Second week of Alex Murdaugh murder trial concludes
Murdaugh is accused of killing his wife Margaret and youngest son Paul at their family property in June of 2021.
ALEX MURDAUGH MURDER TRIAL: DAY 9 RECAP
Get caught up on the Alex Murdaugh investigations
Prosecutors brought in three witnesses to testify about
Tony Satterifeild — the son of Murdaugh's late housekeeper who died at Moselle in 2018 — described how Murdaugh swindled him out of over
A forensic accountant described how that money and other money Murdaugh diverted was moved around through different bank accounts.
After the jury returned, they heard from a SLED fingerprint analyst who said he did not recover any meaningful evidence from the scene as well as several SLED agents who collected DNA swabs from people in the Murdaugh's orbit.
The last witness, SLED firearms expert
Court is expected to resume Monday at
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ALEX MURDAUGH MURDER TRIAL LIVE BLOG:
Griffin explains it was
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Griffin asks about a malfunction Greer experienced while test-firing the seized 300-blackout. Greer says that while firing it, one of the rounds did not automatically cycle so he had to manually feed it to the chamber. He had to do that every time he fired the weapon. The weapon did not rapid-fire.
Griffin asks if Greer can confirm that the shells found near Maggie's body, near the door of the house, and near the firing range were fired from one of the guns seized from the home. Greer says the results were inconclusive.
Griffin asks if Greer's opinion is based on the assumption that each 300-blackout should produce unique markings on the ammunition it cycles. Greer is hesitant to answer yes or no. He insists an explanation is necessary. He says he hasn't inspected every 300-blackout in the world but the ones he has analyzed do usually produce unique markings.
Griffin asks if Greer is able to tell when casings were fired. Greer says no.
Griffin points out that the buckshot pellets found in the feed room were steel. Greer agrees. Griffin asks if any of the Winchester bullets seized in September were analyzed to determine whether they were steel. Greer says no.
Griffin questions Greer about whether ballistics analysis is entirely accurate. Griffin refers to it as a sort of art. Greer contends that it is scientific and results are peer-reviewed for accuracy.
Greer is asked if the inside of the shotgun barrel was swabbed to check for residue. Greer says he is not sure if it was swabbed, but when he looked down the barrel of the shotgun he noticed some residue. Griffin asks if Greer can tell if it was new or old. Greer says he can't tell. The same is true for the 300-blackout.
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Greer reviewed several pieces of evidence in the Murdaugh case, including, but not limited to:
In his analysis, Greer found that two of the shotgun shells located in the feed room had been fired by the same firearm. Greer tested the firearms seized from the property. He was able to rule out several of the guns, but results were inconclusive for the camo Bennelli shotgun. He was unable to determine whether they were fired by that gun or by a gun with similar characteristics.
Greer tested several 300-blackout rounds as well. He compared the collected shells to the 300-blackout seized from the property. Greer test-fired the weapon using unshot shells from the magazine submitted with the rifle. Greer said he was able to conclude some of the 300-blackout shells collected from the property were fired from that weapon. However, there were some shells collected that yielded inconclusive results, meaning Greer could not determine whether those rounds had been fired by that weapon or a similar weapon.
300-blackout casings found near Maggie's body and 300-blackout casings collected from near the gun room at the house were compared. The casings found near the door were tarnished/weathered, according to Greer. However, Greer did find that the shells had matching mechanism marks. He concluded that the casings had been loaded into, extracted, and ejected from the same firearm at some point in time. 300-blackout casings and 12-gauge shotgun shells collected near the shooting range on the property also had matching mechanism marks to shells collected around Maggie's body and the shells collected around the home. However, he could not determine whether it was from the 300-blackout rifle seized from the property or a similar firearm.
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Harpootlian confirms the evidence was processed on
Harpootlian asks Darnell to explain why it may be uncommon to get fingerprints off unspent bullets. Darnell says friction and moisture make it difficult.
Darnell says typically smooth clean surfaces like brass are conducive to prints, and he has found prints on cartridges before, but it doesn't happen all the time.
Harpootlian asks if Darnell is aware of investigators who were on scene the night of the murders doing anything to try and collect prints. Darnell says he is not sure. Harpootlian asks if he were on scene, would he have done more to check? Darnell says if he had reason to believe an area likely had relevant prints, he would have checked.
Harpootlian hones in on the feed room and asks if Darnell would want to check the small room, the scene of a brutal crime, for prints. Darnell says he can't speak for the people on scene, but he would have wanted to process the room in detail.
Darnell says latent prints are extremely fragile and it does not take much to obliterate a print.
Harpootlian points out that when first responders arrived, Murdaugh was holding one of the guns that Darnell examined and found no prints on. Darnell says that every time you touch something, you are not necessarily going to leave a print. He says there are many factors.
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Prosecution introduces several shell casings that Darnell processed for evidence. He said he didn't find any fingerprint evidence on the casings, but that it is not common to find developed prints on fired cartridge cases.
He also examined some of the firearms seized at the crime scene. He said he found no usable evidence on any of the guns.
Darnell examined Paul's cell phone as well. He found a very small amount of fingerprint evidence on the phone, but there was not enough detail for him to get a print.
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Burney says he was tasked with tracing funds allegedly stolen by Murdaugh from 2011 to 2021. He says that Murduagh primarily stole money using the fake Forge account. He also looked at how Murdaugh spent the money.
He used the "first in, first out" method, assuming the first money into an account would be the first money out of the account.
He traced the
He also traced some of the Satterfield money.
Burney says that Murdaugh had a few
On
Several checks were made out to Curtis Smith (under a variety of names). In total, Murdaugh paid him over
Randolph Murdaugh III was paid
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Waters points out that Gloria did not die instantly, but remained in the hospital for several weeks. Waters asks if Gloria was ever able to tell her sons exactly how she died. Satterfield says no.
Note: SLED has since received permission to exhume Gloria's body and further investigate the circumstances of her death.
Satterfield explains that after the death, Murdaugh told him he was going to go after his insurance company and get money to pay the outstanding medical bills. He also encouraged Satterfield to file a lawsuit, but said he couldn't represent them himself because of a conflict of interest. He brought in his longtime friend
Satterfield says that he was unaware Murdaugh secured a multi-million dollar settlement until media began reporting on it. He spoke to Murdaugh in June of 2021 and said Murdaugh told him they were still working on it, but would be ready to settle soon.
Murdaugh later admitted to stealing the funds and agreed to pay the money back.
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Prosecution asks if, after
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Griffin also points out that they discussed Murdaugh's loan in a meeting and that it was noted the bank had mortgages on the Murdaugh properties that superseded the transfer to Maggie's name.
Griffin references a memo that shows collateral for Murdaugh's loans. He asks if Murdaugh always paid the bank money and interest he owed and if he ever went into default on any loans. Malinowski lists two loans in which he says Murdaugh went into default. Griffin says those loans were written off and asks if Murdaugh still made payments on them. Malinowski says yes, periodically.
Griffin asks if Malinowski was aware Maggie was supposed to meet the bank's appraiser at the Editso house on
Griffin asks if the PFB underwent routine
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Malinowski was the secretary of the Executive Committee in June of 2021.
Prosecution presents wire transfer records from
There is also paperwork from that day showing a cashier's check to Murdaugh for
Malinowski says
Shortly after, a deposit of
State prosecutor
A copy of minutes from a Board of Directors meeting from
Murdaugh had allegedly intended to use his the mortgage on the Edisto house and a share of
They go through a list of money owed by Murdaugh on loans, including one that was a
On
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