So the judge picked the jury and also dismissed a juror the day before he gave the trial to the jury over defense objections.

I'd love to hear interviews with the juror the judge dismissed

Guitarsoup said:

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So the judge picked the jury and also dismissed a juror the day before he gave the trial to the jury over defense objections.

I'd love to hear interviews with the juror the judge dismissed

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And instead of having the Sheriff's office investigate what happened with that juror, the AG sent SLED Agents including one who had already testified at this trial to interrogate her. Then the judge calls her into open court and shames her before dismissing her.

Amazing in a bad way.

"I'm sorry, your Honor. I didn't remember I couldn't talk about the case because I wasn't allowed to take notes during the trial."

I've seen it mentioned many times. Why were the jurors not allowed to take notes?

TRM said:

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"I'm sorry, your Honor. I didn't remember I couldn't talk about the case because I wasn't allowed to take notes during the trial."

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The Egg Lady was so scared, I doubt she had the wherewithal to summon that kind of snark but that would have been hysterical. OTOH, this judge would have likely thrown her into a holding cell until she formally apologized to "Yer Honner."

Such a terrible judge. At least Schroeder immediately sent the jury out and shouted at Binger when he imporperly commented upn Kyle's assertion of his 5th amendment rights in the Rittenhouse trial. Instead, Judge Newman shouts at defense counsel to sit down and precludes him from making a record of the objection, until much later.

Guess that clerk that sat next to the judge the whole trial handed him some SCOTUS cases on where the same is a mistrial everyday and twice on Sunday. Griffin was still pissed about that during the defense presser this morning. And Griffin was correct to be angry at the judge for that.

TBF, I have seen a judge tell counsel to sit down before they even opened their mouth but that was when the judge was ready to rule in their favor. One of those, "I don't need to hear from you, know what you are going to say and you are right." That was a federal bankruptcy judge. Things work a bit differently in bankruptcy court.

SwigAg11 said:

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I've seen it mentioned many times. Why were the jurors not allowed to take notes?

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I assume the judge didn't want them to remember how little evidence there was

SwigAg11 said:

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I've seen it mentioned many times. Why were the jurors not allowed to take notes?

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Would not mattered. He shot and killed wife and son and evidence proved that. Jury didn't fall for his shaking and crying, but a few in the board did.

SwigAg11 said:

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I've seen it mentioned many times. Why were the jurors not allowed to take notes?

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That judge's rules for his courtroom.

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In South Carolina, the issue was resolved in State v. Trent, 106 S.E.2d 527 (S.C. 1959). In Trent, a murder trial, after the defendant was convicted, he appealed, claiming, inter alia, that the trial judge erred by allowing jurors to take notes during trial. In resolving the issue, the Supreme Court of South Carolina held that

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In a number of States there are statutes permitting the taking of notes by jurors but the overwhelming weight of authority is to the effect that apart from statute the matter of note taking by jurors rests largely in the discretion of the trial Court....We are impressed with the soundness of this view. As are many other matters arising during a trial, much must be left to the common sense and good judgment of the trial Judge who in the exercise of his discretion will, of course, take into consideration the nature of the case and the extent to which notes are taken.

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In subsequent cases, South Carolina courts have cited Trent for the proposition that it is within the trial judge's discretion to allow or disallow juror note taking. See, e.g., State v. South, 331 S.E.2d 775 (S.C. 1985) (using Trent to affirm a trial judge's decision to allow jury note taking at a murder trial).

Now, that's not to say that jurors are allowed to take notes at a majority of trials in South Carolina. Indeed, in the State-of-the-States Survey I cited above, it was found that South Carolina jurors are allowed to take notes in only 42% of civil trials and 27% of criminal trials. That said, I would guess that these percentages have risen in recent years and that juror note taking is disproportionately allowed in murder trials.

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LINK

Guitarsoup said:

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91AggieLawyer said:

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Not a Bot said:

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Oh and here's the thing about the judge saying "the evidence was overwhelming." He did that on purpose. That's now on the record. When it goes to appeal the appellate court will see that the trial judge believed the evidence was overwhelming. Often the standard on appeal was whether any mistakes the judge makes would have changed the verdict. Judge snuck that in there to be used in his favor in the appellate court.

Absolute piece of crap.

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That won't be a factor.

There are two records -- the Clerk's Record (filings) and the Reporter's Record. Obviously, everything stated in trial goes on the latter, but it is only reviewed by the appellate court as it is relevant to the appeal. In other words, the appeal will bring up the specific issues (by the defense) that it thinks are in error. The judge commenting on the evidence at the end of the trial probably won't be one of them, so this likely won't even be mentioned. The jury has already decided, so this didn't lead to any harm. Even if it is brought up, it won't carry any weight because it isn't an issue the judge has authority over.

Now, a ruling on a motion that the judge has discretion over is different. If the appellate review of that matter is not de novo (i.e. the court isn't reviewing it based on a legal standard that they apply like they're hearing it for the first time), but rather abuse of discretion, then they'll review how the judge ruled and take into account what he said or how he ruled accordingly based on the law (at least, ideally and in theory). The way politics permeates into courts these days, who knows.

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They can't bring up judicial bias in appeal?

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They can bring up anything they want, but good luck on that one.

IF he was biased, the appellate court SHOULD find it in at least one of his rulings. But keep in mind that not only will they have to find error, they'll also have to find harm that results in reversible error.

Juries have a lot of leeway in deciding facts.

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He shot and killed wife and son and evidence proved that.

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Which evidence?

When the state's SLED criminologist said it was reasonable explanation there were two shooters because of the odd angles of trajectory as taken in measurements by SLED? When every state expert also testified they could not exclude the presence of a second shooter?

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IF he was biased, the appellate court SHOULD find it in at least one of his rulings. But keep in mind that not only will they have to find error, they'll also have to find harm that results in reversible error.

Juries have a lot of leeway in deciding facts.

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Not when there is a clear 5th and 6th amendment issue with the judge allowing them to continue saying that crap in front of the jury. Newman did that several times. Denial of due process is not a matter for the jury to decide. Nor does it fall within a judge's discretion.

aggiehawg said:

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He shot and killed wife and son and evidence proved that.

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Which evidence?

When the state's SLED criminologist said it was reasonable explanation there were two shooters because of the odd angles of trajectory as taken in measurements by SLED? When every state expert also testified they could not exclude the presence of a second shooter?

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He's been trolling so don't engage. None of us believed Alex himself. We were only basing our opinions on evidence presented during the actual trial.

Friend on FB.

aggiehawg said:

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IF he was biased, the appellate court SHOULD find it in at least one of his rulings. But keep in mind that not only will they have to find error, they'll also have to find harm that results in reversible error.

Juries have a lot of leeway in deciding facts.

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Not when there is a clear 5th and 6th amendment issue with the judge allowing them to continue saying that crap in front of the jury. Newman did that several times. Denial of due process is not a matter for the jury to decide. Nor does it fall within a judge's discretion.

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Not liking a guy's evidentiary ruling doesn't lead to a 5th amendment due process violation.

Okay. Thanks.

I served on a jury in Montgomery County (TX) on a pedo case and I'm pretty sure I recall the judge said we couldn't take notes either.

aglaes said:

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I served on a jury in Montgomery County (TX) on a pedo case and I'm pretty sure I recall the judge said we couldn't take notes either.

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aglaes said:

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I served on a jury in Montgomery County (TX) on a pedo case and I'm pretty sure I recall the judge said we couldn't take notes either.

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I've seen a poll before that found that something like 40% of judges across the country don't allow juries to take notes. I'm not commenting on what I would do as a judge, but that's pretty common practice amongst judges.

Edit--I see above that a minority of judges in South Carolina seem to allow note taking.

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Not liking a guy's evidentiary ruling doesn't lead to a 5th amendment due process violation.

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Don't be obtuse. Had nothing to do with the judge's failure to rule on in limine motions.

Has to do with the judge yelling at defense counsel to sit down when he tried to object to prosecution saying Alex Alex obstructed justice by failing to talk to law enforcement when he was already arrested and in detention. Then counsel went further and asked if Alex told his counsel to give interviews and knowingly lie for him in interviews. He asked about what Alex had told his lawyers.

Not sure where you went to law school but that is not allowed.

Now, under SC law, the judge's decision to refuse to rule on 404 and 403 evidence before trial was deliberate and calculated by the judge. He was always going to allow it. He just denied defense the opportunity to appeal that decision on an interlocutory appeal. Which they likely would have won.

It was improper, reversible error, federal quesion case niow. Due process.

I read the existence of the murder scene video was not disclosed until the trial. This may have been discussed, but wouldn't it be subject to pre-trial discovery?

torrid said:

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I read the existence of the murder scene video was not disclosed until the trial. This may have been discussed, but wouldn't it be subject to pre-trial discovery?

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I believe the murder scene video recorded by Paul was what eventually brought murder charges against Alex. He was already being held for financial crimes.

Just found an interesting article from October 2022.

During state's rebuttal case, Ronny Crosby, former law partner of AM testified about AM stealing money from Barrett Boulware as he was dying from brain cancer. That was back in 2018.

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A Beaufort County island co-owned by disgraced and disbarred South Carolina attorney Richard "Alex" Murdaugh and a deceased drug-smuggling suspect is up for sale, pending court approval.

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This property that's for sale, known as "Island A," is a 22-acre island that is the largest in the three Cherry Knoll Hill Islands, also called the "Williams Islands," located off the coast of Beaufort, according to the court filing.

It's accessible only by boat and only during certain tides. It has a dock that suffered hurricane damage long before the approach of Ian that's not considered useable.

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The island for sale is 50% owned by Murdaugh through Murdaugh Holdings and 50% owned by the Estate of Barrett Boulware, according to the court filing.

According to another filing on Sept. 1 by the co-receivers in Hampton County Court of Common Pleas, Murdaugh owns at least seven islands in and around Beaufort County ranging in size from 20.05 acres to .08 acres all either directly as a co-owner with Boulware or as co-owner through an entity or joint venture.

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Court records indicate an extensive business relationship between the accused Hampton attorney and the late Barrett T. Boulware. In addition to their joint ownership of properties, Boulware was the former owner of Moselle, the rural Murdaugh estate in Colleton County, before selling it to Murdaugh in April 2013.

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Boulware faced charges as part of "Operation Jackpot" during the early days of President Ronald Reagan's "war on drugs." He was accused of being involved in a Lowcountry-based marijuana-smuggling operation.

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According to reports from the Associated Press and United Press International, Boulware, an Allendale County fisherman operating out of Beaufort County, was indicted on Feb. 11, 1983, on two federal conspiracy charges after the seizure of 17 tons of marijuana on a fishing trawler coming out of the Bahamas. Boulware was charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute 34,000 pounds of marijuana and conspiracy to import marijuana into the U.S., but the charges were later dismissed when a key government witness was struck by a car and killed in Florida.

Boulware died Sept. 12, 2018, at the age of 61, after an extended illness.

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LINK

ETA: Remember Moselle had an airplane hangar and airstrip on it. And was owned by suspected drug dealer Boulware.

Going to be interesting to see how many people get caught up in Alex's web as the financial crime lawsuits continue.

aggiehawg said:

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Just found an interesting article from October 2022.

During state's rebuttal case, Ronny Crosby, former law partner of AM testified about AM stealing money from Barrett Boulware as he was dying from brain cancer. That was back in 2018.

Quote:

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A Beaufort County island co-owned by disgraced and disbarred South Carolina attorney Richard "Alex" Murdaugh and a deceased drug-smuggling suspect is up for sale, pending court approval.

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Quote:

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This property that's for sale, known as "Island A," is a 22-acre island that is the largest in the three Cherry Knoll Hill Islands, also called the "Williams Islands," located off the coast of Beaufort, according to the court filing.

It's accessible only by boat and only during certain tides. It has a dock that suffered hurricane damage long before the approach of Ian that's not considered useable.

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Quote:

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The island for sale is 50% owned by Murdaugh through Murdaugh Holdings and 50% owned by the Estate of Barrett Boulware, according to the court filing.

According to another filing on Sept. 1 by the co-receivers in Hampton County Court of Common Pleas, Murdaugh owns at least seven islands in and around Beaufort County ranging in size from 20.05 acres to .08 acres all either directly as a co-owner with Boulware or as co-owner through an entity or joint venture.

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Court records indicate an extensive business relationship between the accused Hampton attorney and the late Barrett T. Boulware. In addition to their joint ownership of properties, Boulware was the former owner of Moselle, the rural Murdaugh estate in Colleton County, before selling it to Murdaugh in April 2013.

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Quote:

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Boulware faced charges as part of "Operation Jackpot" during the early days of President Ronald Reagan's "war on drugs." He was accused of being involved in a Lowcountry-based marijuana-smuggling operation.

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Quote:

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According to reports from the Associated Press and United Press International, Boulware, an Allendale County fisherman operating out of Beaufort County, was indicted on Feb. 11, 1983, on two federal conspiracy charges after the seizure of 17 tons of marijuana on a fishing trawler coming out of the Bahamas. Boulware was charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute 34,000 pounds of marijuana and conspiracy to import marijuana into the U.S., but the charges were later dismissed when a key government witness was struck by a car and killed in Florida.

Boulware died Sept. 12, 2018, at the age of 61, after an extended illness.

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LINK

ETA: Remember Moselle had an airplane hangar and airstrip on it. And was owned by suspected drug dealer Boulware.

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Where was the hangar?

Link to the kennel on Moselle:

That island was a huge nothingburger. Looks like a sandbar with trees/bushes.

I guess this is the runway. 2500' of grass/dirt? That's not huge, I don't think. Definitely don't think a long haul plane coming from any other country could land there.

This might have been the listing for the island.

https://www.ranchflip.com/ranch/166383

I think it sold for ~200k.

When is that aerial shot from? Murdaugh bought it from Boulware in 2013. I can't see the residence.

But throughout the trial, it was always referred to as the "Hangar" with lean to sheds off of either sides. That entrance through the property from that area was the only entrance until Alex added a formal entrance with brick columns and a gate. The old runway was partially cut off to accommodate that new drive and what was left went to the hangar. No kennels existed back then until Alex built them because Boulware didn't keep hunting dogs there that I ever heard.

But one other thing that Crosby claimed Alex said was that Boulware owed him money as partial justification for taking some of the money. Now that I have more background on the length (and sketchiness) of Boulware's and Alex's relationship? Boulware was about ten+ years older than Alex. Maybe knew Alex's father?

One of those Islands owned by the Murdaugh's in the same area is called "Buster's Island" and was acquired in the early 70s. That would have been Mr. Randolph, Alex, Randy and John Marvin's father. So how far back did that connection with Boulware go? Or Boulware's Dad, maybe?

Seemed to be a general consensus that the Murdaugh Family basically controlled the entire law enforcement and justice system in that area for a hundred years?

Alex is a complete POS human being, with very questionable associations over the years but prosecution never placed A gun much less THE guns used in the double homicide.

I'm gonna preface this by saying Murdaugh is a POS who almost certainly either murdered them or hired someone else too. I'm not going to shed any tears for him.

That being said, it does bother me a bit that the prosecution's case was essentially "This guy is a horrible human being and the closest person to the two victims, who else could it have been?" and got what is seemingly an easy conviction with that.

Infection_Ag11 said:

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I'm gonna preface this by saying Murdaugh is a POS who almost certainly either murdered them or hired someone else too. I'm not going to shed any tears for him.

That being said, it does bother me a bit that the prosecution's case was essentially "This guy is a horrible human being and the closest person to the two victims, who else could it have been?" and got what is seemingly an easy conviction with that.

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Six week trial. 45 minutes of some "deliberation."

Couple that with the elected state AG appearing on the very last day of the evidentiary portion to conduct direct of a very bad expert who did admit that he could not exclude two shooters?

Fix was in. He would not have done that if there was much doubt they had the jury wired, AFTER the judge threw off that juror that morning. That's a sign that justice in SC is just as bad as the Murdaughs.

Infection_Ag11 said:

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I'm gonna preface this by saying Murdaugh is a POS who almost certainly either murdered them or hired someone else too. I'm not going to shed any tears for him.

That being said, it does bother me a bit that the prosecution's case was essentially "This guy is a horrible human being and the closest person to the two victims, who else could it have been?" and got what is seemingly an easy conviction with that.

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& him being on video with the victims 4 minutes before they were murdered?

Franklin Comes Alive! said:

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Infection_Ag11 said:

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I'm gonna preface this by saying Murdaugh is a POS who almost certainly either murdered them or hired someone else too. I'm not going to shed any tears for him.

That being said, it does bother me a bit that the prosecution's case was essentially "This guy is a horrible human being and the closest person to the two victims, who else could it have been?" and got what is seemingly an easy conviction with that.

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& him being on video with the victims 4 minutes before they were murdered?

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There is no definitive time of death or shooting. The prosecutor says it was a couple minutes later because that is extremely good for his case, but it is just a theory with no evidence.

Because the police mishandled evidence, key evidence that would have been able to better pinpoint the times of death was lost forever.

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& him being on video with the victims 4 minutes before they were murdered?

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Please post both of their times of death as determinend by a coroner or medical examinier.

And do so with a link now. I missed that in the trial. What did the prosecution prove was the time of death? With medical evidence? Like real evidence, not when someone's phone went dead because battery ran out.

Actual eidence.

Infection_Ag11 said:

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I'm gonna preface this by saying Murdaugh is a POS who almost certainly either murdered them or hired someone else too. I'm not going to shed any tears for him.

That being said, it does bother me a bit that the prosecution's case was essentially "This guy is a horrible human being and the closest person to the two victims, who else could it have been?" and got what is seemingly an easy conviction with that.

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I think he more than likely was at fault for the murders in some way.

But I also have a huge problem with the system being gamed so that a man thought to be guilty, but without evidence to show he is guilty, is convicted.

He stole from friends and clients. He was an addict and clearly not a good person. But there is a reason that prejudicial evidence is not admitted to court. When you allow the DA to badger the defendant about stealing money from a quadriplegic guy who later died over a decade before the murders, that has an extreme prejudicial effect with absolutely no probative value. The murders could not be tied into that financial crime.

I think everyone, even this druggie that probably killed his family, deserves a fair trial.

aggiehawg said:

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Quote:

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& him being on video with the victims 4 minutes before they were murdered?

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Please post both of their times of death as determinend by a coroner or medical examinier.

And do so with a link now. I missed that in the trial. What did the prosecution prove was the time of death? With medical evidence? Like real evidence, not when someone's phone went dead because battery ran out.

Actual eidence.

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It's all in the cell phone records….

Very simple timeline to follow…. The video of him at the kennels moments before the phones go silent is the smoking gun…


Alex even gives the prosecution a freebie by taking Maggie's phone, slowing down to chunk it, & speeding up after tossing it



https://www.wjcl.com/amp/article/murdaugh-murders-timeline-evidence/42846491



I mean we can all play dumb & say the evidence isn't perfect but it's obvious he's the murderer, or at a minimum he was there when it went down


Glad he's going to a violent prison

aggiehawg said:

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When is that aerial shot from? Murdaugh bought it from Boulware in 2013. I can't see the residence.

But throughout the trial, it was always referred to as the "Hangar" with lean to sheds off of either sides. That entrance through the property from that area was the only entrance until Alex added a formal entrance with brick columns and a gate. The old runway was partially cut off to accommodate that new drive and what was left went to the hangar. No kennels existed back then until Alex built them because Boulware didn't keep hunting dogs there that I ever heard.

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The aerial view above from Google maps is almost ten years old. There is a more current image on Bing maps, and the property looks very different. The runway area is now covered by trees, and you can clearly see the new entrance. I'm guessing the new building at the end of the old runway is the infamous dog kennel.

https://www.bing.com/maps?cp=32.944012%7E-80.999714&lvl=17.0&style=a