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Welcome back to our live feed from the double homicide trial of disbarred attorney/ accused killer Alex Murdaugh – the man at the center of the ‘Murdaugh Murders’ crime and corruption saga.
Murdaugh stands accused of killing his wife, 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh, and youngest son, 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh, on his family’s hunting property in Colleton County, South Carolina on June 7, 2021. He pleaded not guilty and is currently standing trial in Walterboro, S.C. – part of the five-county Lowcountry region of the Palmetto State his family once ran like a fiefdom.
Today is the first day of week three of this trial – which began on January 23 and was recently docketed to run for three additional weeks (through March 10, 2023).
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Last week saw a host of developments in these proceedings, most of which were favorable to the state (as recapped in our latest edition of the FITSNews ‘Week in Review‘).
This week will see the likely conclusion of a “trial within the trial” that began last week – an ongoing battle over the admissibility of certain evidence and testimony linked to various financial crimes Murdaugh stands accused of committing. S.C. circuit court judge Clifton Newman is expected to rule on several of those matters Monday after hearing additional testimony on them outside the presence of the jury.
The week could also feature some explosive testimony from a high-profile witness in the double homicide case.
To catch up on Friday’s proceedings, click here …
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THE POLLS …
At the opening gavel of each day of the trial, we will launch two new polls asking readers to weigh in on 1) whether they think Alex Murdaugh is guilty or not guilty of murdering his late wife, Maggie Murdaugh and, 2) whether they think he is guilty or not guilty of murdering his late son, Paul Murdaugh.
The goal of our daily polls is to track how perception of Murdaugh’s guilt or innocence related to the murders of his two alleged victims changes over the course of the trial.
Here are today’s polls …
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QUESTION ONE …
Based on the information you have now, is Alex Murdaugh is guilty or not guilty of the murder of Maggie Murdaugh?
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QUESTION TWO …
Based on the information you have now, is Alex Murdaugh is guilty or not guilty of the murder of Paul Murdaugh?
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THE FEED …
5:15 p.m. EST – The defense has completed cross examination. Court has concluded for the day and will resume at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.
5:07 p.m. EST – Hall testifies her understanding was there was the potential for DNA testing following the GSR testing.
5:06 p.m. EST – No further questions from the State. Griffin begins cross examination for the defense.
4:59 p.m. EST – Hall states she also examined a blue rain jacket/poncho on October 5, 2021. The seatbelt was examined in September of 2021. The rest of the evidence was processed on June 8, 2021.
4:56 p.m. EST – Once removed from the evidence box, the shoes appear to be a pair of bright reddish neon running shoes with neon yellow accents. Not Sperry-type shoes per Shelly Smith’s earlier testimony. Hall states they were wet with yard debris. She notes she did not see any blood on the shoes with her naked eye.
4:52 p.m. EST – In addition to the shirt and seatbelt, Hall confirms she collected evidence from a pair of cargo shorts. She states she collected lifts from the right groin and left groin area as those are the areas closest to the discharge of a firearm. She clarifies this is standard practice. She also testifies that she examined a pair of shoes.
4:48 p.m. EST – Hall states she noted a brownish-red stain and the shirt smelled of fresh laundry detergent. Hall also states she collected samples from a seatbelt. They collected from the buckle, three different areas of the belt and the latch plate.
4:41 p.m. EST – Hall identifies PGSR collection sheets she collected from inanimate objects. She reviews a t-shirt that was admitted into evidence.
4:37 p.m. EST – Just received the order from Judge Newman granting the motion to admit evidence of other crimes.
4:35 p.m. EST – Hall is confirming the test results and validity of the testing process.
4:30 p.m. EST – Hall is employed by the West Columbia Police Department as an evidence custodian. Hall is testifying regarding gunshot residue testing.
4:29 p.m. EST – No further questions from the State. No questions from the defense. The State now calls Jamie Hall to the stand.
4:25 p.m. EST – Moodie states the evidence on the discs presented is regarding documents for opening checking accounts and monthly statements and supporting documents. Two additional discs contain documents related to credit cards opened by Murdaugh at Bank of America.
4:23 p.m. EST – Judge Newman telling the jury that the evidence about to be offered that Murdaugh may have been involved in other criminal activity. Judge Newman to the jury, “This testimony is being allowed for the limited purpose of assisting the State in proving motive. You may not consider this evidence for purposes of character of Mr. Murdaugh nor may you consider this evidence as evidence of his propensity to commit other crimes.”
4:17 p.m. EST – The jury is returning. The State has called Natasha Moodie the stand. Moodie reviewed bank records from Bank of America for this case.
4:09 p.m. EST – Court has resumed following a brief recess. Dick Harpootlian is arguing the admissibility of the blue tarp and rain jacket before the jury is brought in. Waters arguing that the probative value of the tarp/rain coat outweighs the danger of unfair prejudice. Judge Newman overrules the objection stating the evidence offered is more probative than prejudicial.
4:06 p.m. EST – For anyone asking, the full witness list for the Murdaugh trial was made available by the Colleton County Clerk. I’m attaching it below. – Jenn Wood
3:38 p.m. EST – Cross examination by Jim Griffin has begun. McElveen describes Alex Murdaugh’s relationship with Paul as very good stating they were kind of like best friends. He says as far as he knows, Paul’s relationship with Maggie was good as well. McElveen has Paul’s puppy, Goose, now. He says Goose is going great now. He confirms that Bubba – the dog – was a handful.
3:36 p.m. EST – McElveen learned of the murders the next morning from his roommate. He went out to Moselle on June 8, 2021 and says he went to the main house to be with friends and family. No further questions from the State.
3:34 p.m. EST – McElveen states he and Paul shared their location via the Find my iPhone app. He also states it was not common for firearms to be stored at the kennels. He cannot remember a time he saw a firearm left at the sheds. He testified that the last time he saw Paul was June 5, 2021. They went to a bar called “The Windjammer” in Charleston.
3:29 p.m. EST – McElveen stated the family dogs – Bubba, Bourbon and Grady – were all relaxed and would hang around the house mostly. He states the dogs mostly slept at the main house. The working dogs would stay in the kennels by the shed.
3:25 p.m. EST – McElveen describes Maggie Murdaugh as a super sweet lady. She treated all of Paul’s friends like her own children and liked when McElveen spent time with Paul. He testifies he went to Moselle approximately 30-40 times and often spent the night. He is now describing the layout of the Moselle property.
3:23 p.m. EST – McElveen testifies that Paul was a good friend and very responsive via his cell phone. He states Paul used his cell phone a lot and would call all his friends almost every day.
3:19 p.m. EST – The State calls William McElveen to the stand. Mr. McElveen works in finance with a home builder in Charleston. He was a friend of Paul Murdaugh’s and often spent time in the summer with him at Edisto Island.
3:16 p.m. EST – Agent Moore does not know if the rain jacket or photos of it were shown to any members of the Murdaugh family or to Shelly Smith. No further questions from the defense.
3:09 p.m. EST – Agent Moore tells Jim Griffin she is unaware of any testing done on the blue tarp. She also confirms that they tested the entire rain coat with LCD and it tested negative. She was not involved in any further processing of the rain coat. She does not know the size of the rain coat. Griffin asks if it is a large and Moore states it is a “larger” size. Griffin has asked her to open it to confirm the size of the jacket.
3:07 p.m. EST – Agent Moore states that the rain coat tested negative for blood. The State has completed direct examination. Jim Griffin has begun cross examination of Agent Moore.
3:04 p.m. EST – Jim Griffin objects to any testimony regarding the blue rain coat from the closet. The objection is overruled. Agent Moore confirms the raincoat recovered from the closet and it is admitted into evidence over objection by the defense.
3:00 p.m. EST – Moore testifies that they located a blue tarp inside a closet in the north bedroom on the second floor. She states the tarp was located in a storage container. After finding the tarp, they continued searching the residence and located a blue rain coat in the coat closet on the second floor.
2:57 p.m. EST – The State calls Agent Kristin Moore. Moore is a special agent assigned to the crime scene unit of SLED. Moore was involved in the execution of a search warrant on Alex Murdaugh’s mother. She states they were advised they were looking for a blue in color tarp-like material and searched the entire interior of the residence.
2:51 p.m. EST – Smith tells Griffin that what she saw laying on Libby’s chair was a blue tarp. She said it was not a rain jacket and there is no doubt in her mind about that. When investigators showed her a picture of a blue rain jacket, she told them she had never seen that rain jacket. The defense has completed their questioning of Smith. She has left the stand.
2:44 p.m. EST – Smith testifies that when SLED interviewed her, they showed her a tarp. This interview occurred in October 2021 after her conversation with an Allendale police officer.
2:39 p.m. EST – The prosecution has resumed their re-direct of Smith. The State has asked that the audio recording of Smith’s statement be admitted into evidence. Griffin objects. Judge Newman overrules.
2:35 p.m. EST – Court has resumed. Jim Griffin is moving to exclude any evidence of the blue rain jacket stating that there has been no evidence provided in discovery connect Alex Murdaugh with the rain jacket. John Meadors is arguing that Smith identified the rain jacket in her testimony stating it is consistent with what she saw. Judge Newman has asked for the jury to be brought in.
2:23 p.m. EST – Court will resume at 2:30 p.m. following a lunch recess.
1:08 p.m. EST – Judge Newman asks the jury to go to the jury room while the defense looks for a copy of Smith’s recorded statement to police.
1:04 p.m. EST – Meadors asks why she called her brother regarding Murdaugh’s statement regarding the time he was there. She replied that her brother is the assistant chief of police for Varnville and Murdaugh’s statement bothered her.
1:02 p.m. EST – Defense has ended cross-examination. Prosecution has begun their re-direct.
12:57 p.m. EST – Griffin asks Smith if Murdaugh had blood on his clothes, shoes or hair. She says no. He asks if Murdaugh left blood in his mom’s bedroom. She replies no. Griffin asks about the June 2021 interview with SLED where she told them he was there 35 minutes. She states she recalls this. Griffin asks when the first time she mentioned the blue tarp was and Smith states it was in September of 2021. The first time she mentioned the tarp was to an Allendale police officer, Joseph Dingle, who was working a car wreck she was involved in.
12:54 p.m. EST – Smith states that the time Murdaugh was there was 15-20 minutes. She says that was the entirety of the time he visited including the 5 minutes it took to let him in. She tells Griffin that he did visit often, but that it was out of the ordinary for him to visit that time of night. She admits that in a June 17, 2021 interview with a SLED agent, that she did initially state that it was not out of the ordinary for him to visit at night. She also admits that Murdaugh was often fidgety.
12:50 p.m. EST – Griffin asks Smith about the truck that he drove up in. She states she is certain that it was Mr. Randolph’s truck because he parked it in the same place.
12:48 p.m. EST – Griffin shows Smith a tarp and asks Smith if there was any way to confuse a tarp with a rain jacket. Smith testifies there is not.
12:44 p.m. EST – The State has completed their direct examination. Jim Griffin has begun his cross-examination for the defense.
12:41 p.m. EST – Smith states she believes the truck Murdaugh was driving that day was Randolph Murdaugh III’s truck. A 4-wheeler/ATV that was previously at the smokehouse, was at the house. When he came back in the white truck, he got into another truck which was black. She did not know to whom that truck belonged. She observed Murdaugh’s face had a cut. Smith states there was a security camera in the house. She does not know who controlled it.
12:38 p.m. EST – Smith testifies that she did see the blue object unfolded in the bedroom on a chair. She identifies the chair in the photos he showed her. When she returned the next day, it was gone. When Murdaugh left the house, he did tell her he was leaving, but she saw him come back into the house.
12:34 p.m. EST – Smith is identifying photos of the house and Mrs. Libby’s bedroom. Meadors asks Smith to identify a photo of a blue object. She positively identifies it as the object she observed Murdaugh carrying into the house.
12:28 p.m. EST – About three days after Randolph Murdaugh III’s funeral, she saw Alex Murdaugh around 6:30 a.m. He did not call to tell her he was coming by to visit. He knocked on the bedroom window by the wall and told her that he was outside. She testified that he had never been there early while she was working before that day. She states he arrived in a white truck. She let him in the house and he came inside. He did not check on Mrs. Libby. Smith states he had a “blue something in his hand”. She describes it like a blue tarp but couldn’t tell what was inside it.
12:25 p.m. EST – On June 8, 2021, Murdaugh spoke with Smith about her upcoming wedding. Murdaugh stated that it would be expensive. She also states that he offered to help pay for it because that’s the kind of person he was.
12:21 p.m. EST – On the day of Randolph Murdaugh III’s funeral, Alex Murdaugh came by the house and spoke with her. He was telling her that he was at the house the night of the murders stating he was there 30 to 40 minutes. Smith says Murdaugh did not indicate what he wanted her to do with that information. She states that to her recollection he was not there for 30 to 40 minutes. Smith is crying on the stand stating the conversation upset her. She tells Meadors that she called her brother after that conversation to tell him about it.
12:19 p.m. EST – Smith said her shift ended around 8:00 a.m. and she received a call from Barbara Mixon to tell her what happened. She received a call from Randy Murdaugh and he told her that John Marvin Murdaugh, Buster and Buster’s girlfriend would be coming by. She was asked to work more after the murders to help out during the difficult time.
12:17 p.m. EST – She states Murdaugh was fidgety while there and told her that he came to see his mother. He spoke to her briefly while she was asleep. He sat on the bed and watched the game show was on the T.V. In her opinion, she does not believe Mrs. Libby knew was there. He laid in bed with her around 15-20 minutes and was looking on his phone. Smith testifies that Murdaugh held his mother’s hand and that she was asleep on and off during that time.
12:14 p.m. EST – Mrs. Smith states that while she is caring for Mrs. Libby, she usually sits in a recliner in her room watching T.V. She states she recalls the approximate time that she saw Alex Murdaugh was between 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. She did not usually see Murdaugh during the evenings she worked. She recalls that Murdaugh called the house that night and told her that he was outside and needed to be let in. She states it took her about 5 minutes to open the door and let her in. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. She recalls him wearing Sperry shoes – cloth-type shoes with no socks.
12:10 p.m. EST – She states on June 7, 2021, she arrived at 7:45 p.m. and was scheduled to leave at 7:45 a.m. the next morning. When she arrived she believes Mrs. Barbara Mixon was there awaiting for her to take over the care of Mrs. Libby. Mrs. Libby was in bed when she arrived and she does not like to disturb her when she is asleep.
12:06 p.m. EST – A job opening for a caregiver opened for the Murdaugh’s and she was referred by Barbara Mixon. She began caring for “Mrs. Libby” – Elizabeth Murdaugh – in October 2019. Smith states that Mrs. Libby condition worsened while she was employed leading up to June 2021. She described Mrs. Libby’s condition stating she was not aware of what was going on around her.
11:59 a.m. EST – Mushelle “Shelly” Smith has been called to the stand by the State. Smith was born and raised in Hampton, South Carolina. Her brother and daughter are in court supporting her. About 10-12 years ago, she began a career in private home care.
11:57 a.m. EST – The jury is being brought in.
11:50 a.m. EST – Judge Newman states, “While motive is not a necessary element, the state muust prove malice and evidence of motive may be used to prove it. In this case, since the identity of the perpetrator is a critical element that must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, evidence of motive may be used in an attempt to meet that burden.”
11:36 a.m. EST – After a break, Judge Newman has returned to issue a ruling on the 404(b) motion regarding the admissibility of Murdaugh’s alleged and admitted financial crimes. Judge Newman states the court has considered the testimony of all the witnesses and has concluded the motion should be granted. He is explaining his ruling in great deal.
11:18 a.m. EST – Griffin asks Crosby if Murdaugh would have considered himself, Lee Cope, Danny Henderson or Mark Ball his attorneys. Crosby states he never approached him as his attorney. He never had the perception that he was representing him. Nothing further from the defense or the State.
11:14 a.m. EST – Nothing further from the State. Griffin is on cross examination and asks if Danny Henderson was there. Crosby confirms he was present. He also confirms Randy Murdaugh was there as well. He confirms Mr. Randolph – Randolph Murdaugh III – was not scheduled in the meeting, but he did come by and then went back to Almeda. He died shortly after he returned to his home. He doesn’t specifically remember advising Murdaugh to have an attorney present, but knowing the situation, any of them would have thought it was a good idea.
11:10 a.m. EST – Crosby states that Murdaugh went over the events of June 7, 2021 with everyone present. He states that Jim Griffin did have some private conversations with his client, Alex Murdaugh before the SLED agents arrived to question Murdaugh. He was instructed to stay away from those conversations, but he did have discussions with Murdaugh outside of this meeting to discuss what happened on June 7, 2021.
11:07 a.m. EST – Crosby tells the court he is an attorney at the Parker Law Group – formerly PMPED – and a former partner of Alex Murdaugh. Waters asks if he was present for a meeting where Murdaugh spoke on June 10, 2021 at the home of Murdaugh’s brother, John Marvin Murdaugh. He testifies the parties present at this meeting were Mark Ball, Lee Cope, John Marvin, Jim Griffin, Buster Murdaugh, and Cory Fleming. He says there could have been additional parties, but that is his best recollection.
11:04 a.m. EST – Waters tells the judge that Ronnie Crosby is the next witness and states there could be attorney-client privilege issues. The judge states there is no attorney-client privilege for Crosby as Griffin does not represent Crosby. The State calls Ronnie Crosby to the stand.
11:02 a.m. EST – No further questions from the State or defense.
11:00 a.m. EST – Waters has begun re-direct. Tinsley states if the hearing took place on June 10, 2021, the discovery of everything he had done would have occurred. If he was hiding assets, he didn’t want Tinsley to discover it. That would have been the pressure point.
10:58 a.m. EST – Tinsley – “I think the fuse was lit when he started stealing money.” No further questions from the defense. Interesting place to stop.
10:53 a.m. EST – Tinsley testifies if the hearing had happened on June 10, 2021, he expected the same outcome. He points out that Murdaugh was preparing those documents on June 7, 2021 implying Murdaugh expected the same outcome.
10:48 a.m. EST – Tinsley states the motion to compel was to put pressure on Murdaugh. He didn’t give two cents about whether or not he ultimately had money. Tinsley testifies, “I knew he had money. I didn’t need those things. The fact that he didn’t want me to have them was the reason I was pushing them. I just didn’t know why he didn’t want me to have them at the time. I do now.”
10:46 a.m. EST – From our livestream comments, Bobbie H. states Tinsley is providing a “Master class in being a confident lawyer & witness.”
10:44 a.m. EST – Tinsley said if the judge denied it, it would have said denied. Nothing the judge issued says denied. Tinsley tells the defense, “That’s not what happened.”
10:39 a.m. EST – Tinsley explains the financials were necessary before his clients would consider any settlement. When the defense implies that the Judge hadn’t ordered Murdaugh to disclose his account information, Tinsley replies the defense is incorrect. Tinsley states, “You thought wrong. There’s a lot of papers so maybe you got confused.” Then he proceeds to pull out the order from his pocket from October 2021. Tinsley is on fire today.
10:35 a.m. EST – Tinsley stated that due to John Tiller’s health, there was an urgency to take the case to trial. He expected to try it in fall of 2021. He admits there have been a lot of motions filed in the boat crash case since the murders, but that the motions relating to Parker’s Kitchen were not necessarily related to Maggie and Paul’s homicides.
10:32 a.m. EST – The defense has begun cross examination.
10:30 a.m. EST – In early September 2021, Eric Harriott came to his office about the settlement in his mother’s – Gloria Satterfield – case. Tinsley sent Harriott to Eric Bland. Nothing further from the prosecution.
10:28 a.m. EST – Tinsley states that after the murders, the first week was shock and horror. Pretty quickly, Tinsley says that he realized that case against Murdaugh would be over if he was in fact a victim of a vigilante. He says if you are asking for a money judgement, it is harder to get a settlement against a defendant that is sympathetic. He states if he had offered a settlement at this time, he likely would have accepted it due to this reason.
10:25 a.m. EST – The motion to compel Murdaugh’s finances was one of the motions to be heard. When the murders happened, the June 10, 2021 hearing was continued. Tinsley says that as an attorney, Murdaugh excelled at reading people, making people feeling important, and capitalizing on surprise with defense. He states Murdaugh was good at understanding the emotional aspect of working with plaintiffs.
10:22 a.m. EST – Tinsley states a number of motions were pending in the boat crash. Judge Daniel Hall had set a date for these motions to be heard either May 10 or May 11, 2021. Tinsley states he recalls sending an email to the judge stating that he didn’t have a problem continuing the case to accommodate John Tiller’s chemotherapy. Judge Hall did not want to continue the May 2021 hearing, but he would schedule a status conference. The motion hearing was schedule for June 10, 2021.
10:19 a.m. EST – During the course of the case, Tinsley took depositions of officers involved in the boat crash investigation. During these depositions, issues arose that he reported to the State Grand Jury. The grand jury reached out to him in April 2021 regarding these issues.
10:17 a.m. EST – In August of 2020, Tinsley found out he had stage four cancer. He was in treatment from in Florida from the end of January 2021 until April 15, 2021. John Tiller was also diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. He stated there was a degree of urgency to complete this case. Upon his return, he knew the case would be tried in Hampton. He said he told them if he thought Murdaugh did anything to fix the jury or affect the outcome, he would sue Maggie and Paul Murdaugh in Beaufort County.
10:16 a.m. EST – If Tinsley was successful in getting Murdaugh’s accounts, his next step would be to issue subpoenas. He knew he had accounts at Palmetto State Bank and Bank of America in addition to multiple business entities.
10:12 a.m. EST – Following the motion to compel, there was a lot of grumbling that Tinsley was planning to hold Murdaugh personally accountable. His goal in filing the motion was to put pressure on him to force him into a settlement. Tinsley states he wanted Murdaugh’s accounts because he knew the only way Murdaugh could be broke was if he was hiding money.
10:05 a.m. EST – When Tinsley was told Murdaugh was broke, he offered him a payment plan. He offered for him to sign over Moselle and the Edisto Beach House. He asked Murdaugh’s defense to show him Murdaugh’s books. He got stonewalled and got a formal response which was an objection which prompted his motion to compel in 2020.
10:03 a.m. EST – Murdaugh’s attorneys told Tinsley they thought Murdaugh could cobble together around $1 million dollars. He did not believe that as he had active cases being settled. He said he couldn’t possibly be broke the way he was making money. His clients knew there was likely generational wealth. Tinsley states one of the things he didn’t appreciate is that if he told a lawyer who does what I do that I settled the case, there’s a lot of speculation that there was a “fix on”. He says if he just took the insurance money and settled it, the assumption would be that he fixed it.
9:59 a.m. EST – Tinsley states in October of 2020, he filed a motion to compel. Murdaugh’s attorneys had said he was broke and didn’t have any money. Tinsley did not believe that. About a week after that filing, Danny Henderson said that he couldn’t believe Tinsley was going after him personally.
9:56 a.m. EST – In early March 2020, Covid slowed the court system down. They continued to take depositions of law enforcement who were at the scene. In April or May of 2020, Covid really slowed things down. Tinsley conducted a mock jury during that time and the results came back heavily favorable to his client. He shared this information with Murdaugh’s defense.
9:52 a.m. EST – Tinsley says he was in Hilton Head at a fundraiser in 2019 where he saw Alex Murdaugh. He testifies that Murdaugh approached him and got in his face and stated, “Hey Bo. What’s this I hear about what you’re saying, I thought we were friends.” He replied, “Alex, we are friends, if you don’t think I can burn your house down and I’m not going to do everything, you’re wrong. You need to settle this case.” His impression was that Murdaugh was upset that he would have to pay and was trying to intimidate him.
9:50 a.m. EST – Tinsley says he initially believed the case would settle. He did not see how people could ignore the significance of the loss and the affect it had on the community. The one consistency with this case was to get it resolved. He states he did make it clear that he was seeking a personal recovery from Alex Murdaugh beyond what his insurance would cover. He tells Waters the Beach family stood on the causeway for 8 days waiting for their daughter’s body to be recovered from the water.
9:45 a.m. EST – Tinsley explains that shortly after the boat crash, Danny Henderson who was serving as Alex Murdaugh’s personal attorney, provided Murdaugh’s insurance policies for Tinsley to review. Tinsley says that in a civil lawsuit, this is often the first step. He states there was a $500,000 watercraft policy on the boat through Progressive. This was offered to all of the victims of the boat crash.
9:42 a.m. EST – Tinsley states the initial lawsuit included Alex Murdaugh, the Wood family (who hosted the oyster roast where the boat crash victims attended that night), the Murdaugh trust, Luther’s Rare and Well Done, and Randolph Murdaugh III. Tinsley says that Renee Beach – Mallory’s mother – was very bothered that the Murdaugh’s were allowed under the crime scene tape shortly after the accident.
9:39 a.m. EST – Court has begun. The State has called Mark Tinsley to the stand for an in camera testimony. Tinsley is an Allendale, South Carolina based attorney who represents the family of Mallory Beach in the wrongful death lawsuit filed following her death in a boat crash in February 2019 in a boat allegedly driven by Paul Murdaugh.
9:27 a.m. EST – Livestream is up! Court should resume at 9:30 a.m. We’re hearing this week is going to be a big week. Will Folks is in court this morning and I’m running the live feed. – Jenn Wood
7:22 a.m. EST – Attorney Mark Tinsley has confirmed he will be at the Colleton County courthouse on Monday morning to give testimony in camera as the “trial within a trial” – the debate over the admissibility of certain evidence and testimony in Murdaugh’s double homicide case. Tinsley is the lead attorney for the family of Mallory Beach, a 19-year-old Hampton, S.C. woman who died in a tragic February 2019 boat crash. This is the event which thrust the Murdaughs into the statewide limelight – and which prosecutors content could have exposed all of Murdaugh’s alleged financial fleecings. The boat crash is also the focus of an upcoming Netflix documentary on the Murdaugh family.
7:08 a.m. EST – Tweets like this make it all worth it!
6:22 a.m. EST – Rising and shining in Columbia, S.C. about to head back down to the front porch of the Lowcountry …
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7 comments
Why haven’t the girlfriends and them living apart come into the testimony?
No evidence of girlfriends has been disclosed as of Feb 7 2023.
Alex is screwed!
Since there is so much debate on the blue raincoat, I am wondering why it wasn’t asked if the blue raincoat could have been wadded up in the blue tarp?
Why didn’t the prosecutor hold the jacket and the tarp up together – they look to me as if they could have been made out of the same bolt of cloth.
Kind of surprised that Corey Flemming isn’t on the witness list.
Will anyone else besides me be thankful when this is finally over so that other news has a chance of being covered? I pray that when it is finally over, that they let it all drop and do not beat this dead horse even more with additional armchair quarterbacking.