Thread by @TrialMurdaugh

Day 22 of the #MurdaughTrial & we're starting the day with talk of #AlexMurdaugh testifying. Defense is asking about stopping the State from being able to ask certain questions on Cross.

Judge denies request to limit scope of State's cross. #MurdaughTrial

First witness today is Mark Ball, Parker Law Group (FKA PMPED) attorney. #MurdaughTrial

He's been with the firm since 1988. Known Alex 34 years. Children grew up together. They were all good friends. #MurdaughTrial

He learned about the murders from Ronnie Crosby. He lives about 8-10 miles from Moselle. He came in on the cabin side. #MurdaughTrial

Barry McCoy was present when he arrived. No road blocks or barriers had been put up at that time. He brought it up to Barry later on to do that. #MurdaughTrial

People kept piling in and the entrance never got blocked off. #MurdaughTrial

Water was running off the front of the shed where Paul was. The water was dripping onto Paul. That concerned him. #MurdaughTrial

He actually says that pissed him off. #MurdaughTrial

Alex was devastated. He was crying and beside himself. He kept saying, "Look at what they did. Look at what they did" He thought that was an odd comment. #MurdaughTrial

SLED arrived within an hour to hour & a half. By the time SLED got there, almost all of the attorneys from PMPED were there, minus maybe 3 of them. #MurdaughTrial

Safety was a concern that he had. He didn't see any signs that the house had been searched & cleared. #MurdaughTrial

He knows Sheriff Hill & he asked Mark if he knew who would do this. Mark said no, but he did bring up the boat case to Sheriff Hill. He had not spoken to Alex before this conversation. #MurdaughTrial

He lists off a bunch of people who were present. It was ALOT of people in the house. He was the one who put the pots up. Someone else cleared the plates. #MurdaughTrial

He left Moselle about 3:30 or 4:00 AM. He left when Alex left. He had a depo the next morning so he got back to Moselle about 11:00 AM on 6/8. #MurdaughTrial

They tried to find somebody to come clean because they just couldn't do it. The Coroner's office gave them the names of 2 companies. #MurdaughTrial

He was present when SLED collected Alex's clothes. Mark says his clothes were uncomfortably damp. He assumes Alex's was too. #MurdaughTrial

The crime scene had been released when he arrived the next day. #MurdaughTrial

He saw some things he thought SLED had missed. When he addressed the agent, the agent told him that they had everything that they needed. #MurdaughTrial

Some of Paul's remains was still there. Alex has his head down. Is visibly upset. #MurdaughTrial

He was present in the gun room when SLED agents showed up. #MurdaughTrial

Blanca had cleaned up the gun room & put the guns back on the rack that had been out on the pool table. #MurdaughTrial

He noticed Clorox around. He saw an open cooler there, a Yeti style, with a dozen beer cans around it. #MurdaughTrial

It looked like someone had unloaded a boat. #MurdaughTrial

He practices civil law, usually the Plaintiffs side. He is accustomed to pulling cell phone records. #MurdaughTrial

Objection from the State. Judge overrules. #MurdaughTrial

He confirms it was Alex's voice that he heard on the kennel video. #MurdaughTrial

He is asked by Jim about the "They vs I" in the interview video. State objects. Judge overrules. #MurdaughTrial

"Sounds like they to me." That is consistent with what Alex said the night of the murders. #MurdaughTrial

Ball did not formally work on the boat crash case. He did discuss a portion of the case with Alex & Randolph. (Can't recall if he said the civil or the criminal portion) #MurdaughTrial

Ball, along with several other attorneys, read the Complaint. The allegations against Alex were pretty much for "bad parenting". #MurdaughTrial

Ball thought the case was very defensible. #MurdaughTrial

Alex "resigned" 9/3. Ball found checks that Alex had deposited on his phone & writing on a tablet that listed what Alex had and what he owed. #MurdaughTrial

Ball collected Maggie's jewelry after the murders. The diamond bracelet was in pieces. There were rings, but he doesn't know if any of them were her wedding ring. #MurdaughTrial

Alex appeared to love his family very much. After the roadside shooting, he's not sure he knew the real Alex. #MurdaughTrial

Alex always took their calls & they were always together. Ball never saw anything that indicated there was any issues between Maggie & Alex. #MurdaughTrial

Ball says Paul was a good kid, and he was demonized because of the boat crash. #MurdaughTrial

PMPED was a family. If one of them had a problem, they all had a problem. Alex betrayed that by stealing the money. #MurdaughTrial

Creighton is up for Cross. #MurdaughTrial

Alex was good at hiding who he was. Buster & Ball's daughter were schoolmates. Alex was Ball'a partner & he trusted him. #MurdaughTrial

Outwardly, he thought Alex was a good family man & was someone he trusted. But Ball agrees that obviously, he didn't really know Alex. #MurdaughTrial

Ball was very concerned about the safety of Alex & the law firm. Him and Alex were like family. #MurdaughTrial

Alex denied going to the kennels to Ball at least 3 times. He was always clear that he didn't go to the kennels. He also told this to other law partners. #MurdaughTrial

PMPED was a family. They were on edge after the murders. #MurdaughTrial

They were focused on finding the shooter(s), Alex was not. #MurdaughTrial

Ball asked Alex about Buster needing protection. Alex said he was fine & coming with Brooklyn. #MurdaughTrial

He saw Alex days later and he had a gun with him in a bag. And in typical Paul & Alex fashion, he left the bag behind. #MurdaughTrial

Alex's great-grandfather was the beginning of PMPED. #MurdaughTrial

The Murdaughs have held a Solicitor position since about 1940 to about 10 years ago. Alex had a Solicitor's badge as well. This family had a good name & were known to help you with your problems. #MurdaughTrial

Alex was very concerned about the family name. #MurdaughTrial

SLED was nice & respectful. They tried not to upset the family. #MurdaughTrial

SIDENOTE: After this trial, I really want this Court to invest in a better chair & mic for the witness stand. #MurdaughTrial

Ball says in hindsight SLED was too respectful of how they treated the scene. #MurdaughTrial

Alex was on his phone all the time. He was an obnoxious user of his cell phone. It would be unusual for Alex to go anywhere without his phone. #MurdaughTrial

Alex was a good lawyer. He got good results for his clients. He was very good tactically. #MurdaughTrial

Alex never met anybody that he couldn't talk to. People were his trade. He could be very convincing. #MurdaughTrial

Jeanne Seckinger is brought up. She was tasked with going through Alex's financials. Ball worked with her on this. #MurdaughTrial

He's discussing again how they zero out the books at the end of the year and they "loan" money back to the firm at the beginning of the year to cover the firm's operating expenses. #MurdaughTrial

He also brings up the check that was accidentally written to Alex. Alex paid the money back with interest. #MurdaughTrial

We're back to a financial trial! #MurdaughTrial

Maggie & Paul were their friends. #MurdaughTrial

We're on break. #MurdaughTrial

We're back from break going over more financial stuff. Looks like we're back to a trial within a trial. #MurdaughTrial

Ball did see a golf cart at Moselle. #MurdaughTrial

Thought we were maybe going back to June 7, 2021, then Creighton heads baaaack to the financial stuff. #MurdaughTrial

Now we're on to the roadside shooting. Objection from Jim. Judge overrules. #MurdaughTrial

Ball didn't believe Alex's story about the roadside shooting. #MurdaughTrial

Alex had gotten fired the day before the roadside shooting. #MurdaughTrial

Jim is back up for re-direct. Asking more questions about the financial stuff. #MurdaughTrial

9/3/21 & the roadside shooting changed everything Ball thought about Alex. #MurdaughTrial

He had been concerned about Alex's mental health since the murders. #MurdaughTrial

Alex destroyed the law firm & the Murdaugh legacy. #MurdaughTrial

He understood why Alex would want to kill himself. #MurdaughTrial

Creighton is back up again... #MurdaughTrial

They had to pay back north of $10 million. A big chunk of that came out of the lawyers' pockets. #MurdaughTrial

Alex never told LE that he was down at the kennels. Objection. Ball doesn't know what Alex told LE. He denied it to Ball 3 times. #MurdaughTrial

Ball is finished. Next witness is Attorney Morris Cooke. He practices mainly civil litigation, mostly representing Defendants. He had cases against Alex. He now represents him in the boat crash case. #MurdaughTrial

Alex had other counsel before Cooke joined the defense team for Alex. His other attorney had cancer. #MurdaughTrial

They felt the boat crash case was a defensible claim. #MurdaughTrial

Interrogatories are discovery questions one attorney asks the other side to answer before trial. #MurdaughTrial

Cooke met with other members of the defense team regularly. #MurdaughTrial

Alex was CC'd on the emails. #MurdaughTrial

We're going over more details of the boat crash case. #MurdaughTrial

Objection. Judge sustains. Cooke can't answer the question regarding if he thought Tinsley's Motion to Compel would be granted. #MurdaughTrial

Cooke says the hearing would have been mostly about the venue issue and admiralty issue. #MurdaughTrial

Cooke says the boat crash case wasn't an existential issue for Alex. #MurdaughTrial

Cooke reads Motion to Compel. The Motion did not ask Alex to divulge all of his financial information. #MurdaughTrial

Cooke did not expect any cataclysmic event to occur regarding Alex's finances at the 6/10/21 hearing. #MurdaughTrial

Creighton is up for cross. He is excited to talk about this financial stuff again. #MurdaughTrial

Cooke was not at the Trial Lawyers Conference when Alex confronted Tinsley. #MurdaughTrial

Cooked filed his appearance in the boat crash case in May 2021. #MurdaughTrial

It was a long shot that Philadelphia (the insurance co) would cover Alex. #MurdaughTrial

Cooke didn't know Alex was broke & stealing. #MurdaughTrial

The 6/10/21 hearing was continued because of the murders. This did not change the discovery process. #MurdaughTrial

Defense is back for re-direct. She asks about the likelihood of the Motion to Compel being granted. Creighton objects. Judge sustains. #MurdaughTrial

Alex would not have had to turn over the documents immediately if the Judge approved the Motion to Compel. It would have started the process though. #MurdaughTrial

We're getting a stand & stretch break before the next witness. Next witness is Kenneth Zercie. He's from Connecticut. He is the Director of Training at a University. #MurdaughTrial

We're going through his background. He previously worked in LE. He retired based on a disability. #MurdaughTrial

He worked at the Division of Scientific Services of the State of Connecticut. #MurdaughTrial

Somebody get Mr. Z some coffee or tea or something. He sounds tired. #MurdaughTrial

He is a professor and has a consulting business on the side. #MurdaughTrial

We are going through his educational background now. #MurdaughTrial

He's testified about 300 times in a number of different states for fingerprint analysis. About 200 times for footwear & tire impressions. About 400 times for crime scene examination. He's admitted & designated as an expert. #MurdaughTrial

Mr. Z prepared a PowerPoint that we'll look at. #MurdaughTrial

Photography is one of the keys of processing a crime scene because you can't always take all of the evidence into a laboratory. #MurdaughTrial

I hope they get somebody from the State that will be gentle to do the cross. Mr. Z seems like such a nice guy. #MurdaughTrial

Dick & Mr. Z are talking extensively about the best way to take photographs at a crime scene. #MurdaughTrial

Back from lunch with Mr. Z. Dick is bringing up a video, says the screens need to be covered. So we won't get to see this video. #MurdaughTrial

Officer steps inside of the feed room without any shoe cots or booties. It's typically SOP for officers to do so. #MurdaughTrial

Alex has his head down. Is visibly upset. #MurdaughTrial

Mr. Z would not want to use an absorbent material to cover the bodies while they are out in the rain. The covering should be preserved, go with the body & also be examined. #MurdaughTrial

There was no indication that the sheet covering Paul was saved or preserved. #MurdaughTrial

Clothes should also be preserved & examined. There is no evidence that Paul's clothes were preserved or examined. #MurdaughTrial

Mr. Z would have saved the sheet & Paul's clothes. #MurdaughTrial

Same thing for Maggie. Mr. Z says each item should be bagged & tagged separately so as not to cross-contaminate. #MurdaughTrial

Dick brings up Agent Worley's report. Mr. Z says he would have done things differently than Agent Worley did. #MurdaughTrial

Mr. Z would work the scene from "front to back". #MurdaughTrial

There are some mistakes that SLED made that I'm sure they will never make again. This was a great learning experience for them. #MurdaughTrial

Mr. Z is explaining how he would work the murder scene & take photographs. #MurdaughTrial

Dick gets Mr. Z to agree that it's possible someone else's blood was there. But to the best of Mr. Z's knowledge, it wasn't tested. #MurdaughTrial

There was no evidence to Mr. Z that the feed room was processed for fingerprints. #MurdaughTrial

More discussion of footprint impressions. Some of them look consistent with the shoes that Maggie had on. #MurdaughTrial

Based on the imprints, it appears that Maggie walked on top of the other imprints. #MurdaughTrial

SLED didn't do most things that are SOP in most crime scene processing around the victims or in the feed room. #MurdaughTrial

Mr. Z says there was much more work that could have been done. He won't flat out say they "did a terrible job" here. #MurdaughTrial

Mr. Z does not believe they did an adequate job. Says much more could have been done. #MurdaughTrial

Objection from the State. Judge sustains. #MurdaughTrial

No further questions from Dick. State is up for cross-examination. #MurdaughTrial

State asks Mr. Z if he wishes he was Rutland. Mr. Z says he doesn't know who that is. #MurdaughTrial

Mr. Z has not read every record in this case. He got some stuff 2 months ago & some today. #MurdaughTrial

Mr. Z provides reports, but he was not asked to do one for this case. #MurdaughTrial

All the notes he has are on his computer & Mr. Z says he will give them to the State. They are not physically with him. Everything he received was digital. #MurdaughTrial

His handwritten notes & other notes are not physically with him. #MurdaughTrial

There was one PowerPoint, with 2 sections. Mr. Z says he made a mistake when he said there were 2 PowerPoint presentations. He agrees with the State that he has made mistakes before. #MurdaughTrial

Laura Rutland saw the footprints first. State says Mr. Z is being paid to come in and say LE did a bad job. #MurdaughTrial

Mr. Z evaluates the information given. He was not at the scene & has not been to the crime scene. #MurdaughTrial

Mr. Z is a little spicier than I expected! He is staying in his lane & not letting the State guide him out of the lane of his expertise! #MurdaughTrial

Objection. Judge sustains. #MurdaughTrial

The photos that Mr. Z used to make his determinations were taken 6/8/2021. The letter authenticating the photos indicated they were taken 6/7/21. #MurdaughTrial

State admits State's 565. Mr. Z is getting paid $350/hr plus airfare. He is not charging for time. He's logged about 20 hours so far, not including today. He's not charging for travel or the PowerPoint. Told y'all Mr. Z looked like a nice guy!! #MurdaughTrial

State admits a series of exhibits (photos) without objection. #MurdaughTrial

They are discussing the footprint impression process. #MurdaughTrial

Mr. Z does not disagree with Agent Worley's findings. #MurdaughTrial

Missed the end of cross. Talking to a coworker. Dick is back up. #MurdaughTrial

We're done with Mr. Z and taking a break. I'm going to do some work real quick! #MurdaughTrial

Next witness is Barbara Ann Mixon. A sweet little old Black lady!! She has been a housekeeper for Ms. Libby for 42 years!! She knows the Murdaugh kids as good as she knows her own! #MurdaughTrial

Maggie was a daughter & friend. She saw Paul every week. #MurdaughTrial

Alex came almost every day that she was there. #MurdaughTrial

She called Alex on 6/7/21 & told him that Ms. Libby was agitated because Mr. Randolph was gone (to the hospital). So she called Chrissy and she didn't answer. So she called Alex to come check on Ms. Libby. #MurdaughTrial

Jim shows call in Alex's phone records. #MurdaughTrial

LE informed her about Paul & Maggie's murders. #MurdaughTrial

Shelley worked the night shift and Ms. Mixon relieved her 5 minutes to 8:00. She never saw the blue tarp. #MurdaughTrial

She's never seen it. #MurdaughTrial

Jim is done. Meadors comes up for Cross. They talked the other day & she didn't tell them about that conversation with Alex. Ms. Mixon is done. #MurdaughTrial

They better had been nice to Ms. Mixon or I was gonna fuss and cuss!!!! #MurdaughTrial

Next witness is Micah Sturgis, director of digital forensics. He's going over his background. #MurdaughTrial

Sturgis is admitted as an expert. Defense beats the State to the question of how much he is paid. #MurdaughTrial

Everything he's reviewed was provided by the State. #MurdaughTrial

He agrees that the TL is mostly accurate. #MurdaughTrial

There wasn't much data on Paul's phone after 8:49. He focused most of his attention on Maggie's phone. There was GPS data but none from 6/7/21. #MurdaughTrial

Oh the good ole Faraday bag! He also references a Ramsey Box. It's a powered box. If Maggie's phone has been shielded, it probably would have had the GPS data. #MurdaughTrial

We see a photo of Maggie's phone screen in the lab before the extraction. #MurdaughTrial

We see a list of Alex & Maggie's steps from the Apple Health app. #MurdaughTrial

The phone gets those numbers from accelerometers in the phone. #MurdaughTrial

It uses satellite GPS for the distance. #MurdaughTrial

Sturgis says the steps are more accurate than the distance in his opinion. #MurdaughTrial

An orientation change on an iPhone occurs when the phone is backlit. It's the change in the orientation of the data on the phone, not the physical orientation of the physical device. #MurdaughTrial

An orientation change does not occur when the phone is off. #MurdaughTrial

Motion of the phone can turn on the screen. #MurdaughTrial

Maggie's phone did have the raise-to-wake feature enabled. #MurdaughTrial

Maggie's phone screen was off when Alex passed it on the road. #MurdaughTrial

Very little motion is required for a screen to come on. The screen did not come on when Alex was passing the phone on the road. #MurdaughTrial

Going through when phone's backlight goes off and on. #MurdaughTrial

Had to do some work ... State is on cross. They are discussing Maggie's phone still. #MurdaughTrial

Alex's Suburban starts to move at 9:06:52. Witness does not have any devices with iOS 14.6 to do a test for orientation changes. #MurdaughTrial

Raise-to-wake is a separate application from orientation change. When Alex passed the phone while driving, the screen on Maggie's phone was off. #MurdaughTrial

There are no corresponding steps for Alex & Maggie. #MurdaughTrial

Witness did review the "kennel video". Dang it, I got a call so IDK what was asked. #MurdaughTrial

He confirms step count is more accurate than GPS. We are done for today. We'll be back for Court tomorrow! I'll be back later this evening for the Netflix doc!! #MurdaughTrial