Thread by @DrewTripp

Alex Murdaugh Murder Trial Live Blog, January 30.
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We begin with the defense's cross examination of SLED forensic specialist Melinda Worley.
#Murdaugh #MurdaughTrial

Attorney General Alan Wilson is in attendance with the State's prosecution team for today's proceedings. #MurdaughTrial @ABCNews4

@ABCNews4 Melinda Worley is off the stand now. Defense took her to task for the fact she is the footwear and tire impression specialist for SLED, but no SLED protocols were followed the night of the initial investigation re: proper photo recording of footprint evidence.

@ABCNews4 To further elaborate on my previous Tweet, Worley explained in defense cross examination that SLED has a set of steps that must be taken to properly document footprints, shoe prints, etc for analysis. Worley conceded those steps weren't followed, rather general photos were taken.

@ABCNews4 Just revealed several of Murdaugh's attorney colleagues were on scene night of murder. Lee Cope, Mark Ball and Ronnie Crosby. Last week it was noted Murdaugh law partner Danny Henderson was also on scene as Murdaugh's personal attorney when he was questioned by SLED.

Add Chris Wilson to the list of attorneys and Murdaugh's friends who all showed up at the house after the murders, according to SLED body camera video and testimony in court.

State prosecutors introduce the .300 BLK rifle taken from the gun room in the Murdaughs' home. It's not the rifle the State alleges was used in the murders.

Bingo. State introduced this little tidbit just before lunch break, along with details of empty 12 gauge turkey load boxes in the trash.

https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks/status/1620126083332059137

Amen. Not that there aren't crucial things that happen this early or that the overhaul body of work isn't important, but this trial is slated to go 3 weeks for a reason. We're taking baby steps here.

https://twitter.com/sarahafordesq/status/1620055321124433922

Harpootlian slipped this in this morning during questioning of Worley: later testing of the shirt Murdaugh wore apparently did not show blood despite original presumptive positive test using LCV spray.

Afternoon session of court resumes with State questioning of SLED Sr. Special Agent Jeff Croft, who collected firearms from the Mudaugh home.

LIVE BLOG UPDATES: 📰 abcnews4.com/news/local/liv… 📰
#MurdaughTrial @abcnews4

SLED Agent Jeff Croft just testified he'd had reason to be in contact with the person who assembled the .300 BLK rifles for Alex Murdaugh BEFORE the murders ever happened. Hasn't been followed up on to explain why.

The State is about to play video of an interview with Alex Murdaugh conducted by SLED on June 10, 2021.

Video of 2nd SLED Murdaugh interview begins with Alex taking phone call from "sister." Sounded like he said Marian. To our knowledge, Alex doesn't have a sister named Marian, but Maggie Murdaugh did. Marian Proctor, who is on the witness list.

Some interesting bits from the first portion of the Murdaugh 2nd SLED interview:
Alex says Paul's worst qualities as a son were due to ADHD. Irresponsible with guns, clothes, even his Dad's boats. Leaves them "strung out all over the state."

SLED agents ask about who would want to hurt Paul & Maggie. Alex says he can't think of anybody - "no idea" - who would go to the extreme they did to murder both.

Alex said his relationship with Maggie was good as it possibly could be. "Wonderful." They didn't argue about much. Only small source of friction was Maggie tended to want to spend more time with her inlaws and family on visits than Alex and the boys did. Nothing serious.

Alex broke down sobbing in the interview, saying Maggie was a "wonderful girl" and "wonderful wife," "great mother." Always said it was "her job -- being privileged enough not to work -- to make sure Alex and the boys were always taken care of. She took care of everything."

Court is resuming after a brief break. Follow along with the live updates here:
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#MurdaughTrial

Some more notes from the last portion of SLED's 2nd interview with Alex Murdaugh, June 10, 2021:

Alex says they didn't keep guns out at the kennels ordinarily. Tried not to leave them there, but sometimes did. Paul was the worst. He would "leave anything anywhere," Alex said.

Alex notes Paul used to ride around wih his brother Buster's .300BLK rifle to shoot wild hogs on the farm. Alex notes that .300BLK was not out at the kennels the night of the shooting. Buster's .300BLK was the black one seized by SLED.

Alex said he'd bought one .300BLK each for Paul and Buster years ago. Buster's was black, Paul's was tan. Paul's was supposedly stolen in 2017. Alex says he never reported Paul's missing .300BLK stolen because he wasn't convinced it was stolen as opposed to Paul just lost it.

Alex says while he didn't officially report Paul's gun stolem, he did tell his cousing John Bedingfield 9who assembed the rifles) about it, and also mentioned it to other local law enforcement officers.

Alex mentions they replaced Paul's missing rifle with a new .300 BLK in 2017. Alex takes a long pause, then adds it was his understanding the 3rd .300 BLK had been missing a long time, too. Here he's attempting to explain away 2 missing guns. Alex doesn't say they reported it.

Moving on to possible suspects, SLED said because Moselle / Islandton is so rural and the Murdaugh property is so isolated, it's unlikely someone randomly came out there to commit the murders.
SLED agent Dave Owen tells Alex they're starting to look for suspects within.

Alex asks if that means SLED believes this wasn't random. Agent Dave Owen says he's not sure. He doesn't know what to think. Owen says they're going over evidence, and will need to get DNA sample from Alex. SLED also during the interview took Alex's phone to download contents.

SLED then switched gears to Paul's phone. Asked if Alex knew the passcode. Alex said Paul was incredibly secretive, and would be surprised if anybody knew the code.

SLED brings up Alex trying to check Paul's body for a pulse and the phone popping out of his pocket. Alex said at that point, he didn't do anything with Paul's phone because he knew he needed not to mess anything up. This contradicts 1st SLED interview when Alex said he DID.

SLED in the video asks Alex if he knew when Maggie and Paul went to the kennels. Alex isn't sure, confirms the last time he saw them for sure was when they were eating supper.

(We know from pre-trial there's apparently video of Alex at the kennels minutes before the murders.)

Alex immediately after the question about last time seeing Maggie & Paul breaks down crying:

"It's just so bad. I did him so bad. He was such a good boy too," Alex says.

SLED agent Croft testifies Alex said "I did him so bad."

(Many reporters are split on "they" vs. "I")

Gonna break out on a tangent here about the .300 Blackout from a gun enthusiast's perspective.

.300 AAC / .300 Blackout is a type of ammo. AAC stands for the company that developed the cartridge and brought it into widespread circuation and use among gun owners.

.300 Blackout was developed to work with AR-15 style rifles. The original AR-15 was a civilian variant of the military M16 designed to work with the same 5.56mm ammo. The 5.56mm is a near twin to the .223 caliber cartridge. Most standard AR-15's can fire both 5.56 & .223

5.56 / .223 is not a do-all cartridge. That's why Creighton Waters had SLED agent Jeff Croft note .300 BLK is often used to shoot wild hogs.

But the AR-15 is so ubiquitous & reliable, many gun & ammo makers have spent time developing other cartridges that work in the gun.

Think of AR-15s as a Jeep. You can trick out your Jeep with mods & suped-up parts, but the basic vehicle is still a Jeep. That's what AR-15's are in the gun world. You can change caliber from .223 to .300BLK by just changing the barrel, but the rest of the gun doesn't change.