proctor didn't know about it. Proctor was then told Alex had been shot.

“It was just the worst feeling in the world," Proctor says. "I thought whoever had killed Maggie and Paul had now shot Alex. I was horrified that Buster was next.”

With the jury excused, Waters tells Judge Newman he wants to ask Proctor about “fidelity concerns” and the family’s concerns about Murdaugh’s opioid use.

Griffin tells Newman that would be opening a "pandora's box.”

Proctor on the aftermath of the roadside shooting: “We were very concerned for the family. We felt like someone was after them. But then we started finding out about other things that had been going on in Alex’s life.”

Proctor testifies that Griffin told her in September 2021 that Alex had been ousted from the law firm for stealing. Griffin says that’s hearsay. The entire courtroom erupts in laughter as a lawyer makes a hearsay objection about his own prior statement to a witness.

Proctor: “Maggie thought it was an affair that happened many years ago. They were able to resolve the issues. But Maggie still brought it up. … She did not think anything was going on, but it still bothered her.”

Griffin asserts the alleged affair didn't happen, and either way, it was 15 years ago.

Griffin: It was 2007.

Griffin: “It’s not admissible.” Proctor already testified they were not without their problems. “It has been addressed. It’s highly inflammatory.” Judge Newman orders a 15-minute break while he considers it.

We're back.

Newman rules that Proctor cannot testify about the affair allegations, as those are too remote and confusing.

Proctor is allowed to testify about the September 2021 roadside shooting. “Initially, I thought he might be dead. … I felt like they were being targeted at that point. I felt like the family was being targeted.”

Waters: Had Maggie expressed concern to you over time about the defendant’s pill usage: “Yes.” Not sure how long, but it had been going on for some time, she says.

Proctor testifies Maggie nicknamed Paul “Little Detective” because he was always looking to make sure his dad behaved and wasn’t abusing pain pills. Paul would try to find pills in the house so his Alex couldn’t take them.

Proctor is done on the witness stand.

 

[Gardenista]

Bart absolutely loathes Alex.

 

[arielilane]

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[vls12345]

I'm surprized there's no headstones.

I am too. Seems her family would have taken care of that since the M's haven't. I wonder if there is a headstone on Handsome's grave? But didn't I read that Maggie and Paul were cremated? Maybe the markers are not even relevant.

Very odd but I find it sad nonetheless. We know that they had a public graveyard service the day following AM's (recently released) car interview. and were planning a second, private service about a week later because PM/MM bodies (cremains) were not yet ready for release. MOO

Just catching up on the thread so this may have been answered already. A possibility is that there is a back up on getting headstones due to the large number of deaths during the covid years, along with supply chain issues. (Unfortunately know this from personal experience and we are still waiting on a headstone.)

MOO.

 

[Cindizzi]

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[arielilane]

Recess until 10:30 am ET tomorrow


Edited: Judge Newman changed time from 9:30 to 10:30 for the Jury to arrive at court tomorrow.

 

[Edvis]

MM's sister IMO has spoke volumes without ever having to physically point a finger at AM. For the few don't get the feathers ruffled over the affair talk state is holding their own just fine IMO.

 

[Warwick7]

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Now Alex can read the minds of killers...
Ugh...

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks

The state calls its 56th witness, Bart Proctor. He's Marian's husband. To prevent confusion within this thread, I will refer to him as “Bart"

Waters plays the Paul Murdaugh 8:44 p.m. kennel video for Bart. Bart says he recognizes Paul, Maggie and Alex’s voices on the video.

Bart says he was 100 percent sure that’s Alex’s voice. Waters ends his questioning of Bart. Not sure there was any real reason for Bart to testify except that he was already in court with his wife. We’ve already pretty well established that’s Alex’s voice on the video.

Griffin on cross-examination: You were shown a picture of a blue raincoat by SLED. Did you recognize it? Had you ever seen it before? Ever seen Paul wear it? Bart: Nope. Bart is done.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters says he has no more witnesses to present "because of circumstances beyond our control" (or some variation of that). Judge Newman calls it early, noting it is Valentine's Day.

With the jury excused, Waters explains that a witness had an unfortunate personal event and can’t be available today.

 

[Cindizzi]

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[sds71]

@BlairSabolTV


Scratch that: jury to come in at 10:30 am Defense and State are still clashing over the Salkahatchie alleged suicide for hire plot from Labor Day weekend 2021. Prosecution continues to bring it up... and the defense is not having it.

 

[Elley Mae]

I do have to say that I am having a difference opinion of Paul after hearing testimony from friends, young men and adults and sounds like he was a good kid and friend. Attentive to others needs.
Alcohol was his down fall.

Jmo

 

[BeachSky]

Perhaps if the person that did that that had been thinking about it for some time had more than one motive?

That was a gift!
I’m actually glad the AM team has decided to go with murder/suicide.
Another gift!

So let me guess - it then was NOT boat accident revenge people. NOT two shooters.
AM is (worn down to) finally admitting
his own son murdered his mother & then killed himself.
And guess what ! AM can take you to the guns he hid to protect PM and the family legacy.


JK, JMO, MOO

 

[arielilane]

Now Alex can read the minds of killers...
Ugh...

Interesting how MP had all the normal responses/reactions to the murders; however, AM did not. moo

 

[Tracey4AU]

Bart absolutely loathes Alex.

It was oozing out of him, wasn't it?

 

[Aquarian]

She only had $57 bucks to her name!? I hadn't heard that

I think that thousand imo

 

[Warwick7]

I agree. I also think the alleged convo about MM saying "AM was acting fishy" was most likely between MM and MP.

I AGREE because MM had to be coaxed into going by her sister.