SC - Paul Murdaugh,22 & Mom Margaret,52, 7 June 2021 *Media, Maps, Timeline-NO DISCUSSION*
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arielilane
Justice for Liz Barraza
Seattle1
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3/13/23
Alex Murdaugh has left himself with no escape from a lifetime behind bars after he admitted to a string of financial crimes under oath at his murder trial.
Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul at the family’s $4m Moselle estate in Islandton and has been sentenced to life in prison in South Carolina.
Despite his conviction, Murdaugh continues to profess his innocence – even when given a last-ditch chance to confess at his sentencing hearing.
His legal team of State Senator Dick Harpootlian and friend Jim Griffin have already vowed to fight the guilty verdict, by appealing the case all the way up to the US Supreme Court.
But, as prominent attorney Duncan Levin told The Independent this week, it won’t make any difference.
For one, Mr Levin is doubtful an appeal would be successful.
“I don’t see any basis for an appeal. When he took the stand he erased any real chance of error as he said it in his own words,” said the former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan DA’s office and prominent criminal defence attorney at Levin & Associates who has represented clients including Harvey Weinstein and Anna Delvey.
And secondly, even if an appeal were successful, Mr Levin said that Murdaugh has sentenced himself to life in prison after implicating himself in a slew of financial fraud crimes.
“He will spend the rest of his life in prison – there’s no getting out of this at this point,” he said.
“Not only has he been convicted of two heinous murders, but he has also implicated himself in financial crimes to give himself a lifetime in prison.”
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Police: Buster Murdaugh believes he is being stalked | Court TV
By LAUREN SILVER Court TV BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. (Court TV) — An incident report filed in South Carolina reveals that the surviving son of disgraced
www.courttv.com
3/13/23
In a report filed with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office on March 6, Brooklyn White, Buster Murdaugh’s girlfriend, said that the couple was becoming increasingly concerned about intrusions by the press at the home they share.
Describing the behavior as “increasingly unsettling and frightening,” deputies said in the report that White witnessed a reporter, identified as Jonathan Lee Riches, looking into the windows of her vehicle outside of her home.
White told deputies that Riches had been following her and Murdaugh while the pair had been at the courthouse for Alex Murdaugh’s trial, but was unaware as to how Riches found her address.
In the report, a deputy noted that White showed them a series of YouTube videos that show Riches “heckling Buster at the courthouse.”‘
White further told investigators that she had noticed other unidentified members of the press in the area around her home, taking photos of her walking her dogs and asking questions of neighbors.
The responding officer advised White as to the process for filing a restraining order.
A note in the deputy’s report said that Buster Murdaugh “requested not to be listed in the involvements or any subsequent reports due to privacy concerns.”
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3/14/23
www.dailymail.co.uk
Alex Murdaugh's accomplice files for new trial using testimony
Russell Laffitte - convicted of multiple counts of fraud in connection with Alex Murdaugh's decades-long corruption schemes has put in a second bid for a new trial following his killer friends court testimony.
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EXCLUSIVE: First CCSO responders to Murdaugh murders talk about the case and trial
The Colleton County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) was the first on scene when Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were murdered in June of 2021. Alex Murdaugh, Maggie's husband
abcnews4.com
3/16/23
COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — The Colleton County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) was the first on scene when Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were murdered in June of 2021. Alex Murdaugh, Maggie's husband and Paul's father, was found guilty of the murders in March and sentenced to life in prison.
Capt. Jason Chapman, Det. Laura Rutland, and Det. Daniel Greene spoke about being on the scene the night of the double murders. They all took the stand during Murdaugh's six-week trial and all helped secure the courthouse and the people around it.
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Chapman said within the first hour of arriving on the scene the night of the murders, something wasn't right. He says Murdaugh's body language showed there was more going on than what he was saying. Murdaugh was showing clues, like not making eye contact, not blinking, turning on and off emotions, and other things that Chapman found odd.
"It's years and years of reading people," Chapman said. "A detective tells you a lot of times, it doesn't matter what comes out of your mouth in the interview room, it's what the body says. If we can have someone come in and sit and say the typical 'I swear I didn't do it, swear I didn't do it', but their body says everything opposite."
Within 72 hours, Chapman and Rutland reviewed what they had on the case - the 911 call Murdaugh made, Greene's body camera when he arrived on the scene, and Murdaugh's first interview with law enforcement. After that review, they felt Murdaugh was not telling the truth. Now, it is known Murdaugh was found guilty of killing Maggie and Paul.
Greene and Rutland both knew nothing about the Murdaugh family before the case started in June 2021. Greene was the first on the scene the night of the murders and Rutland was part of the entire investigation, helping interview Murdaugh with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
"I didn't know who the family was," Greene said. "None of this kinda triggered anything in my head that this is gonna end up being a huge thing. The initial thought wasn't (Murdaugh) killed his wife and son. It wasn't really one of the scenarios going through my head on the way there because he called and said, 'I found them'. Generally, when you get a call like that, you go into it thinking that's the truth."
Rutland said, "When (Murdaugh) first described Paul, breaking down, at first I thought it was a genuine emotion and genuine trauma. Of course, now I know he was traumatized - not by what he found, but what he had done."
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Chapman says after the verdict came out, the jurors thanked him, Rutland, Greene, and the entire sheriff's office for their work. He says they also wanted to thank SLED and the South Carolina Attorney General's Office. But, of course, they say the most rewarding part overall was getting justice for Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
Throughout the trial, the defense kept pointing out mistakes they felt were made in the investigation into Maggie and Paul's deaths. Later this week, learn what the deputies thought about that.
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Maggie Murdaugh's husband was convicted of her murder. Her friends want to keep her memory alive.
CBS News' Nikki Battiste gets to know Maggie Murdaugh through two of her longtime friends for "48 Hours."
www.cbsnews.com
3/16/23
Maggie Murdaugh made headlines in death. But the loss of the woman called "Magnolia" by her sister was quickly overshadowed by the high-profile tribulations of her husband, Alex — charged with murdering Maggie and their son, Paul, accused of nearly 100 financial crimes involving millions of dollars, fired from the law firm his great-grandfather founded, disbarred and embroiled in several scandals simultaneously. A jury convicted him on March 2 of both murders.
A key piece of evidence in the weekslong South Carolina trial — during which 76 witnesses, including Alex Murdaugh himself and the couple's surviving son, Buster, took the stand — was a video of Paul's. Prosecutor Creighton Waters described that video as Paul's testimony from beyond the grave.
But Caroline Price and Shellie West want to make sure they remember their longtime friend for the good times — "the way she was, and not what happened," as West put it.
Price and West told CBS News' Nikki Battiste their friend doted on her sons and was a dutiful wife to her husband, whom Price said was "larger than life" while Maggie Murdaugh "wasn't flashy at all."
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Murdaugh’s Moselle property is about to sell. Here’s where the money will go
An attorney working closely with the sale of the property says the deal is expected to be finalized next week for $3.7 million.
3/16/23
ISLANDTON, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Before the sale of the Murdaugh’s infamous Moselle property could be finalized, eight attorneys had to work out where the money would go.
Moselle, where Alex Murdaugh killed his wife Maggie and son Paul on June 7, 2021, is currently under contract with a buyer.
An attorney working closely with the sale of the property says the deal is expected to be finalized next week for $3.7 million.
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Most of the money from the sale will go toward settlements.
Here’s how the money will be broken up, according to court documents:
- John Marvin Murdaugh, Alex’s brother, will use $290,000 to pay the estate’s outstanding legal fees
- $6,511.52 will go to Laura Jones, LLC -- a creditor with a claim against the estate
- Buster Murdaugh, Alex’s surviving son, will get $530,000.
- $100,000 will go to attorney Joseph McCulloch, who is representing boat crash victim Connor Cook in a civil suit against Buster
- The co-receivers will receive $275,000 for the common fund, which will eventually go to more victims
- $25,000 will go to Palmetto State Bank, which also has a claim against the estate
- The remaining funds will go to attorney Mark Tinsley, who is representing three other parties from the boat wreck: Morgan Doughty, Miley Altman and the estate of Mallory Beach who was killed in the crash
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Sheriff's office releases Alex Murdaugh phone call with attorney, asks people not to share it
"Please do not share this call," the Colleton County Sheriff's Office wrote in an email sent after the audio had been shared widely on TikTok.
lawandcrime.com
3/20/23
A jailhouse recording of convicted double murderer Alex Murdaugh speaking with one of his defense attorneys was released over the weekend – a recording that appears to have been made sometime during Murdaugh’s recent Colleton County, S.C., trial in the shooting deaths of his wife and son.
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After the call was released and widely shared, however, law enforcement backtracked and requested that people not share it.
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The recording was obtained and released by Hidden True Crime, a media organization run by husband-wife duo Dr. John Matthias and Lauren Matthias. The outlet produces podcasts and YouTube videos focused on true crime from the combined perspectives of “criminal psychology and journalism,” according to their website.
Hidden True Crime, in a February open records request, asked for “any and all jail phone calls made, placed by” Richard Alexander Murdaugh while in the custody of the sheriff’s office, the Colleton County Jail, or the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, their South Carolina state Freedom of Information Act request says.
Lauren Matthias explained that the recording, along with 28 other phone calls that were “mostly hang-ups,” was released by the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office late last week. The call between Murdaugh and Griffin was posted on TikTok in order to elicit additional information about the exchange from court watchers, Matthias said.
Typically, conversations between attorneys and their clients are protected by the attorney-client privilege – which protects and is determined by the client; often a client must raise the privilege or have their attorney raise it on their behalf.
Murdaugh’s attorney on the call, for his part, confirmed he was the other person and expressed outrage over the turn of events.
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“It’s me and I’m mad as hell,” Griffin said in a tweet reply to another Twitter user’s attorney-client privilege concerns about the audio. “Stay tuned.”
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Law&Crime reached out to Griffin and a representative for Murdaugh’s legal team about the audio but no response was immediately forthcoming.
Law&Crime also reached out to the CCSO for information about why they felt the call did not originally merit such protections but no response was immediately forthcoming.
In an email sent to Hidden True Crime the day after the audio was originally shared on TikTok, the CCSO requested the phone call not be shared.
“It has come to our attention that one of the calls released through the FOIA response falls under attorney/client privilege,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a March 18 email to the outlet. “Please do not share this call.”
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Alex Murdaugh is getting messages of support and 'love' from women in prison
Mostly women have reached out to the man recently sentenced to serve two consecutive life sentences for the brutal murder of his wife and youngest son.
lawandcrime.com
4/5/23
Alex Murdaugh is receiving love letters in prison, a South Carolina prison official confirmed to Law&Crime.
The amorous dispatches were obtained by the Palmetto State political blog and news site FITSNews through an open records request.