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Hey, everyone, and welcome back to Exposed Scandalous Files of
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the Elite. I am your host, Jim Chapman, and we
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are back with the twelfth episode in our Murdall series.
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And now we're finally getting to the point that I
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have been wanting to bring you since we started this
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some twelve episodes ago. Now, the last time that I
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left you, we were at the point where Alex Murdall
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has finally been arrested and charged with the murder of
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Maggie and Paul Murdall. This was in Florida where he
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was in a rehab slash detox facility. So I have
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those indictments in front of me and y'all. They're short
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and sweet and pretty much to the point, so I'll
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cover those with you. And Indictment number one says that
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honor about June seventh of twenty twenty one, the defendant,
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Richard Alexander Murdall, in Collington County, did kill another person
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with malice. Richard Alexander Murdall did fatally shoot the victim,
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Margaret Maggie Kennedy Brandsteadter Murdall with a rifle, and Maggie
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Murdall did die as a proximate result thereof, against the
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peace and dignity of the State, and contrary to the
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statute in such case made and provided, And that is
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signed by Alan Wilson, the South Carolina Attorney General. Indictment
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number two that on June seventh, twenty twenty one, the defendant,
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Richard Alexander Murdall, in Collington County, did kill another person
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with malice. Richard Alexander Murdall did fatally shoot the victim,
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Paul Terry Murdall, with a shotgun, and Paul Terry Murdall
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did die as a proximate result thereof, against the peace
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and dignity of the state, and contrary to the statute
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in such case made and provided. And that is also
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signed by Alan Wilson, the South Carolina Attorney General. And
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there's a third indictment that on or about June seventh,
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twenty twenty one, in Collington County, the defendant, Richard Alexander
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Murdall was in possession of a firearm during the commission
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of a violent crime. Richard Alexander Murdall did possess a
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rifle when he murdered Margaret Maggie Kennedy Brainstead of Murdall
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in violation and it lists the section and that is
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also signed by Alan Wilson, and a fourth indictment basically
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saying the same thing, except instead of a rifle, it
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says a shotgun and it references Paul Murdall. So we're
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going to move forward to January of twenty twenty three
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and jury selection begins in this trial. Now, this jury
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started with nine hundred potential jurors. This was on January
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twenty fourth of twenty twenty three, and that pool was
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nared down to about one hundred and fifty jurors. And
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it's important to mention that a lot of these potential
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jurors that got excused because they were connected to the
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mrdall's law firm somehow, you know, maybe a family member
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was represented by the law firm, or maybe they were
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related somehow down the line. I mean, you got to
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remember this is a smaller town and everybody's related to everybody.
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Right now, when these jurors are polled, as they call it,
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they are asked a series of questions essentially, and they
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fill out a questionnaire. And I actually have that questionnaire,
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and you may find it interesting to hear the questions
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So one of them is, please list all the groups, clubs,
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associations you've belonged to or volunteer slash donate to include churches, schools, sororities, fraternities,
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professional business, political advocacy, and it goes on and on.
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And the reason they're doing that in this case, and
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we'll use fraternal for example, well, if you were in
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the same fraternity, even if it was a different college
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than Alex Murdall, you may have some bias towards his innocence.
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And that's why they're trying to determine any sort of
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connection to Alex Murdall. Now, another question is, please identify
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your sources or subscriptions for obtaining news, and they list
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some examples of that television, internet and streaming video, radio, podcast, newspapers, websites, magazines,
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social media. And the reason that they do that is
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kind of obvious. They want to figure out what the case,
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being so high profile, how much of that have you
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possibly been exposed to. If you're someone that doesn't have
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social media, or you're not very active on social media,
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the likelihood that you've already been influence this is less.
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Another question, do you or have you regularly watched or
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listened to podcasts in the true crime genre, and they
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use examples such as forty eight Hours, Forensic Files, Dateline Exposed,
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Scandalous Files of the Elite. Just kidding, I added that
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last one, but they list some very well known podcasts
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and investigative shows, And again with this question, they're trying
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to determine how much of an outside influence that you've had.
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Another question they ask, are you or your spouse associated
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or work with any state, local, or national law enforcement
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group such as Crime Commission, Group dedicated to Victims' Rights,
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neighborhood crime Watch, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, sharefs' auxiliaries? And
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what are they trying to do there? I think they're
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trying to determine if you would be biased for the police,
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because this contains a lot of circumstantial evidence, and if
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you're biased for or against the police, for that matter,
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it would show you may have some sort of trust
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issue with anything they say, if you're against them, and
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if you're for them, maybe you would be a little
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bit too lenient on that circumstantial evidence. So jurors they
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complete this questionnaire and they return it back to the
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Clerk of Court, and the clerker court narrows it down
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by removing those who state they are unable to serve
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for whatever reason. That's the first question on the form,
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and once that process is complete, a final list of
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names is provided to the defense and to the prosecution,
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and they start performing background checks on these individuals to
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for the trial. They want to make sure that if
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you say you're not related to murd All, you're actually
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not related to them. Right. So, which side did the
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detailed questionnaire benefit? The prosecution or the defense? Well, the
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goal of the attorneys on both sides is to obtain
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as much information as possible on those jurors. The prosecution
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they're likely looking for jurors sympathetic toward the victims and
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likely vocal advocates, if you will, for justice. The defense team,
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they're going to likely look for jurors with strong personalities.
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Now remember it only takes one one wild card. Juror
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with a strong personality can absolutely hang a jury, which
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means they prevent that conviction by keeping the verdict from
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being unanimous. You have to have a unanimous verdict in
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this case, so jury selection obviously one of the most
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critical components of a successful trial and prosecution defense they
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spend a ton of time on board deer. Now, both
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prosecutors and defense attorneys will be seeking every advantage that
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they can as they whittle that jury down to just
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twelve jurors out of nine hundred prospective jurors in anywhere
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between four and six alternates. Now Here is the oath
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that those jurors will recite. Mister or madam. Foreman, ladies
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and gentlemen of the jury, please stand and raise your
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right hand to be sworn. You shall well and truly
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try and true deliverance make between the State of South
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Carolina and the defendant bar whom you shall have in charge,
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and a true verdict give according to the laws and evidence.
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So help you God. And you may wonder how long
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that jury selection takes in a typical case, not necessarily
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the murdaal trial, well, it could take multiple days. After
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the jurors are sworn in the presiding judge in this case,
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that's Clifton Newman, he begins a process that I just
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referred to called warder, which is a examination of a
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juror by a judge or counseling. During this process, which
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all of this takes place behind closed doors, attorneys can
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challenge any of the jurors for cause. For example, an
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attorney can move to strike a prospective juror who attended
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high school with Murdall if they feel that there was
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a relationship there that would cause them to be biased,
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and challenges for cause. They're not often approved by the
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judge because if one is raised, the judge will ask
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the juror if they feel the relationship would cause bias,
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and if the juror says no, in most cases, he's
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got to go with it. It's important to note technically,
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by the law, it doesn't matter if you listen to
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a podcast, for example, on Murdall before you were selected
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as a juror, as long as you say, I can
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put my opinion aside, or I can put what I
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heard aside in that podcast and make a just determination
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on guilt or innocence. So the fact that you know somebody,
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the fact that you know about a high profile case, technically,
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by the law doesn't matter if you can honestly say
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I can put all that aside and just form an
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opinion based off the evidence. That being said guaranteed a
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defense team. If you listen to a podcast on murder
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All before the murder all trial. He's going to do
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everything he can to get you dismissed for cause. Now,
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after the attorney's finish raising challenges for cause, they begin
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what's known as preamptory challenges. An attorney does not need
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to be present to provide a reason to excuse a
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juror for a challenge. The jurors names are called using
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a random computer system, and the names are presented to
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the court. After the jurors name is presented, the prosecutor
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is asked what the state says. The responses are to
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excuse the juror, present the jur or, to swear in
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the jur Defense attorneys get ten challenges, prosecutors get five,
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and if they are excused, jurors get seated in the
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back of the courtroom. Next, the defense is asked the
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same question, and that process repeats itself until twelve jurors
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and however, many alternates are selected have been seated and
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sworn in, and at that point the judge allows opening
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arguments to begin, where the prosecution and the defense do
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their opening statements. So eventually, on January twenty fifth of
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twenty twenty three, the final jury was selected and that
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consisted of six jars and six alternates, and those alternates
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they're going to come into play at some point, which
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I'll bring you as we go along. So in regards
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to demographics, the juror included seven white men, three white women,
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to black women, and of course a four person was
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selected by the judge and the trial started. Now I
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want to introduce you to the key players with regard
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to the prosecution, the defense team, and the judge. And
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those are the three people you're going to hear from today.
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And we'll start with Judge Clifton Newman. And look, this
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guy was the perfect judge for this trial, and you'll
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see that as we go along. But a little about
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his history. He was born November seventh of nineteen fifty one.
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He's an American attorney and former at law judge on
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the South Carolina Circuit Court. He served as judge since
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his election by the state General Assembly in the year
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two thousand. In twenty twenty one, he was re elected
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to a final fourth term, and he actually retired in
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December of twenty twenty three. In his role as a
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Circuit Court judge, he presided over several high profile trials,
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including the trial of Michael Slager, Nathaniel Roland, and Alex Murdall,
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and so he has now retired. As a matter of fact,
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he retired after the murdaal case. A very well respected attorney.
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He was born in Kingstreet, South Carolina. His dad was
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a reverend and interestingly enough, he was the first member
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of his family to be born in a hospital. When
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Nimmim was three years old, his mother left his family
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in South Carolina to work in New York as a
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domestic worker. And in high school, Newman acted as an
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attorney in drama class, really liked it, set his sights
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on the law, and actually graduated valedictorian of his class
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in nineteen sixty nine. He was also student body president,
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and he received his gist doctor from Cleveland Marshall College
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of Wall. This guy was, by the time this trial
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rolled around, was as experienced as they come, bar none.
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So that's the judge and the lead prosecutor in this
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case was a guy by the name of Samuel Creighton
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Waters and he goes by Creighton and throughout this trial,
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this guy was unbelievably good and it really heats up.
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I'll go ahead and give you a spoil alert. At
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some time. During this trial, Alex Murdall takes the stand
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and Creighton Waters of course examines him on that stand
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and it is a master piece. I can't wait to
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get to that. So here's a little about him. So
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he's the chief attorney for the South Carolina State Grand
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Jury and he was also the leading state prosecut as
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I just told you against Alex Murdall. Fifty two years old,
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and he had worked for the Attorney General's office for
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more than twenty four years. Very experienced. Waters is very
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well known for his successful prosecution of corrupt law enforcement officers.
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He kind of specializes in that he recently obtained indictments
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on more than one hundred suspects following investigations into drug
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operations in the state prison system. This drug trafficking organization
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mostly operated out of the South Carolina Department of Corrections,
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using contraband items, particularly cell phones, from within the prison system.
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Waters also worked with prosecutors on major white collar cases
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and his knowledge in this area has been utilized heavily
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by the Attorney General's office, and they knew he was
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the right guy to prosecute the Murderall case. So that's
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a little bit on Creighton Waters, and finally we have
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Senator Dick Harpoutlian and Senator Richard. Dick Harpoutlian is the
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lead defense attorney for accused killer Alex Murdach. He attempted
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Clemson University for his undergrad and received his law degree
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from the University of South Carolina in nineteen seventy four.
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Harpootlum began his legal career with the Fifth Circuit Solicitor's
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Office in South Carolina. In nineteen eighty three, here in
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a conviction in the prosecution of Donald Pee Weee Gaskins,
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which was South Carolina's most notorious serial killers and one
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of the most notorious of all time for that matter.
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Gaskins was sentenced to death and later executed. Just weeks
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prior to that execution, Gaskins attempted to have Harpoulian's young
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daughter kidnapped and held hostage. That plot was stopped by
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law enforcement when they received a tip from one of
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those Gaskins have recruited. In nineteen eighty three, Harpoolium went