"Murdaugh" Episode Twelve | The Jury Pool

0:11 Hey, everyone, and welcome back to Exposed Scandalous Files of the Elite. I am your host, Jim Chapman, and we are back with the twelfth episode in our Murdall series. And now we're finally getting to the point that I have been wanting to bring you since we started this some twelve episodes ago. Now, the last time that I left you, we were at the point where Alex Murdall has finally been arrested and charged with the murder of Maggie and Paul Murdall. This was in Florida where he was in a rehab slash detox facility. So I have those indictments in front of me and y'all. They're short and sweet and pretty much to the point, so I'll cover those with you. And Indictment number one says that honor about June seventh of twenty twenty one, the defendant, Richard Alexander Murdall, in Collington County, did kill another person with malice. Richard Alexander Murdall did fatally shoot the victim, Margaret Maggie Kennedy Brandsteadter Murdall with a rifle, and Maggie Murdall did die as a proximate result thereof, against the peace and dignity of the State, and contrary to the statute in such case made and provided, And that is signed by Alan Wilson, the South Carolina Attorney General. Indictment number two that on June seventh, twenty twenty one, the defendant,

1:44 Richard Alexander Murdall, in Collington County, did kill another person with malice. Richard Alexander Murdall did fatally shoot the victim, Paul Terry Murdall, with a shotgun, and Paul Terry Murdall did die as a proximate result thereof, against the peace and dignity of the state, and contrary to the statute in such case made and provided. And that is also signed by Alan Wilson, the South Carolina Attorney General. And there's a third indictment that on or about June seventh, twenty twenty one, in Collington County, the defendant, Richard Alexander Murdall was in possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. Richard Alexander Murdall did possess a rifle when he murdered Margaret Maggie Kennedy Brainstead of Murdall in violation and it lists the section and that is also signed by Alan Wilson, and a fourth indictment basically saying the same thing, except instead of a rifle, it says a shotgun and it references Paul Murdall. So we're going to move forward to January of twenty twenty three and jury selection begins in this trial. Now, this jury started with nine hundred potential jurors. This was on January twenty fourth of twenty twenty three, and that pool was nared down to about one hundred and fifty jurors. And it's important to mention that a lot of these potential jurors that got excused because they were connected to the

3:17 mrdall's law firm somehow, you know, maybe a family member was represented by the law firm, or maybe they were related somehow down the line. I mean, you got to remember this is a smaller town and everybody's related to everybody. Right now, when these jurors are polled, as they call it, they are asked a series of questions essentially, and they fill out a questionnaire. And I actually have that questionnaire, and you may find it interesting to hear the questions So one of them is, please list all the groups, clubs, associations you've belonged to or volunteer slash donate to include churches, schools, sororities, fraternities, professional business, political advocacy, and it goes on and on.

4:04 And the reason they're doing that in this case, and we'll use fraternal for example, well, if you were in the same fraternity, even if it was a different college than Alex Murdall, you may have some bias towards his innocence. And that's why they're trying to determine any sort of connection to Alex Murdall. Now, another question is, please identify your sources or subscriptions for obtaining news, and they list some examples of that television, internet and streaming video, radio, podcast, newspapers, websites, magazines, social media. And the reason that they do that is kind of obvious. They want to figure out what the case, being so high profile, how much of that have you possibly been exposed to. If you're someone that doesn't have social media, or you're not very active on social media, the likelihood that you've already been influence this is less.

5:01 Another question, do you or have you regularly watched or listened to podcasts in the true crime genre, and they use examples such as forty eight Hours, Forensic Files, Dateline Exposed, Scandalous Files of the Elite. Just kidding, I added that last one, but they list some very well known podcasts and investigative shows, And again with this question, they're trying to determine how much of an outside influence that you've had. Another question they ask, are you or your spouse associated or work with any state, local, or national law enforcement group such as Crime Commission, Group dedicated to Victims' Rights, neighborhood crime Watch, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, sharefs' auxiliaries? And what are they trying to do there? I think they're trying to determine if you would be biased for the police, because this contains a lot of circumstantial evidence, and if you're biased for or against the police, for that matter, it would show you may have some sort of trust issue with anything they say, if you're against them, and if you're for them, maybe you would be a little bit too lenient on that circumstantial evidence. So jurors they complete this questionnaire and they return it back to the Clerk of Court, and the clerker court narrows it down by removing those who state they are unable to serve

6:32 for whatever reason. That's the first question on the form, and once that process is complete, a final list of names is provided to the defense and to the prosecution, and they start performing background checks on these individuals to for the trial. They want to make sure that if you say you're not related to murd All, you're actually not related to them. Right. So, which side did the detailed questionnaire benefit? The prosecution or the defense? Well, the goal of the attorneys on both sides is to obtain as much information as possible on those jurors. The prosecution they're likely looking for jurors sympathetic toward the victims and likely vocal advocates, if you will, for justice. The defense team, they're going to likely look for jurors with strong personalities.

7:24 Now remember it only takes one one wild card. Juror with a strong personality can absolutely hang a jury, which means they prevent that conviction by keeping the verdict from being unanimous. You have to have a unanimous verdict in this case, so jury selection obviously one of the most critical components of a successful trial and prosecution defense they spend a ton of time on board deer. Now, both prosecutors and defense attorneys will be seeking every advantage that they can as they whittle that jury down to just twelve jurors out of nine hundred prospective jurors in anywhere between four and six alternates. Now Here is the oath that those jurors will recite. Mister or madam. Foreman, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, please stand and raise your right hand to be sworn. You shall well and truly try and true deliverance make between the State of South Carolina and the defendant bar whom you shall have in charge, and a true verdict give according to the laws and evidence.

8:39 So help you God. And you may wonder how long that jury selection takes in a typical case, not necessarily the murdaal trial, well, it could take multiple days. After the jurors are sworn in the presiding judge in this case, that's Clifton Newman, he begins a process that I just referred to called warder, which is a examination of a juror by a judge or counseling. During this process, which all of this takes place behind closed doors, attorneys can challenge any of the jurors for cause. For example, an attorney can move to strike a prospective juror who attended high school with Murdall if they feel that there was a relationship there that would cause them to be biased, and challenges for cause. They're not often approved by the judge because if one is raised, the judge will ask the juror if they feel the relationship would cause bias, and if the juror says no, in most cases, he's got to go with it. It's important to note technically, by the law, it doesn't matter if you listen to a podcast, for example, on Murdall before you were selected as a juror, as long as you say, I can put my opinion aside, or I can put what I heard aside in that podcast and make a just determination on guilt or innocence. So the fact that you know somebody,

10:14 the fact that you know about a high profile case, technically, by the law doesn't matter if you can honestly say I can put all that aside and just form an opinion based off the evidence. That being said guaranteed a defense team. If you listen to a podcast on murder All before the murder all trial. He's going to do everything he can to get you dismissed for cause. Now, after the attorney's finish raising challenges for cause, they begin what's known as preamptory challenges. An attorney does not need to be present to provide a reason to excuse a juror for a challenge. The jurors names are called using a random computer system, and the names are presented to the court. After the jurors name is presented, the prosecutor is asked what the state says. The responses are to excuse the juror, present the jur or, to swear in the jur Defense attorneys get ten challenges, prosecutors get five, and if they are excused, jurors get seated in the back of the courtroom. Next, the defense is asked the same question, and that process repeats itself until twelve jurors and however, many alternates are selected have been seated and sworn in, and at that point the judge allows opening arguments to begin, where the prosecution and the defense do their opening statements. So eventually, on January twenty fifth of

11:44 twenty twenty three, the final jury was selected and that consisted of six jars and six alternates, and those alternates they're going to come into play at some point, which I'll bring you as we go along. So in regards to demographics, the juror included seven white men, three white women, to black women, and of course a four person was selected by the judge and the trial started. Now I want to introduce you to the key players with regard to the prosecution, the defense team, and the judge. And those are the three people you're going to hear from today. And we'll start with Judge Clifton Newman. And look, this guy was the perfect judge for this trial, and you'll see that as we go along. But a little about his history. He was born November seventh of nineteen fifty one.

12:39 He's an American attorney and former at law judge on the South Carolina Circuit Court. He served as judge since his election by the state General Assembly in the year two thousand. In twenty twenty one, he was re elected to a final fourth term, and he actually retired in December of twenty twenty three. In his role as a Circuit Court judge, he presided over several high profile trials, including the trial of Michael Slager, Nathaniel Roland, and Alex Murdall, and so he has now retired. As a matter of fact, he retired after the murdaal case. A very well respected attorney.

13:21 He was born in Kingstreet, South Carolina. His dad was a reverend and interestingly enough, he was the first member of his family to be born in a hospital. When Nimmim was three years old, his mother left his family in South Carolina to work in New York as a domestic worker. And in high school, Newman acted as an attorney in drama class, really liked it, set his sights on the law, and actually graduated valedictorian of his class in nineteen sixty nine. He was also student body president, and he received his gist doctor from Cleveland Marshall College of Wall. This guy was, by the time this trial rolled around, was as experienced as they come, bar none.

14:13 So that's the judge and the lead prosecutor in this case was a guy by the name of Samuel Creighton Waters and he goes by Creighton and throughout this trial, this guy was unbelievably good and it really heats up. I'll go ahead and give you a spoil alert. At some time. During this trial, Alex Murdall takes the stand and Creighton Waters of course examines him on that stand and it is a master piece. I can't wait to get to that. So here's a little about him. So he's the chief attorney for the South Carolina State Grand Jury and he was also the leading state prosecut as I just told you against Alex Murdall. Fifty two years old, and he had worked for the Attorney General's office for more than twenty four years. Very experienced. Waters is very well known for his successful prosecution of corrupt law enforcement officers.

15:17 He kind of specializes in that he recently obtained indictments on more than one hundred suspects following investigations into drug operations in the state prison system. This drug trafficking organization mostly operated out of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, using contraband items, particularly cell phones, from within the prison system. Waters also worked with prosecutors on major white collar cases and his knowledge in this area has been utilized heavily by the Attorney General's office, and they knew he was the right guy to prosecute the Murderall case. So that's a little bit on Creighton Waters, and finally we have Senator Dick Harpoutlian and Senator Richard. Dick Harpoutlian is the lead defense attorney for accused killer Alex Murdach. He attempted Clemson University for his undergrad and received his law degree from the University of South Carolina in nineteen seventy four.

16:23 Harpootlum began his legal career with the Fifth Circuit Solicitor's Office in South Carolina. In nineteen eighty three, here in a conviction in the prosecution of Donald Pee Weee Gaskins, which was South Carolina's most notorious serial killers and one of the most notorious of all time for that matter. Gaskins was sentenced to death and later executed. Just weeks prior to that execution, Gaskins attempted to have Harpoulian's young daughter kidnapped and held hostage. That plot was stopped by law enforcement when they received a tip from one of those Gaskins have recruited. In nineteen eighty three, Harpoolium went into private practice with a criminal defense lawyer that was nationally renowned by the name of Jack Swirling. He and Swirling had a partnership until January of nineteen ninety one, and in nineteen ninety mister Harpoolium was elected to the Fifth Circuit Solicitor, where he served from ninety one to ninety five. In nineteen ninety one, he prosecuted and convicted ex University of South Carolina president Jim Halderman for public corruption chargers arising from his abuse of the office for personal gain. He's been a fixture in South Carolina politics for the majority of his career. He was a member of the Richland County Council from nineteen eighty six to nineteen ninety one, as well as chairman of the South

17:53 Carolina Democratic Party from nineteen ninety eight to two thousand and three and again from twenty eleven to twelve thirteen. And in twenty eighteen he was elected to the South Carolina State Senate, where he still currently serves. So you know you've got a powerful defense team when you have a senator defending you. And that's just what Alex Murdall had. A guy that had been friends with his family, his father, his brothers for many, many years. All right, So now that you know who the main players are, we're going to get into it, and we're going to start as every trial starts. We're going to start with the opening statements. Now, this is one of the most integral parts of the trial.

18:47 This is the first time the jury's gonna hear the charges and the evidence for or against the accused in this case, Alex Murdall. So first up was Creighton Water and here he is delivering his opening statement to that jury. And now proceed to opening statements by the state, Thank. Your honor many please court. On the evening of June seventh, twenty twenty one, about the defendant's property off Mozelle Road in Carleton County, his son Paul Murdoch is standing in a small feet room and some kennels they had on the property.

19:38 About eight point fifty. PM and the defendant over there, Alan Murdoch, took a twelve staged shotgun and shot him in the shoulder, in the chest and the shoulder with buck shot, and the evidence is going to show it was a million to one shot. He can survive that. But after that another shot went up under his head and did crowd to strip damage to his brain in his head. The evidence is going to show that Paul collapsed right outside that fee room and just moments later, just moments later, he picked up a three hundred blackout, which is a type of ammunition, but an AR style rifle, And the evidence is going to show that the family had multiple weapons throughout the property. Picked up that three hundred blackout rifle and opened fire on his wife, Maggie just feet away near some sheds that used to be a hangar.

20:40 Two shots Adamant in the leg and took her down. And after that there were additional shots, including two shots to the head that again did. Catastrophic damage and killed her instantly. The evidence is going to show. That neither Paul nor Maggie had any defensive wounds. Neither one of them had any defensive wounds. As if they didn't see a threat coming from their attacker. And the evidence is also going to show that both pat Maggie and Paul were shot at extremely close range.

21:23 The evidence is going to show it's called stifling. It's almost like a tattoo that when you get shot very close to a weapon, it leaves marks that the forensic pathologists can see. They were shot at close range and they did not have defensive wounds, And the evidence. Is going to show that the defendant, Alec Murdock over there, told anyone who would listen that he. Was never at those kennels. But the evidence is also going to show from these things that every one of us, most of us carry around in our pockets, that he was there, and he. Was there just minutes before with Maggie and Paul, just minutes before their cell phones go silent forever. And despite what he told people, I was never the kennels, the cell phones are going to show otherwise.

22:22 Plays and gentlemen, my name is Craig and Waters. I'm with the Attorney General's Office and i'll be the lead prosecutor. I introduced myself. Before with me as David Fernandez, Savannah Gal, John Medters, Donson Linca, John Conrad, and Johnny James. A lot of lawyers. This is a big case. It's a very complicated case, and that's why there's so many people working on it. Sitting in back in the road. We have David Owen, who's the lead investigator. We have Lieutenant Charles Ghent who's one of the agents, Lieutenant or excuse me, special Agent Ryan Kelly, and the special Agent Peter Rudofski. Some of the agents that are working on the case as well as investigator Ozzie Telee who's working. On the case as well. There's some of the witnesses that you'll hear from.

23:05 As we got through this case, the judge talked to you a little bit about him being the judge of the law, and he gives you the law, and I'm going to talk a little bit about some of the legal concepts before I turn back. To those facts. Just remember, though, he's the judge of the law, so you take what he says. But I'm gonna explain to you some of the legal issues from my perspective before we talked a little. Bit more about the evidence in the case. And the first thing is, right before you went to lunch, y'all all took an oath. Everybody in this courtroom who's got. Involvement in this case takes an oath, you know, attorney's oath become an attorney, take another oath that become a prosecutor. Judge takes another oath become a judge. Witnesses taken oath on the stands. Law enforcement take oaths to become law enforcement.

23:50 But y'all took an oath as well. And the reason why is that y'all have the most important job in this court. Every one of you raised your hand and said that you will well and truly try this case. And it's the most important job here because, like the judge said, he's the judge of the law, but y'all are the judge of the facts. Y'all are going to listen to what comes from that. We want to stand and judge those facts. But you also have to be mindful of that oath. That oath requires you to do that hard job, to. Make that decision to call the stripe when you see it. It's the same oath. It's just as important as any other oath. This might be the most important. Is its important. The judgements in a reasonable doubt? And he's exactly right. It's the state's burden to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt.

24:38 That is a correstone of our country. I wouldn't have it any other way. It's a burden to be welcome. It's what we want. It's a system that has been well tested. And true, and we take that burden to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. But I want to remind everyone that the emphasis is on reasonable Okay, it's not any doubt, it is reasonable doubt. The reasonable doubt is often defined, and again to listen to the judge how he defines, but reasonable doubt is a doubt that would cause a reasonable person to hesitate to act, to. Hesitate to act. And when you hear the evidence coming from this stand about this particular case, I. Submit to you, won't hesitate to act.

25:21 Again, remember the emphasis is. All reasonable and reasonable doubt. The judge mentioned the charges and therefore up. First indictment accuses ALC Murdoch, to which he's pled not guilty, but it accuses him. Of murdering Maggie Murdock. The second indictment accuses him of murdering Paul Murdoc. The third indictment accuses him of possessing a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, that being the murder of Maggie Murdoch. And the last one accuses him of possessing a firearm oring commission of a violent crime, and that being the murder of Palmer.

26:07 And what does that mean? What is murder? Well, the judge again is going to instruction. But is the. Unlawful killing of another with malice? A forethought, and what is malice? Malice is a mental state that's ultimately going to be for y'all to determine as to what was going through Alec Murdock's mind when he CRIBBD and he committed these crimes. What is malice? Malice has often been defined as the intentional doing. Of a wrongful act without just cause or excuse. It is the intent to inflict an injury under circumstances that the law. Would presume, an evil intent, an evil intent, And when you look at the circumstances of the crime, when you look at what led up to this crime, the evidence is going.

26:55 To show that there was malice, a forethought, A. Forethought is does that mean it means it has to exist that the moment you've commit that crime. It doesn't have to be planned, it doesn't have to be planned for any. Long period of time. It just has to exist a split second before the crime is committed. But when you see this crime and you hear all the circumstances. The evidence is going to show that. Afore or thought it existed for a while. It existed for a while in the mind of Elec Murdoch. You're also going to hear about circumstantial evidence, and a lot of times people hear, oh. It's just a circumstantial case. But the law says otherwise.

27:37 The law says that circumstantial evidence is just as good as direct evidence. And what's the difference between the two. Direct evidence It's supposedly about the storm right here. From what I'm told. Direct evidence is if it's sunny outside and a witness goes outside and it's sunny, and they come in here and they get on that witness stand and because they saw it raining, they sit on the stands that I was just outside and I saw it raining, saw it raining. That's direct evidence they actually saw it raining. But to give you an example of what circumstantial evidence. Is, is if the witness goes into a room, a room where all the curtains are drawn, and when they go into that room, it's sunny outside and everything's dry. And while they're in that room, they see it darkened behind the shades. They hear thunder, they hear the wind blowing, they hear the sound of the rain drops on the roof, and then they open up the door and it's not raining, but everything is wet. There's puddles in the driveway, there's perdals in the street, there's puddles in the yard, there's limbs down all over the ground.

28:37 And then they come in here and say, yeah, it was raining. Didn't actually see it raining. But those circumstances are beyond any reasonable doubt that it was actually raining. Now, I guess it's possible that somebody could have been standing outside the window and beating the drum to sound like thunder and blowing a fan to make it seem like it was the wind. It somehow got enough warder to code the entire neighborhood. But that's not a reasonable enough everybody understand that distinction. That's not a reasonable thing. Another thing, and this is crucial. What you're going to do in this particular case is determined credibility or the believability of witnesses.

29:20 It's gonna give me your job to. Look at the evidence, the exhibits in the case, but also the witnesses and decide. If it's true, if you believe it, if you can rely on it. And the judge is going to instruct you that you can believe one witness against many, or many witnesses against one, you can. Believe all of the witness's testimony or part of a good witnesses testimony. It's up to you, first individually and then as a product of your deliberations and what you're. Required to do. There is to just rely on that good old fashioned common sense. Does it all fit together? Is it cooperating? Does it fit with what you would expect? Does it fit with what you. Expect how real people would act.

30:02 Does it seem real? Something sing a little awe, something, sing a little law. You're gonna see video statements of Alec Murdo. You're gonna see body worn camera of him at the scene when law enforcement arrives, and hear what he says. Hear what he says about that night. You're gonna hear three. Recorded statements on video that he gave with law enforcement. And you're gonna hear how things progress about what he says, what he says he did that night. Watch those closely, watch his expressions, Listen to what he's saying, Listen to what he's not saying. Use that common sense. Does this seem right? There is something sing a little law?

30:59 Something. I mentioned that Maggie was killed with a three hundred blackout rifle, an ar style rifle the chambered in three hundred Blackout ammunition. And you're gonna hear evidence that back in Christmas a pear sixteen, Alec Murdoch over there bought two three hundred blackout ar style rifles and that not long after that one of them went missing from Paul's truck. And time went by, and in April of twenty eighteen, Alec Murdoch replaced that life and bought another one. Three total blackout rifles that they had. One of them went missing years ago and a replacement was gone. You're gonna hear evidence.

31:55 That Paul and his friend were using that replacement. God, they were standing right outside the side door to the gun room of the house and they were sighting it in firing down into a field and the cases were ejecting. The cases are the empty shell from a bullet, and they were ejecting out into the flower bed right there, and that there's a range across the street and they shot it there and there's cases ejected there as well. And they were shooting that third replacement gun just weeks prior to the murders. Prior to June. Seventh of twenty twenty one, when Maggie involved were murdered, and you're gonna hear forensic evidence that the cases that were found in that flower bed and the cases that were found.

32:40 Across the street at that range were. Ejected out of the same weapon that fired all the cases that were round Maggie's dead body. That killed her. There was a family weapon that killed Maggie. And you're gonna hear governance those three blackouts that Alec Murdock purchased. Law enforcement arrives at. The scene on June seventh, twenty twenty one. He can only account for one of them. He can only account from length, and that replacement gun is nowhere to be found.

33:24 You're also gonna hear evidence that the type of ammunition, the exact brand, the exact model of ammunition that was used to kill Maggie S. And B three hundred blackout ammunition and one dred and forty one hundred and forty. Seven grain bullets, that exact ammunition boxes, if he boxes of that ammunition is found all over the property. The very same brand and model of ammunition that was used to kill her is found in multiple locations throughout the property. And you're also gonna hear evidence the. Same thing about the shotgun shells that kill Paul. That federal double up buck shot on fired rounds were found.

34:05 On the property, as well as Winchester number two turkey loads. The two rounds in the shot run that killed one. Family weapon, same ammunition. That's all the problem. You're also going to hear evidence that about a week after the murders, mister Alt Murdoch's father had died, mister Randolph, And about a week after the murders, he shows up early in the morning at his parents' home where his mother still lives in late stage Alzheimer's on Almeda and Hampton.

34:50 It's uncharacteristic for him to show up early, uncharacteristic for him to show. Up at all like that. And he comes in and he's carrying something in a blue tart. And he takes it upstairs, and eventually. Law enforcement finds out about that, and they go upstairs and they find upstairs and they find a wadded up, very very large raincoat and a blue collar could look like a tarp. And you're gonna hear. Evidence that it was coated with gunshot residue on the in side, on the hipside.

35:32 You're gonna hear other evidence of gunshot reside. You're gonna hear that there was gunshot residue on alley and at the scene. You're gonna hear the evidence that there was gunshot residue on the seatbelt. If the carry was driving. You're gonna hear evidence that when law enforcement got to the scene, he had gone and gotten a shotgun, Poll's shotgun, and that Maggie DNA was on that shotgun. You're gonna hear other evidence from DNA, gunshot residue, firearms examiners. There's gonna be a lot of forensic evidence in this case. And I'm not gonna get into every single. Bit of other right out. What I will say that a key piece of forensic evidence that you're gonna hear in this case, this is self. Amounts Alex cell phone, Matthew's cell phone, Paul's selphone.

36:18 You know, this is all amazing technology that most of us carry around in our pockets. It really allows us to do a lot of things, and they get a lot done. But this cell phone keeps track of who we're talking to, who were calling, who were texting. Whenever we access apps, and every time you do that, there's a record kept in. This phone unless it's deleted somehow, And if you're using certain apps, you can even get GPS information where you were when you did that. To the stort. On these phones, you're gonna hear evidence about that. You're gonna hear evidence that when you make a call and it pings off of cell towers, that location information can be gathered from that as well. And so it allows an investigation to take. This and piece to get other what someone was doing on a particular day, and not only what they were doing, but who they were interacting with and how they were interacting with.

37:09 And this is gonna be crucial events I'm need to consider. You're gonna hear that particularly Alec and Paul, but also Maggie were prolific cell phone users, to the point where Paul's friends even had a nickname for it. About his cell phone message. Before I talk more about that, there's three family properties I need to talk about. Okay. The first one I've mentioned is Mozelle. Mozelle in Collington County. It's called Mozielle. It's off a Moselle rug and everybody refers to it as Mozelle. And that property is a large and there's a lot of acres. There's a main house on it, and there's a driveway that goes to that main house.

37:51 But it used to be an airstrip, and there's an airstrip that goes down and then down the way. Just less than a third of a mile away, just a three minute Warman, four minute Walter forty five second drive is the kennels and the shed. That used to be a hangar. Where Paul and Maggie emerged. The main house is just less than a third of a mile away. You can see the kennels from the main house. You can see the main house from the KITT's. The family also had a house in Edistone at the beach, and the evidence is going to show that that is where Maggie preferred to stay, particularly in the summer months.

38:36 She liked the beach. She was not a hunter. She didn't want to be at Mosalles. She didn't want to be at the. Lodge where it was hot and buggy. She liked being in Edistone. And then you're also I've already mentioned the house in Almeta, which is where his parents home on June seventh, twenty twenty one, you're gonna hear evidence that his father went into the hospital and the prognosis was not good, and in fact he died a few days later, and his mother was in late stage Alzheimer's, and that that house being cared for by a caretaker, and you're gonna hear from that caretaker. We were talking about the three camera properties Mozelle as the main house and the kennels slash ships. The main house has a driveway, but the kennels also have a driveway, and the evidence is gonna show that that was actually as commonly used as the main driveway.

39:27 In fact, the mailbox is by the kennel driveway. Driving right past those kennels were Ball and Maggie or work. I told you that you're gonna hear evidence that Maggie did not like. Being in Mozille as much as she liked Atistokee. The beach House, but that on June seventh, twenty twenty one, she came back to Moselle, and the evidence is gonna show that she arrived about eight point fifteen, And the evidence is gonna show that from the cell phones, that Paul was there at the house, at the main house and Aleck. Murdoch himself says that they ate dinner and the autopsy's gonna reflect both Paul and Maggie having similar stomach contents, indicating that they recently shared a.

40:17 Meal together. About eight thirty, But fifteen minutes after they arrived, Paul's phone starts moving towards the kennels. You're gonna hear evidence again that the defendants said he was never at those kennels, that he was napping after they ate, and he was at the main house and never went there. You're also gonna hear evidence about how much Alec used his own cell phone, and it would be unusual for him to be anywhere without a cell phone. At eight forty four, in fifty five seconds, Paul recorded a video he was down at the kennels because he had been talking to a friend of his, and you're gonna hear from this friend because his friend's dog was in the kennels and they thought there was something wrong with the tale, and Paul was recording a video of it to send to his friend.

41:27 Eight forty four and fifty five seconds. And on that video, and you'll see that video, and you'll hear from witnesses. That identified Paul's voice, Maggie's voice, and Eleck's voice told anyone who would listen, he. Was never there in eight forty four in. Fifty five seconds, there's a video. The evidence will show. That he was there. He was at the murder scene. With the two victims, and more than that, just over three minutes later, eight forty nine and one second.

42:14 Paul's phone locks forever. He never reads another text, he never sends another text, He doesn't answer calls. Three minutes after that video has the defendants at the murder scene with the two victims, Paul's phone goes silent forever, and. In fact, another. Communication comes into the very friend that he was talking to the doll at eight forty nine and thirty five seconds, just thirty five seconds later, and he doesn't answer it. He never answers another thing forever now. And on top of that, Maggie's phone locks at eight forty nine and thirty one seconds around that same time, and.

43:02 She never. Answers another text, never sends another text, never makes another. Phone call, never receives an another phone call. Three minutes, Ladies and gentlemen, three minutes after a video shows he's at the scene with the victims, and he told everybody he was never there. Credibility, ladency, joke, credibility. So what happens after that, Well you'll hear evidence that Alex phone was conspicuously he didn't have a lot of activity from about eight o nine pm.

43:48 Until nine o two pm. And if it was at the camels, which the evidence will show, why is his phone not with him? Why is it not showing I to. But you will hear that at nine o two, all of a sudden, his phone does start to pick up activity. At nine o two he calls uh. He starts moving at nine o four before he calls Maggie's. Phone doesn't answer, of course, doesn't answer. He calls his father, Randolpho's in the hospital, doesn't appear, there's an answer there. He calls Maggie again at nine oh six. Remember he's just a third of a mile away, you can see it. At nine o six, she doesn't answer.

44:34 At nine o six he turns on his car to suburban and he texts Maggie that he's going be right back. I'm gonna go check on mom. And he doesn't drive down to the kennels, even though that's where the mailbox says, that's a commonplace to me, even though you could see it. He's called his wife two times in texture and she hasn't responded. But you didn't just drive down there and say, hey, I'm mad. Do you guys want to go? What's up? What's up? Right there? You can see it.

45:16 He then drives to alt meet up where his mom is suffering from Alzheimer's, and the caretaker is there, and he starts calling people. He's talking people. It will be up to you to decide whether or not he's trying to manufacture. Now y. He comes, he gets there to al meet up, you'll hear evidence about whether or not that was usual. You'll hear evidence about how he was acting when he got there. And he's only there for twenty minutes because he's back underway at nine forty four, and he makes more phone calls on the way back, calling friends, calling people who little answer. Be after give you side whether he's trying to create an Alibati. And he gets back to Mozelle at.

46:09 Ten oh one and he calls nine one one at ten oh six. Listen to that nine one one call, Listen to what he says, Listen to what explanations he may offer. You're gonna hear that nine one one call, but you're also gonna see the body of worn camera of the officers who arrive at the scene, the video camera that they wear so that records what they're doing. And you're gonna see what he did to Maggie and Paul.

46:54 It's gonna be grucive. There's no other way around. That's what he did. You're gonna see crime scene photographs, You're gonna see the traumatic injuries. That were suffered. You're gonna hear from a pathologist, a doctor who would examine the injuries. That's gonna be grusy. A lot of the way around. On that nine to one one call, and on the body worn cameras. Pay attention to what he says.

47:36 Look at how he's acting. But he says, within a few minutes of each one of those, he says, this is about the boat case. This is about the boatcase. And you're gonna hear some of what was going on in Alex Murdoch's life leading up to that day, stuff that happened that very day, stuff that was leading up a perfect storm that was gathering, much like. The storms that are coming outside today, Listen to that evidence, Listen to. That gathering storm that all came to a head on June seventh, twenty twenty one, the day the evidence will show he killed Maggie and Paul. This has been a long, exhaustive investigation and it's going to be a fairly long trial because it's complicated.

48:32 It's a journey. There's a lot of aspects of this case. There's a lot of factors to this case. But like a lot of things that are complicated, when we started to put them all together, piece them together like a puzzle. All of a sudden, the picture emergenes and it's really sing. S. Once we get to the end of that journey and you have a chance to the evidence is going to be such that you're going to reach the inescapable conclusion that Alec murdered Maggie and Paul, that he was the storm, that the storm was coming for them, and the storm arrived from June seventh, twenty twenty one, just like the storms that are.

49:15 Heading here right now, that they died as a result. Yeah, any reason, order, thank you, And next up with Dick Harpootlin, Alex Murdall's attorney, and here is his opening statement to that jury for the Defense Court. Your honor, lady and gentlemen, with the Jerry, my name is Dick Harpuglian. I think I introduced myself to y'all and our attorneys, the three other attorneys, Dim Griss and Little Barber Margaret Fox. It is our honor to represent Alec Murdall from Murdoc. Depending on how you pronounce it, I say it's our honor because I submit to you what you have heard from the Attorney General as facts are not.

50:19 Are not. They're his theories, his conjecture. Alex stand up. This is Alan Murdall, and Alex was the loving father of Paul and the loving husband of Maggie. You're not gonna hear a single witness say that their relationship, Maggie and Alex's relationship with anything other than loving. You're gonna hear about how they went to a baseball game the weekend before. You're gonna hear about their relationship. You're gonna see texts and emails indicating a loving relationship, Paul the apple of his eye. You're gonna see a video somewhere between seven point thirty at eight o'clock the night of the murders, with Paul and Alix riding around looking there's some trees they planted. It's a snapchat that Paul sent to other people because the trees were not planted very well. They CAN'DI levering over. They're laughing, they're having a good time.

51:38 That would be about an hour before the Attorney General says he swattered her. When I say he swattered her, when they were swatted, and no question, Paul murdaal was shot twice with buckshot twelve gauge buckshot, once in the chest and by the way that shot would indicate it was in the chest and came out under his arm like somebody that might have been holding up their hands. So when he says no defensive wounds, he perhaps is being held a shotgun. I mean, I can make the same sort of speculation that the Attorney General can, because that's all he's doing, is speculating. What we do know is twelve gauge, fairly close ranged shot to the chest.

52:28 He must have been turned because it comes out under his arm. Is wadding if you're familiar with the shotgun under his arm. The second shot ended up and there's gonna be some question about the direction of that shot, but ended up entering his skull cavity, and the gases from that shot literally exploded his head like a watermelon hit with a sledgehammer. All that was left was the front of his face. Everything else was gone. His brain exploded out of his head, hit the ceiling in the shed, and dropped to his feet. Horrendous, horrible, butchering. So to find Alan Murdoch guilty of murdering his son, you're gonna have to accept it. Within an hour of having a extraordinarily bonding you can see it in the snapchat that he executes him in a brutal fashion. Not believable, Not believable. Now, Maggie is shot running with no defensive wounds because he

53:59 shot running, and after she's falls to the ground and has one bullet that has hit her and probably traveled up and hit her brain. She's on the ground, and whoever the perpetrator was walked up, took that ar and put one in the back of her head. Executed, executed. Why this is going to be interesting because we don't know why. He doesn't know why. He's got theories of this and theories of that, But why number one number two.

54:39 What was it in that hour between when he's yucking it up with Paul And let me say this to you. His record, he was interviewed. He comes home and finds there's no question about this. They've got telemetry from his car. He left the house at nine oh six, returns at ten after seeing his mother, who has dementia. Now remember that day, his father, who is dying, is taken to the hospital. Mom's home alone with the housekeeper. Perfectly reasonable for him to want to go see her, and later than usual because his father's not there. He's in the hospital and he dies two days later. His father dies two days later. So the question is if he leaves at nine oh six and he's back at ten oh one, he literally, I mean, and he can account the cars in the cell phone records, account for where he was between nine oh six and ten oh one. Now, the cell phone records, and you're gonna hear this from their own experts, are incomplete. They're incomplete, and words submit one of the reasons they are incomplete. And by the way, how do they find Maggie's phone. Maggie's phone was thrown out on the side of the road about a quarter of a mile away from a little bit more than maybe a half a mile from the Mozelle property, thrown out on the side of the road. They found it by using find my iPhone, and the way they did that they had to open it or have access. Who

56:12 gave them the code to open the phone? Now, Murdall, and it's not destroyed, it's just thrown on the side of the phone. What you're also going to see is that Alan Murdall was calling that phone at nine oh six as he leaves the house. He did call her twice and texted her. And we also know that at nine oh six as he cranched his car. Is the cell phone record show that as the telemetry data from the shows the cell phone linking up with the car, that phone is being thrown on the side of the road almost a half a mile away. Now that is Houdini, That is magic. That is Nick Squickle. Now I was making notes, well the Attorney General was talking about. But let me tell you what is more believable. Good night, he comes home and finds his wife and son butcher.

57:17 And when I say butchered, you're gonna see these photographs when I see them. Now, after having seen them for the last four or five months. It still shocks me. It's still as tough to look at. It still bothers me. And he comes home and finds his son ling in his own blood, with his brain ling at his feet, shot to hell. He walks over. He checks to see if there's any life there. Although I mean he's seeing his brain ling outside his body. He knows there's nothing there. He goes over and tries to get a pulse out of Maggie. No pulse there, calls nine to one one.

57:58 I want you to hear that night one take. It is a man hysterical in grief, trying to figure out what's going on. And he tells the nine one one operator that he concerned. And he drives the up back up to the house. And by the way, you can't see I've been out there. You can't see the shed where you might see the top of the shed. They're pine trees between the front porch or the or the porch on the house and the dog pens. And it's not a third of them all maybe by the way the crow flies, but it takes a little bit longer to drive down there. And this is not unusual for them to communicate by cell phone a tax, even when they're all on the same property. It's eleven hundred acres, big property. They've hunted it. So what I'm trying to say to you is that the Attorney General has given you his view. And again you can't see the shed.

59:02 And I'm gonna ask the judge at some point during this trial to ask you, the jury, to be able to go to the sea so you can see it. You can understand the poor proportions, you can understand the details, because the facts are what matter here. The facts. Let me give you another fact. You're gonna hear their witnesses explain the catastrophic injuries to Paul, that his head literally exploded, and whoever shot him with that shotgun was probably no more than three feet away, maybe maybe closer, maybe a little further away. You his head exploded, you would be covered in blood from head to foot, head to foot in blood. They seized his clothes that night, sweat did it, and they test well. First of all, you're gonna see in the videos from the agent the officers of the rib that night, there's no blood on him. They didn't find any blood on him. Sleds testing indicated twelve different places on his shirt and pants. No human blood detective period. Okay, you'll see pictures, white t shirt, no blood on it.

1:00:21 Those are facts, those are theories. Those are facts. Another fact that is, I think the reason we're here today. When you hear those questions on the videotape on the night now he's found his wife and son, Brudowy Butcher, you can hear on the nine one one tape he is hysterical. The goat comes in and out. It's consistent. If any of you have ever you got to use your human your experience is part of this deliberation. Your human experience. Has ever suffered a tatastrophical loss of a friend or a family member, it's Numby. It's the minute you find out. If you see them there, it's Numby.

1:01:11 You go into shot. So anything he said that night is in the context of just an hour or two before finding his wife and son, Butcher, he drove back up to the house Floyd's on nine one one, saying I gotta get a gun. Whoever did this might be out there, and he gets a gun. But what's fascinating about that is he gets a twelve gage shotgun and he grabs some shells. They these people hunt a wise, they have guns everywhere. He grabs some shells. He puts a sixteen gage, I mean a twelve gage, grab a twelve gage shotgun, put a twell buck shot in, and then he put a sixteen gage buck shot in. That's how shoot up. He was guy hunted all his life and he put a shell in. That wouldn't You couldn't fire a sixteen gage from a twelve gage, makes no sense.

1:01:59 He was traumatized GSR. Their own expert I. Sweed said, the amount of particles of GRSR are consistent consistent with that him going up and picking that shotgun up. They want to talk about GSR again, If you fired a shotgun twice and a rifle of six times, you'd be covered in GSR. Those are the facts. That's not his theory. The facts. Now, let's talk a little bit about these ars again. You're gonna hear testimony a lot of guns. They had a gun root. You know, I don't live in Calden County Avenue downtown Colombia. Ain't no gun rooms in downtown Colombia. But apparently if you live on eleven hundred acres, and you hunt deer and you hunt whatever.

1:02:51 They were playing those sunflowers for quail. Again, I don't Big Clum, Oh, you have a lot of guns. The truth is in twenty seventeen, and you'll hear the testimony that Alan bought two blackouts, one for Paul and one for Buster, this other son who was sitting out in the audience, and Paul had once his stolen. He bought another one for Paul. Now, Paul was very irresponsible with guns cars. He'd leave guns around, He leave guns in cars.

1:03:36 He oftentimes left guns down at the dog pens in the feed room. Now, I can't tell you whether he was shot with his own weapon or not, or his mom was shot with a weapon or not. But I can tell you that they weren't shot by alence, they don't have the guns. There's no way to tell conclusively without having the weapons what weapons those were fired by. And we'll talk a little bit with the sweat experts about that. The sort of overarching issue here. Is why. Murder in June seventh, twenty twenty one. Why is it September of twenty twenty two before they charge him? And I will tell you what happened that night, and this is a problem. He's being each questioned and the questioning is pretty aggressive. You'll hear it there, he traumatized, they suspect him, They show up, he's got a shotgun. They suspect him. And the next morning two people found butcher and here in Carleton County Mozelle Road, the police announced, don't worry, there's no danger to y'all. There's nobody out there that could pose a danger to you, because you see, they decided that night he did it without forensis, without

1:05:08 cell phones, without any of that, and they've been pounding that square peg in the round hole for the last well since, you know, since June of twenty twenty one, resulting in charges in September of twenty two. And so. If he felt and he did it, and you'll hear it the accusatory fashion he's being interviewed in. He may not have dealt all the facts. But by the way, whether he'd been down to the dog pins that night or not really doesn't matter, Really doesn't matter, because you're gonna see cell phone activity that would be let me put it feet this way, Paul's phone eight fifty, Maggie's phone later in that eight fifty before clearly is still being used. At nine oh six, he's up at the house, getting in the car, cranking it up to drive over and see his mom. He says, a few hundred yards away.

1:06:14 It's a little bit further than that. But the point of the matter is he would have had to have executed both of them, got back up to the house, got the bloody clothes off, and by the way, they seized his clothes him that night. They've never searched his house for any other clothes that we know, although that night he gave permission and they got a search. Warm go to my house, go look through everything. Where are the bloody clothes? Where are the bloody clothes? And of course I would tell you that they've woven this story together because they want everything to be consistent. What's important about that is the judge. And by the way, there's no wide witness, there's no forensics tying him to the murder.

1:07:02 When I say forensic's fingerprints, blood whatever, tying him to shooting anybody that night, the cell phone records reuld indicate he would have had less than ten minutes to kill them. Get up to the house, get in the car and crank it up and he be covered in blood. Now, if they think he was beginning to establish an alibi, there's no evidence of that. The evidence is consistent with him seeing them earlier at the dog pen. And by the way, that audio they have of him and Maggie, they're talking about one of the dogs killing a chicken and they were debating whether it was a guinea hen or a chicken. No animosity, very normal discussion. Paul's very happy, and we know that. Paul after that is texting back and forth with the girl about going to the movies.

1:08:00 Nobody's down there threatening him. Daddy's not pulling out a shotgun and killing him for you know. Ten minutes after that, he's texting this girl so big question. One shooter or two? Two guns? Shotgun and an ar And by the way, Maggie has no defensive wounds because she's running. What's she running from? And could you shoot? Typically she would be she had a little shed right and probably one hundred and fifty feet from the feed room on the other side of the wall. Perhaps she heard the shotgun blast and came around and saw somebody or two people and whoever it was opened up. Was there enough time to kill Paul and then find the ar and then ambush Maggie?

1:08:58 Much more likely there were two people. Again, we don't have to prove anything gonna look good. Let me sort of share the framework in which you should examine this. You have agreed to follow the law, and here's the law. Here is the law. He didn't do it. He is presumed innocent as you sit there right now. As you sit there right now, when you look at him, you have to believe he is innocent. He didn't do it. Well, let me tell you that's so difficult to do. I get it, and the way it made me. The best way to explain it is, this is this morning or yesterday. Nobody really reads newspapers anymore. But if you're reading the newspaper looking at the internet, and you read the the police had arrested somebody for some heinous crime, the natural inclination of everybody's, all of y'all is to say, thank god they caught him or her, thank god that person is in custody.

1:10:18 And you did something that's so natural we all do it. You presumed the police had arrested the person that committed the crime. You presumed him or her guilty. That is the natural thing to do. And you know what, that's fine for you to do any other day except today, because you took an oath to follow the law. And the law is he is innocent. He's presumed innocent. That is your presumption. Your mental framework is he didn't do it. They've got to prove it to me beyond a reasonable doubt.

1:10:59 Now even more difficult. And this isn't a contest, This isn't a game. This isn't who wins and who loses. This is about justice, you know. Oliver Wendell Holmes, one of the justices of the Supreme Court, once said, jury duty is the highest duty a citizen can perform for their country in peacetime, because you are protecting us from them, from the state, from the government. That's the foundation of our constitution is that the individual has the right to be presumed innocent, has the right to a jury trial, has a right to have his peer, his or her peers in sitting judgment of them. That's you. And the framework is you presume him innocent, and you don't cannot convict him until the state proves to you beyond a reagionable doubt of his guilt, and a reasonable doubt is the kind of doubt which would cause an ordinary person to hesitate to act and the more important decisions in their lives. Now, what makes us even more complicated is there's no direct evidence. There's no eyewitness, there's no camera, there's no fingerprints, there's no forensics tying him to the crime. None. None.

1:12:19 I say that without any fear of contradiction whatsoever. None. And what the judge is going to tell you is, to the extent the state relies on circumstantial evidence, the circumstances must be consistent with each other, and, when taken together, point conclusively to the guilt of the cues beyond a reasonable doubt. If these circumstances merely portrayed the defendants behavior, it's suspicious. The proof has failed. Now, the smoke they've created is about suspicion. I mean, if you show up at the scene and you got the wife, and well the wife is especially dead and a guy's got a shotgun, you know, it's pretty logical for the cops to jump to conclusion he did it. And the problem is that as they came to that conclusion, they have pounded that square peg in the round hole and you're gonna hear about it. They've ignored some witnesses. I mean, for instance, that blue tark with a showed up at the Blue Tar.

1:13:22 That witness has said he showed up at the blue Tar, was shown a blue rain jacket that he talked about. He said, that's not it, that's not what he brought here that morning. I mean that I've talked to her. She says, no, no, no, it was a blue tar. And what was that? The projective himselfifying her arm objection sustain. That would indicates sustained emergency. I would tell you that the testimony you're going to hear is inconsistent with the Attorney General's represented to you based on interviews done by people other than me. So what I'm telling you is this that as you sit here and whisten every time there's a witness that takes that witness stand because the state's put up there, you see, you judge the credibility whether to believe a witness or not believe a witness, whether it believe one witness against many, many against one.

1:14:26 You're going to have to evaluate the testimony you hear from this witness stand with a critical eye. Critical eye. I mean, if you've got uncontested scientific events, you accept it. I've got no problem with that. The cell phone records he keeps talking about, I would say you are not necessarily accurate to the extent of the loner. I will also tell you that there's going to be a bunch of people, and I will let's have been something or threatened with something that may take the witness stand and say something. But I tell you what, they're not gonna say.

1:15:07 They're not gonna say they saw him kill him. They're not gonna say that they were involved in it. They're not gonna say anything that would it give you a comfort level in their testimony. Now, all of you have indicated that you will follow the law. And I say this one last time. He didn't do it. He didn't kill Butcher, his son and wife, and you need to put from your mind any suggestion that he did. He'd been picked because you're said you could be fair. You were picked because you could said you could follow the law.

1:15:55 You were picked because ALC Murdall believes that you can be fair. Now, if during this process, over the next however long we're here, I say something or do something which, most certainly, based on my career, I will do that irritates you or angers you. Sometimes I'm a little broth. Don't hold that against Ali. Hold it against me. If I say something that offends you in some way, don't hold that against ALC hold it against me. Remember, as you sit there right now, in your mind, he didn't do it. He is innocent. He would require a verdict of not guilty from you. That's the law, that's your oath.

1:17:01 Thank you. So there you have it. We are finally into this trial and it only gets wilder from here. I want to thank all of you for listening. Please rate us wherever you listen, if you're joining the content, and incidentally, if you listen on a podcast platform like Apple Podcast, I think you can do this on Spotify as well. But there's a notification bell somewhere on there or button, and it'll alert you every time we drop in new episodes. Now, sometimes with what I do, especially with the Diddy series, things drop sporadically as news comes out. So if you click that little bell or you allow notifications or whatever it is that automatically alert you when we drop episodes, you'll be able to keep up so you don't miss out on anything.

1:18:03 I know. I had some people comment that they wish our schedule was a little more solid. I guess you could say, look, every Tuesday and Thursday, we're dropping episodes. But lately I've been dropping three a week. This week, it may even be four. It just depends on when I get some ditty information in that I'm waiting on. If you alert or you set up to get those alerts, wherever you listen, it's gonna tell you. It's gonna send you a notification every time something drops. It's just with what I do, I can't always stick to a certain schedule. Things just move very quickly in my world, and I want to be as accurate and I want to be as quick as possible, but still being accurate with you guys when I drop this stuff. So thank you so much for all your support on that. Also, next week, get ready, I know what some of y'all are thinking. Thursday's thanks Giving. Jim, you can't be dropping now episode on a Thursday. Well, I'm not gonna because it's Thanksgiving, but I will be dropping some special stuff prior to that. And what I'm gonna do in the case of murdoll is I'm gonna drop on Thanksgiving Eve so that you can listen while you're maybe cooking up Thanksgiving dinner getting things ready for the big day. I'm gonna drop actual nine to one one calls from Alex Murdall. And believe me when I

1:19:33 tell you these are entertaining to say the least. Many are absolutely hilarious, So look forward to those. I'm gonna drop those on Thanksgiving Eve, and I got some other stuff I'll be dropping next week as well. Last check out the Patreon. We drop all kinds of things on there. We drop commercial, free early releases, we drop bonus episodes, we have a tier where you get quarterly gifts, and I post a lot of files on there about things that I talk about on this show, So if you haven't had a chance, check it out. It's a great way to support what I do with Exposed Scandalous Files of the Elite and really stay active with everything we got going on. So thank you so much to all you supporters. I love you more than you realize, and until next time, I'm Jim Chapman, your host of Exposed Scandalous Files of the Elite.

1:20:44 Much love,