Day 15 live updates: Judge denies Murdaugh defense ask for mistrial over Maggie ‘hearsay’
Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty. He faces life in prison without parole if found guilty. The trial started
How to watch the Murdaugh double murder trial, who to follow from The State,
Wilde oversees the Cellular Analysis Survey Team, a group that reviews location data on phone records.
During Rast’s five years caring for
Murdaugh and
Libby’s other caretaker, Mushelle “Shelley” Smith, also testified it was unusual for Murdaugh to visit at night.
On the night of Maggie and Paul’s deaths, Murdaugh said he left Moselle to visit his mother around
Court has returned to session. Prosecution called
Rast is a CNA and now works as a private home health provider, she said. Rast helps care for Alex Murdaugh’s mother, Libby.
After spending much of the morning at the stand,
Judge
Alex Murdaugh’s former housekeeper,
Defense attorney
That morning, Turrubiate-Simpson said she recalled Murdaugh leaving Moselle in a Polo collared shirt. In a video
When police arrived, he was seen on body camera footage in a white T-shirt.
Harpootlian suggested it was possible Murdaugh simply changed clothes throughout the day, and not, as prosecutors suggested, to remove blood-stained or dirty clothes worn at the crime scene.
Court has returned to session and Judge
Meadors objected just before defense attorney
Judge
During cross-examination, defense attorney
In that conversation, Turrubiate-Simpson previously testified Murdaugh had asked her if she recalled what shirt he was wearing the day of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s murders. He seemed to recall wearing a Vineyard Vines shirt, Turrubiate-Simpson said, but she remembered a polo because she’d fixed the shirt’s collar that day.
Murdaugh seemed worried during the conversation, she said, and repeated the phrase “I’ve got a bad feeling.”
Harpootlian attempted to ask the witness if Murdaugh told her he was interviewed by SLED agents the day of that conversation. The defense seemed to suggest Murdaugh may have been concerned he incorrectly remembered the detail during his statements to SLED.
The prosecution previously hinted Murdaugh was trying to convince Turrubiate-Simpson he was wearing a different shirt than she remembered to cover a potentially suspicious change of clothes after the murders.
Meadors’ objection was on hearsay, he said, insisting the defense cannot glean testimony about what Murdaugh may have said without putting him on the witness stand.
Newman said both parties should use the break to “debate the issue.” He did not say how long the break would be.
In a private conversation with
“She was worried because the lawsuit was presented, saying they wanted
Turrubiate-Simpson said Maggie told her Murdaugh wasn’t giving her all the details about a lawsuit sparked after the crash, filed by the Beach family.
“She felt that Alex was not being truthful to her in regard to what was going on with that lawsuit,” Turrubiate-Simpson testified. “She said, ‘He doesn’t tell me everything.’”
Judge
Just before the Murdaughs’ former housekeeper,
Harpootlian objected on hearsay grounds, asking for a mistrial, after prosecutor
“I don’t think even if you give this jury instruction (not to consider the testimony), can’t unring the bell. You can’t correct that, and now I’ve had to draw attention to it even more so by objecting to it.”
The night of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s deaths,
Turrubiate-Simpson recognized the clothes Murdaugh was recorded in, she testified. Prosecutor
“No,” Turrubiate-Simpson said.
Meadors and several prosecution attorneys have brought attention to Murdaugh’s clothes throughout the trial. The state has suggested Murdaugh may have changed clothes after allegedly murdering his wife and son to appear clean.
A
Soon after the murders, Turrubiate-Simpson said Murdaugh had a frantic conversation with her.
“He was pacing around the room saying, ‘I’ve got a bad feeling. I’ve got a bad feeling,’” Turrubiate-Simpson testified.
Murdaugh asked if she remembered what shirt he was wearing when he left Moselle on
“I didn’t say anything, but I was kinda thrown back because I don’t remember him wearing that shirt that day,” Turrubiate-Simpson said. “I know what shirt he was wearing because I fixed the collar.”
“I didn’t really know whether he was trying to get me to say (he wore) that shirt, if I were to be asked if that was the shirt he was wearing,” Turrubiate-Simpson continued.
On
Maggie Murdaugh’s pajamas were also lying in the doorway of the laundry room, she testified, which was atypical as well.
Turrubiate-Simpson was scheduled to work at Moselle that day, she said. Maggie asked her to pick up some Capri Suns for
“First she had said pineapple, then in another text, ‘No, he likes orange,’” Turrubiate-Simpson recalled.
“And were you successful in your search for orange Capri Suns?” prosecutor
“No, sir,” Turrubiate-Simpson said.
Turrubiate-Simpson then testified that during a phone call, Maggie said Murdaugh had asked her to come to Moselle that day. Maggie had been staying at a house in Edisto Beach.
“She kind of sounded like she didn’t want to come home, because she really liked being at Edisto and they had a lot of work going on,” Turrubiate-Simpson said. “She was trying to make sure everything was ready for the
Before leaving Moselle that day, Turrubiate-Simpson made dinner for the family after Maggie asked. She did not see Maggie and
Turrubiate-Simpson testified she learned of the murders the day after, when Murdaugh called her.
Alex Murdaugh’s defense decided not to cross-examine attorney
Smith was Murdaugh’s mother’s caregiver for several years.
She testified that the night of the murders,
After Murdaugh’s father died a few days after the murders, Smith said Murdaugh approached her after the funeral. Unprompted, Smith said, Murdaugh mentioned he’d been at the house for about 30 or 40 minutes that night.
On Thursday, defense attorney
Judge
Tinsley left the stand.
After the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdagh,
Murdaugh was named a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit. After Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s deaths, Tinsle said, a motion hearing that may have required
It was originally scheduled for
Tinsley was seeking records
Prosecutors have laid out evidence to allegedly show Murdaugh murdered his wife and son to take scrutiny away from his alleged financial crimes. At the same time as the lawsuit, the CFO of Murdaugh’s former law firm said the group launched their own investigation.
On cross-examination, defense attorney
Judge
On Thursday, Tinsley said after Beach was killed in the 2019 boat crash, he discovered Murdaugh didn’t have enough insurance policies to cover the resulting injuries. Murdaugh’s late son, Paul, was reportedly driving the boat intoxicated.
Tinsley was hired after the crash to represent the Beach family, who are seeking a settlement in her death.
Murdaugh was named a defendant.
Tinsley said the only insurance Murdaugh had in the case was a
“You’ve got a death. You’ve got two people with substantial medical bills. There’s just no way there was enough coverage at
Tinsley said Murdaugh confronted him at an
“(He sees me and then), he beelines across the room, and he gets about this close,” Tinsley said, moving his face roughly an inch away from the microphone at the witness stand. “He says, ‘Hey Bo, what’s this I’ve been hearing about what you’ve been saying? I thought we were friends?’”
What Murdaugh had heard, Tinsley said, was that Tinsley expected him to pay out-of-pocket to settle the case.
“I told him, ‘We are friends,’ and that if he didn’t think I was going to do everything I needed to do to help my clients that he was wrong, and that he needed to settle the case,” Tinsley said. “He didn’t like the fact that he was going to have to come out of his pocket and pay.”
Murdaugh later told Tinsley he was “broke,” said Tinsley, who said he didn’t “believe him at all,” because Murdaugh still had a lucrative law practice and other assets, including his family’s vast Colleton County estate, known as Moselle.
“He’s settling cases. He’s got big cases. He’s got lots of cases. He’s got generational wealth,” Tinsley said. “He’s not broke by anybody’s standards.”
If Murdaugh was “broke,” Tinsley believed at the time, it was because he was “hiding” income or assets, he said.
Meanwhile, at the end of court Thursday, lead prosecutor
“I worry that the jury will forget what they’ve heard three weeks ago,” Harpootlian said.
The trial was originally scheduled to run through
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