SC - Paul Murdaugh & mom Margaret Found Shot To Death - Alex Murdaugh Accused - Islandton #31

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Seattle1 said:
Also, AM told the jury he could not "intentionally" hurt his family. I think AM believes being under the influence of narcotics prevents him from living and acting intentionally.

And all of his testimony, dancing around semantics, was exhausting! JMO
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Yes, it was exhausting! Spin, spin, spin.

I know we all analyze everything here and pick up on all of this. I hope the jury did as well. This trial seems to be coming to an end soon and we’ll find out.
 
Walela said:
Who is the man in the suit and tie with the backpack?
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Did you notice him tap Alex on the arm when the judge left the room when court ended? He was trying to get him to hurry up. He even asked the lady in white to pass Alex's files. The sheriffs moved in quickly and gathered Alex's files, then the security guy tapped him to go. That seemed different from the beginning of the trial (long ago) when they used to let him stand around and talk to his attorneys for a bit.

Maybe it's because it's Friday and they want to get going or maybe they are just done with being deferential to Alex. Just something that stood out to me.

Start watching about 8:34:33

 
If I were the prosecution I would say this to Alex:
Please confirm the following:
You love your family Maggie, Paul and Buster - Y or N
You state that you love your clients - Y or N
You say you love these people yet you lie to them repeatedly, and you stole money from your clients, many who were severely impaired and needed the money. If you lie to those you love how can we be expected to believe that you are not lying now about killing your wife and son? Especially given that you have a history of deception and lying to make yourself appear innocent.

I also would not let him have the stand to keep talking. Alex is a gifted orator and gifted with language skills. it is how he was so successful in fooling everyone for years, which is also why he should not be allowed to ramble on and on. Don't give him a pulpit to endear himself to the jury!

No sir, short responses only.....
 
Megnut said:
I would guess they were covered by a blue tarp all along.

JMO
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Or he had put them by the kennel at an earlier time. They did not need to be hidden from Maggie and Paul
Skigirl said:
The way I am thinking about the motive (to the extent that people even really need a great motive to kill) is (IMO):

- The pressure from the boat crash cases were mounting. Tinsley, the Beach family's attorney, had told him that he was going to have to pay a lot of money to settle the case. Alex told Tinsley that he was broke. Tinsley didn't believe it based on what he knew of Alex's caseload and was going to force Alex to turn over financial information. If his financial information came to light, it was going to become clear that he was stealing from clients. That would have gotten him disbarred and would have stopped him from making a legitimate living. Worse, it was going to turn off the spigot on his illegitimate income. Even worse, Alex would probably have to go to prison.
- If the boat crash case were to settle -- or go to trial -- he was going to lose everything, including Maggie's beloved beach house and Moselle, which was Paul's "absolute passion"
- Paul's criminal defense was costing a fortune and would have been making its way through the courts for years, which caused more financial pressure.
- Alex's usual modus operandi of tampering with the jury was not going to fly in the boat crash cases, because Tinsley told him that if he had even a hint of a whiff of tampering, Tinsley was going to immediately file new suits in Beaufort County naming Buster and Maggie. More financial pressure.
- Maggie was encouraging Alex to settle the suits, but Alex was backed into a corner and couldn't without all of the above consequences, which she did not know of.
- IMO, Maggie and Paul were becoming aware of financial issues through declined credit cards and bounced checks. Maybe Paul ("Little Detective") had even done some snooping and had unearthed some evidence of the ill-gotten gains.
- Maggie and Little Detective were putting pressure on him by finding drugs and confronting him. They were coming between him and opioids.
- IMO, Alex was having an affair and he also had to worry about that coming to light, because if Maggie divorced him, he would be financially ruined (I am basing my opinion about the possibility of an affair on Mushelle Smith's testimony that he had only been by at night to visit his mother a couple times in the years that she worked for Miss Libby coupled with testimony by Marian about how much time he spent there and Maggie's text saying that she was worried about Alex because he wasn't getting enough sleep due to all the time he was spending with his parents at night.)
- Alex's father, who was his protector and fixer for his entire life was dying. There would be no daddy to help him soon.
- The above consequences -- becoming penniless and being found to be a thief and a liar and an addict -- would have ruined his social standing as a powerful Murdaugh.

Killing Maggie and Paul would remove several pressure points. The criminal boat case would be dismissed. Juries would be less likely to award big damages against him and maybe Tinsley would even drop the case. He wouldn't have to worry about letting down Maggie and Paul by being found out to be a con man and a thief and by losing Moselle and the beach house and the rest of the lifestyle they had become accustomed to. He would no longer have to worry about hiding things from Maggie and Little Detective. Maybe he would be able to find a way to replace some of the missing money before anyone became any the wiser, or at least before anyone made public accusations, enabling him to avoid prison.

Do I think these are great reasons for murder? No, of course not, but it doesn't matter what I think is a good reason -- these were good reasons to Alex. People have murdered for much, much less.
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agree, makes me think of other cases where the husband is a prominent figure, instead of just getting a divorce which would damage their reputation they try to get away with murder
Kroni said:
Cross examination was really not focused on the murders as much as the financial crimes and lies that AM repeatedly admitted to. Yes he's a bad guy (a drug addict, thief and a liar) but in looking at the big picture the Murdaughs were all about protecting their own no matter what i.e. the boat accident and circling the wagons. I don't agree with the suggested motive. I just wouldn't be able to convict him of murder for that reason and because:

1.Relying on time of death at around 8:50 (i.e when they stopped responding to texts). Argument: the cell service was spotty unless you stood in certain areas (testified to). Facetime was not good according to friend so he asked PM to take a video. PM never sent the video. He may have been waiting until he could actually get to a spot where he could send it. Coroner said time of death between 9:00-10:00. AM left at 9:06. It could have happened after that.
2.Missing guns. Guns all over the property, in unlocked vehicles. Granted usually a murderer would bring their own weapon, but maybe they did but found something better at the scene and opportunity.
3.Trafficking drugss - although prosecution says it has absolutely nothing to do with it the felons that are involved in that will kill family members as a warning but also you as well if they want to. It doesn't matter if you are living in a small, secluded town. Maybe AM was trying to become a big fish.
4. AM should have been covered in blood, no blood in the house, no evidence of anything wrong in the house.
5. Missing clothes: prosecution never asked him to produce according to testiony. He stayed all over after the murders and stayed with friends, clothes left everywhere.
6. No financial gain.
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the defense did’t even argue against the timeline/cell phone data. You also have the car data that helps confirm his movements

He said he walked through an extremely blood scene to check pulses, turned Paul over, zero blood on even the bottom of his shoes, no blood transfer of any kind in his vehicle. He had time to use the hose to clean and change clothes 10 -12 minutes

Correct they did not ask for clothing but if I had clothing that would exonerate me I would not have to be asked, I would provide them. In addition, his conversation with Blanca was very damning in which he tried to convince her that he was wearing a different shirt.

As to the time of death, I think the phone records do indicate they were killed before 9 o’clock, why would Alec lie about that specific time frame? Where is the need, only the killer would know that’s when they were killed? He maintained that lie for a year and a half until the kennel video was extracted from PMs phone. Why lie at all?

His financial gain was making the boat lawsuit go away, buying time to try and put out the financial fire he was in. All assets were in Maggie’s name, 2 dependents gone. Many family annihilators have killed for a lot less.

That’s one lucky killer to be able to find the two victims he wanted to kill alone at the kennels when neither had planned on being at Moselle that day, kill them in a very small time window and find two guns available to shoot them. Dogs never alerted to any stranger lurking or hiding.

MOO
 
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Kittybunny said:
People should never underestimate the desperation of a narcissist, pathological liar, who is about to be exposed by those closest to him. It reminds me of Mark Hacking, who killed his wife Lori when she discovered he had been lying about being enrolled in medical school. She was 5 months pregnant. No signs of domestic violence, they were a loving Mormon couple by all accounts.

Rather than admit to the deception, he shot her. The Murder of Lori Hacking: Killed by Her Husband's Lies

I definitely believe AM has got a lot of people still fooled despite the fact that there is a ton of evidence that he's a horrible person, even admitted all his financial crimes and yet people still feel sorry for him - that is quite a talent or a Machiavellian display of evil, depending on your perspective. He's very smooth a lot of times, I'll give him that. There's a reason he's gotten away with everything he has for so long, he's a great manipulator and bamboozler.
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YES! Great example.
 
So...The *KILLERS* happened to know that PM and MM were down at the kennels??? How would they know the window of time that they would be there? Did they know AM decided to suddenly come down as well....*waited* for him to LEAVE before the killings? REALLY??? They wanted to SPARE HIS LIFE?? REALLY???
 
Gardenista said:
Not sure, but I posted earlier that the deputy was whispering about the judge and one of the reporters said it was about Alex and contraband, but now I can't remember which reporter said it.
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I remember that earlier. They stopped for a break and everyone started to leave, then the officer said something and went to talk to the judge.
 
@Kittybunny good comparison, Mark Hacking to AM. I agree, AM was falling apart, and he blamed his family for the problems. He reminds me of a guy spinning plates, at some point, the guy has so many going they start crashing in on him.

The death of Mallory Beach, and subsequent lawsuits were going to expose everything. He blamed Paul for that. And I believe that Maggie was seeing everything, and wanted out.

I always find criminals like AM interesting, he had everything, but his own greed, lies, drug addiction, crashed his life. He completely destroyed his "perfect" life.
 
justtrish said:
Would Maggie have needed to okay the $600,000 extension on Moselle if she owned it?

If so, did she refuse?

Did he ask her and that sparked her to reach out to an accountant to examine what was going on with their finances?
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he testified she would sign papers without question. IMO he would not have been able to do anything with something in her name only. her living arrangements are more than meets the eye IMO. FACT: her housekeeper testified she was upset about the upcoming boat settlement, some $30mil which she said even if she liquidated everything it wouldnt cover it. she had no idea of his thefts at that point. Her reputation and community view of them had shifted significantly and maybe she was going to try to salvage what was left of her life...without him. possibly made up her mind to dump him. just the mere fact her housekeeper said she revealed info she was concerned he was keeping financial info from her, if she was smart, she would have started the digging process. hey, in a divorce, he was in financial ruin which she really didnt know the extent yet. and sadly, never would.
 
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Iwondertoo said:
Did you notice him tap Alex on the arm when the judge left the room when court ended? He was trying to get him to hurry up. He even asked the lady in white to pass Alex's files. The sheriffs moved in quickly and gathered Alex's files, then the security guy tapped him to go. That seemed different from the beginning of the trial (long ago) when they used to let him stand around and talk to his attorneys for a bit.

Maybe it's because it's Friday and they want to get going or maybe they are just done with being deferential to Alex. Just something that stood out to me.

Start watching about 8:34:33

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AM makes me sick. He just puts his hands in his pockets and prances out of there. Like he’s a representing attorney.
Gets special treatment…what the?!!

MOO
 
katydid23 said:
I don't understand all of the people defending him and insisting he is innocent and being treated unfairly.
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Is it another case of power and $ talking. I notice that many of the pundits are from South Carolina. Are they covering their butts? Seems like they’re all afraid. Sad state of affairs in South Carolina.
 
State patrol, local police, and municipality sheriff's vehicles in South Carolina are required to be equipped with oscillating, rotating or flashing blue lights. In addition to the blue lights, they may also display alternately flashing red lights, white lights, or both. These vehicle lights must be visible for a distance of 500 feet in all directions in normal sunlight. Only police vehicles may legally use blue flashing lights.
 
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