Nov. 21, 2024

"Murdaugh" Episode Twelve | The Jury Pool

"Murdaugh" Episode Twelve | The Jury Pool

In this 12th episode of the “Murdaugh” series, Jim Chapman details the indictments and the jury selection process for the trial of Alex Murdaugh. You hear the opening statements, with the prosecution presenting compelling forensic evidence while the...

In this 12th episode of the “Murdaugh” series, Jim Chapman details the indictments and the jury selection process for the trial of Alex Murdaugh. You hear the opening statements, with the prosecution presenting compelling forensic evidence while the defense counters with claims of insufficient direct evidence. Key figures, including Judge Clifton Newman, are profiled and Jim jumps into this case with the start of the trial.

#murdaugh #AlexMurdaugh #trial #podcast #conviction #exposed #creightonwaters #cliftonnewman #Southcarolina

Timestamps
19:05 Opening Statements Begin
21:41 Evidence of the Murders
34:49 Forensic Evidence Unveiled
47:26 The 911 Call and Initial Reactions
48:55 The Prosecution's Case Unfolds
1:15:38 Defense Response and Strategy
1:17:05 Next Steps

The “Murdaugh case details” may be disturbing for some listeners. Exposed: Scandalous Files of the Elite provides the“latest update on the Alex Murdaugh case” throughout its ”Murdaugh” series podcast. Discover “the impact of the Murdaugh trial ” can be followed by subscribing wherever you listen to your podcasts.

For collaborations, promotions, or appearances email Jim at: https://www.exposedpodcastfiles@gmail.com

Join us on Patreon for commercial free early releases, bonus content and more by clicking HERE

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/exposed-scandalous-files-of-the-elite--6073723/support.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:15.080
Hey, everyone, and welcome back to Exposed Scandalous Files of

2
00:00:15.119 --> 00:00:18.760
the Elite. I am your host, Jim Chapman, and we

3
00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:24.320
are back with the twelfth episode in our Murdall series.

4
00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:27.399
And now we're finally getting to the point that I

5
00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:30.320
have been wanting to bring you since we started this

6
00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:34.920
some twelve episodes ago. Now, the last time that I

7
00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:37.719
left you, we were at the point where Alex Murdall

8
00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:42.119
has finally been arrested and charged with the murder of

9
00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:45.679
Maggie and Paul Murdall. This was in Florida where he

10
00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:51.600
was in a rehab slash detox facility. So I have

11
00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:55.359
those indictments in front of me and y'all. They're short

12
00:00:55.479 --> 00:00:58.920
and sweet and pretty much to the point, so I'll

13
00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:03.479
cover those with you. And Indictment number one says that

14
00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:07.560
honor about June seventh of twenty twenty one, the defendant,

15
00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:12.280
Richard Alexander Murdall, in Collington County, did kill another person

16
00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:16.480
with malice. Richard Alexander Murdall did fatally shoot the victim,

17
00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:22.359
Margaret Maggie Kennedy Brandsteadter Murdall with a rifle, and Maggie

18
00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:26.480
Murdall did die as a proximate result thereof, against the

19
00:01:26.519 --> 00:01:29.680
peace and dignity of the State, and contrary to the

20
00:01:29.719 --> 00:01:33.359
statute in such case made and provided, And that is

21
00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:39.640
signed by Alan Wilson, the South Carolina Attorney General. Indictment

22
00:01:39.719 --> 00:01:44.079
number two that on June seventh, twenty twenty one, the defendant,

23
00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:48.400
Richard Alexander Murdall, in Collington County, did kill another person

24
00:01:48.519 --> 00:01:53.000
with malice. Richard Alexander Murdall did fatally shoot the victim,

25
00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:57.480
Paul Terry Murdall, with a shotgun, and Paul Terry Murdall

26
00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:01.680
did die as a proximate result thereof, against the peace

27
00:02:01.799 --> 00:02:04.959
and dignity of the state, and contrary to the statute

28
00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:08.120
in such case made and provided. And that is also

29
00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:12.759
signed by Alan Wilson, the South Carolina Attorney General. And

30
00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:16.560
there's a third indictment that on or about June seventh,

31
00:02:16.680 --> 00:02:20.439
twenty twenty one, in Collington County, the defendant, Richard Alexander

32
00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:23.960
Murdall was in possession of a firearm during the commission

33
00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:27.960
of a violent crime. Richard Alexander Murdall did possess a

34
00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:32.199
rifle when he murdered Margaret Maggie Kennedy Brainstead of Murdall

35
00:02:32.680 --> 00:02:35.919
in violation and it lists the section and that is

36
00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:39.919
also signed by Alan Wilson, and a fourth indictment basically

37
00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:44.240
saying the same thing, except instead of a rifle, it

38
00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:50.360
says a shotgun and it references Paul Murdall. So we're

39
00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:53.520
going to move forward to January of twenty twenty three

40
00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:58.960
and jury selection begins in this trial. Now, this jury

41
00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:04.159
started with nine hundred potential jurors. This was on January

42
00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:07.080
twenty fourth of twenty twenty three, and that pool was

43
00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:10.199
nared down to about one hundred and fifty jurors. And

44
00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:12.879
it's important to mention that a lot of these potential

45
00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:17.000
jurors that got excused because they were connected to the

46
00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:21.599
mrdall's law firm somehow, you know, maybe a family member

47
00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:24.439
was represented by the law firm, or maybe they were

48
00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:27.840
related somehow down the line. I mean, you got to

49
00:03:27.879 --> 00:03:32.840
remember this is a smaller town and everybody's related to everybody.

50
00:03:32.919 --> 00:03:36.080
Right now, when these jurors are polled, as they call it,

51
00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:39.439
they are asked a series of questions essentially, and they

52
00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:43.000
fill out a questionnaire. And I actually have that questionnaire,

53
00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:46.520
and you may find it interesting to hear the questions

54
00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:51.240
So one of them is, please list all the groups, clubs,

55
00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:59.879
associations you've belonged to or volunteer slash donate to include churches, schools, sororities, fraternities,

56
00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:04.319
professional business, political advocacy, and it goes on and on.

57
00:04:04.439 --> 00:04:06.960
And the reason they're doing that in this case, and

58
00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:10.400
we'll use fraternal for example, well, if you were in

59
00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:13.840
the same fraternity, even if it was a different college

60
00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:18.040
than Alex Murdall, you may have some bias towards his innocence.

61
00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:22.399
And that's why they're trying to determine any sort of

62
00:04:22.439 --> 00:04:28.000
connection to Alex Murdall. Now, another question is, please identify

63
00:04:28.120 --> 00:04:32.399
your sources or subscriptions for obtaining news, and they list

64
00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:40.560
some examples of that television, internet and streaming video, radio, podcast, newspapers, websites, magazines,

65
00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:43.199
social media. And the reason that they do that is

66
00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:46.800
kind of obvious. They want to figure out what the case,

67
00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:50.160
being so high profile, how much of that have you

68
00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:53.279
possibly been exposed to. If you're someone that doesn't have

69
00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:57.399
social media, or you're not very active on social media,

70
00:04:57.480 --> 00:05:00.959
the likelihood that you've already been influence this is less.

71
00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:05.600
Another question, do you or have you regularly watched or

72
00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:09.079
listened to podcasts in the true crime genre, and they

73
00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:14.120
use examples such as forty eight Hours, Forensic Files, Dateline Exposed,

74
00:05:14.120 --> 00:05:18.680
Scandalous Files of the Elite. Just kidding, I added that

75
00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:23.240
last one, but they list some very well known podcasts

76
00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:28.240
and investigative shows, And again with this question, they're trying

77
00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:32.519
to determine how much of an outside influence that you've had.

78
00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:37.800
Another question they ask, are you or your spouse associated

79
00:05:37.959 --> 00:05:41.759
or work with any state, local, or national law enforcement

80
00:05:41.800 --> 00:05:46.639
group such as Crime Commission, Group dedicated to Victims' Rights,

81
00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:52.199
neighborhood crime Watch, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, sharefs' auxiliaries? And

82
00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:54.399
what are they trying to do there? I think they're

83
00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:58.759
trying to determine if you would be biased for the police,

84
00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:03.680
because this contains a lot of circumstantial evidence, and if

85
00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:06.720
you're biased for or against the police, for that matter,

86
00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:10.600
it would show you may have some sort of trust

87
00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:15.120
issue with anything they say, if you're against them, and

88
00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:17.839
if you're for them, maybe you would be a little

89
00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:22.759
bit too lenient on that circumstantial evidence. So jurors they

90
00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:26.000
complete this questionnaire and they return it back to the

91
00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:29.399
Clerk of Court, and the clerker court narrows it down

92
00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:32.680
by removing those who state they are unable to serve

93
00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:36.000
for whatever reason. That's the first question on the form,

94
00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:40.040
and once that process is complete, a final list of

95
00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:43.879
names is provided to the defense and to the prosecution,

96
00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:47.959
and they start performing background checks on these individuals to

97
00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:50.600
for the trial. They want to make sure that if

98
00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:53.240
you say you're not related to murd All, you're actually

99
00:06:53.399 --> 00:06:56.959
not related to them. Right. So, which side did the

100
00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:02.959
detailed questionnaire benefit? The prosecution or the defense? Well, the

101
00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:06.240
goal of the attorneys on both sides is to obtain

102
00:07:06.360 --> 00:07:11.120
as much information as possible on those jurors. The prosecution

103
00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:15.199
they're likely looking for jurors sympathetic toward the victims and

104
00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:20.000
likely vocal advocates, if you will, for justice. The defense team,

105
00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:23.879
they're going to likely look for jurors with strong personalities.

106
00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:30.120
Now remember it only takes one one wild card. Juror

107
00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:34.879
with a strong personality can absolutely hang a jury, which

108
00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:38.920
means they prevent that conviction by keeping the verdict from

109
00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:42.959
being unanimous. You have to have a unanimous verdict in

110
00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:46.439
this case, so jury selection obviously one of the most

111
00:07:46.439 --> 00:07:51.800
critical components of a successful trial and prosecution defense they

112
00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:54.519
spend a ton of time on board deer. Now, both

113
00:07:54.680 --> 00:08:00.519
prosecutors and defense attorneys will be seeking every advantage that

114
00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:04.079
they can as they whittle that jury down to just

115
00:08:04.279 --> 00:08:09.199
twelve jurors out of nine hundred prospective jurors in anywhere

116
00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:12.959
between four and six alternates. Now Here is the oath

117
00:08:14.279 --> 00:08:20.000
that those jurors will recite. Mister or madam. Foreman, ladies

118
00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.600
and gentlemen of the jury, please stand and raise your

119
00:08:22.680 --> 00:08:26.560
right hand to be sworn. You shall well and truly

120
00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:30.279
try and true deliverance make between the State of South

121
00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:34.679
Carolina and the defendant bar whom you shall have in charge,

122
00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:38.519
and a true verdict give according to the laws and evidence.

123
00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:42.480
So help you God. And you may wonder how long

124
00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:48.320
that jury selection takes in a typical case, not necessarily

125
00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:52.840
the murdaal trial, well, it could take multiple days. After

126
00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:56.840
the jurors are sworn in the presiding judge in this case,

127
00:08:56.919 --> 00:09:01.720
that's Clifton Newman, he begins a process that I just

128
00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:06.480
referred to called warder, which is a examination of a

129
00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:11.720
juror by a judge or counseling. During this process, which

130
00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:15.360
all of this takes place behind closed doors, attorneys can

131
00:09:15.480 --> 00:09:19.120
challenge any of the jurors for cause. For example, an

132
00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:22.480
attorney can move to strike a prospective juror who attended

133
00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:25.720
high school with Murdall if they feel that there was

134
00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:29.000
a relationship there that would cause them to be biased,

135
00:09:29.639 --> 00:09:34.000
and challenges for cause. They're not often approved by the

136
00:09:34.120 --> 00:09:36.720
judge because if one is raised, the judge will ask

137
00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:39.960
the juror if they feel the relationship would cause bias,

138
00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:44.720
and if the juror says no, in most cases, he's

139
00:09:44.759 --> 00:09:48.000
got to go with it. It's important to note technically,

140
00:09:48.120 --> 00:09:53.039
by the law, it doesn't matter if you listen to

141
00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:56.879
a podcast, for example, on Murdall before you were selected

142
00:09:56.919 --> 00:09:59.759
as a juror, as long as you say, I can

143
00:09:59.799 --> 00:10:03.679
put my opinion aside, or I can put what I

144
00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:09.039
heard aside in that podcast and make a just determination

145
00:10:09.240 --> 00:10:13.279
on guilt or innocence. So the fact that you know somebody,

146
00:10:14.279 --> 00:10:18.639
the fact that you know about a high profile case, technically,

147
00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:22.279
by the law doesn't matter if you can honestly say

148
00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:24.600
I can put all that aside and just form an

149
00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:30.399
opinion based off the evidence. That being said guaranteed a

150
00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:33.159
defense team. If you listen to a podcast on murder

151
00:10:33.159 --> 00:10:34.879
All before the murder all trial. He's going to do

152
00:10:34.919 --> 00:10:38.679
everything he can to get you dismissed for cause. Now,

153
00:10:38.759 --> 00:10:42.720
after the attorney's finish raising challenges for cause, they begin

154
00:10:43.159 --> 00:10:47.519
what's known as preamptory challenges. An attorney does not need

155
00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:50.840
to be present to provide a reason to excuse a

156
00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:54.440
juror for a challenge. The jurors names are called using

157
00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:57.519
a random computer system, and the names are presented to

158
00:10:57.559 --> 00:11:01.000
the court. After the jurors name is presented, the prosecutor

159
00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:05.519
is asked what the state says. The responses are to

160
00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:09.559
excuse the juror, present the jur or, to swear in

161
00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:15.480
the jur Defense attorneys get ten challenges, prosecutors get five,

162
00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:18.720
and if they are excused, jurors get seated in the

163
00:11:18.759 --> 00:11:22.360
back of the courtroom. Next, the defense is asked the

164
00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:27.440
same question, and that process repeats itself until twelve jurors

165
00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:31.120
and however, many alternates are selected have been seated and

166
00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:35.240
sworn in, and at that point the judge allows opening

167
00:11:35.320 --> 00:11:38.519
arguments to begin, where the prosecution and the defense do

168
00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:44.600
their opening statements. So eventually, on January twenty fifth of

169
00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:49.080
twenty twenty three, the final jury was selected and that

170
00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:54.399
consisted of six jars and six alternates, and those alternates

171
00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:57.240
they're going to come into play at some point, which

172
00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:01.120
I'll bring you as we go along. So in regards

173
00:12:01.159 --> 00:12:05.720
to demographics, the juror included seven white men, three white women,

174
00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:09.440
to black women, and of course a four person was

175
00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:13.919
selected by the judge and the trial started. Now I

176
00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:17.000
want to introduce you to the key players with regard

177
00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:21.200
to the prosecution, the defense team, and the judge. And

178
00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:23.879
those are the three people you're going to hear from today.

179
00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:28.159
And we'll start with Judge Clifton Newman. And look, this

180
00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:32.360
guy was the perfect judge for this trial, and you'll

181
00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:34.799
see that as we go along. But a little about

182
00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:39.600
his history. He was born November seventh of nineteen fifty one.

183
00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:43.080
He's an American attorney and former at law judge on

184
00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:47.440
the South Carolina Circuit Court. He served as judge since

185
00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:50.759
his election by the state General Assembly in the year

186
00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:55.639
two thousand. In twenty twenty one, he was re elected

187
00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:59.159
to a final fourth term, and he actually retired in

188
00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:03.600
December of twenty twenty three. In his role as a

189
00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:07.759
Circuit Court judge, he presided over several high profile trials,

190
00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:13.320
including the trial of Michael Slager, Nathaniel Roland, and Alex Murdall,

191
00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:16.879
and so he has now retired. As a matter of fact,

192
00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:21.799
he retired after the murdaal case. A very well respected attorney.

193
00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:26.320
He was born in Kingstreet, South Carolina. His dad was

194
00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:30.279
a reverend and interestingly enough, he was the first member

195
00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:33.519
of his family to be born in a hospital. When

196
00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:36.759
Nimmim was three years old, his mother left his family

197
00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:40.120
in South Carolina to work in New York as a

198
00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:44.120
domestic worker. And in high school, Newman acted as an

199
00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:48.639
attorney in drama class, really liked it, set his sights

200
00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:53.639
on the law, and actually graduated valedictorian of his class

201
00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:57.799
in nineteen sixty nine. He was also student body president,

202
00:13:58.519 --> 00:14:03.240
and he received his gist doctor from Cleveland Marshall College

203
00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:07.879
of Wall. This guy was, by the time this trial

204
00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:13.120
rolled around, was as experienced as they come, bar none.

205
00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:17.200
So that's the judge and the lead prosecutor in this

206
00:14:17.320 --> 00:14:20.679
case was a guy by the name of Samuel Creighton

207
00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:25.559
Waters and he goes by Creighton and throughout this trial,

208
00:14:25.720 --> 00:14:32.440
this guy was unbelievably good and it really heats up.

209
00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:35.519
I'll go ahead and give you a spoil alert. At

210
00:14:35.559 --> 00:14:39.240
some time. During this trial, Alex Murdall takes the stand

211
00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:44.519
and Creighton Waters of course examines him on that stand

212
00:14:45.240 --> 00:14:49.639
and it is a master piece. I can't wait to

213
00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:52.399
get to that. So here's a little about him. So

214
00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:56.080
he's the chief attorney for the South Carolina State Grand

215
00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:00.480
Jury and he was also the leading state prosecut as

216
00:15:00.519 --> 00:15:04.559
I just told you against Alex Murdall. Fifty two years old,

217
00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:07.720
and he had worked for the Attorney General's office for

218
00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:12.240
more than twenty four years. Very experienced. Waters is very

219
00:15:12.279 --> 00:15:17.120
well known for his successful prosecution of corrupt law enforcement officers.

220
00:15:17.159 --> 00:15:21.799
He kind of specializes in that he recently obtained indictments

221
00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:26.000
on more than one hundred suspects following investigations into drug

222
00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:31.679
operations in the state prison system. This drug trafficking organization

223
00:15:31.879 --> 00:15:35.399
mostly operated out of the South Carolina Department of Corrections,

224
00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:41.399
using contraband items, particularly cell phones, from within the prison system.

225
00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:45.799
Waters also worked with prosecutors on major white collar cases

226
00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:49.759
and his knowledge in this area has been utilized heavily

227
00:15:49.879 --> 00:15:54.000
by the Attorney General's office, and they knew he was

228
00:15:54.120 --> 00:15:59.480
the right guy to prosecute the Murderall case. So that's

229
00:15:59.480 --> 00:16:02.480
a little bit on Creighton Waters, and finally we have

230
00:16:03.080 --> 00:16:09.799
Senator Dick Harpoutlian and Senator Richard. Dick Harpoutlian is the

231
00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:14.759
lead defense attorney for accused killer Alex Murdach. He attempted

232
00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:19.279
Clemson University for his undergrad and received his law degree

233
00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:23.159
from the University of South Carolina in nineteen seventy four.

234
00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:28.039
Harpootlum began his legal career with the Fifth Circuit Solicitor's

235
00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:31.279
Office in South Carolina. In nineteen eighty three, here in

236
00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:35.639
a conviction in the prosecution of Donald Pee Weee Gaskins,

237
00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:40.320
which was South Carolina's most notorious serial killers and one

238
00:16:40.360 --> 00:16:42.879
of the most notorious of all time for that matter.

239
00:16:43.159 --> 00:16:47.559
Gaskins was sentenced to death and later executed. Just weeks

240
00:16:47.600 --> 00:16:52.200
prior to that execution, Gaskins attempted to have Harpoulian's young

241
00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:56.919
daughter kidnapped and held hostage. That plot was stopped by

242
00:16:57.039 --> 00:16:59.519
law enforcement when they received a tip from one of

243
00:16:59.559 --> 00:17:04.559
those Gaskins have recruited. In nineteen eighty three, Harpoolium went

244
00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:08.440
into private practice with a criminal defense lawyer that was

245
00:17:08.519 --> 00:17:12.599
nationally renowned by the name of Jack Swirling. He and

246
00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:17.359
Swirling had a partnership until January of nineteen ninety one,

247
00:17:17.640 --> 00:17:21.000
and in nineteen ninety mister Harpoolium was elected to the

248
00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:25.079
Fifth Circuit Solicitor, where he served from ninety one to

249
00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:29.559
ninety five. In nineteen ninety one, he prosecuted and convicted

250
00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:34.119
ex University of South Carolina president Jim Halderman for public

251
00:17:34.200 --> 00:17:38.319
corruption chargers arising from his abuse of the office for

252
00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:43.160
personal gain. He's been a fixture in South Carolina politics

253
00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:46.039
for the majority of his career. He was a member

254
00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:50.000
of the Richland County Council from nineteen eighty six to

255
00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:53.440
nineteen ninety one, as well as chairman of the South

256
00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:57.359
Carolina Democratic Party from nineteen ninety eight to two thousand

257
00:17:57.400 --> 00:18:00.759
and three and again from twenty eleven to twelve thirteen.

258
00:18:01.400 --> 00:18:05.400
And in twenty eighteen he was elected to the South

259
00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:10.640
Carolina State Senate, where he still currently serves. So you

260
00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:15.279
know you've got a powerful defense team when you have

261
00:18:15.480 --> 00:18:22.279
a senator defending you. And that's just what Alex Murdall had.

262
00:18:23.079 --> 00:18:26.039
A guy that had been friends with his family, his father,

263
00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:32.640
his brothers for many, many years. All right, So now

264
00:18:32.680 --> 00:18:35.839
that you know who the main players are, we're going

265
00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:38.799
to get into it, and we're going to start as

266
00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:43.880
every trial starts. We're going to start with the opening statements. Now,

267
00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:47.400
this is one of the most integral parts of the trial.

268
00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:50.200
This is the first time the jury's gonna hear the

269
00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:54.480
charges and the evidence for or against the accused in

270
00:18:54.519 --> 00:18:59.799
this case, Alex Murdall. So first up was Creighton Water

271
00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:05.519
and here he is delivering his opening statement to that jury.

272
00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:10.240
And now proceed to opening statements by the state, Thank.

273
00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:11.440
Your honor many please court.

274
00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:25.119
On the evening of June seventh, twenty twenty one, about

275
00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:30.519
the defendant's property off Mozelle Road in Carleton County, his

276
00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:34.640
son Paul Murdoch is standing in a small feet room

277
00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:36.880
and some kennels they had on the property.

278
00:19:38.119 --> 00:19:39.599
About eight point fifty.

279
00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:42.720
PM and the defendant over there, Alan Murdoch, took a

280
00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:47.880
twelve staged shotgun and shot him in the shoulder, in

281
00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:53.279
the chest and the shoulder with buck shot, and the

282
00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:54.839
evidence is going to show it was a million to

283
00:19:54.839 --> 00:19:55.200
one shot.

284
00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:56.119
He can survive that.

285
00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:58.759
But after that another shot went up under his head

286
00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:03.519
and did crowd to strip damage to his brain in

287
00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:03.960
his head.

288
00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:10.599
The evidence is going to show that Paul collapsed right

289
00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:16.599
outside that fee room and just moments later, just moments later,

290
00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:20.960
he picked up a three hundred blackout, which is a

291
00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:23.680
type of ammunition, but an AR style rifle, And the

292
00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:26.319
evidence is going to show that the family had multiple

293
00:20:26.359 --> 00:20:29.680
weapons throughout the property. Picked up that three hundred blackout

294
00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:34.799
rifle and opened fire on his wife, Maggie just feet

295
00:20:34.839 --> 00:20:38.279
away near some sheds that used to be a hangar.

296
00:20:40.359 --> 00:20:43.079
Two shots Adamant in the leg and took her down.

297
00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:48.079
And after that there were additional shots, including two shots

298
00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:50.039
to the head that again did.

299
00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:53.559
Catastrophic damage and killed her instantly.

300
00:20:56.839 --> 00:20:58.359
The evidence is going to show.

301
00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:06.839
That neither Paul nor Maggie had any defensive wounds.

302
00:21:08.759 --> 00:21:11.559
Neither one of them had any defensive wounds.

303
00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:16.160
As if they didn't see a threat coming from their attacker.

304
00:21:17.720 --> 00:21:19.559
And the evidence is also going to show that both

305
00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:23.359
pat Maggie and Paul were shot at extremely close range.

306
00:21:23.720 --> 00:21:25.400
The evidence is going to show it's called stifling.

307
00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:27.680
It's almost like a tattoo that when you get shot

308
00:21:27.799 --> 00:21:30.039
very close to a weapon, it leaves marks that the

309
00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:32.400
forensic pathologists can see.

310
00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:34.519
They were shot at close range and they did not

311
00:21:34.680 --> 00:21:43.240
have defensive wounds, And the evidence.

312
00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:45.960
Is going to show that the defendant, Alec Murdock over there,

313
00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:50.240
told anyone who would listen that he.

314
00:21:50.200 --> 00:21:52.039
Was never at those kennels.

315
00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:56.039
But the evidence is also going to show from these

316
00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:57.799
things that every one of us, most of us carry

317
00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:01.960
around in our pockets, that he was there, and he.

318
00:22:02.039 --> 00:22:06.400
Was there just minutes before with Maggie and Paul, just

319
00:22:06.599 --> 00:22:14.599
minutes before their cell phones go silent forever. And despite

320
00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:17.480
what he told people, I was never the kennels, the

321
00:22:17.559 --> 00:22:19.079
cell phones are going to show otherwise.

322
00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:25.680
Plays and gentlemen, my name is Craig and Waters. I'm

323
00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:28.319
with the Attorney General's Office and i'll be the lead prosecutor.

324
00:22:28.440 --> 00:22:29.839
I introduced myself.

325
00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:34.200
Before with me as David Fernandez, Savannah Gal, John Medters,

326
00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:38.200
Donson Linca, John Conrad, and Johnny James.

327
00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:39.880
A lot of lawyers. This is a big case.

328
00:22:40.359 --> 00:22:42.599
It's a very complicated case, and that's why there's so

329
00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:46.119
many people working on it. Sitting in back in the road.

330
00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:49.079
We have David Owen, who's the lead investigator. We have

331
00:22:49.160 --> 00:22:52.720
Lieutenant Charles Ghent who's one of the agents, Lieutenant or

332
00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:55.880
excuse me, special Agent Ryan Kelly, and the special Agent Peter Rudofski.

333
00:22:56.039 --> 00:22:57.799
Some of the agents that are working on the case

334
00:22:58.119 --> 00:23:01.440
as well as investigator Ozzie Telee who's working.

335
00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:03.599
On the case as well. There's some of the witnesses

336
00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:05.359
that you'll hear from.

337
00:23:05.640 --> 00:23:08.920
As we got through this case, the judge talked to

338
00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:12.559
you a little bit about him being the judge of

339
00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:14.960
the law, and he gives you the law, and I'm

340
00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:16.359
going to talk a little bit about some of the

341
00:23:16.440 --> 00:23:18.160
legal concepts before I turn back.

342
00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:18.880
To those facts.

343
00:23:19.400 --> 00:23:21.839
Just remember, though, he's the judge of the law, so

344
00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:24.640
you take what he says. But I'm gonna explain to

345
00:23:24.680 --> 00:23:26.839
you some of the legal issues from my perspective before

346
00:23:26.839 --> 00:23:27.599
we talked a little.

347
00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:28.839
Bit more about the evidence in the case.

348
00:23:29.799 --> 00:23:33.079
And the first thing is, right before you went to lunch,

349
00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:35.200
y'all all took an oath.

350
00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:39.160
Everybody in this courtroom who's got.

351
00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:41.440
Involvement in this case takes an oath, you know, attorney's

352
00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:45.359
oath become an attorney, take another oath that become a prosecutor.

353
00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:47.920
Judge takes another oath become a judge. Witnesses taken oath

354
00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:50.680
on the stands. Law enforcement take oaths to become law enforcement.

355
00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:53.240
But y'all took an oath as well. And the reason

356
00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:56.119
why is that y'all have the most important job in

357
00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:59.160
this court. Every one of you raised your hand and

358
00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:01.720
said that you will well and truly try this case.

359
00:24:02.200 --> 00:24:04.279
And it's the most important job here because, like the

360
00:24:04.359 --> 00:24:06.759
judge said, he's the judge of the law, but y'all

361
00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:09.720
are the judge of the facts. Y'all are going to

362
00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:11.440
listen to what comes from that. We want to stand

363
00:24:11.960 --> 00:24:15.359
and judge those facts. But you also have to be

364
00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:16.319
mindful of that oath.

365
00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:19.759
That oath requires you to do that hard job, to.

366
00:24:19.799 --> 00:24:25.799
Make that decision to call the stripe when you see it.

367
00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:26.720
It's the same oath. It's just as important as any

368
00:24:26.759 --> 00:24:29.440
other oath. This might be the most important. Is its important.

369
00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:33.839
The judgements in a reasonable doubt? And he's exactly right. It's

370
00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:37.880
the state's burden to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt.

371
00:24:38.279 --> 00:24:41.079
That is a correstone of our country. I wouldn't have

372
00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:42.880
it any other way. It's a burden to be welcome.

373
00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:45.880
It's what we want. It's a system that has been

374
00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:47.279
well tested.

375
00:24:46.920 --> 00:24:49.960
And true, and we take that burden to prove the

376
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:52.640
case beyond a reasonable doubt. But I want to remind

377
00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:57.880
everyone that the emphasis is on reasonable Okay, it's not

378
00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:02.680
any doubt, it is reasonable doubt. The reasonable doubt is

379
00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:04.799
often defined, and again to listen to the judge how

380
00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:08.519
he defines, but reasonable doubt is a doubt that would

381
00:25:08.599 --> 00:25:12.240
cause a reasonable person to hesitate to act, to.

382
00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:13.000
Hesitate to act.

383
00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:15.960
And when you hear the evidence coming from this stand

384
00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:18.079
about this particular case, I.

385
00:25:18.039 --> 00:25:19.839
Submit to you, won't hesitate to act.

386
00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:22.680
Again, remember the emphasis is.

387
00:25:22.680 --> 00:25:25.039
All reasonable and reasonable doubt.

388
00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:30.480
The judge mentioned the charges and therefore up.

389
00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:36.559
First indictment accuses ALC Murdoch, to which he's pled not guilty,

390
00:25:36.599 --> 00:25:37.880
but it accuses him.

391
00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:46.200
Of murdering Maggie Murdock. The second indictment accuses him of

392
00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:47.880
murdering Paul Murdoc.

393
00:25:51.079 --> 00:25:55.599
The third indictment accuses him of possessing a firearm during

394
00:25:55.640 --> 00:25:58.279
the commission of a violent crime, that being the murder

395
00:25:58.519 --> 00:26:02.240
of Maggie Murdoch. And the last one accuses him of

396
00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:05.279
possessing a firearm oring commission of a violent crime, and

397
00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:06.759
that being the murder of Palmer.

398
00:26:07.880 --> 00:26:10.480
And what does that mean? What is murder? Well, the

399
00:26:10.519 --> 00:26:11.720
judge again is going to instruction.

400
00:26:12.359 --> 00:26:12.839
But is the.

401
00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:18.640
Unlawful killing of another with malice? A forethought, and what

402
00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:19.319
is malice?

403
00:26:20.279 --> 00:26:23.680
Malice is a mental state that's ultimately going to be

404
00:26:23.720 --> 00:26:27.200
for y'all to determine as to what was going through

405
00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:30.279
Alec Murdock's mind when he CRIBBD and he committed these crimes.

406
00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:31.319
What is malice?

407
00:26:31.559 --> 00:26:35.599
Malice has often been defined as the intentional doing.

408
00:26:35.400 --> 00:26:37.839
Of a wrongful act without just cause or excuse.

409
00:26:38.200 --> 00:26:41.519
It is the intent to inflict an injury under circumstances

410
00:26:41.640 --> 00:26:42.359
that the law.

411
00:26:42.200 --> 00:26:48.640
Would presume, an evil intent, an evil intent, And when

412
00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:52.000
you look at the circumstances of the crime, when you

413
00:26:52.039 --> 00:26:55.160
look at what led up to this crime, the evidence

414
00:26:55.240 --> 00:26:55.559
is going.

415
00:26:55.480 --> 00:26:59.200
To show that there was malice, a forethought, A.

416
00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:02.000
Forethought is does that mean it means it has to

417
00:27:02.039 --> 00:27:04.440
exist that the moment you've commit that crime.

418
00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:07.240
It doesn't have to be planned, it doesn't have to

419
00:27:07.319 --> 00:27:08.079
be planned for any.

420
00:27:07.960 --> 00:27:08.559
Long period of time.

421
00:27:08.599 --> 00:27:10.519
It just has to exist a split second before the

422
00:27:10.519 --> 00:27:14.319
crime is committed. But when you see this crime and

423
00:27:14.359 --> 00:27:16.799
you hear all the circumstances.

424
00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:20.200
The evidence is going to show that.

425
00:27:20.279 --> 00:27:24.000
Afore or thought it existed for a while. It existed

426
00:27:24.039 --> 00:27:26.279
for a while in the mind of Elec Murdoch.

427
00:27:29.480 --> 00:27:32.160
You're also going to hear about circumstantial evidence, and a

428
00:27:32.160 --> 00:27:33.400
lot of times people hear, oh.

429
00:27:33.319 --> 00:27:36.960
It's just a circumstantial case. But the law says otherwise.

430
00:27:37.240 --> 00:27:40.160
The law says that circumstantial evidence is just as good

431
00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:41.039
as direct evidence.

432
00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:44.480
And what's the difference between the two. Direct evidence It's

433
00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:46.720
supposedly about the storm right here. From what I'm told.

434
00:27:47.480 --> 00:27:50.720
Direct evidence is if it's sunny outside and a witness

435
00:27:50.759 --> 00:27:52.440
goes outside and it's sunny, and they come in here

436
00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:54.400
and they get on that witness stand and because they

437
00:27:54.440 --> 00:27:56.119
saw it raining, they sit on the stands that I

438
00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:58.839
was just outside and I saw it raining, saw it raining.

439
00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:02.160
That's direct evidence they actually saw it raining. But to

440
00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:04.799
give you an example of what circumstantial evidence.

441
00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:09.640
Is, is if the witness goes into a room, a

442
00:28:09.720 --> 00:28:12.000
room where all the curtains are drawn, and when they

443
00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:14.640
go into that room, it's sunny outside and everything's dry.

444
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:17.519
And while they're in that room, they see it darkened

445
00:28:17.559 --> 00:28:21.240
behind the shades. They hear thunder, they hear the wind blowing,

446
00:28:22.599 --> 00:28:26.200
they hear the sound of the rain drops on the roof,

447
00:28:26.920 --> 00:28:29.519
and then they open up the door and it's not raining,

448
00:28:29.720 --> 00:28:32.039
but everything is wet. There's puddles in the driveway, there's

449
00:28:32.039 --> 00:28:35.279
perdals in the street, there's puddles in the yard, there's

450
00:28:35.319 --> 00:28:37.039
limbs down all over the ground.

451
00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:40.160
And then they come in here and say, yeah, it

452
00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:41.000
was raining.

453
00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:43.319
Didn't actually see it raining.

454
00:28:43.799 --> 00:28:46.960
But those circumstances are beyond any reasonable doubt that it

455
00:28:47.000 --> 00:28:50.920
was actually raining. Now, I guess it's possible that somebody

456
00:28:50.920 --> 00:28:52.960
could have been standing outside the window and beating the

457
00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:55.519
drum to sound like thunder and blowing a fan to

458
00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:56.799
make it seem like it was the wind.

459
00:28:57.000 --> 00:28:59.960
It somehow got enough warder to code the entire neighborhood.

460
00:29:00.680 --> 00:29:04.119
But that's not a reasonable enough everybody understand that distinction.

461
00:29:04.599 --> 00:29:12.920
That's not a reasonable thing. Another thing, and this is crucial.

462
00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:16.000
What you're going to do in this particular case is

463
00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:19.799
determined credibility or the believability of witnesses.

464
00:29:20.440 --> 00:29:22.160
It's gonna give me your job to.

465
00:29:22.119 --> 00:29:24.480
Look at the evidence, the exhibits in the case, but

466
00:29:24.559 --> 00:29:26.839
also the witnesses and decide.

467
00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:29.119
If it's true, if you believe it, if you can

468
00:29:29.160 --> 00:29:32.279
rely on it. And the judge is going to instruct

469
00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:35.519
you that you can believe one witness against many, or

470
00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:37.079
many witnesses against one, you can.

471
00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:38.920
Believe all of the witness's testimony or part of a

472
00:29:38.920 --> 00:29:43.160
good witnesses testimony. It's up to you, first individually and

473
00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:47.039
then as a product of your deliberations and what you're.

474
00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:47.640
Required to do.

475
00:29:47.720 --> 00:29:50.759
There is to just rely on that good old fashioned

476
00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:51.519
common sense.

477
00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:56.720
Does it all fit together? Is it cooperating? Does it

478
00:29:56.759 --> 00:29:58.119
fit with what you would expect?

479
00:29:58.359 --> 00:29:59.359
Does it fit with what you.

480
00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:01.039
Expect how real people would act.

481
00:30:02.200 --> 00:30:03.079
Does it seem real?

482
00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:08.480
Something sing a little awe, something, sing a little law.

483
00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:15.839
You're gonna see video statements of Alec Murdo.

484
00:30:18.759 --> 00:30:22.799
You're gonna see body worn camera of him at the

485
00:30:22.839 --> 00:30:27.240
scene when law enforcement arrives, and hear what he says.

486
00:30:29.079 --> 00:30:32.799
Hear what he says about that night. You're gonna hear three.

487
00:30:32.680 --> 00:30:35.559
Recorded statements on video that he gave with law enforcement.

488
00:30:35.599 --> 00:30:40.160
And you're gonna hear how things progress about what he says,

489
00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:45.400
what he says he did that night. Watch those closely,

490
00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:51.000
watch his expressions, Listen to what he's saying, Listen to

491
00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:55.279
what he's not saying. Use that common sense. Does this

492
00:30:55.319 --> 00:30:58.279
seem right? There is something sing a little law?

493
00:30:59.640 --> 00:30:59.880
Something.

494
00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:09.519
I mentioned that Maggie was killed with a three hundred

495
00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:13.359
blackout rifle, an ar style rifle the chambered in three

496
00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:18.640
hundred Blackout ammunition. And you're gonna hear evidence that back

497
00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:23.759
in Christmas a pear sixteen, Alec Murdoch over there bought

498
00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:29.200
two three hundred blackout ar style rifles and that not

499
00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:33.759
long after that one of them went missing from Paul's truck.

500
00:31:35.599 --> 00:31:39.240
And time went by, and in April of twenty eighteen,

501
00:31:41.319 --> 00:31:46.279
Alec Murdoch replaced that life and bought another one. Three

502
00:31:46.359 --> 00:31:49.440
total blackout rifles that they had. One of them went

503
00:31:49.480 --> 00:31:54.440
missing years ago and a replacement was gone. You're gonna

504
00:31:54.440 --> 00:31:55.400
hear evidence.

505
00:31:55.519 --> 00:31:59.799
That Paul and his friend were using that replacement.

506
00:31:59.799 --> 00:32:02.920
God, they were standing right outside the side door to

507
00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:05.519
the gun room of the house and they were sighting

508
00:32:05.559 --> 00:32:09.200
it in firing down into a field and the cases

509
00:32:09.240 --> 00:32:11.960
were ejecting. The cases are the empty shell from a bullet,

510
00:32:11.960 --> 00:32:14.680
and they were ejecting out into the flower bed right there,

511
00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:17.119
and that there's a range across the street and they

512
00:32:17.160 --> 00:32:19.680
shot it there and there's cases ejected there as well.

513
00:32:21.720 --> 00:32:27.119
And they were shooting that third replacement gun just weeks

514
00:32:27.720 --> 00:32:28.680
prior to the murders.

515
00:32:29.880 --> 00:32:30.680
Prior to June.

516
00:32:30.519 --> 00:32:33.119
Seventh of twenty twenty one, when Maggie involved were murdered,

517
00:32:33.240 --> 00:32:36.799
and you're gonna hear forensic evidence that the cases that

518
00:32:36.839 --> 00:32:39.359
were found in that flower bed and the cases that

519
00:32:39.400 --> 00:32:40.319
were found.

520
00:32:40.119 --> 00:32:42.319
Across the street at that range were.

521
00:32:42.119 --> 00:32:46.000
Ejected out of the same weapon that fired all the

522
00:32:46.039 --> 00:32:48.440
cases that were round Maggie's dead body.

523
00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:49.279
That killed her.

524
00:32:50.440 --> 00:32:57.839
There was a family weapon that killed Maggie. And you're

525
00:32:57.839 --> 00:33:02.880
gonna hear governance those three blackouts that Alec Murdock purchased.

526
00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:05.720
Law enforcement arrives at.

527
00:33:05.599 --> 00:33:11.079
The scene on June seventh, twenty twenty one.

528
00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:11.680
He can only account for one of them.

529
00:33:15.160 --> 00:33:19.240
He can only account from length, and that replacement gun

530
00:33:20.079 --> 00:33:21.480
is nowhere to be found.

531
00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:29.279
You're also gonna hear evidence that the type of ammunition,

532
00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:33.759
the exact brand, the exact model of ammunition that was

533
00:33:33.839 --> 00:33:35.400
used to kill Maggie S.

534
00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:38.279
And B three hundred blackout ammunition and one dred and

535
00:33:38.279 --> 00:33:40.160
forty one hundred and forty.

536
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:43.960
Seven grain bullets, that exact ammunition boxes, if he boxes

537
00:33:43.960 --> 00:33:46.440
of that ammunition is found all over the property. The

538
00:33:46.640 --> 00:33:49.559
very same brand and model of ammunition that was used

539
00:33:49.559 --> 00:33:53.200
to kill her is found in multiple locations throughout the property.

540
00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:57.039
And you're also gonna hear evidence the.

541
00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:00.519
Same thing about the shotgun shells that kill Paul.

542
00:34:02.039 --> 00:34:05.559
That federal double up buck shot on fired rounds were found.

543
00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:09.920
On the property, as well as Winchester number two turkey loads.

544
00:34:10.280 --> 00:34:14.480
The two rounds in the shot run that killed one.

545
00:34:16.440 --> 00:34:25.239
Family weapon, same ammunition. That's all the problem.

546
00:34:25.320 --> 00:34:27.599
You're also going to hear evidence that about a week

547
00:34:27.639 --> 00:34:37.119
after the murders, mister Alt Murdoch's father had died, mister Randolph,

548
00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:39.480
And about a week after the murders, he shows up

549
00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:44.280
early in the morning at his parents' home where his

550
00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:48.880
mother still lives in late stage Alzheimer's on Almeda and Hampton.

551
00:34:50.199 --> 00:34:53.400
It's uncharacteristic for him to show up early, uncharacteristic for

552
00:34:53.519 --> 00:34:54.159
him to show.

553
00:34:54.039 --> 00:34:56.079
Up at all like that. And he comes in and

554
00:34:56.119 --> 00:34:59.559
he's carrying something in a blue tart.

555
00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:05.039
And he takes it upstairs, and eventually.

556
00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:08.480
Law enforcement finds out about that, and they go upstairs

557
00:35:08.559 --> 00:35:11.360
and they find upstairs and they find a wadded up,

558
00:35:11.599 --> 00:35:14.760
very very large raincoat and a blue collar could look

559
00:35:14.840 --> 00:35:15.360
like a tarp.

560
00:35:16.199 --> 00:35:17.000
And you're gonna hear.

561
00:35:16.880 --> 00:35:21.960
Evidence that it was coated with gunshot residue on the

562
00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:25.119
in side, on the hipside.

563
00:35:32.159 --> 00:35:34.840
You're gonna hear other evidence of gunshot reside.

564
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:37.159
You're gonna hear that there was gunshot residue on alley

565
00:35:37.199 --> 00:35:38.000
and at the scene.

566
00:35:38.280 --> 00:35:40.679
You're gonna hear the evidence that there was gunshot residue

567
00:35:41.000 --> 00:35:42.199
on the seatbelt.

568
00:35:41.719 --> 00:35:42.760
If the carry was driving.

569
00:35:43.239 --> 00:35:46.000
You're gonna hear evidence that when law enforcement got to

570
00:35:46.039 --> 00:35:48.760
the scene, he had gone and gotten a shotgun, Poll's shotgun,

571
00:35:49.239 --> 00:35:51.840
and that Maggie DNA was on that shotgun. You're gonna

572
00:35:51.880 --> 00:35:56.599
hear other evidence from DNA, gunshot residue, firearms examiners. There's

573
00:35:56.599 --> 00:35:58.360
gonna be a lot of forensic evidence in this case.

574
00:35:58.400 --> 00:35:59.760
And I'm not gonna get into every single.

575
00:35:59.559 --> 00:36:00.280
Bit of other right out.

576
00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:04.079
What I will say that a key piece of forensic

577
00:36:04.119 --> 00:36:07.239
evidence that you're gonna hear in this case, this is self.

578
00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:18.239
Amounts Alex cell phone, Matthew's cell phone, Paul's selphone.

579
00:36:18.440 --> 00:36:21.639
You know, this is all amazing technology that most of

580
00:36:21.679 --> 00:36:24.599
us carry around in our pockets. It really allows us

581
00:36:24.639 --> 00:36:26.039
to do a lot of things, and they get a

582
00:36:26.039 --> 00:36:29.920
lot done. But this cell phone keeps track of who

583
00:36:29.960 --> 00:36:33.320
we're talking to, who were calling, who were texting.

584
00:36:33.519 --> 00:36:37.039
Whenever we access apps, and every time you do that,

585
00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:38.599
there's a record kept in.

586
00:36:38.519 --> 00:36:42.320
This phone unless it's deleted somehow, And if you're using

587
00:36:42.320 --> 00:36:45.280
certain apps, you can even get GPS information where you

588
00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:46.320
were when you did that.

589
00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:48.159
To the stort. On these phones, you're gonna hear evidence

590
00:36:48.159 --> 00:36:48.599
about that.

591
00:36:48.800 --> 00:36:50.960
You're gonna hear evidence that when you make a call

592
00:36:51.079 --> 00:36:53.559
and it pings off of cell towers, that location information

593
00:36:53.599 --> 00:36:55.039
can be gathered from that as well.

594
00:36:55.760 --> 00:36:58.159
And so it allows an investigation to take.

595
00:36:58.039 --> 00:37:02.840
This and piece to get other what someone was doing

596
00:37:02.880 --> 00:37:05.280
on a particular day, and not only what they were doing,

597
00:37:05.599 --> 00:37:07.800
but who they were interacting with and how they were

598
00:37:07.800 --> 00:37:08.519
interacting with.

599
00:37:09.440 --> 00:37:11.840
And this is gonna be crucial events I'm need to consider.

600
00:37:13.320 --> 00:37:18.760
You're gonna hear that particularly Alec and Paul, but also

601
00:37:18.920 --> 00:37:23.320
Maggie were prolific cell phone users, to the point where

602
00:37:23.320 --> 00:37:26.719
Paul's friends even had a nickname for it.

603
00:37:25.760 --> 00:37:27.320
About his cell phone message.

604
00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:33.559
Before I talk more about that, there's three family properties

605
00:37:33.599 --> 00:37:34.519
I need to talk about.

606
00:37:34.840 --> 00:37:35.199
Okay.

607
00:37:35.639 --> 00:37:40.119
The first one I've mentioned is Mozelle. Mozelle in Collington County.

608
00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:42.920
It's called Mozielle. It's off a Moselle rug and everybody

609
00:37:42.920 --> 00:37:46.039
refers to it as Mozelle. And that property is a

610
00:37:46.119 --> 00:37:48.880
large and there's a lot of acres. There's a main

611
00:37:48.960 --> 00:37:50.800
house on it, and there's a driveway that goes to

612
00:37:50.840 --> 00:37:51.559
that main house.

613
00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:53.440
But it used to be an airstrip, and there's an

614
00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:56.199
airstrip that goes down and then down the way.

615
00:37:56.599 --> 00:37:59.039
Just less than a third of a mile away, just

616
00:37:59.079 --> 00:38:03.360
a three minute Warman, four minute Walter forty five second

617
00:38:03.480 --> 00:38:07.239
drive is the kennels and the shed.

618
00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:08.239
That used to be a hangar.

619
00:38:08.079 --> 00:38:09.840
Where Paul and Maggie emerged.

620
00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:12.639
The main house is just less than a third of

621
00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:15.719
a mile away. You can see the kennels from the

622
00:38:15.719 --> 00:38:18.280
main house. You can see the main house from the KITT's.

623
00:38:22.280 --> 00:38:27.519
The family also had a house in Edistone at the beach,

624
00:38:29.480 --> 00:38:31.960
and the evidence is going to show that that is

625
00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:35.840
where Maggie preferred to stay, particularly in the summer months.

626
00:38:36.679 --> 00:38:39.199
She liked the beach. She was not a hunter. She

627
00:38:39.199 --> 00:38:41.079
didn't want to be at Mosalles. She didn't want to

628
00:38:41.079 --> 00:38:41.880
be at the.

629
00:38:41.840 --> 00:38:44.000
Lodge where it was hot and buggy. She liked being

630
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:48.559
in Edistone. And then you're also I've already mentioned the

631
00:38:48.599 --> 00:38:53.719
house in Almeta, which is where his parents home on

632
00:38:53.840 --> 00:38:56.239
June seventh, twenty twenty one, you're gonna hear evidence that

633
00:38:56.320 --> 00:38:59.559
his father went into the hospital and the prognosis was

634
00:38:59.599 --> 00:39:02.639
not good, and in fact he died a few days later,

635
00:39:03.039 --> 00:39:05.480
and his mother was in late stage Alzheimer's, and that

636
00:39:05.480 --> 00:39:07.800
that house being cared for by a caretaker, and you're

637
00:39:07.800 --> 00:39:10.320
gonna hear from that caretaker. We were talking about the

638
00:39:10.320 --> 00:39:15.320
three camera properties Mozelle as the main house and the

639
00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:20.079
kennels slash ships. The main house has a driveway, but

640
00:39:20.199 --> 00:39:23.480
the kennels also have a driveway, and the evidence is

641
00:39:23.480 --> 00:39:27.079
gonna show that that was actually as commonly used as

642
00:39:27.079 --> 00:39:27.800
the main driveway.

643
00:39:27.840 --> 00:39:29.960
In fact, the mailbox is by the kennel driveway.

644
00:39:30.239 --> 00:39:33.800
Driving right past those kennels were Ball and Maggie or work.

645
00:39:36.559 --> 00:39:39.239
I told you that you're gonna hear evidence that Maggie

646
00:39:39.840 --> 00:39:40.639
did not like.

647
00:39:42.119 --> 00:39:44.920
Being in Mozille as much as she liked Atistokee.

648
00:39:44.599 --> 00:39:48.559
The beach House, but that on June seventh, twenty twenty one,

649
00:39:50.239 --> 00:39:56.559
she came back to Moselle, and the evidence is gonna

650
00:39:56.559 --> 00:40:01.440
show that she arrived about eight point fifteen, And the

651
00:40:01.440 --> 00:40:03.880
evidence is gonna show that from the cell phones, that

652
00:40:03.920 --> 00:40:06.440
Paul was there at the house, at the main house

653
00:40:07.280 --> 00:40:08.000
and Aleck.

654
00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:10.679
Murdoch himself says that they ate dinner and the autopsy's

655
00:40:10.719 --> 00:40:15.039
gonna reflect both Paul and Maggie having similar stomach contents,

656
00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:17.400
indicating that they recently shared a.

657
00:40:17.360 --> 00:40:18.320
Meal together.

658
00:40:21.440 --> 00:40:29.760
About eight thirty, But fifteen minutes after they arrived, Paul's

659
00:40:29.760 --> 00:40:36.960
phone starts moving towards the kennels. You're gonna hear evidence

660
00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:40.480
again that the defendants said he was never at those kennels,

661
00:40:40.639 --> 00:40:43.679
that he was napping after they ate, and he was

662
00:40:43.679 --> 00:40:48.679
at the main house and never went there. You're also

663
00:40:48.719 --> 00:40:51.880
gonna hear evidence about how much Alec used his own

664
00:40:51.880 --> 00:40:53.719
cell phone, and it would be unusual for him to

665
00:40:53.719 --> 00:41:02.559
be anywhere without a cell phone. At eight forty four,

666
00:41:04.199 --> 00:41:11.119
in fifty five seconds, Paul recorded a video he was

667
00:41:11.199 --> 00:41:13.079
down at the kennels because he had been talking to

668
00:41:13.119 --> 00:41:15.239
a friend of his, and you're gonna hear from this

669
00:41:15.360 --> 00:41:18.639
friend because his friend's dog was in the kennels and

670
00:41:18.679 --> 00:41:21.639
they thought there was something wrong with the tale, and

671
00:41:21.760 --> 00:41:24.440
Paul was recording a video of it to send to

672
00:41:24.480 --> 00:41:25.000
his friend.

673
00:41:27.159 --> 00:41:30.039
Eight forty four and fifty five seconds.

674
00:41:32.639 --> 00:41:38.400
And on that video, and you'll see that video, and

675
00:41:38.440 --> 00:41:40.159
you'll hear from witnesses.

676
00:41:40.039 --> 00:41:49.400
That identified Paul's voice, Maggie's voice, and Eleck's voice told

677
00:41:49.440 --> 00:41:50.719
anyone who would listen, he.

678
00:41:50.639 --> 00:41:54.079
Was never there in eight forty four in.

679
00:41:53.920 --> 00:41:55.880
Fifty five seconds, there's a video.

680
00:41:57.239 --> 00:41:58.280
The evidence will show.

681
00:41:58.199 --> 00:41:58.960
That he was there.

682
00:41:59.000 --> 00:42:00.800
He was at the murder scene.

683
00:42:00.519 --> 00:42:06.280
With the two victims, and more than that, just over

684
00:42:06.400 --> 00:42:11.360
three minutes later, eight forty nine and one second.

685
00:42:14.360 --> 00:42:17.199
Paul's phone locks forever.

686
00:42:19.599 --> 00:42:23.800
He never reads another text, he never sends another text,

687
00:42:24.159 --> 00:42:29.440
He doesn't answer calls. Three minutes after that video has

688
00:42:29.440 --> 00:42:32.719
the defendants at the murder scene with the two victims,

689
00:42:33.159 --> 00:42:36.559
Paul's phone goes silent forever, and.

690
00:42:36.519 --> 00:42:39.480
In fact, another.

691
00:42:41.400 --> 00:42:43.920
Communication comes into the very friend that he was talking

692
00:42:43.920 --> 00:42:46.599
to the doll at eight forty nine and thirty five seconds,

693
00:42:46.639 --> 00:42:49.119
just thirty five seconds later, and he doesn't answer it.

694
00:42:49.639 --> 00:42:55.440
He never answers another thing forever now. And on top

695
00:42:55.480 --> 00:42:59.599
of that, Maggie's phone locks at eight forty nine and

696
00:42:59.639 --> 00:43:02.119
thirty one seconds around that same time, and.

697
00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:03.719
She never.

698
00:43:05.480 --> 00:43:10.199
Answers another text, never sends another text, never makes another.

699
00:43:09.960 --> 00:43:13.079
Phone call, never receives an another phone call.

700
00:43:14.400 --> 00:43:20.239
Three minutes, Ladies and gentlemen, three minutes after a video

701
00:43:20.320 --> 00:43:25.039
shows he's at the scene with the victims, and he

702
00:43:25.119 --> 00:43:28.840
told everybody he was never there.

703
00:43:30.280 --> 00:43:33.920
Credibility, ladency, joke, credibility.

704
00:43:36.119 --> 00:43:40.360
So what happens after that, Well you'll hear evidence that

705
00:43:40.400 --> 00:43:44.280
Alex phone was conspicuously he didn't have a lot of

706
00:43:44.360 --> 00:43:48.639
activity from about eight o nine pm.

707
00:43:48.519 --> 00:43:52.079
Until nine o two pm.

708
00:43:52.119 --> 00:43:54.320
And if it was at the camels, which the evidence

709
00:43:54.360 --> 00:43:59.039
will show, why is his phone not with him? Why

710
00:43:59.119 --> 00:43:59.960
is it not showing I to.

711
00:44:03.440 --> 00:44:05.840
But you will hear that at nine o two, all

712
00:44:05.880 --> 00:44:07.880
of a sudden, his phone does start to pick up activity.

713
00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:11.880
At nine o two he calls uh. He starts moving

714
00:44:11.920 --> 00:44:14.599
at nine o four before he calls Maggie's.

715
00:44:14.159 --> 00:44:18.239
Phone doesn't answer, of course, doesn't answer.

716
00:44:20.159 --> 00:44:23.519
He calls his father, Randolpho's in the hospital, doesn't appear,

717
00:44:23.559 --> 00:44:26.800
there's an answer there. He calls Maggie again at nine

718
00:44:26.840 --> 00:44:29.239
oh six. Remember he's just a third of a mile away,

719
00:44:29.239 --> 00:44:31.920
you can see it. At nine o six, she doesn't answer.

720
00:44:34.480 --> 00:44:39.559
At nine o six he turns on his car to

721
00:44:39.719 --> 00:44:44.719
suburban and he texts Maggie that he's going be right back.

722
00:44:44.719 --> 00:44:49.920
I'm gonna go check on mom.

723
00:44:49.960 --> 00:44:51.960
And he doesn't drive down to the kennels, even though

724
00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:54.039
that's where the mailbox says, that's a commonplace to me,

725
00:44:54.199 --> 00:44:56.119
even though you could see it. He's called his wife

726
00:44:56.119 --> 00:45:00.400
two times in texture and she hasn't responded. But you

727
00:45:00.440 --> 00:45:01.880
didn't just drive down there and say, hey, I'm mad.

728
00:45:01.920 --> 00:45:02.599
Do you guys want to go?

729
00:45:06.519 --> 00:45:09.199
What's up? What's up?

730
00:45:10.079 --> 00:45:11.559
Right there? You can see it.

731
00:45:16.960 --> 00:45:20.280
He then drives to alt meet up where his mom

732
00:45:20.400 --> 00:45:26.079
is suffering from Alzheimer's, and the caretaker is there, and

733
00:45:26.159 --> 00:45:27.280
he starts calling people.

734
00:45:27.360 --> 00:45:28.320
He's talking people.

735
00:45:29.079 --> 00:45:30.960
It will be up to you to decide whether or

736
00:45:31.000 --> 00:45:32.199
not he's trying to manufacture.

737
00:45:32.239 --> 00:45:32.639
Now y.

738
00:45:37.639 --> 00:45:41.480
He comes, he gets there to al meet up, you'll

739
00:45:41.480 --> 00:45:43.639
hear evidence about whether or not that was usual.

740
00:45:43.800 --> 00:45:45.840
You'll hear evidence about how he was acting when he

741
00:45:45.920 --> 00:45:46.360
got there.

742
00:45:47.599 --> 00:45:50.639
And he's only there for twenty minutes because he's back

743
00:45:50.719 --> 00:45:56.039
underway at nine forty four, and he makes more phone

744
00:45:56.039 --> 00:45:59.960
calls on the way back, calling friends, calling people who

745
00:46:00.079 --> 00:46:03.280
little answer. Be after give you side whether he's trying

746
00:46:03.320 --> 00:46:10.039
to create an Alibati. And he gets back to Mozelle at.

747
00:46:09.960 --> 00:46:14.920
Ten oh one and he calls nine one one at

748
00:46:14.960 --> 00:46:15.599
ten oh six.

749
00:46:19.199 --> 00:46:21.639
Listen to that nine one one call, Listen to what

750
00:46:21.760 --> 00:46:31.480
he says, Listen to what explanations he may offer. You're

751
00:46:31.519 --> 00:46:33.559
gonna hear that nine one one call, but you're also

752
00:46:33.639 --> 00:46:37.800
gonna see the body of worn camera of the officers

753
00:46:37.800 --> 00:46:40.800
who arrive at the scene, the video camera that they

754
00:46:40.840 --> 00:46:47.199
wear so that records what they're doing. And you're gonna

755
00:46:47.199 --> 00:46:52.079
see what he did to Maggie and Paul.

756
00:46:54.000 --> 00:46:58.760
It's gonna be grucive. There's no other way around. That's

757
00:46:58.840 --> 00:46:59.280
what he did.

758
00:47:01.519 --> 00:47:05.440
You're gonna see crime scene photographs, You're gonna see the

759
00:47:05.519 --> 00:47:06.719
traumatic injuries.

760
00:47:06.400 --> 00:47:07.119
That were suffered.

761
00:47:08.599 --> 00:47:11.880
You're gonna hear from a pathologist, a doctor who would

762
00:47:11.880 --> 00:47:12.880
examine the injuries.

763
00:47:14.239 --> 00:47:15.480
That's gonna be grusy.

764
00:47:17.480 --> 00:47:18.440
A lot of the way around.

765
00:47:26.440 --> 00:47:31.679
On that nine to one one call, and on the

766
00:47:31.760 --> 00:47:36.039
body worn cameras. Pay attention to what he says.

767
00:47:36.719 --> 00:47:37.719
Look at how he's acting.

768
00:47:39.119 --> 00:47:41.320
But he says, within a few minutes of each one

769
00:47:41.360 --> 00:47:44.039
of those, he says, this is about the boat case.

770
00:47:45.800 --> 00:47:47.159
This is about the boatcase.

771
00:47:49.119 --> 00:47:52.440
And you're gonna hear some of what was going on

772
00:47:52.639 --> 00:47:55.599
in Alex Murdoch's life leading up to that day, stuff

773
00:47:55.639 --> 00:47:57.880
that happened that very day, stuff that was leading up

774
00:47:58.480 --> 00:48:01.880
a perfect storm that was gathering, much like.

775
00:48:02.079 --> 00:48:08.039
The storms that are coming outside today, Listen to that evidence,

776
00:48:09.519 --> 00:48:10.480
Listen to.

777
00:48:10.760 --> 00:48:14.360
That gathering storm that all came to a head on

778
00:48:14.599 --> 00:48:17.440
June seventh, twenty twenty one, the day the evidence will

779
00:48:17.480 --> 00:48:23.920
show he killed Maggie and Paul. This has been a long,

780
00:48:24.360 --> 00:48:29.280
exhaustive investigation and it's going to be a fairly long

781
00:48:29.400 --> 00:48:31.440
trial because it's complicated.

782
00:48:32.519 --> 00:48:35.840
It's a journey. There's a lot of aspects of this case.

783
00:48:35.880 --> 00:48:37.519
There's a lot of factors to this case.

784
00:48:38.639 --> 00:48:42.519
But like a lot of things that are complicated, when

785
00:48:42.599 --> 00:48:44.840
we started to put them all together, piece them together

786
00:48:45.039 --> 00:48:45.920
like a puzzle.

787
00:48:47.000 --> 00:48:49.599
All of a sudden, the picture emergenes and it's really sing.

788
00:48:51.800 --> 00:48:51.840
S.

789
00:48:56.519 --> 00:48:59.079
Once we get to the end of that journey and

790
00:48:59.159 --> 00:49:02.039
you have a chance to the evidence is going to

791
00:49:02.039 --> 00:49:04.360
be such that you're going to reach the inescapable conclusion

792
00:49:04.400 --> 00:49:08.280
that Alec murdered Maggie and Paul, that he was the storm,

793
00:49:08.559 --> 00:49:12.239
that the storm was coming for them, and the storm

794
00:49:12.360 --> 00:49:14.639
arrived from June seventh, twenty twenty one, just like the

795
00:49:14.719 --> 00:49:15.400
storms that are.

796
00:49:15.320 --> 00:49:19.440
Heading here right now, that they died as a result.

797
00:49:21.039 --> 00:49:27.800
Yeah, any reason, order, thank you, And next up with

798
00:49:28.079 --> 00:49:34.880
Dick Harpootlin, Alex Murdall's attorney, and here is his opening

799
00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:38.880
statement to that jury for the Defense Court.

800
00:49:38.920 --> 00:49:42.760
Your honor, lady and gentlemen, with the Jerry, my name

801
00:49:42.800 --> 00:49:46.920
is Dick Harpuglian. I think I introduced myself to y'all

802
00:49:47.000 --> 00:49:50.320
and our attorneys, the three other attorneys, Dim Griss and

803
00:49:52.519 --> 00:50:00.559
Little Barber Margaret Fox. It is our honor to represent

804
00:50:01.519 --> 00:50:06.480
Alec Murdall from Murdoc. Depending on how you pronounce it,

805
00:50:08.159 --> 00:50:12.000
I say it's our honor because I submit to you

806
00:50:12.440 --> 00:50:15.960
what you have heard from the Attorney General as facts

807
00:50:17.119 --> 00:50:17.440
are not.

808
00:50:19.280 --> 00:50:19.559
Are not.

809
00:50:20.920 --> 00:50:31.880
They're his theories, his conjecture. Alex stand up. This is

810
00:50:31.960 --> 00:50:37.719
Alan Murdall, and Alex was the loving father of Paul

811
00:50:38.320 --> 00:50:44.360
and the loving husband of Maggie. You're not gonna hear

812
00:50:44.400 --> 00:50:49.920
a single witness say that their relationship, Maggie and Alex's

813
00:50:50.079 --> 00:50:54.320
relationship with anything other than loving. You're gonna hear about

814
00:50:54.360 --> 00:50:56.480
how they went to a baseball game the weekend before.

815
00:50:56.960 --> 00:51:00.360
You're gonna hear about their relationship. You're gonna see texts

816
00:51:00.400 --> 00:51:13.559
and emails indicating a loving relationship, Paul the apple of

817
00:51:13.679 --> 00:51:16.199
his eye. You're gonna see a video somewhere between seven

818
00:51:16.199 --> 00:51:18.960
point thirty at eight o'clock the night of the murders,

819
00:51:19.599 --> 00:51:24.320
with Paul and Alix riding around looking there's some trees

820
00:51:24.400 --> 00:51:28.800
they planted. It's a snapchat that Paul sent to other

821
00:51:28.840 --> 00:51:30.960
people because the trees were not planted very well. They

822
00:51:31.800 --> 00:51:37.599
CAN'DI levering over. They're laughing, they're having a good time.

823
00:51:38.960 --> 00:51:42.840
That would be about an hour before the Attorney General

824
00:51:42.880 --> 00:51:45.239
says he swattered her. When I say he swattered her,

825
00:51:45.840 --> 00:51:51.360
when they were swatted, and no question, Paul murdaal was

826
00:51:51.440 --> 00:51:56.559
shot twice with buckshot twelve gauge buckshot, once in the

827
00:51:56.639 --> 00:52:01.440
chest and by the way that shot would indicate it

828
00:52:01.679 --> 00:52:04.719
was in the chest and came out under his arm

829
00:52:06.039 --> 00:52:09.400
like somebody that might have been holding up their hands.

830
00:52:10.039 --> 00:52:13.480
So when he says no defensive wounds, he perhaps is

831
00:52:13.519 --> 00:52:15.559
being held a shotgun. I mean, I can make the

832
00:52:15.679 --> 00:52:20.000
same sort of speculation that the Attorney General can, because

833
00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:22.000
that's all he's doing, is speculating. What we do know

834
00:52:22.199 --> 00:52:27.119
is twelve gauge, fairly close ranged shot to the chest.

835
00:52:28.119 --> 00:52:31.800
He must have been turned because it comes out under

836
00:52:31.840 --> 00:52:35.039
his arm. Is wadding if you're familiar with the shotgun

837
00:52:35.440 --> 00:52:42.880
under his arm. The second shot ended up and there's

838
00:52:42.880 --> 00:52:45.320
gonna be some question about the direction of that shot,

839
00:52:45.960 --> 00:52:56.159
but ended up entering his skull cavity, and the gases

840
00:52:56.599 --> 00:53:02.559
from that shot literally exploded his head like a watermelon

841
00:53:02.920 --> 00:53:07.519
hit with a sledgehammer. All that was left was the

842
00:53:07.639 --> 00:53:10.920
front of his face. Everything else was gone. His brain

843
00:53:11.840 --> 00:53:15.000
exploded out of his head, hit the ceiling in the shed,

844
00:53:15.400 --> 00:53:27.280
and dropped to his feet. Horrendous, horrible, butchering. So to

845
00:53:27.440 --> 00:53:32.800
find Alan Murdoch guilty of murdering his son, you're gonna

846
00:53:32.840 --> 00:53:35.599
have to accept it. Within an hour of having a

847
00:53:38.079 --> 00:53:42.079
extraordinarily bonding you can see it in the snapchat that

848
00:53:42.280 --> 00:53:52.719
he executes him in a brutal fashion. Not believable, Not believable. Now,

849
00:53:53.360 --> 00:53:59.480
Maggie is shot running with no defensive wounds because he

850
00:53:59.559 --> 00:54:02.719
shot running, and after she's falls to the ground and

851
00:54:02.840 --> 00:54:07.079
has one bullet that has hit her and probably traveled

852
00:54:07.159 --> 00:54:09.440
up and hit her brain. She's on the ground, and

853
00:54:09.519 --> 00:54:13.599
whoever the perpetrator was walked up, took that ar and

854
00:54:13.719 --> 00:54:21.159
put one in the back of her head. Executed, executed.

855
00:54:23.920 --> 00:54:29.159
Why this is going to be interesting because we don't

856
00:54:29.239 --> 00:54:32.760
know why. He doesn't know why. He's got theories of

857
00:54:32.840 --> 00:54:38.559
this and theories of that, But why number one number two.

858
00:54:39.920 --> 00:54:43.639
What was it in that hour between when he's yucking

859
00:54:43.679 --> 00:54:46.639
it up with Paul And let me say this to you.

860
00:54:46.760 --> 00:54:51.239
His record, he was interviewed. He comes home and finds

861
00:54:51.239 --> 00:54:55.199
there's no question about this. They've got telemetry from his car.

862
00:54:56.159 --> 00:54:59.679
He left the house at nine oh six, returns at

863
00:54:59.679 --> 00:55:02.880
ten after seeing his mother, who has dementia. Now remember

864
00:55:02.960 --> 00:55:06.360
that day, his father, who is dying, is taken to

865
00:55:06.440 --> 00:55:11.079
the hospital. Mom's home alone with the housekeeper. Perfectly reasonable

866
00:55:11.119 --> 00:55:15.159
for him to want to go see her, and later

867
00:55:15.280 --> 00:55:19.719
than usual because his father's not there. He's in the

868
00:55:19.760 --> 00:55:23.360
hospital and he dies two days later. His father dies

869
00:55:23.400 --> 00:55:30.639
two days later. So the question is if he leaves

870
00:55:30.679 --> 00:55:33.239
at nine oh six and he's back at ten oh one,

871
00:55:33.679 --> 00:55:36.280
he literally, I mean, and he can account the cars

872
00:55:36.320 --> 00:55:38.400
in the cell phone records, account for where he was

873
00:55:38.480 --> 00:55:41.239
between nine oh six and ten oh one. Now, the

874
00:55:41.360 --> 00:55:43.159
cell phone records, and you're gonna hear this from their

875
00:55:43.159 --> 00:55:48.880
own experts, are incomplete. They're incomplete, and words submit one

876
00:55:48.920 --> 00:55:51.400
of the reasons they are incomplete. And by the way,

877
00:55:51.480 --> 00:55:54.440
how do they find Maggie's phone. Maggie's phone was thrown

878
00:55:54.480 --> 00:55:56.079
out on the side of the road about a quarter

879
00:55:56.119 --> 00:55:58.119
of a mile away from a little bit more than

880
00:55:58.159 --> 00:56:01.400
maybe a half a mile from the Mozelle property, thrown

881
00:56:01.400 --> 00:56:04.079
out on the side of the road. They found it

882
00:56:04.199 --> 00:56:08.280
by using find my iPhone, and the way they did

883
00:56:08.400 --> 00:56:11.679
that they had to open it or have access. Who

884
00:56:12.159 --> 00:56:17.039
gave them the code to open the phone? Now, Murdall,

885
00:56:19.840 --> 00:56:21.880
and it's not destroyed, it's just thrown on the side

886
00:56:21.920 --> 00:56:24.559
of the phone. What you're also going to see is

887
00:56:24.639 --> 00:56:27.320
that Alan Murdall was calling that phone at nine oh

888
00:56:27.440 --> 00:56:32.920
six as he leaves the house. He did call her

889
00:56:33.000 --> 00:56:39.079
twice and texted her. And we also know that at

890
00:56:39.199 --> 00:56:43.039
nine oh six as he cranched his car. Is the

891
00:56:43.119 --> 00:56:46.039
cell phone record show that as the telemetry data from

892
00:56:46.079 --> 00:56:48.239
the shows the cell phone linking up with the car,

893
00:56:49.000 --> 00:56:51.880
that phone is being thrown on the side of the

894
00:56:52.000 --> 00:56:57.960
road almost a half a mile away. Now that is Houdini,

895
00:56:58.159 --> 00:57:02.880
That is magic. That is Nick Squickle. Now I was

896
00:57:02.960 --> 00:57:07.760
making notes, well the Attorney General was talking about. But

897
00:57:07.960 --> 00:57:13.280
let me tell you what is more believable. Good night,

898
00:57:14.239 --> 00:57:17.320
he comes home and finds his wife and son butcher.

899
00:57:17.719 --> 00:57:19.920
And when I say butchered, you're gonna see these photographs

900
00:57:20.559 --> 00:57:22.519
when I see them. Now, after having seen them for

901
00:57:22.559 --> 00:57:26.000
the last four or five months. It still shocks me.

902
00:57:26.239 --> 00:57:29.599
It's still as tough to look at. It still bothers me.

903
00:57:33.119 --> 00:57:36.960
And he comes home and finds his son ling in

904
00:57:37.079 --> 00:57:39.480
his own blood, with his brain ling at his feet,

905
00:57:40.480 --> 00:57:45.920
shot to hell. He walks over. He checks to see

906
00:57:45.960 --> 00:57:51.039
if there's any life there. Although I mean he's seeing

907
00:57:51.079 --> 00:57:53.760
his brain ling outside his body. He knows there's nothing there.

908
00:57:54.239 --> 00:57:55.800
He goes over and tries to get a pulse out

909
00:57:55.840 --> 00:57:58.440
of Maggie. No pulse there, calls nine to one one.

910
00:57:58.880 --> 00:58:01.079
I want you to hear that night one take. It

911
00:58:01.239 --> 00:58:08.400
is a man hysterical in grief, trying to figure out

912
00:58:08.440 --> 00:58:11.079
what's going on. And he tells the nine one one

913
00:58:11.159 --> 00:58:15.920
operator that he concerned. And he drives the up back

914
00:58:16.000 --> 00:58:17.239
up to the house. And by the way, you can't

915
00:58:17.320 --> 00:58:21.519
see I've been out there. You can't see the shed

916
00:58:22.840 --> 00:58:24.920
where you might see the top of the shed. They're

917
00:58:24.960 --> 00:58:28.559
pine trees between the front porch or the or the

918
00:58:28.679 --> 00:58:32.800
porch on the house and the dog pens. And it's

919
00:58:32.840 --> 00:58:34.519
not a third of them all maybe by the way

920
00:58:34.559 --> 00:58:36.599
the crow flies, but it takes a little bit longer

921
00:58:36.920 --> 00:58:41.199
to drive down there. And this is not unusual for

922
00:58:41.360 --> 00:58:45.039
them to communicate by cell phone a tax, even when

923
00:58:45.039 --> 00:58:47.159
they're all on the same property. It's eleven hundred acres,

924
00:58:48.079 --> 00:58:55.360
big property. They've hunted it. So what I'm trying to

925
00:58:55.440 --> 00:58:59.320
say to you is that the Attorney General has given

926
00:58:59.360 --> 00:59:02.639
you his view. And again you can't see the shed.

927
00:59:02.840 --> 00:59:04.719
And I'm gonna ask the judge at some point during

928
00:59:04.800 --> 00:59:06.960
this trial to ask you, the jury, to be able

929
00:59:07.000 --> 00:59:09.039
to go to the sea so you can see it.

930
00:59:09.199 --> 00:59:12.639
You can understand the poor proportions, you can understand the details,

931
00:59:14.800 --> 00:59:18.480
because the facts are what matter here. The facts. Let

932
00:59:18.559 --> 00:59:22.079
me give you another fact. You're gonna hear their witnesses

933
00:59:22.639 --> 00:59:27.400
explain the catastrophic injuries to Paul, that his head literally exploded,

934
00:59:28.199 --> 00:59:30.519
and whoever shot him with that shotgun was probably no

935
00:59:30.599 --> 00:59:34.920
more than three feet away, maybe maybe closer, maybe a

936
00:59:34.960 --> 00:59:40.119
little further away. You his head exploded, you would be

937
00:59:40.239 --> 00:59:45.079
covered in blood from head to foot, head to foot

938
00:59:46.559 --> 00:59:52.960
in blood. They seized his clothes that night, sweat did it,

939
00:59:54.719 --> 00:59:56.559
and they test well. First of all, you're gonna see

940
00:59:56.559 --> 00:59:59.719
in the videos from the agent the officers of the

941
00:59:59.800 --> 01:00:02.440
rib that night, there's no blood on him. They didn't

942
01:00:02.440 --> 01:00:06.280
find any blood on him. Sleds testing indicated twelve different

943
01:00:06.320 --> 01:00:15.239
places on his shirt and pants. No human blood detective period. Okay,

944
01:00:16.840 --> 01:00:20.199
you'll see pictures, white t shirt, no blood on it.

945
01:00:21.039 --> 01:00:31.199
Those are facts, those are theories. Those are facts. Another

946
01:00:31.320 --> 01:00:36.559
fact that is, I think the reason we're here today.

947
01:00:39.360 --> 01:00:42.679
When you hear those questions on the videotape on the

948
01:00:42.840 --> 01:00:46.239
night now he's found his wife and son, Brudowy Butcher,

949
01:00:46.760 --> 01:00:48.920
you can hear on the nine one one tape he

950
01:00:49.280 --> 01:00:54.559
is hysterical. The goat comes in and out. It's consistent.

951
01:00:54.639 --> 01:00:57.280
If any of you have ever you got to use

952
01:00:57.280 --> 01:01:00.880
your human your experience is part of this deliberation. Your

953
01:01:01.000 --> 01:01:04.239
human experience. Has ever suffered a tatastrophical loss of a

954
01:01:04.320 --> 01:01:08.400
friend or a family member, it's Numby. It's the minute

955
01:01:08.440 --> 01:01:11.519
you find out. If you see them there, it's Numby.

956
01:01:11.880 --> 01:01:16.199
You go into shot. So anything he said that night

957
01:01:17.079 --> 01:01:19.599
is in the context of just an hour or two

958
01:01:19.679 --> 01:01:23.159
before finding his wife and son, Butcher, he drove back

959
01:01:23.239 --> 01:01:24.920
up to the house Floyd's on nine one one, saying

960
01:01:24.960 --> 01:01:26.639
I gotta get a gun. Whoever did this might be

961
01:01:26.719 --> 01:01:29.280
out there, and he gets a gun. But what's fascinating

962
01:01:29.320 --> 01:01:33.360
about that is he gets a twelve gage shotgun and

963
01:01:33.480 --> 01:01:36.599
he grabs some shells. They these people hunt a wise,

964
01:01:36.639 --> 01:01:39.840
they have guns everywhere. He grabs some shells. He puts

965
01:01:39.880 --> 01:01:44.199
a sixteen gage, I mean a twelve gage, grab a

966
01:01:44.199 --> 01:01:46.880
twelve gage shotgun, put a twell buck shot in, and

967
01:01:46.960 --> 01:01:50.760
then he put a sixteen gage buck shot in. That's

968
01:01:50.760 --> 01:01:53.400
how shoot up. He was guy hunted all his life

969
01:01:53.679 --> 01:01:55.760
and he put a shell in. That wouldn't You couldn't

970
01:01:55.760 --> 01:01:58.679
fire a sixteen gage from a twelve gage, makes no sense.

971
01:01:59.119 --> 01:02:04.800
He was traumatized GSR. Their own expert I. Sweed said,

972
01:02:05.239 --> 01:02:09.440
the amount of particles of GRSR are consistent consistent with

973
01:02:09.519 --> 01:02:11.719
that him going up and picking that shotgun up. They

974
01:02:11.800 --> 01:02:14.679
want to talk about GSR again, If you fired a

975
01:02:14.719 --> 01:02:18.840
shotgun twice and a rifle of six times, you'd be

976
01:02:18.920 --> 01:02:24.119
covered in GSR. Those are the facts. That's not his theory.

977
01:02:25.679 --> 01:02:30.679
The facts. Now, let's talk a little bit about these

978
01:02:31.159 --> 01:02:34.320
ars again. You're gonna hear testimony a lot of guns.

979
01:02:34.880 --> 01:02:38.039
They had a gun root. You know, I don't live

980
01:02:38.079 --> 01:02:43.000
in Calden County Avenue downtown Colombia. Ain't no gun rooms

981
01:02:43.320 --> 01:02:46.719
in downtown Colombia. But apparently if you live on eleven

982
01:02:46.800 --> 01:02:51.280
hundred acres, and you hunt deer and you hunt whatever.

983
01:02:51.280 --> 01:02:56.079
They were playing those sunflowers for quail. Again, I don't

984
01:02:56.119 --> 01:02:59.800
Big Clum, Oh, you have a lot of guns. The

985
01:03:00.079 --> 01:03:04.320
truth is in twenty seventeen, and you'll hear the testimony

986
01:03:04.800 --> 01:03:12.840
that Alan bought two blackouts, one for Paul and one

987
01:03:12.960 --> 01:03:15.239
for Buster, this other son who was sitting out in

988
01:03:15.239 --> 01:03:23.639
the audience, and Paul had once his stolen. He bought

989
01:03:23.639 --> 01:03:30.760
another one for Paul. Now, Paul was very irresponsible with

990
01:03:31.440 --> 01:03:36.440
guns cars. He'd leave guns around, He leave guns in cars.

991
01:03:36.880 --> 01:03:41.679
He oftentimes left guns down at the dog pens in

992
01:03:41.800 --> 01:03:44.559
the feed room. Now, I can't tell you whether he

993
01:03:44.679 --> 01:03:46.480
was shot with his own weapon or not, or his

994
01:03:46.599 --> 01:03:49.480
mom was shot with a weapon or not. But I

995
01:03:49.599 --> 01:03:56.000
can tell you that they weren't shot by alence, they

996
01:03:56.039 --> 01:03:59.519
don't have the guns. There's no way to tell conclusively

997
01:03:59.559 --> 01:04:02.360
without having the weapons what weapons those were fired by.

998
01:04:02.400 --> 01:04:04.519
And we'll talk a little bit with the sweat experts

999
01:04:04.559 --> 01:04:09.760
about that. The sort of overarching issue here.

1000
01:04:09.800 --> 01:04:11.079
Is why.

1001
01:04:12.800 --> 01:04:16.159
Murder in June seventh, twenty twenty one. Why is it

1002
01:04:16.239 --> 01:04:21.000
September of twenty twenty two before they charge him? And

1003
01:04:21.039 --> 01:04:23.639
I will tell you what happened that night, and this

1004
01:04:23.800 --> 01:04:28.440
is a problem. He's being each questioned and the questioning

1005
01:04:28.519 --> 01:04:34.719
is pretty aggressive. You'll hear it there, he traumatized, they

1006
01:04:34.800 --> 01:04:38.440
suspect him, They show up, he's got a shotgun. They

1007
01:04:38.480 --> 01:04:44.599
suspect him. And the next morning two people found butcher

1008
01:04:45.719 --> 01:04:50.199
and here in Carleton County Mozelle Road, the police announced,

1009
01:04:51.599 --> 01:04:56.320
don't worry, there's no danger to y'all. There's nobody out

1010
01:04:56.360 --> 01:04:59.960
there that could pose a danger to you, because you see,

1011
01:05:00.079 --> 01:05:08.039
they decided that night he did it without forensis, without

1012
01:05:08.079 --> 01:05:10.519
cell phones, without any of that, and they've been pounding

1013
01:05:10.599 --> 01:05:13.800
that square peg in the round hole for the last

1014
01:05:14.360 --> 01:05:18.400
well since, you know, since June of twenty twenty one,

1015
01:05:20.880 --> 01:05:23.039
resulting in charges in September of twenty two.

1016
01:05:25.280 --> 01:05:25.559
And so.

1017
01:05:27.159 --> 01:05:30.320
If he felt and he did it, and you'll hear

1018
01:05:30.400 --> 01:05:35.000
it the accusatory fashion he's being interviewed in. He may

1019
01:05:35.079 --> 01:05:39.039
not have dealt all the facts. But by the way,

1020
01:05:39.480 --> 01:05:41.360
whether he'd been down to the dog pins that night

1021
01:05:41.480 --> 01:05:47.639
or not really doesn't matter, Really doesn't matter, because you're

1022
01:05:47.639 --> 01:05:52.840
gonna see cell phone activity that would be let me

1023
01:05:52.920 --> 01:05:58.440
put it feet this way, Paul's phone eight fifty, Maggie's

1024
01:05:58.440 --> 01:06:01.840
phone later in that eight fifty before clearly is still

1025
01:06:01.920 --> 01:06:06.280
being used. At nine oh six, he's up at the house,

1026
01:06:06.360 --> 01:06:10.119
getting in the car, cranking it up to drive over

1027
01:06:10.159 --> 01:06:14.800
and see his mom. He says, a few hundred yards away.

1028
01:06:14.800 --> 01:06:16.239
It's a little bit further than that. But the point

1029
01:06:16.280 --> 01:06:18.199
of the matter is he would have had to have

1030
01:06:20.800 --> 01:06:25.280
executed both of them, got back up to the house,

1031
01:06:26.840 --> 01:06:30.079
got the bloody clothes off, and by the way, they

1032
01:06:30.199 --> 01:06:33.159
seized his clothes him that night. They've never searched his

1033
01:06:33.320 --> 01:06:35.800
house for any other clothes that we know, although that

1034
01:06:36.039 --> 01:06:38.440
night he gave permission and they got a search. Warm

1035
01:06:38.760 --> 01:06:42.360
go to my house, go look through everything. Where are

1036
01:06:42.360 --> 01:06:46.320
the bloody clothes? Where are the bloody clothes? And of

1037
01:06:46.400 --> 01:06:51.679
course I would tell you that they've woven this story

1038
01:06:51.719 --> 01:06:54.880
together because they want everything to be consistent. What's important

1039
01:06:54.880 --> 01:06:57.159
about that is the judge. And by the way, there's

1040
01:06:57.159 --> 01:07:01.079
no wide witness, there's no forensics tying him to the murder.

1041
01:07:02.280 --> 01:07:05.960
When I say forensic's fingerprints, blood whatever, tying him to

1042
01:07:06.119 --> 01:07:10.280
shooting anybody that night, the cell phone records reuld indicate

1043
01:07:10.280 --> 01:07:14.320
he would have had less than ten minutes to kill them.

1044
01:07:16.679 --> 01:07:19.199
Get up to the house, get in the car and

1045
01:07:19.280 --> 01:07:23.639
crank it up and he be covered in blood. Now,

1046
01:07:24.599 --> 01:07:26.719
if they think he was beginning to establish an alibi,

1047
01:07:28.400 --> 01:07:31.159
there's no evidence of that. The evidence is consistent with

1048
01:07:31.239 --> 01:07:34.719
him seeing them earlier at the dog pen. And by

1049
01:07:34.719 --> 01:07:37.880
the way, that audio they have of him and Maggie,

1050
01:07:38.920 --> 01:07:41.559
they're talking about one of the dogs killing a chicken

1051
01:07:43.239 --> 01:07:44.960
and they were debating whether it was a guinea hen

1052
01:07:45.079 --> 01:07:52.239
or a chicken. No animosity, very normal discussion. Paul's very happy,

1053
01:07:52.880 --> 01:07:56.519
and we know that. Paul after that is texting back

1054
01:07:56.559 --> 01:07:58.679
and forth with the girl about going to the movies.

1055
01:08:00.360 --> 01:08:03.519
Nobody's down there threatening him. Daddy's not pulling out a

1056
01:08:03.559 --> 01:08:07.519
shotgun and killing him for you know. Ten minutes after that,

1057
01:08:07.840 --> 01:08:16.720
he's texting this girl so big question. One shooter or two?

1058
01:08:17.960 --> 01:08:21.199
Two guns? Shotgun and an ar And by the way,

1059
01:08:21.680 --> 01:08:25.359
Maggie has no defensive wounds because she's running. What's she

1060
01:08:25.479 --> 01:08:33.880
running from? And could you shoot? Typically she would be

1061
01:08:33.960 --> 01:08:36.920
she had a little shed right and probably one hundred

1062
01:08:36.920 --> 01:08:39.600
and fifty feet from the feed room on the other

1063
01:08:39.680 --> 01:08:42.279
side of the wall. Perhaps she heard the shotgun blast

1064
01:08:42.399 --> 01:08:46.399
and came around and saw somebody or two people and

1065
01:08:46.479 --> 01:08:49.640
whoever it was opened up. Was there enough time to

1066
01:08:50.119 --> 01:08:57.159
kill Paul and then find the ar and then ambush Maggie?

1067
01:08:58.239 --> 01:09:02.119
Much more likely there were two people. Again, we don't

1068
01:09:02.159 --> 01:09:07.520
have to prove anything gonna look good. Let me sort

1069
01:09:07.560 --> 01:09:10.800
of share the framework in which you should examine this.

1070
01:09:13.760 --> 01:09:16.880
You have agreed to follow the law, and here's the law.

1071
01:09:17.600 --> 01:09:18.760
Here is the law.

1072
01:09:19.960 --> 01:09:25.800
He didn't do it. He is presumed innocent as you

1073
01:09:25.920 --> 01:09:30.479
sit there right now. As you sit there right now,

1074
01:09:30.640 --> 01:09:33.439
when you look at him, you have to believe he

1075
01:09:33.600 --> 01:09:38.319
is innocent. He didn't do it. Well, let me tell

1076
01:09:38.319 --> 01:09:48.119
you that's so difficult to do. I get it, and

1077
01:09:48.239 --> 01:09:50.079
the way it made me. The best way to explain

1078
01:09:50.079 --> 01:09:53.720
it is, this is this morning or yesterday. Nobody really

1079
01:09:53.880 --> 01:09:57.800
reads newspapers anymore. But if you're reading the newspaper looking

1080
01:09:57.840 --> 01:10:00.920
at the internet, and you read the the police had

1081
01:10:01.000 --> 01:10:07.840
arrested somebody for some heinous crime, the natural inclination of everybody's,

1082
01:10:08.039 --> 01:10:12.199
all of y'all is to say, thank god they caught

1083
01:10:12.279 --> 01:10:17.359
him or her, thank god that person is in custody.

1084
01:10:18.319 --> 01:10:21.920
And you did something that's so natural we all do it.

1085
01:10:22.840 --> 01:10:27.720
You presumed the police had arrested the person that committed

1086
01:10:28.079 --> 01:10:33.159
the crime. You presumed him or her guilty. That is

1087
01:10:33.279 --> 01:10:36.680
the natural thing to do. And you know what, that's

1088
01:10:36.800 --> 01:10:40.920
fine for you to do any other day except today,

1089
01:10:41.960 --> 01:10:44.640
because you took an oath to follow the law. And

1090
01:10:44.720 --> 01:10:50.720
the law is he is innocent. He's presumed innocent. That

1091
01:10:50.920 --> 01:10:55.239
is your presumption. Your mental framework is he didn't do it.

1092
01:10:55.720 --> 01:10:58.479
They've got to prove it to me beyond a reasonable doubt.

1093
01:10:59.239 --> 01:11:02.439
Now even more difficult. And this isn't a contest, This

1094
01:11:02.479 --> 01:11:04.680
isn't a game. This isn't who wins and who loses.

1095
01:11:05.920 --> 01:11:10.079
This is about justice, you know. Oliver Wendell Holmes, one

1096
01:11:10.079 --> 01:11:12.680
of the justices of the Supreme Court, once said, jury

1097
01:11:12.800 --> 01:11:16.319
duty is the highest duty a citizen can perform for

1098
01:11:16.399 --> 01:11:26.399
their country in peacetime, because you are protecting us from them,

1099
01:11:27.279 --> 01:11:30.199
from the state, from the government. That's the foundation of

1100
01:11:30.279 --> 01:11:33.399
our constitution is that the individual has the right to

1101
01:11:33.479 --> 01:11:36.560
be presumed innocent, has the right to a jury trial,

1102
01:11:36.640 --> 01:11:40.840
has a right to have his peer, his or her

1103
01:11:40.920 --> 01:11:44.720
peers in sitting judgment of them. That's you. And the

1104
01:11:44.800 --> 01:11:48.800
framework is you presume him innocent, and you don't cannot

1105
01:11:49.000 --> 01:11:51.319
convict him until the state proves to you beyond a

1106
01:11:51.399 --> 01:11:54.720
reagionable doubt of his guilt, and a reasonable doubt is

1107
01:11:54.800 --> 01:11:57.600
the kind of doubt which would cause an ordinary person

1108
01:11:57.680 --> 01:12:02.119
to hesitate to act and the more important decisions in

1109
01:12:02.159 --> 01:12:08.720
their lives. Now, what makes us even more complicated is

1110
01:12:08.720 --> 01:12:12.760
there's no direct evidence. There's no eyewitness, there's no camera,

1111
01:12:12.920 --> 01:12:19.279
there's no fingerprints, there's no forensics tying him to the crime. None. None.

1112
01:12:19.680 --> 01:12:23.840
I say that without any fear of contradiction whatsoever. None.

1113
01:12:26.800 --> 01:12:28.520
And what the judge is going to tell you is,

1114
01:12:29.680 --> 01:12:33.359
to the extent the state relies on circumstantial evidence, the

1115
01:12:33.479 --> 01:12:37.279
circumstances must be consistent with each other, and, when taken together,

1116
01:12:37.399 --> 01:12:40.640
point conclusively to the guilt of the cues beyond a

1117
01:12:40.720 --> 01:12:44.560
reasonable doubt. If these circumstances merely portrayed the defendants behavior,

1118
01:12:44.600 --> 01:12:48.640
it's suspicious. The proof has failed. Now, the smoke they've

1119
01:12:48.720 --> 01:12:53.880
created is about suspicion. I mean, if you show up

1120
01:12:53.880 --> 01:12:58.199
at the scene and you got the wife, and well

1121
01:12:58.239 --> 01:13:00.479
the wife is especially dead and a guy's got a shotgun,

1122
01:13:01.079 --> 01:13:03.279
you know, it's pretty logical for the cops to jump

1123
01:13:03.279 --> 01:13:06.760
to conclusion he did it. And the problem is that

1124
01:13:07.279 --> 01:13:10.359
as they came to that conclusion, they have pounded that

1125
01:13:10.439 --> 01:13:12.279
square peg in the round hole and you're gonna hear

1126
01:13:12.319 --> 01:13:16.680
about it. They've ignored some witnesses. I mean, for instance,

1127
01:13:16.720 --> 01:13:19.880
that blue tark with a showed up at the Blue Tar.

1128
01:13:22.960 --> 01:13:24.680
That witness has said he showed up at the blue Tar,

1129
01:13:26.720 --> 01:13:29.439
was shown a blue rain jacket that he talked about.

1130
01:13:29.479 --> 01:13:31.000
He said, that's not it, that's not what he brought

1131
01:13:31.039 --> 01:13:36.079
here that morning. I mean that I've talked to her.

1132
01:13:37.000 --> 01:13:38.920
She says, no, no, no, it was a blue tar.

1133
01:13:39.840 --> 01:13:40.560
And what was that?

1134
01:13:40.880 --> 01:13:44.279
The projective himselfifying her arm objection sustain.

1135
01:13:45.600 --> 01:13:51.039
That would indicates sustained emergency. I would tell you that

1136
01:13:51.199 --> 01:13:53.840
the testimony you're going to hear is inconsistent with the

1137
01:13:53.880 --> 01:13:57.640
Attorney General's represented to you based on interviews done by

1138
01:13:57.800 --> 01:14:03.640
people other than me. So what I'm telling you is

1139
01:14:03.720 --> 01:14:13.920
this that as you sit here and whisten every time

1140
01:14:14.039 --> 01:14:16.359
there's a witness that takes that witness stand because the

1141
01:14:16.399 --> 01:14:20.159
state's put up there, you see, you judge the credibility

1142
01:14:20.319 --> 01:14:22.560
whether to believe a witness or not believe a witness,

1143
01:14:22.760 --> 01:14:25.720
whether it believe one witness against many, many against one.

1144
01:14:26.720 --> 01:14:31.079
You're going to have to evaluate the testimony you hear

1145
01:14:31.479 --> 01:14:36.079
from this witness stand with a critical eye. Critical eye.

1146
01:14:37.039 --> 01:14:41.319
I mean, if you've got uncontested scientific events, you accept it.

1147
01:14:41.920 --> 01:14:44.840
I've got no problem with that. The cell phone records

1148
01:14:44.840 --> 01:14:48.880
he keeps talking about, I would say you are not

1149
01:14:49.119 --> 01:14:54.880
necessarily accurate to the extent of the loner. I will

1150
01:14:54.920 --> 01:14:57.159
also tell you that there's going to be a bunch

1151
01:14:57.199 --> 01:15:01.439
of people, and I will let's have been something or

1152
01:15:01.840 --> 01:15:04.760
threatened with something that may take the witness stand and

1153
01:15:04.840 --> 01:15:06.600
say something. But I tell you what, they're not gonna say.

1154
01:15:07.039 --> 01:15:10.039
They're not gonna say they saw him kill him. They're

1155
01:15:10.079 --> 01:15:12.920
not gonna say that they were involved in it. They're

1156
01:15:12.960 --> 01:15:16.039
not gonna say anything that would it give you a

1157
01:15:16.199 --> 01:15:21.399
comfort level in their testimony. Now, all of you have

1158
01:15:21.520 --> 01:15:25.560
indicated that you will follow the law. And I say

1159
01:15:25.640 --> 01:15:34.520
this one last time. He didn't do it. He didn't

1160
01:15:34.600 --> 01:15:39.800
kill Butcher, his son and wife, and you need to

1161
01:15:39.880 --> 01:15:49.119
put from your mind any suggestion that he did. He'd

1162
01:15:49.119 --> 01:15:52.560
been picked because you're said you could be fair. You

1163
01:15:52.720 --> 01:15:55.119
were picked because you could said you could follow the law.

1164
01:15:55.520 --> 01:15:59.439
You were picked because ALC Murdall believes that you can

1165
01:15:59.560 --> 01:16:04.159
be fair. Now, if during this process, over the next

1166
01:16:05.039 --> 01:16:11.439
however long we're here, I say something or do something which,

1167
01:16:11.520 --> 01:16:14.600
most certainly, based on my career, I will do that

1168
01:16:15.159 --> 01:16:21.119
irritates you or angers you. Sometimes I'm a little broth.

1169
01:16:23.279 --> 01:16:27.520
Don't hold that against Ali. Hold it against me. If

1170
01:16:27.560 --> 01:16:30.960
I say something that offends you in some way, don't

1171
01:16:30.960 --> 01:16:37.039
hold that against ALC hold it against me. Remember, as

1172
01:16:37.079 --> 01:16:43.640
you sit there right now, in your mind, he didn't

1173
01:16:44.159 --> 01:16:53.439
do it. He is innocent. He would require a verdict

1174
01:16:53.640 --> 01:16:58.760
of not guilty from you. That's the law, that's your oath.

1175
01:17:01.800 --> 01:17:02.119
Thank you.

1176
01:17:04.520 --> 01:17:08.680
So there you have it. We are finally into this

1177
01:17:08.920 --> 01:17:13.960
trial and it only gets wilder from here. I want

1178
01:17:14.000 --> 01:17:18.720
to thank all of you for listening. Please rate us

1179
01:17:18.840 --> 01:17:22.840
wherever you listen, if you're joining the content, and incidentally,

1180
01:17:23.000 --> 01:17:27.199
if you listen on a podcast platform like Apple Podcast,

1181
01:17:28.039 --> 01:17:30.239
I think you can do this on Spotify as well.

1182
01:17:30.399 --> 01:17:35.199
But there's a notification bell somewhere on there or button,

1183
01:17:35.880 --> 01:17:40.319
and it'll alert you every time we drop in new episodes. Now,

1184
01:17:40.640 --> 01:17:45.760
sometimes with what I do, especially with the Diddy series,

1185
01:17:45.960 --> 01:17:51.479
things drop sporadically as news comes out. So if you

1186
01:17:51.560 --> 01:17:54.840
click that little bell or you allow notifications or whatever

1187
01:17:54.920 --> 01:17:59.560
it is that automatically alert you when we drop episodes,

1188
01:18:00.159 --> 01:18:02.279
you'll be able to keep up so you don't miss

1189
01:18:02.319 --> 01:18:03.079
out on anything.

1190
01:18:03.239 --> 01:18:03.439
I know.

1191
01:18:04.439 --> 01:18:08.439
I had some people comment that they wish our schedule

1192
01:18:08.680 --> 01:18:12.159
was a little more solid. I guess you could say, look,

1193
01:18:12.319 --> 01:18:15.960
every Tuesday and Thursday, we're dropping episodes. But lately I've

1194
01:18:16.000 --> 01:18:20.039
been dropping three a week. This week, it may even

1195
01:18:20.119 --> 01:18:22.279
be four. It just depends on when I get some

1196
01:18:22.479 --> 01:18:26.119
ditty information in that I'm waiting on. If you alert

1197
01:18:26.399 --> 01:18:28.840
or you set up to get those alerts, wherever you listen,

1198
01:18:29.239 --> 01:18:31.439
it's gonna tell you. It's gonna send you a notification

1199
01:18:31.640 --> 01:18:35.159
every time something drops. It's just with what I do,

1200
01:18:35.680 --> 01:18:39.760
I can't always stick to a certain schedule. Things just

1201
01:18:40.319 --> 01:18:42.680
move very quickly in my world, and I want to

1202
01:18:42.720 --> 01:18:46.319
be as accurate and I want to be as quick

1203
01:18:46.520 --> 01:18:49.960
as possible, but still being accurate with you guys when

1204
01:18:50.000 --> 01:18:52.760
I drop this stuff. So thank you so much for

1205
01:18:52.880 --> 01:18:57.159
all your support on that. Also, next week, get ready,

1206
01:18:57.199 --> 01:18:59.920
I know what some of y'all are thinking. Thursday's thanks Giving. Jim,

1207
01:19:00.359 --> 01:19:03.039
you can't be dropping now episode on a Thursday. Well,

1208
01:19:03.119 --> 01:19:07.600
I'm not gonna because it's Thanksgiving, but I will be

1209
01:19:07.800 --> 01:19:12.920
dropping some special stuff prior to that. And what I'm

1210
01:19:13.000 --> 01:19:16.199
gonna do in the case of murdoll is I'm gonna

1211
01:19:16.279 --> 01:19:19.239
drop on Thanksgiving Eve so that you can listen while

1212
01:19:19.319 --> 01:19:23.479
you're maybe cooking up Thanksgiving dinner getting things ready for

1213
01:19:24.239 --> 01:19:29.520
the big day. I'm gonna drop actual nine to one

1214
01:19:29.600 --> 01:19:33.439
one calls from Alex Murdall. And believe me when I

1215
01:19:33.560 --> 01:19:38.520
tell you these are entertaining to say the least. Many

1216
01:19:38.640 --> 01:19:43.399
are absolutely hilarious, So look forward to those. I'm gonna

1217
01:19:43.479 --> 01:19:45.720
drop those on Thanksgiving Eve, and I got some other

1218
01:19:45.800 --> 01:20:00.720
stuff I'll be dropping next week as well. Last check

1219
01:20:00.800 --> 01:20:04.119
out the Patreon. We drop all kinds of things on there.

1220
01:20:04.319 --> 01:20:09.479
We drop commercial, free early releases, we drop bonus episodes,

1221
01:20:09.720 --> 01:20:13.039
we have a tier where you get quarterly gifts, and

1222
01:20:13.119 --> 01:20:15.239
I post a lot of files on there about things

1223
01:20:15.359 --> 01:20:17.359
that I talk about on this show, So if you

1224
01:20:17.439 --> 01:20:19.399
haven't had a chance, check it out. It's a great

1225
01:20:19.479 --> 01:20:23.640
way to support what I do with Exposed Scandalous Files

1226
01:20:23.680 --> 01:20:27.239
of the Elite and really stay active with everything we

1227
01:20:27.399 --> 01:20:29.880
got going on. So thank you so much to all

1228
01:20:29.960 --> 01:20:33.560
you supporters. I love you more than you realize, and

1229
01:20:34.199 --> 01:20:40.520
until next time, I'm Jim Chapman, your host of Exposed

1230
01:20:41.239 --> 01:20:43.159
Scandalous Files of the Elite.

1231
01:20:44.439 --> 01:20:45.039
Much love,