VERDICT WATCH SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #37

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kaen said:
I get where you are coming from in that it does not make sense that he murdered them. It also makes no sense the amount of drugs he self reported taking. I have no doubt he is a major dealer and laundering all that money.

That said, I do think he murdered them because he actions were getting more and more unpredictable. I think the annihilator in him could not stand that MM and PM were questioning him.

I found this article about another case but the description seems to fit.

“Roughly a quarter to a third of family annihilation cases appear to have financial problems at their root,” Websdale said. “Often what we see here is a deep sense of male shame.”


Perpetrators of familicide are often “highly repressed individuals,” Websdale said, facing potential eviction or bankruptcy. The family may be facing destitution, but “appear on the surface to be respectable.”

The goal, Berrill said, is to spare the family “all these assaults to their sense of well being and their sense of normalcy. It reflects very distorted thinking and very strained and depressive type thinking and desperation which culminates in this kind of terrible act.”

This act is called “anomic familicide,” according to Dr. Kevin Barnes-Ceeney, assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven. “It’s when you feel like you're going to lose everything and you have an attempt to immortalize the family.” Family annihilators: The psychology behind familicide
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But he didn't spare the family. What about Buster?
 
Just a reminder that DNA evidence (blood spatter, touch DNA etc.) is usually considered circumstantial evidence. Forensic evidence, murder weapon details, ballistics, car/phone data, digital online searches etc is also usually considered circumstantial. Because you have to infer what happened from the summation of all the evidence.

Eye witness testimony of the crime being committed, recorded confessions from a suspect or audio/video footage showing factual evidence not in dispute is what is considered direct. Documentation can also be direct if it is actual evidence of the crime itself (such as threats/fraud etc.)

Here's a handy primer:

Chapter 3: What You Need To Know About Evidence – Introduction to Criminal Investigation: Processes, Practices and Thinking
 
If the verdict comes back as not guilty or even a hung jury, not only will. Maggie and Paul not receive justice but it will also fuel AM’s narcissistic arrogance. If he truly is a narc he will feel a rush and he will feel even more entitled (not bc of his family’s money), as he already feels that he is above them, he truly feels special and above the law. And thus will only add to his grandiose fantasy of unlimited power and brilliance.

OMO ymmv
 
Gardenista said:
We never got to hear the state's thoughts on the Capri Sun, the lines on the cement or the Gucci receipt.
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"My understanding: it was a Belk credit card statement, not a receipt. A $1,000+ transaction at the Charleston Gucci store was circled on the receipt, which had been torn and trashed. I'm told the transaction was for a Gucci belt. No idea why prosecutors highlighted it."

https://twitter.com/x/status/1630946152194424833
 
Tippy Lynn said:
Does anybody else think drugs played a bigger role in this and they need to follow the money to get the entire story?
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AM is facing drug charges so maybe a little but I don’t think it was the driving force behind the murders. They have had a lot of testimony to where the money went. MB testified how much Alex lost from land investments during the recession. Seattle1 posted that Alec was a minority investor in land deals, when the major investors walked away as they lost $ for some brilliant reason AM decided to take over the whole investment by himself and lost big. His stealing started to coincide with that loss. MB yeatified that despite what Alec was making he never recovered from that loss. They had a very expensive lifestyle, chartered jets any time they traveled, court-side seats at professional basketball games, 3 houses, etc. The 50K per week drug habit, the drug cartel possibly be involved has been debunked the defense threw it out there hoping something would stick. Moo
 
aafromaa said:
Hi Tippy!

I appreciate that your point of view. In the early stages of the trial I was pretty sure I’d have reasonable doubt if I was on the jury but during the course of the testimony and presentation of the evidence - specifically of AM’s testimony and the video and the whole timeline thing - my doubt began to clear up and what little I do have remaining would not be really be reasonable doubt any more. I do still have a hard time with anyone killing a wife and son for any reason but it happens so often in this crazy world that I have to put that thought aside. I do think they missed on the motive here and that there was much more to it than we know but whether that is drug related or not I cannot say. But for me in the end, I don’t have to understand why someone does something to believe they did it.

I could come up with several scenarios in my mind of how the video and the timeline could be if AM was not the shooter but was present at the time of the murders. But that’s only because I’m a writer and ask a lot of “what ifs” - but because I can imagine those scenarios doesn’t mean that they are cause for reasonable doubt so they would not stop me from voting guilty if I was on the jury.

Now I said all that to ask this…Do you (as someone who isn’t convinced that he’s guilty) also think that he was present for the murders even if he did not pull the triggers? Or do you have another view of the time line?

Sorry that was so long everyone
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I think he was either forced to be present or close by.

If you've ever watched Ozark I think it's possible a similar type scenario played out in real life at the Moselle property.
 
Regarding the mark on Maggie's leg left from the Polaris. That confused me and I can't locate the video on it. Is CW saying she ran into the polaris tire as she turned and ran after being shot the first time? Is there a picture diagram of this?
 
aafromaa said:
Can anyone tell me why jurors were not allowed to take notes during the trial? Is that a South Carolina thing or a rule of this court in particular?
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In the first few days of the trial the Judge said to the jurors they could take notes if they wanted to, and it sounded like he was reminding them to let him know at any time if they wanted a pad of paper and pen or pencil. This implied the jurors were given the choice in this case, but declined to take notes.

I've posted on this a few times, that I saw and heard the Judge say it to them and the video was also in someone's tweet who was following the trial with comments as well, that was posted here from the official court footage, but haven't been able to find the exact minute in the footage that it occurred to re-post it. Anyway, in SC it is not prohibited, so it is up to the judge, and he gave them the chance and they haven't wanted to take any notes, apparently.

MOO
 
arielilane said:
Yeah, buddy! Got us through rugged terrain and kept that darn chicken in line and out of the way.
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Couldn't have done it without all your help and you arielilane became the pipeline for great updates even though you demanded your coffee to come with a zip to it at times lol. Hope we can all gather again, strength in numbers and tackle another case and bring some light to it along with taking the dark edge of crimes like this one. As said the ole crazy train is still open and will remain open for the ending of this case and kept ready to roll for the next.
 
10ofRods said:
Yesterday, a SC youtuber did a poll and 91% of his viewers thought "guilty." The defendant-friendly youtube channels of course have it as 50/50 or close to that.

NewsNation had it 69% guilty yesterday (it's been wobbling between 68-72% thinking he's guilty).

It would be interesting if locals following the trial are more prone to finding him guilty than people casually watching on Court TV. I have no sense of how people in Hampshire County think about Alec, except that I'm guessing quite a few can't stand the whole family. Others may still be in awe of them.

Who knows. I've made my peace with whatever the verdict is, but if most trials around the US had a standard of proof higher than in this one, we're in trouble nationwide for stopping crime by locking people up. We'll have to go back to shunning and social approbrium.

IMO.
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@10ofRods The majority of local people are embarrassed by the actions of the Murdaughs and the unwanted and negative attention focused on the State. The Murdaugh glory days are over period, regardless of the outcome of this trial.

Many influential people in LE, banking and other businesses have lost their jobs over this mess already and I'm sure there will be many more by the time the financial crimes of Alex are prosecuted.

The real 'monied' folks of the gentle South are horrified at the behavior of this ridiculous buffoon from Hampton County.

MOO
 
minazoe said:
watching the Netflix doc. I was struck by that recording of Mags call to 911 regarding Gloria who was pretty obviously badly wounded and affected by this fall..coupling this and stolen money and the boat accident..I could see someone who is very hurt by all of this wanting to kill Mags and Paul who was raised up by Gloria..I think there is plenty of outside motive out there..and looking at all this in bulk, makes me wonder if Alex isn't the least likely person to have done this. I just don't
think all of Alex's bad acts prior add up to motive either.

tell me why he rushed to have cops on the scene..when he could have waited..why would he box himself in? why would he do it with a pocket full of pills? he would't even have to make up a story like he wasn't down there at all to cover up..

it's just not logical. mOO
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For one, we don’t know he had a pocket full of pills, that’s just what he said.
 
minazoe said:
watching the Netflix doc. I was struck by that recording of Mags call to 911 regarding Gloria who was pretty obviously badly wounded and affected by this fall..coupling this and stolen money and the boat accident..I could see someone who is very hurt by all of this wanting to kill Mags and Paul who was raised up by Gloria..I think there is plenty of outside motive out there..and looking at all this in bulk, makes me wonder if Alex isn't the least likely person to have done this. I just don't
think all of Alex's bad acts prior add up to motive either.

tell me why he rushed to have cops on the scene..when he could have waited..why would he box himself in? why would he do it with a pocket full of pills? he would't even have to make up a story like he wasn't down there at all to cover up..

it's just not logical. mOO
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I don’t think Alec thought he boxed himself in. His story gave him over a 2 hour window for them to be killed. I don’t think he considered that he needed to make that window of time any larger. once he returned home, he had to call 911, how is he going to explain not checking on them if they were not in the house?
If this was retaliation for Alex stealing, why would they kill Paul and Maggie and leave Alex alive? He is the one who committed the crimes. I don’t think it makes any sense for this to be a revenge killing for what Alex did and Alex is the one that’s still alive. There is no proof that Alex had a pocket of pills, they were never found by LE. moo
 
minazoe said:
watching the Netflix doc. I was struck by that recording of Mags call to 911 regarding Gloria who was pretty obviously badly wounded and affected by this fall..coupling this and stolen money and the boat accident..I could see someone who is very hurt by all of this wanting to kill Mags and Paul who was raised up by Gloria..I think there is plenty of outside motive out there..and looking at all this in bulk, makes me wonder if Alex isn't the least likely person to have done this. I just don't
think all of Alex's bad acts prior add up to motive either.

tell me why he rushed to have cops on the scene..when he could have waited..why would he box himself in? why would he do it with a pocket full of pills? he would't even have to make up a story like he wasn't down there at all to cover up..

it's just not logical. mOO
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I would say its just not logical it could have been anyone else but Alex personally
 
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