Thread by @AveryGWilks

🚨🚨🚨Alex Murdaugh Double Murder Trial Day 17 (Feb. 14) Megathread begins now 🚨🚨🚨

The state is close to wrapping up its case. I’ll provide updates every step of the way today.

#AlexMurdaugh #AlexMurdaughTrial #MurdaughTrial #Murdaugh

The Megathread from yesterday

https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks/status/1625092469271429120

Our comprehensive story on what happened in court yesterday, including the very real threat that a COVID-19 outbreak in the jury room could derail this whole thing postandcourier.com/murdaugh-updat…

Scoop

Our daily podcast episode on what happened yesterday open.spotify.com/episode/54RRAU…

Dr. Ellen Riemer, the MUSC forensic pathologist who performed Maggie and Paul’s autopsies, will be on the stand for cross-examination when court resumes at 9:30 am.

TikTok incoming

📸: @GraceBeahm

A couple of thoughts re: Murdaugh's Big Lie (that he didn't go down to the dog kennels with Maggie and Paul that night, when we now know he did):

Last night, I rewatched footage of Murdaugh's 6/10/21 interview with SLED. Agent Jeff Croft is in the backseat in this interview...

We know from the testimony of Paul's friend, Rogan Gibson, that Gibson told Croft on 6/8/21 that he was 99 percent sure he heard Alex's voice in the background of his 8:40 p.m. call with Paul - in which Paul was at the dog kennels and dogs could be heard barking.

So two days later, Croft is helping to conduct this SLED interview of Murdaugh. The interview is very friendly. No aggressive tones or questions, by my read of it. Agents give Murdaugh grace as he breaks down in tears and hysterics over and over.

But on rewatch, knowing everything I know now, it struck me that Croft was the one politely asking Murdaugh to try to recall what he did that evening, whether he went down to the kennels, etc. He was the one who got Murdaugh on the record over and over that he was never there.

That's all. One of the reasons this case is fascinating is because - for better or worse - prosecutors really are just flipping over puzzle pieces and not telling us where they go or what they mean. So when you notice something like that, it feels like a small discovery.

The Big Lie (as well as Murdaugh's presence at the dog kennels that evening) is by far Murdaugh's biggest hurdle to acquittal/hung jury in this trial, according to very smart people I talk with about this case.

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian has begun his cross-examination of MUSC forensic pathologist Dr. Ellen Riemer.

Judge Clifton Newman made no announcement regarding COVID-19 or any further jurors getting sick. So that's a good thing. Jurors will get tested tomorrow, though.

Riemer testifies that it’s not definitive that Maggie’s shooter was circling her. That was just one explanation since Maggie was shot from behind and then shot in the back of the head from the other direction. Maggie might have also been turning, and the shooter stationary.

Riemer testifies the first shot at Paul - buckshot to the chest- came at an angle. His body could have been perpendicular to the shooter as Paul stood in the feed room. A straight-on shotgun blast from that range would have hit his lungs and heart and been fatal, Riemer says.

Harpootlian has called fellow defense attorney Phillip Barber over to help him re-enact the juxtaposition of Paul and the shooter.

Yesterday, the state had Riemer draw on a diagram to show the jury how various gunshot wounds ripped through Paul’s body.

Harpootlian has called over a real, live person. Riemer and Harpootlian are using a stick and (lightly) jabbing at various points on Barber's chest.

Barber went to law school and clerked for federal judge Richard Gergel for this.

One of the questions I've had is how Paul - who was around 5-foot-8 - was allegedly shot at such a dramatic upward trajectory by his father, who was well over 6-feet tall and wore 2XL shirts.

Riemer and Harpootlian are going back and forth over possible shotgun blast trajectories. Barber is showing great patience as Harpootlian pokes him at various spots with a stick and Riemer pushes his head around at various angles to suppose how the pellets traveled.

Harpootlian is trying to establish that Paul was killed with a contact shotgun wound, essentially a direct, execution-style shot to the head.

Riemer isn’t buying it. She says Paul's wounds tell her the pellets traveled through his shoulder and neck before hitting his brain.

Riemer is so far scoring highly on the Mark Tinsley Formidable Witness Scale™️

Riemer says she doesn't believe the gaping hole in the back of Paul's head could have been the entrance wound.

Riemer testifies she doesn’t think the hole in Paul’s head was the entrance wound because there was no stippling or soot around it, which you’d expect for an entrance wound.

Harpootlian challenges whether she looked for stippling or soot. He notes she didn’t shave Paul’s head for a closer look, like she did Maggie’s. Riemer also didn’t log the absence of stippling or soot on Paul’s head in her notes.

Riemer testifies she only shaves entrance wounds.

Riemer says she had already determined the hole in Paul’s head was an exit wound. She testifies she did look for stippling and soot and didn’t find it. She says she doesn’t log the absence of stippling/soot in exit wounds.

Harpootlian asks if someone else could look at the same evidence and reasonably disagree with her.

Riemer: “People can disagree. That doesn’t change the truth.”

What’s happening here is a more technical version of this scene from The Other Guys

Harpootlian finishes his questioning of Riemer.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters is back up on redirect, stressing Riemer's credentials.

Riemer testifies she has performed about 5,500 autopsies over the past 20 years.

She also testifies she found stippling on the wound to Paul’s chest, indicating the shooter was within 3 feet. She found no stippling anywhere else on Paul.

Harpootlian asks Riemer again about dirt/bruising on Maggie’s calf. Harpootlian says it was a muddy footprint. It has come up before in the case, with no further explanation. Riemer says she didn’t observe it during the autopsy.

Harpootlian asks whether Riemer and SLED chief investigating officer David Owen discussed it. Prosecutor Waters objects, and Newman sustains it. Harpootlian ends with one last question.

Harpootlian: “An opinion is an opinion, right?”
Riemer: “Yes.”

We're on a short break now.

Our daily TikTok tiktok.com/t/ZTRtPxpaA/

Our running updates feed, including a livestream of the proceedings. A great play-by-play bookmark if you're following the case or checking in at the end of the day postandcourier.com/murdaugh-updat…

Photos/evidence from yesterday, via @WhitakerPhotos and @JAABPhoto:

1 and 2: COVID-19 makes a concerning appearance in the courtroom
3. Alex Murdaugh
4. Forensic pathologist Ellen Riemer draws entrance/exit wounds for Maggie Murdaugh

1. Alex Murdaugh's white T-shirt from the date of the slayings
2. Entrance/exit wounds for Paul
3. Entrance/exit wounds for Maggie.

Entrance wounds are drawn in black. Exit wounds are drawn in red.

We're back.

The state calls its 52nd witness, Devin Newell of General Motors. Newell and GM were not on the original witness list.

But GM over the weekend provided prosecutors a trove of new data from Alex Murdaugh's 2021 Chevrolet Suburban, which he drove on 6/7/21.

Newell acknowledges that SLED sent a March 2022 search warrant to GM asking for information about Murdaugh’s Suburban. It came with a 17-character VIN code for Murdaugh’s SUV. Newell said he was not involved in that original process.

Newell testifies he found out Friday that GM had information on the vehicle that it had not provided to law enforcement. He doesn't explain how this happened, nor does prosecutor John Conrad ask him to do so.

Newell steps down after very brief testimony, having introduced the new evidence.

The state's 53rd witness is Roger Dale Davis, who took care of the Murdaughs' dog kennels at Moselle. He would clean the kennels twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.

Davis testified he fed the dogs and chickens and cleaned their pens out.

Davis testifies Maggie loved and cared for the dogs.

Paul was wild and crazy but loved being at Moselle.

Alex was very particular about how Davis should care for the dogs, but he was difficult to contact by phone. Always busy, in court or otherwise.

“Bubba was very rambunctious. They would lock him up in the kennels at night.”

Bubba cannot catch a break.

Prosecutors asks Davis how he typically put the water hose away after washing out the dog kennels. Davis says he would stretch the hose straight out, cut the water off and then roll up the hose slowly.

He did it that way every time. He was particular about it so he didn’t damage the hose.

Prosecutor shows Davis a photo of the crime scene. The hose is in the background. Dale testifies it's not stored how he stored it.

"Somebody used that hose after I did because it's twisted."

Davis testifies he fed the dogs and cleaned their kennels early on the morning of 6/7/21 and then again around 4 p.m. that day. Nothing was out of place or unusual, he said.

Prosecutors working to establish that someone used the hose by the kennels after Davis, obviously to clean themselves off after the slayings.

Davis is testifying about which dog stayed in each kennel. Dog names include Grady, Maggie, Bubba, Cash (Rogan's dog), Tappy Toes and Armadillo

Davis testifies that when he hosed down the kennels, water would pool in certain areas, including right under the hose. Water never pooled by the feed room, or by the first two kennels where Bubba and Grady stayed, Davis said.

In the afternoon, the sun would beat down. “It would dry it up quick," Davis said.

He is shown a picture of the crime scene. He says the water pooling isn’t normal. “There is too much water right there around the second and third pen.”

Davis testifies that the dogs didn’t necessarily have assigned kennels, but Maggie was particular about which dogs went into each. She wanted Grady in the kennel right beside the feed room and would put him there every time.

Other Murdaugh family members would just put the dogs in whatever kennel was convenient, Davis testifies.

Prosecutor shows Davis a photo of the dog kennels on the night of the slayings. The dogs were not staying how Maggie would have ordered them, he has indicated.

Prosecution wraps up its questioning. That was very interesting testimony.

Defense attorney Jim Griffin rises to cross-examine Davis.

Davis testified that he hadn’t ever seen a gun in the Moselle dog kennel feed room. But on cross-examination, he says the Murdaughs left guns everywhere on Moselle. On ATVs, in unlocked trucks with the keys left in them. In a shed nearby.

Griffin pokes a hole in the state’s point here. He shows Davis a video of Paul’s 8:44 p.m. dog kennel video, pausing it at one point when it shows the hose Davis had meticulously wrapped earlier was already lying on the ground by then.

Griffin reminds Davis that the video was taken at 8:44 p.m., after sundown. So the water wouldn't have dried up naturally.

Davis describes Alex and Maggie as being “lovey dovey.”

“I’ve never seen that man even raise his voice at his wife.”

Alex loved to hunt and fish with Paul. They drank beer together, Davis says.

Griffin asks Davis about a time a Murdaugh dog got injured and had to be put down as a “mercy.” Davis says Alex couldn’t bring himself to shoot the dog and asked Davis to do it. So Davis did.

Griffin: “Bubba’s been getting a bad name. Bubba’s a little stubborn dog?"

G: Would he listen to you?
D: “Somewhat.”

G: “Would he listen to Alex?”
D: “He did.”

Davis testifies Maggie would take a golf cart or a bike down to the dog kennels, and sometimes she would walk. They were pet dogs but stayed at the kennels most of the time. They didn’t let the dogs in the house because Buster had eczema, Griffin says.

Davis says a rooster would get on top of the dog kennels and “aggravate the dogs to death.”

Establishing a motive for Bubba’s actions that evening.

Either Grady or Bubba eventually assassinated the rooster, Davis testifies. My word choice, not his.

Davis testifies after he left Moselle around 4:30 p.m. on 6/7/21, he took a shower and parked in a recliner for the rest of the evening. He was home with his wife.

Prosecutor asks Davis if he saw any guns around the kennels on the afternoon of the slayings. Davis says he didn’t.

The state’s 54th witness is state grand jury forensic accountant Carson Burney. We previously heard from him when he testified in with the jury excused.

I will tweet updates from Burney's testimony if he says anything new or revelatory.

Burney steps down for the witness stand briefly. We are heading to lunch. Cross-examination when we get back.

There was a good exchange at the end of the state’s questioning.

Prosecutor Johnny Ellis James Jr. asked Burney if Murdaugh on 6/7/21 had the $792K he needed to pay back Chris Wilson. “He did not.”

Did he have $500,000 to give to Gloria Satterfield’s sons? “He did not.”

James: Did he have $10 million to meet Mark Tinsley’s demand for settlement of the boat crash lawsuit?

Burney: “He did not have $10 million.”

Then the state ended its questioning.

Be back after lunch.

A little dot-connecting there from a state prosecutor. What a concept.

We are back after lunch.

On cross-examination, Murdaugh defense attorney Jim Griffin is picking apart the state’s final point: that Murdaugh could not have afforded some of his outstanding liabilities, including the missing Mack Trucks case legal fees and the $500,000 he owed the Satterfield family.

Griffin establishes that Burney did not take into account Murdaugh’s real estate holdings, 401K and retirement accounts, his ownership stake in the PMPED law firm and his ability to raise capital from Palmetto State Bank.

Burney testifies he looked only at liquid assets.

Griffin: You’re not telling the jury that Murdaugh’s “financial freight train was about to go off into a ravine.”

Burney: I was just looking at the accounts.

Griffin brings up Curtis “Cousin Eddie” Smith. He asks how much of the $792K of the missing Mack Trucks legal fees went to Smith.

Burney: “From my tracing, approximately half a million dollars.”

Griffin ends his questioning.

On redirect, prosecutor Johnny Ellis James establishes with Burney that it takes a while to buy and sell real estate, so Murdaugh wouldn’t have that money quickly. Burney steps down from the witness stand.

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.

Newman wants to know exactly what Griffin asked Proctor that led her to bring up the September incident that led her to change her mind about reason for the June 7, 2021 slayings.

Newman trying to determine if Griffin asked a question that opened the door for prosecutors to introduce the Labor Day weekend 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.

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.

Waters wants to argue about the admissibility of the roadside shooting. Harpootlian said the defense wasn’t anticipating a motions hearing today and isn’t prepared to do that.

I do not understand how the state is going to rest its case tomorrow.

Judge Newman orders the jury to return at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow instead of the usual 9:30 a.m. With the extra hour, the two sides will argue over the admissibility of the September 2021 roadside shooting evidence.

Welp, we've already kind of started the arguments.

Waters says the roadside shooting is part of a pattern in which Murdaugh, confronted with a crisis, created a violent incident to victimize himself.

Harpootlian says that's bogus. “He didn’t do it to get some sort of sympathy. He did it to be dead. That’s why he did it.”

Harpootlian says the September 2021 roadside shooting is irrelevant to the June 7, 2021, murders.

Waters says Curtis Eddie Smith is on the witness list but "I didn't say we would be calling him."

Harpootlian laughs about the idea of Smith testifying.

“The cross-examination of Mr. Smith is something I’m looking forward to," he says.

That is all for today. Writing now.

Full story:

https://twitter.com/AveryGWilks/status/1625643603014844417

This concludes the Alex Murdaugh Double Murder Trial Day 17 Megathread.

See you tomorrow, folks. Same time, same place.