Defense moves to exclude Tinsley testimony after donation to witness who testified against Murdaugh

Alex Murdaugh’s defense team unsuccessfully tried Thursday to get the testimony of a witness at his murder trial thrown out after they say he made a payment to another witness on the donation website GoFundMe.

Defense attorney Phil Barber asked Judge Clifton Newman to exclude testimony from Mark Tinsley, the attorney for the family of Mallory Beach, who died in a 2019 boat crash involving Murdaugh’s late son, Paul.

Barber flagged Tinsley for making a $1,000 payment on a GoFundMe page raising money for Mushelle “Shelly” Smith, the caregiver for Murdaugh’s mother, who previously testified to Murdaugh’s behavior on the night of his wife and son’s murders.

“He’s made a financial payment to the witness, in a case where he has a direct financial interest,” Barber said to Newman, who declined to exclude Tinsley’s testimony but said what Tinsley told the jury about the GoFundMe page would make “good fodder for cross-examination.”

After Newman’s decision to let Tinlsey testify, he became the day’s final witness late Thursday, testifying for 54 minutes before the judge adjourned court for the day before prosecutor Creighton Waters had finished his direct examination.

Tinsley, a lawyer from Allendale, was the 43rd prosecution witness so far of the 14-day trial in which Murdaugh is accused of the June 7, 2021, murders of his wife, Maggie, 52, and son, Paul, 22.

Tinsley is one of about a half-dozen prosecution witnesses who are testifying about various alleged frauds Murdaugh was involved in. Newman agreed to allow the state to present evidence of financial crimes after prosecutors contended Murdaugh’s motive was to kill his wife and son to divert attention from efforts to expose his alleged financial crimes.

In his testimony, Tinsley leaned toward the jury and gave confident, earnest explanations to Waters’ questions. Jurors sat up, alert, obviously paying close attention to him — a collective attitude they have not shown to all of the state’s witnesses, many of whom have been questioned on dry, technical matters dealing with forensic evidence.

Tinsley explained how he had sought justice for the family of Mallory Beach, saying that no amount of money could replace the family’s daughter, but that those responsible for her death must be held accountable. Initial defendants included Murdaugh, as owner of the boat, and various others.

In his initial efforts to collect information for the ongoing lawsuit, Tinsley told the jury, he had first believed that Murdaugh was wealthy and would have ample insurance to assure a high payout to the Beach family, either as a result of a settlement or a trial verdict.

But as time went on, Tinsley told the jury, he learned that Murdaugh only had about $500,000 in insurance. When Tinsley tried to find details about Murdaugh’s assets in checking and other financial accounts, Murdaugh’s representatives stonewalled him, he testified.

And Murdaugh himself complained personally to Tinsley about his seeking such high damages from him, calling him “Bo” and asking him what did he think he was doing, at a South Carolina trial lawyers’ convention. Tinsley told him he was going to make him pay, he testified.

Under continued questioning by lead prosecutor Creighton Waters, Tinsley told the jury that at first he believed Murdaugh was resistant to efforts to make him reveal his assets because he had untold riches from his law practice. He knew Murdaugh had a successful law practice with many settlements, a beach house and a 1,770-acre estate in Colleton County known as Moselle, as well as a house in Hampton.

Finally, Tinsley testified, he told Murdaugh’s lawyers that he was going to try to seize and sell Murdaugh’s assets — the 1,770-acre estate and the Edisto Beach house, which together were worth more than $4 million. In all, Tinsley testified, he wanted to collect $10 million from Murdaugh.

If that put Murdaugh in a bind, so be it, Tinsley testified, adding he was willing to put Murdaugh’s payments on an installment plan, something Murdaugh should easily be able to do since he had, Tinsley believed, such a successful law practice.

“He was always going to have to pay a lot of money,” Tinsley testified.

As time , went on, he had found information to show that Murdaugh was even more culpable in Beach’s death, Tinsley testified. He now knows that Murdaugh was aware of his son’s drinking and should not have let him use the boat, Tinsley testified.

Tinsley will continue his testimony when court resumes at 9:30 a.m. Friday.

After court, prosecutor Waters told Judge Newman that he intends to wrap up the prosecution’s case next Wednesday. Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian told the judge the defense will need approximately five days to put on its case. Since witness testimony is often taking longer than expected, that means the trial could easily go another two weeks, and perhaps longer.

GoFundME

The children of Smith, who cared for Murdaugh’s mother and offered emotional testimony in the trial, set up the GoFundMe account, time stamped roughly 23 hours ago, “for her bravery.”

In their initial post, they said Smith had to take a leave of absence from her job in the cafeteria at a Hampton County high school because of the attention of the media. The page has been edited to say, “We just want to show how proud we are of her. For BRAVERY…these are her children doing this for her!! She had no idea about this!!!”

The GoFundMe page organizers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The S.C. Attorney General’s Office, which is prosecuting the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Attorney General Alan Wilson has been sitting in the Colleton County courtroom during the trial.

On Thursday, Barber told Newman that Tinsley made the very first donation to the page under his own name, then later modified his donation to display as “Anonymous.”

Since March 2019, Tinsley has led a lawsuit on behalf of the family of Mallory Beach, who was killed in the boat crash in February 2019. Tinsley’s lawsuit alleges that Paul Murdaugh was drunk and piloting the boat, which was owned by Alex Murdaugh. Although several defendants have recently settled the case with Tinsley, Alex Murdaugh remains as a key defendant in the case along with Greg Parker, owner of a convenience store alleged to have sold alcohol to the underage Paul Murdaugh.

Tinsley previously testified he would push to get access to Murdaugh’s financial information, something the prosecution contends could have exposed his alleged financial wrongdoing. A hearing on that request was scheduled for three days after the murders.

Tinsley testified that he initially feared the killings had been done in retaliation for Beach’s death in the crash, potentially making Murdaugh too sympathetic a defendant for his lawsuit to prevail against.

“I would have dropped the case,” he testified.

The defense on Thursday did not make any motion in regards to Smith’s testimony, where she said Murdaugh told her he had spent a longer period of time the night of the murders at his mother’s house than she remembers, and also may have left an incriminating piece of evidence at the house afterward.

GoFundMe page set up to help trial witness

The GoFundMe account for Smith, started by Rachelle Buckner and Daiquan Smith, had garnered 184 donations amounting to almost $8,000. The goal is $20,000.

In her testimony, Smith poked holes in Murdaugh’s statement to law enforcement that he had been with his mother for 30 to 40 minutes when the murders of his Maggie and Paul took place on June 7, 2021.

Smith said he was there 15 to 20 minutes, which subsequent testimony on an analysis of Murdaugh’s SUV seemed to support.

Shortly after the murders, Murdaugh arrived at his mother’s house and told Smith that if anyone asked he was there 30 to 40 minutes. He also said he had heard she was getting married and offered to help her pay for it.

She said she felt nervous about the conversation and called her brother, a law enforcement officer, to tell him about it.

Smith, who worked for the family for about three years, testified she considered the Murdaugh’s a “good family.”

Sometime later, Murdaugh again came to the family home carrying what she described as a blue tarp.

On the initial GoFundMe page, Smith’s children said the testimony brought her heartache and stress.

“My mother is the most caring, giving, and selfless person ever. She would give the shirt off her back if she could,” Buckner wrote. “We want to show her that she is not alone and we stand behind her 100%!”

One person who donated said, “Miss Shelly …. I have thought about you since the day you were on the stand! I have never wanted to hug someone so bad! You are an AMAZING lady and the strength you showed was beyond moving! You should be proud of yourself for doing THE RIGHT thing! The world needs more people like you! I pray for peace in your heart!!! xoxo.”

Reporter Ted Clifford contributed to this report.