Thread by @AveryGWilks

🚨🚨🚨Alex Murdaugh Double Murder Trial Day 9 (Feb. 2) Megathread🚨🚨🚨

The state continues to call witnesses in its effort to prove Alex Murdaugh killed his wife and son.

But first up today, a fight over whether prosecutors can tell the jury about his myriad financial crimes.

Court resumes at 9:30 am.

The two sides have fought for weeks over whether Murdaugh’s alleged financial crimes should be admitted.

Prosecutors say Murdaugh’s thefts/debts are critical to showing the jury why a man would become desperate enough to kill his wife/son.

Murdaugh’s defense attorneys say prosecutors’ theory is illogical. Yesterday Dick Harpootlian described it as “ludicrous.” They say the state just wants to smear Murdaugh as a “bad guy” because they don’t have the evidence to prove he killed Maggie and Paul.

This issue resurfaced late yesterday before the state called its 18th witness, Murdaugh family friend Will Loving.

The judge let lead prosecutor Creighton Waters ask Loving a series of questions about Murdaugh’s finances, including $792K in legal fees missing from his law firm.

Our full story from yesterday: postandcourier.com/murdaugh-updat…

And our podcast recap on Understand Murdaugh open.spotify.com/episode/1GUvWf…

There are a whole bunch of spectators trying to get into the courtroom to watch today's proceedings, continuing a trend that began in recent days.

Among the crowd is a journalism class on a field trip from Colleton County High School. I spoke with their teachers on the way in.

Some photos/exhibits from yesterday

1 and 2: Overhead view of Moselle, including its two driveways (one that led to main house, one that led to the kennels)
3. Bamberg attorney Chris Wilson embraces Alex Murdaugh
4. One of Maggie's text exchanges on afternoon of 6/7/21

5. A text Alex Murdaugh sent Maggie after prosecutors say she was killed
6. A casual, unbiased spectator takes in the action

Court is back in session.

Judge Newman begins by explaining why he allowed the state to ask the final witness yesterday about the financial issues. He says Murdaugh's defense team opened that door by turning the previous witness, Rogan Gibson, into a "character witness" ...

... by asking him if he could think of any reason why Alex would kill Maggie and Paul.

(Gibson said he couldn't think of any).

Newman says that allowed the state to ask the next witness if the financial crimes could have provided that motive.

Newman now explains why he overruled Murdaugh's objection, when Griffin rose and said "totally inappropriate."

"Totally inappropriate" is not a legal basis for an objection, Newman says. It's not an objection at all, he said.

Newman is now explaining prior case law regarding the admission of info about a defendant's other crimes.

He says the test is whether the other criminality is logically related to the crime in question.

Forgot to hashtag my face off to make sure this thread is seen by people looking for it. Please stand by #AlexMurdaugh #MurdaughTrial #Murdaugh #alexmurdaughtrial

Defense attorney Jim Griffin stands.

He disagrees with Judge Newman’s assertion that the defense “opened the door” for the financial crimes to come in by asking Rogan Gibson if he could think of any circumstance in which Alex Murdaugh would kill his wife and son.

Newman says he plans to have a separate hearing outside the jury's presence to discuss which financial evidence, if any, might be admitted.

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters tells the judge we are getting to the point where the state’s witnesses are going to need to be asked about financial crimes.

The previous 18, with the possible exception of the last two, have had no knowledge of them and no reason to be asked.

The state calls its 19th witness, Heidi Galore of Snap Corp. Her job is to respond to law enforcement issues for Snapchat, including responding to subpoenas and appearing in trials like this one to verify evidence from Snapchat.

The state has prioritized Galore's testimony because she has a flight to catch out of SC, Waters said earlier.

Galore testifies the Snapchat video Paul captured of Alex Murdaugh next to a flimsy tree was taken 6/7/21 (day of slayings) at 7:39 p.m.

Paul sent it to his friends at 7:56 p.m.

Again, the Snapchat video is separate from the 8:44 p.m. dog kennels video.

Defense attorney Phillip Barber is up now crossing Galore. He notes the metadata shows the video was actually recorded 7:38 p.m.

Barbera establishes SLED didn’t ask Snapchat for a list of Paul’s friends. Nor did they request Paul’s geolocation data from Snapchat.

Galore steps down.

The state calls Jeanne Seckinger, chief financial officer of the Parker Law Group and former CFO of PMPED.

Judge Newman excuses the jury. Looks like we're about to get into some financial stuff.

Seckinger testifies that law partners at PMPED were paid $125K base salaries, paid biweekly. Their legal fees went into a shared pot that was split up at the end of the year in bonuses based on the ratio of fees each brought in.

Seckinger testifies partners got most of their pay in the last week of the year in the form of bonuses.

Partners got a huge lump sum and had to make that last over the next year until the next bonus. (In addition to their $125K salaries)

Seckinger: Lawyers at PMPED were required to send all their fees to the law firm. They could not be paid directly. "That would be stealing," she said.

Seckinger testifies she has known Alex for 40 years and had worked with him since 1999. She testifies he made good money, sometimes getting 7-figure payouts when bonuses went out at the end of the year.

Seckinger testifies she had a conversation with Alex Murdaugh in late May 2021 when she saw he was trying to structure legal fees he had received from a case. Murdaugh told her he was “trying to put some money in Maggie’s name” to shield it from the 2019 boat crash lawsuit.

Seckinger testifies she didn’t think Alex was trying to steal money - just hide it. “That would be wrong, and we did not want any part of that.”

“At that point, it had been done, and I was trying to figure out how we were going to account for it on our books," Seckinger testifies.

Seckinger testifies about pestering Alex Murdaugh in early June about $792K in missing legal fees from a case that Murdaugh worked with Bamberg attorney Chris Wilson. The firm got the "expenses" check from that case but not the attorneys' fees. That was odd.

Seckinger testifies she went into Alex's second-floor PMPED office on the morning of 6/7/21 and demanded to see proof he or Chris Wilson still had that $792K and that it was accessible, as Alex claimed.

She said she had reason to believe Alex had received that money directly.

Seckinger: Midway through that conversation, Alex got a phone call that his dad was in the hospital with a terminal diagnosis.

“That changed the mood of that conversation. We quit talking about business,” Seckinger said.

Seckinger testified the 6/7/21 murders stopped her inquiry in its tracks.

Reminder: All of this is happening with the jury excused from the room.

Seckinger testifies about PMPED's investigation. All the partners met on 9/3/21 and reviewed the documentation. It looked like Alex had stolen. His brother Randy, a law partner, agreed.

They confronted Alex about it. He confessed, Seckinger says. "We made him resign."

Seckinger testifies PMPED kept digging and found some strange payments to Palmetto State Bank. Funds were directed to the bank as if they were going to be held for the beneficiary. But then those checks were converted to Alex’s personal use, she says.

Seckinger testifies Alex in one case reduced his normal 30-40% fee so more $ would go to his client. But then he stole that $ from his client via the fake Forge account. So he was actually cutting the amount that would go to the law firm and boosting what he could steal himself.

I am becoming concerned about the volume of financial evidence that might have to be admitted and double-testified about, if this process continues beyond just Seckinger.

Dick Harpootlian turned 74 on the first day of the trial. I just hope he is still 74 when it ends.

Here is our live updates feed for the day postandcourier.com/murdaugh-updat…

Our daily TikTok on the trial, featuring @jocgrz tiktok.com/@postandcourie…

@jocgrz Seckinger testifies PMPED found a series of 2011-12 thefts Alex Murdaugh perpetrated from the Badger family after their mother, Donna Badger, was killed in a crash with a UPS truck. The recovery was $3.1M. Murdaugh took $1.24M in legal fees and then stole $1.325M more, she says.

Seckinger has verified a parade of disbursement sheets and other financial documents that prosecutor Waters has shown her. She testifies PMPED had to find clients Murdaugh had stolen from and pay them back.

Seckinger was in an unenviable position there. Ex-Palmetto State Bank CEO Russell Laffitte is Seckinger’s brother-in-law, married to her husband’s sister. She testified in his November federal trial, after which Laffitte was convicted of six charges tied to this saga.

Really proud of how our lede came together yesterday. This trial has had no shortage of dramatic moments. postandcourier.com/murdaugh-updat…

Murdaugh defense attorney Jim Griffin begins cross-examining Seckinger. He establishes that Seckinger had stopped - at least temporarily - looking into the missing $792K in fees when she learned Alex’s father was in the hospital with a terminal diagnosis.

Griffin seems to be making the point that Alex had no need to further thwart or delay Seckinger’s inquiry by killing Maggie and Paul later that evening.

We seem to be trying Alex Murdaugh on the financial crimes now. Murdaugh defense attorney Jim Griffin asks questions seemingly designed to lay some blame with PMPED for Alex’s thefts.

He asks if Murdaugh’s “Forge” scheme was documented in PMPED’s financial system dating back to 2015.

Seckinger: “They were. They didn’t catch our attention before that.”

Griffin: “The information had been at your fingertips? 2015, it was there. ‘16, it was there. ‘17, it was there?”

Seckinger: “That’s right.”

I would describe this exchange between Seckinger and Griffin as "cool." It is trending toward "icy"

Randy Murdaugh is back with his family today. Sitting behind Alex with John Marvin, Buster, Buster’s girlfriend, and Lynn.

In one of the pretrial motions months ago, lead prosecutor described the Murdaugh case as a white-collar case with a double murder strapped onto it. And here we are.

Earlier, Judge Newman told the jury they would be excused through lunch.

State prosecutor Creighton Waters, on redirect, asks Seckinger if there is any possible legitimate explanation for money flowing out of PMPED's client trust account to Alex Murdaugh's personal account via the "fake Forge" dummy account.

She says no.

Seckinger steps down.

Judge Newman asks prosecutor Waters what is next.

Waters said he has Alex Murdaugh’s paralegal, Michael Gunn, principal at Forge Consulting; and Bamberg attorney Chris Wilson ready to testify about the financial stuff in this non-jury hearing.

Griffin argues that Seckinger's testimony alone shows that these financial crimes are not admissible in this murder case. Also says judicial rules are supposed to prevent undue delays. He says admitting all this financial evidence would add at least two weeks to the trial.

Waters said he will streamline the state's case on the financial crimes.

“The state’s intent is not to try 100 white-collar cases in the context of this murder case.”

It’s to explain “what was going on in his life that was all coming to a head on June 7.”

Newman is urging prosecutors and Murdaugh's attorneys to come to an agreement on how to admit financial evidence without drastically elongating the case or having a bunch of witnesses - like Seckinger - testify twice.

“If you can’t, then I make a call,” Newman said.

Newman seems to be leaning toward admitting the evidence, siding with prosecutors, even as Griffin argues it is not relevant.

We are breaking for lunch until about 2:15 p.m.

Judge Newman says the case will continue this afternoon with the state presenting non-financial witnesses.

Newman says they will take up the fight over financial evidence later.

It feels like things are going off the rails.

Probably a good call on Judge Newman's part, though, to push the two sides to come to an agreement. A disgruntled defense theoretically has fewer grounds for an appeal afterward if they agreed to the resolution of this issue.

Folks, we are at the stage of the dreaded college group project where the assignment is due in hours, everyone disagrees about what to do and there are going to be drastic long-term consequences if it isn’t figured out

Morale is low.

Maybe I'm being overly pessimistic, but I don't see how an agreement is going to come together on the financial evidence.

The prosecution has little incentive to come to the bargaining table, as Judge Newman has spent all day telegraphing he will ultimately side with them.

The defense has little incentive either. Sure, it would be convenient to not drag all this out. But their job is to defend their client. And I don't see how agreeing to let this evidence come into Murdaugh's murder trial helps him in the short- or long-term.

We're back in session.

Judge Newman indicates we won't return to the financial/motive piece of this case until tomorrow. So that won't get cleared up this afternoon, as some might have hoped.

The jury is back. The state calls its 20th witness, 14th Circuit investigator Dylan Hightower.

He downloaded the contents of Alex Murdaugh's phone a few days after the slayings.

(Technically, Seckinger is no longer the 20th witness since the jury didn't hear her).

Hightower was at Moselle on 6/8/21, the day after the slayings. He took drone footage of the property. He says there were some pine trees between the main house and the dog kennels, but they were short, about 6-8 feet tall. They have since grown quite a bit, obstructing the view.

But in June 2021, Hightower testifies, “you did get a clear channel, a clear view, between the kennels and the residence.” Prosecutor John Conrad trying to establish that Murdaugh should have been able to see the kennels before he left Moselle that night after 9 p.m.

Conrad isn't saying that out loud, obviously. Prosecutors aren't doing a whole lot of "explaining their point" in this trial. But that's the implication, especially as Harpootlian has said you can't see the kennels from the house and has said he wants to take jury to see Moselle.

Hightower testifies about using Find My iPhone to find Maggie’s iPhone. He took photos of it but didn’t touch it himself once he found it. Maggie’s phone has not been touched since he took the photos, Hightower said.

Hightower testifies about reviewing Alex Murdaugh’s call records from Verizon and comparing them with the data from his cell phone. On Murdaugh’s phone, he found two calls on the date of the slayings - 6/7/21. On the Verizon record, there were 73 more calls. They had been deleted

Conrad finishes questioning Hightower. Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian rises for the first time today (after barely being involved yesterday) to cross-examine Hightower.

Harpootlian establishes with Hightower that in the day after the shooting, police put up no roadblocks, put out no PSAs warning people there was an active shooter on the loose, didn’t search the woods and fields of Moselle for another shooter.

Harpootlian is trying to show investigators zeroed in on Murdaugh as their suspect from Day 1.

He also asks Hightower if he knew about a Colleton County Sheriff's Office statement issued the next day saying there was no danger to the public.

Hightower says he was not aware of that. He's now the third law enforcement witness in this trial, including two from CCSO, to claim no knowledge of that statement - which many outlets reported, and which law enforcement never tried to correct (if it was untrue)

The jury knows that Alex Murdaugh had Maggie’s passcode. He provided it so investigators could unlock her phone. Now Harpootlian establishes with Hightower that someone with Maggie’s passcode could have deleted anything on her phone before chucking it onto the side of the road.

We have heard of no evidence of deletions on Maggie's phone.

So far the lightest moment of the day has been Harpootlian and Hightower debating how they might flick a phone out of the window of a moving getaway car, and whether Hightower would be strong enough to do it with his off-hand

With all due respect to everyone, everywhere, it is very apparent on Twitter how easily certain info/arguments being presented in this trial are being misheard/misunderstood, and I am constantly wondering what the jurors - none of whom are taking notes - think about all this.

We are back after a short break.

The state calls its 21st witness, SLED special agent Katie McAllister.

McAllister testifies she searched the main Moselle house on 6/8/21. She had a search warrant but didn’t execute it. She didn’t want to have to displace the 20-25 people who had gathered at the home. She says she searched every room of Moselle, plus bathrooms, tubs and attics.

Harpootlian establishes with McAllister that in her entire search of the house, she found no evidence of blood or tissue in showers/tubs, nor any clothes anywhere in the house with blood/tissue. Nothing to suggest anyone had cleaned off there after committing a violent crime.

Judge Newman excuses the jury until 11:30 a.m. tomorrow.

It appears we are about to hear more financial testimony with the jury out of the room.

So we have two separate trials going on at once! Fun! Terrible!

To be clear, we're having one trial, and one separate mock trial (in which we're going through everything so the judge can decide whether the jury should hear it too)

The state calls its second financial witness, Michael Gunn of Forge Consulting, the Atlanta-based financial firm that Alex Murdaugh impersonated with a fraudulent bank account.

Gunn testified PMPED attorney Lee Cope called him in September 2021 with a list of clients and asked if Forge Consulting had any files on them. Forge Consulting did not. Gunn said Cope called back the next day with another list. Forge hadn’t done work for those clients either.

Gunn said Cope asked if Forge Consulting banked with Bank of America. Gunn told him they used to, but hadn’t in 3-4 years. Gunn said he didn’t ask why Cope was asking these questions. But he found out on the Tuesday after Labor Day 2021.

Cope told Gunn then that PMPED had discovered Alex Murdaugh was using a bank account labeled “Forge” to process checks (and steal money from his clients). Prosecutor asks Gunn if that account was associated with the real Forge Consulting. “Absolutely not,” Gunn said.

Waters is now showing Gunn a series of exhibits, financial transactions involving Murdaugh’s “fake Forge” account. “Is that legit?” Waters asks about each one. “No, sir,” Gunn replies.

Gunn testifies that because of the way Forge Consulting does business, "you would never make a check payable to us.”

On cross, Murdaugh attorney Jim Griffin asks Gunn if he ever saw Maggie or Paul’s name on any documents associated with Alex Murdaugh’s “fake Forge” account at Bank of America. Gunn says no.

Griffin notes that Forge Consulting is an insurance company. Asks him if Forge Consulting sold Alex life insurance policies on Maggie or Paul’s lives. Gunn: No.

Gunn steps down. The state's third financial witness is Bamberg attorney Chris Wilson, who worked on Murdaugh on the case in which Murdaugh's $792K share of the legal fees went missing, raising alarms at PMPED.

Wilson testifies he had known Murdaugh since high school. They went to law school together at USC and lived together part of that time.

“He was one of my best friends, yes.”

Waters asks Wilson if they are still good friends now.

"I don’t know how I feel now, Mr. Waters.”

Wilson testifies about working a personal injury case against Mack Trucks with Murdaugh and another lawyer. They won two verdicts worth $5.5 million combined. Murdaugh’s share of the legal fees was $792,000. But before Wilson cut the check to PMPED, as usual, Murdaugh came ...

... to him and asked him to send it to Murdaugh directly, saying he was going to use the money to purchase an annuity and had already cleared the arrangement with his law firm. Wilson testifies he did as Murdaugh asked.

Waters: Did Murdaugh's explanation raise any suspicion for you?

Wilson: “No sir. It was different, but it didn’t raise any red flags.”

“Because you trusted your friend?”

“Very much.”

“As far as I knew, the (PMPED) firm was aware” that Murdaugh had gotten that $792K in legal fees directly in March 2021 and was putting them into annuities.

In mid-July 2021, Wilson testifies, Murdaugh “contacted me and said that he was not able to structure the fees the way he thought he was going to be able to do, he had messed that up.”

Wilson: Murdaugh said he needed to pay them back to Wilson’s trust account and then Wilson could pay them to PMPED.

But Murdaugh only came up with $600K. He was short $192K. Murdaugh explained some of the money had gone into an annuity and he couldn't get it back.

Wilson testifies he covered Murdaugh's $192K shortfall, trusting that his friend would pay him back. Murdaugh pledged to pay him back.

Wilson testifies he saw Murdaugh at the S.C. Association of Justice’s annual convention on the first weekend of August 2021 and asked him about the $192K Murdaugh owed him. Murdaugh said he was working on getting the money.

Wilson: Murdaugh said he was getting money soon from his father’s estate. But Maggie’s estate was still tied up. Wilson said he was sensitive to Murdaugh’s emotional well-being because of the recent tragedies. “I didn’t push him.”

On Aug. 17, 2021, Wilson had Murdaugh sign a promissory note pledging to repay the $192K to Wilson within 60 days. Wilson told Murdaugh he wanted to get that in writing in case something happened to Murdaugh. He didn’t tell Murdaugh, but he was worried Murduagh might kill himself

Wilson: On 9/3/21 PMPED attorney Lee Cope called Wilson and told him Murdaugh had been stealing money from his clients and the firm. Wilson said he called Murdaugh and called him until he finally got in touch with him.

Wilson testifies he met with Murdaugh on the front porch of Murdaugh's parents' house in Almeda. Wilson was upset. "I was so mad. I had loved the guy for so long, and I probably still love him a little bit, but I was so mad."

Wilson is crying on the stand. He said he asked himself afterward how he didn’t know these things or see these things. He said Murdaugh confessed. “He told me that he had been stealing money.” Murdaugh said he had “shit me up.” He said he had “shit a lot of people up.”

Later that day, Wilson got a call from PMPED's Lee Cope that Murdaugh had been shot in the head. “What in the devil is going on?” Wilson said he thought.

“I thought he had tried to kill himself.”

Wilson testifies he hasn't spoken with Murdaugh since. Murdaugh has texted him and even sent him a letter. One of the texts, read in court: So sorry for the havoc I created. I'd do anything to make it right.

Waters is now arguing why the jury should hear witnesses like Wilson: “For the jury to understand the reality of what he was facing, they have to understand the extent of what was going to be exposed."

Forgot to mention: The defense had no questions for Wilson. He is done (for now)

Waters paints the Labor Day roadside shooting as part of a pattern with Murdaugh - trying to make himself a victim to cover up his crimes.

“When the hounds are at the door … for Alex Murdaugh, violence happens.”

Griffin: “This concept that Alex committed murders to cause a delay in the firm investigating the fees was debunked by her own testimony” … that Seckinger stopped investigating when she learned Alex’s father was going to the hospital.

Griffin continued: “That’s what stopped her inquiry on June 7, by her own testimony.”

He's saying the PMPED inquiry into Alex was already delayed by late morning 6/7/21, so it makes no sense for Alex to kill Maggie/Paul to delay the inquiry.

Griffin: “It’s all just a theory. There’s no facts. Their theory is the best way out is for him to murder his wife and son” and put himself in the middle of a murder investigation?

Griffin is arguing the financial crimes present undue prejudice. “They’ve got a whole lot more evidence about financial misconduct than they do about murder. … That’s what this is all about.”

Judge Newman said he wants to hear from the attorney for Mallory Beach’s family, Mark Tinsley, and then hear arguments from both sides about the admissibility of all the financial crime evidence before making a final ruling. Tinsley is available to testify Monday morning.

Griffin said they have filed a motion arguing Mark Tinsley should not be allowed to testify. The defense is prepared to argue that tonight or tomorrow morning.

Newman says he won't take up arguments about Tinsley until he is available to testify.

Court will begin tomorrow morning at 9:30. (I'm guessing with financial stuff). Then the jury returns at 11:30 a.m.

Waters said Murdaugh's "consciousness of guilt" and "fear of detection" makes the financial crimes admissible.

Griffin employs a highly technical legal argument: "I don't know what he's talking about."

We are done for the day. I will endeavor to write a story about whatever it is that happened today. Stay tuned for that. Or don't. I don't know anymore.

My brain is a mess and I don't think I can safely consume any more caffeine today. Send thoughts and prayers.

I just want to know what "shit me up" means

what is the etymology of that phrase

I took 33 pages of notes today hahaha

I gave it a shot postandcourier.com/murdaugh-updat…

Here's our final version of the story postandcourier.com/murdaugh-updat…

🫡 This concludes the Alex Murdaugh Double Murder Trial Day 9 Megathread 🫡

Thank you all for coming along for the ride. See you tomorrow.