Testimony: Maggie Murdaugh may have bought gun that killed her

Murder victim Margaret "Maggie" Murdaugh may have purchased, picked up, and delivered the very gun that took her life on the night of June 7, 2021 - a gun purchased for her son, Paul, who was also shot and killed in a case where the family patriarch, Alex Murdaugh, is charged.

SLED Firearms Examiner Paul Greer testified Friday afternoon that fired S & B 300 Blackout cartridges found near Maggie's bloody body showed "matching mechanism marks" when compared to spent S & B 300 Blackout cartridges found near the door of the Murdaugh's "gun room" at their Moselle residence, and at their shooting range.

"It is my conclusion that these items had been loaded into and ejected from the same firearm at some point in time," testified Greer. These matching marks included firing pin marks, ejector marks, extractor marks, and chamber marks, he added.

S.C. Department of Natural Resources officer and custom gunmaker John Bedingfield testified that Maggie herself picked up and paid for that black, stripped down AR rifle on April 14, 2018 - at a cost of $875 - and delivered the weapon to her son - a firearm that may have pumped multiple rounds into her fleeing body.

Prosecutors had said early on they believe Maggie had been killed with a "family weapon," and when the pieces of the evidentiary puzzle are put together, it becomes clear which weapon that might be, and when it was last seen and shot before the night of the murders.

Bedingfield testified earlier this week that Murdaugh had purchased three AR-style sporting rifles for his sons, Paul and Buster, as Christmas presents in December of 2016.

However, Murdaugh later told police, Paul misplaced that weapon, so he asked Bedingfield to built another.

Murdaugh also told state police during initial interviews following the killings that Paul was reckless, irresponsible, and always leaving guns lying around at random places - he repeated this several times in interviews- and that this replacement gun had been stolen from Paul's truck during a party. He did not know when, he told SLED.

However, other testimony puts a timeline on that gun and a location where it was fired. Paul's friend and college roommate, Will Loving, testified earlier this week that, because the "stripped down" replacement gun had no optics or scope, he and Paul went to ACE Hardware in Hampton in March or April of 2021 to purchase a "red dot sight" for that gun.

The state entered into evidence a receipt from ACE dated March 6 - just three months before the killings.

Loving also testified that the same weekend the sight was purchased, he and Paul sighted the weapon in right from the steps of the house - at the gun room side entrance - using the porch railing to steady the weapon.

Based on the facts that this gun is unaccounted for, and the ballistics of rifle casings found at the gun room steps match the casings near Maggie's body, it may be an easy leap for the jury to believe that Paul second gun - one she purchased and hand delivered to him - was in the family's possession as late as March 2021 and may been her murder weapon.

Greer also testified that 12 gauge 3-inch magnum shells found in the house and workshop at the Moselle property match the same brand, model and size as the two fired shotshells found near Paul Murdaugh's body.

While the court qualified Greer as an "expert witness" in matters of firearm analysis, Murdaugh defense attorney Jim Griffin questioned the science behind his work, suggesting that his findings might be subjective and not a "100 percent scientific certainty."

"Is it art or is it science?" he asked.

Griffin also pointed out that firearms are mass manufactured, much like cars on an assembly line or any other mass produced part, and that weapons manufactured at the same time in the same factory may have similar characteristics.

Griffin was also quick to point out that no ballistics or analysis proved that any weapon seized from the Moselle crime scene were ruled as being the murder weapons.

"You are not here to tell the jury that any of the weapons here were used to kill Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh, correct?"

"My results were inconclusive," responded Greer. "I'm not able to determine that. They (the cartridges at the crime scene) could have been fired by a gun with similar characteristics."

SLED Senior Special Agent Jeff Croft testified earlier that, to his knowledge, police did not have a murder weapon in evidence.

Greer's testimony and the firearms evidence may prove troublesome to Murdaugh's defense, so on Jan. 23 his attorneys filed a motion to exclude all of it from the trial, citing many of their same arguments.

Earlier in the trial, during an in-camera hearing to determine if the evidence would even be admissible in front of a jury (which it was ruled admissible), Griffin also went after the credibility and reliability of Greer's evidence and testimony.

Griffin asked is Greer could say with "scientific certainty" that "no other gun in the universe could have made these marks?"

Court will resume at 9:30 Monday with an in-camera hearing, with no jury present, to hear testimony from Allendale attorney Mark Tinsley on the 2019 fatal boat crash and wrongful death suit involving the Murdaugh family in order to determine if financial crimes evidence is admissible in this murder trial.

Day 10 of the Alex Murdaugh murder trial began with few surprises but it is clear that the S.C. Attorney General's Office is steadily building its case, witness by witness, exhibit after exhibit, in hopes of proving Murdaugh shot and killed his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, on the night of June 7, 2021.

SLED Firearms Examiner Paul Greer is prepared to testify before the Colleton County jury, as he did early in the trial during an in-camera motions hearing that ejector markings and manufacturer brand and model information of several rifle cartridges and shotgun shells found at the murder scene, Moselle, match ammo found elsewhere on the Murdaugh property, including the family's shooting range.

Prosecutors early on stated they believed the Murdaughs were killed with at least one family weapon.

Found at the murder scene were fired S&B 300 Blackout rifle cartridges, along with Federal Premium and Winchester Drylok 12 gauge 3-inch shotgun shells.

During the morning, Judge Clifton Newman continued with an in-camera hearing, without the jury present, to determine if any of Murdaugh's alleged 100-plus other crimes are admissible as evidence of motive in the murders.

Jan Malinowshi, CEO of Palmetto State Bank, testified about Murdaugh's "desperate" financial condition. The banker said that by August of 2021 Murdaugh owed the bank roughly $4.2 million and his checking account was overdrawn by roughly $347,000.

Further testimony revealed that Murdaugh was considering selling Moselle and refinancing his Edisto beach house. Murdaugh also had a $1 million line of credit at Palmetto State Bank, and it was maxed out.

Michael Tony Satterfield testified that he had read about a insurance settlement related to the 2018 death of his mother, Gloria Satterfield (Murdaugh's household employee), but the family estate had received no money, so he contacted Murdaugh in June of 2021 to inquire about the finances. Murdaugh had promised Satterfields sons he would help them sue his insurance company, but was later indicted and sued over the scheme.

Carson Burney, S.C. Attorney General's Office Forensic Accountant, testified about money allegedly stolen by Murdaugh using a fake "Forge" bank account, and about money stolen from the Satterfield Estate.

The in-camera hearing is expected to continue on Monday morning.

Looking back at Thursday

in Colleton County court

The Alex Murdaugh crime saga became more intriguing Thursday.

South Carolina Circuit Judge Clifton Newman continues to hear arguments - with information that could win or lose this historic criminal case - over whether or not to admit evidence of alleged financial crimes and other "bad acts" as motive in the June 7, 2021 murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.

With the jury in waiting until the matter is decided, counsel for both sides made compelling arguments over whether or not Murdaugh's more than 100 other criminal charges - mainly stealing from law clients and other attorneys - as well as at least two of the dozen civil cases against him, are legally admissible under S.C. Rules of Evidence Rule 404(b) in this double murder trial in Colleton County.

Witness testimony detailed how Murdaugh was confronted by his own law firm on the morning of the murders about missing legal fees, and was expected later that week to meet with opposing attorneys to discuss his financial matters as part of the 2019 Beach wrongful death suit. Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters painted Murdaugh as a desperate man looking to mask his malfeasance. "On June 7, 2021, he is out of options," said Waters during the in-camera hearing, with no jury present. "For the jury to understand that, they have to understand what he was doing, and what he was trying to hide."

"When the hounds are at the door, when Hannibal is at the gates for Alex Murdaugh, violence happens," he added. "They really need to understand what this man was hiding. He was hiding something like we've never seen before."

Arguably, Murdaugh attorney Jim Griffin makes one of his most compelling arguments of the trial to date, citing the history of "trust and brotherhood" at Murdaugh's law firm that enabled him to pay back money he had misappropriated or misspent in the past.

"How murdering Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh eased his financial stress - it doesn't," stated Griffin. "It's just a theory, no facts. There is no logical connection whatsoever."

Newman, while not ruling on the matter, indicated that he would be in favor of allowing the evidence if the state could prove it was within the scope of the law.

"Evidence of other crimes can be used to show motive, intent, common schemes and plans," said Newman. "I find that it is admissible provided the proper scrutiny is done... "