SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #31

[Teche]

It's been mentioned that the level of narcotics he claims he'd taken would lead to some serious constipation.

No worries, it's all coming out now.

Jmo

Best post of the day.

 

[Twistinginthewind]

I'm not an expert, but in my view, the prosecutor was a disaster. He let AM take control of the cross. Actually letting AM rephrase his own questions on very many occasions. How can that be??? It's like a photographic negative of the trial in My Cousin Vinnie. If there's a mistrial, the prosecution will have been hoodwinked. If the jury votes for conviction, it means that I don't understand bonk about this culture.

I hear you, that's definitely one take on things. JMO, the prosecutor "let" AM spiral out and show his true colors as a master manipulator for good reasons, which remain to be seen.

 

[justtrish]

I'm not an expert, but in my view, the prosecutor was a disaster. He let AM take control of the cross. Actually letting AM rephrase his own questions on very many occasions. How can that be??? It's like a photographic negative of the trial in My Cousin Vinnie. If there's a mistrial, the prosecution will have been hoodwinked. If the jury votes for conviction, it means that I don't understand bonk about this culture.

The fact that Alex did that to most of the questions shows how he is though. I think that was part of the state strategy to show he has zero compassion, can't really admit to anything that could be HIS fault.. it was always the drugs made me do it, NOT his character or his own personality is just a cluster F%% so he lied to people for no reason.. it always had to be the drugs he was taking or not taking.. paranoia. The questions he was reframing were easy.. are you wealthy? It isn't a trick... yet Alex just couldn't let it be. The jurors are smart I'm sure they picked up on that being very very annoying and I as a juror would be wondering WHY is he fighting every question as if the state is going to have an gotcha moment from it. He didn't do that when his attorneys asked him things.

The state let him show just how he manipulted and controlled things his entire life.. until now. He can't control that video proving he was there. He talked himself into many holes and the state let him.

 

[girlhasnoname]

The Judge already decided that one lawyer would speak to each issue, now the defence wants two lawyers to present closing arguments.

Dick Harpootlian thinks he runs the courtroom, not the Judge. Grrrrrr!

MOO

 

[otto]

unbelieveable! defense wants to split their closing argument! judge not inclined to approve that, because it is UNPRECEDENTED in the state of SC but will look into it. lol......then defense dangles a carrot: we will cut it to two hours.

But the judge had already said that he doesn't limit closing argument to a specific length of time, so that carrot was pointless.

 

[I am not Sherlock H.]

I just had a thought. Did he have time to take Maggie’s phone down the road on the golf cart immediately after killing them before going back to the house? It would take about 2 -3 minutes. Would that work with the timeline and steps?

Yes I wonder the same…… could a good sleuther help us here? I had the same thought. His insistence that the murderers had her phone, etc….. was thinking could be used against him.

And while defense was redirecting him on this I was hoping they would hit banana peels. And it almost seems like perhaps they did? MOO.

CTV just mentioned this same point and whether it could be used to further repudiate his testimony? MO.

 

[clearskies1]

Such a sad case.

 

[JoeFromLB]

Yup, and AM actually "qualified" that statement earlier in his testimony with he would "never intentionally" hurt either of them. Wiggly worm wording, beyond word salad, or a word salad full of worms. MOO

Is he such a practiced fabricator that he perhaps believes in his mind that the murders were necessary to divert attention from him and save his reputation and family name, and even save Maggie and Paul from humiliation?
So he didn't 'intentionally' set out to hurt them??
I mean, this guy just seems extremely weird and sinister from watching him and hearing everything in this trial.
A malignant narcissist. JMO

 

[QB2022]

Why would it matter if one or two do it?

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks

We are back after a short break.

Griffin is up on redirect. He establishes that Murdaugh is facing pending charges for his alleged financial crimes.

We’ve heard the defense tell and remind the jury that Murdaugh is basically going to jail forever on the financial charges no matter what this jury does on the murder counts. Telegraphing that even if they vote to acquit, they aren’t letting a possible murderer onto the street.

Griffin: “Alex, did you have Maggie’s phone with you at any time between 9:02 and 9:06?” (When he was taking a bunch of steps) AM: “I didn’t have Maggie’s phone with me at any time that night.”

Griffin asks his client why he repeatedly pleaded with SLED to pull the data off Maggie’s phone. AM: “I knew that whoever had done this to them had Maggie’s phone.” I knew that my phone and Maggie’s car were never together.

Griffin notes AM gave SLED a lot of inaccurate times. Were you lying? AM: No. I was trying to estimate. But a lot of the times when I gave times, I gave them instructions on how they could verify those times.

Griffin: Were you lying to deputy Greene when you told him the last time you saw Maggie and Paul? AM: “No, sir. I wasn’t lying to him.” Wasn’t trying to mislead him in any way.

Griffin: Did you believe the information of whether you were there or not there (at the kennels) would advance their (SLED’s) investigation in any way? AM: No. “Because they were fine and doing good when I left there.”

AM on the roadside shooting in September 2021: “I intended to be gone. I intended for him to shoot me. And I intended to be gone.”

G: Why did you make up the lie about the fictional shooter? AM “My main concern at that point was that I did not want Buster knowing that I had tried to do that (assisted suicide). That was my motivation in telling that story.”

Griffin: “Alex, did you murder Maggie?” AM: “I would never hurt Maggie.” G: “Did you murder Paul?” AM: “I would never hurt Paul. If I was under the pressure that they’re talking about here, I can promise you I would hurt myself before I would hurt one of them, without a doubt.”

Griffin is done. Waters on recross. Waters: You told SLED about all the data they could pull to help their investigation. And that’s because “as a prosecutor and a lawyer, you had been manufacturing an alibi to cover your tracks.” AM: “No, sir, that’s absolutely wrong.”

Waters again alleges that Murdaugh has concocted this new story to fit the facts that have already been presented in this case, which shattered his original alibi.

Alex Murdaugh steps down from the witness stand after nearly two full days of testimony. We're taking a short break.

We're back after the shortest break of the trial.

Judge Newman excuses the jury until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. "Have a great weekend," he tells them.

Harpootlian says the defense has 4 witnesses to call Monday. Says they will wrap their case early Monday afternoon. Waters says he will call one or two witnesses on the state’s reply case. “It will not be lengthy.” There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Harpootlian asks about imposing time limits on closing arguments, which could be held mid-next week. Newman doesn’t seem inclined to do that.

We are done for the week. So ends week 5 of Alex Murdaugh's three-week double-murder trial. And now we write.

 

[Katrinepa]

He has a current prison sentence?

I hope someone answers. I don't recall a roadside shooting charge or conviction, but I only started following this case a week or two ago. Someone will know, though.

He's been in Jail(County??) for the 90+ Financial Crimes, which have not yet been prosecuted. The Attorney General Waters will also be prosecuting that, which may be partially why he asked so many financial lies questions. Maybe he will be able to use testimony/information from this case in the next.

 

[Lauri_]

Anything big happen the last hour or so? I missed the end of todays trial ugh!

 

[ZoriahNZ]

So, theoretically, since AM admitted that he "pulled up in the golf cart", would him firing the guns from a seated position in the golf cart satisfy the 5'2" height that the defense expert was claiming of the suspect?

Also, there is mention of AM volunteering washing the guns as part of his list of things he didn't do. That is a detail I don't recall the prosecution ever alleging. Is that an added detail he's inserting before denying? Because, if so, that is also pretty damning and adds some credence to the hose/excess water on ground questions some people were having.

 

[AC's Grandma]

A juror had a blanket over her head? Why, and why is that allowed?

 

[BUF]

Defense has 4 more witnesses for Monday and said they expect to rest early afternoon.

Prosecution has about 2 rebuttal witnesses…as of now.

Talked about closings. Dick wants to shoot for Wednesday and wanted to split the closing between he and JG. Judge is not inclined to agree to that.

The judge doesn’t set time limits on closings.

Did you see Dick jump up when the jury was being dismissed smiling and trying to gauge them?

 

[geevee]

He has a current prison sentence?

I hope someone answers. I don't recall a roadside shooting charge or conviction, but I only started following this case a week or two ago. Someone will know, though.

He is in jail (following arrest) with a 7 million dollar bond, he has no 'sentence' because he has not been convicted of any crime yet. Should he be convicted in this case, he'll be sentenced and sent to prison, and await the financial charges to come to trial.

 

[BeachSky]

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They family knew he was the bad seed!


“And THEN I lied” - AM
Moo

 

[Simply Southern]

I'm not particularly enamored with AM's politeness, i.e. "Yes, sir", "No, sir", "Mr. Waters", etc. That said, I think some jurors might be smitten by this. How could this polite, well-spoken man have committed such a heinous crime?

No, we actually speak this way. In small southern towns, with generational Southerners. It's normal.

Using Mr and Ms is very common. I have a dear, very close neighbor of 48 years, I always call her MS. So and So. She has never given me permission to call her by her first name. Yea, I was raised, as most, you always MR/MS unless the person says...Oh, please call me Betty.

Lol...

 

[rescuemom]

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How in the world does the judge allow that?? Disrespectful to the whole process.

 

[arielilane]

L&C briefly spoke about blanket lady juror and thought should investigate why she is wearing blanket over head and possibly remove her from jury duty, if she is refusing to listen to testimony.

Imo, this was my exact thoughts.