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A forensic scientist testified in Alex Murdaugh’s homicide trial Tuesday she discovered gunshot primer residue particles on garments the now-disbarred South Carolina lawyer was sporting the night time his spouse and son have been killed – and on a blue jacket that has drawn growing consideration within the proceedings.
The particles have been discovered on samples taken from Murdaugh’s palms, in addition to the shirt and shorts he was sporting the night time the 2 have been fatally shot in 2021, Megan Fletcher, a forensic scientist who analyzes gunshot residue for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, testified.
The findings might imply these objects have been near a firearm that was discharged, or the particles might have been transferred to these objects from an object with gunshot primer residue on it, she mentioned.
In the case of an individual’s palms, the particles might point out the individual fired a gun, Fletcher testified. She couldn’t say when these particles would have been deposited. The Murdaughs owned firearms and had a taking pictures vary on their property.
Primer is among the components – the others are the powder, the bullet and the casing – that make up an ammunition cartridge, also known as a spherical.
Fletcher additionally examined a blue rain jacket that investigators present in a closet on the dwelling of Murdaugh’s mom a number of months after the killings, she mentioned. She discovered “a significant number” of particles of gunshot primer residue contained in the jacket, in addition to some on the surface, she testified.
“If a recently fired firearm were wrapped up inside that jacket, would that be consistent with your findings?” prosecutor John Meadors requested.
“There is a possibility of that, yes,” Fletcher responded. The prosecution has mentioned the homicide weapon has but to be discovered.
The court docket heard about that blue rain jacket a day earlier, when protection attorneys argued to maintain it out of proof. A caregiver for Murdaugh’s mom, Mushell Smith, first testified Monday that Murdaugh went to his mom’s dwelling early one morning after the killings and headed upstairs with one thing blue – which she described as a tarp – in his palms.
SLED agent Kristin Moore instructed the court docket in a while Monday investigators discovered each a blue tarp and a blue rain jacket on the second flooring of the mom’s dwelling.
Without the jury current, the protection on Monday requested the decide to rule that the jacket shouldn’t be thought-about proof. They argued the caregiver testified the noticed Murdaugh carrying solely a tarp – not a jacket – and mentioned nothing linked Murdaugh to the jacket. The decide on Tuesday denied the protection’s request.
Fletcher, the forensic scientist, will return for cross-examination Wednesday morning.
Murdaugh has pleaded not responsible to 2 counts of homicide and two counts of possession of a weapon through the fee of a violent crime within the killings of his spouse Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and his 22-year-old son Paul on June 7, 2021.
Murdaugh known as 911 the night time of the killings to report he’d discovered his spouse and son shot useless on the household’s dwelling in Islandton, South Carolina – a property often called Moselle.
Prosecutors accuse Murdaugh of committing the murders to distract consideration from a collection of alleged illicit schemes he was working to keep away from “personal legal and financial ruin,” per court docket filings. Separate from the homicide expenses, Murdaugh faces 99 expenses stemming from alleged monetary crimes, per the state lawyer basic. Opening statements have been delivered January 25.
Jurors on Tuesday additionally heard from Murdaugh’s longtime pal and former legislation accomplice, who grew to become the third witness to establish the disgraced former lawyer’s voice on a video clip that authorities say was recorded shortly earlier than the killings.
The video, simply wanting a minute lengthy, was filmed on Paul Murdaugh’s cellphone beginning at 8:44 p.m. the night time of the killings, a legislation enforcement witness testified earlier within the trial. Three completely different voices could possibly be heard within the footage, which appeared to have been recorded within the space of the Murdaugh household’s kennels, in keeping with that earlier testimony.
Prosecutors consider a kind of voices – the one different on the video in addition to the victims’ – belongs to Alex Murdaugh, inserting him on the scene on the time of the killings. Murdaugh has maintained in interviews with legislation enforcement he was not there.
On Tuesday, the pal and former legislation accomplice, Ronnie Crosby, testified that after the killings, Murdaugh shared he had dinner with Maggie and Paul, after which fell asleep on the sofa whereas the 2 went to the kennels on the Murdaugh property.
Murdaugh instructed Crosby that after he awakened, Murdaugh drove to his dad and mom’ home – roughly 20 minutes away – to see his mom, and when he returned dwelling, found Maggie and Paul had been fatally shot, Crosby testified.
“He specifically said he did not (go to the kennels),” Crosby testified.
When the prosecution on Tuesday performed the video from Paul’s cellphone, Crosby mentioned he recognized three voices: Paul’s, Maggie’s and Alex’s. When requested if he was sure that’s who he heard, Crosby replied, “I’m 100% sure that’s whose voices are on that audio.”
Two different witnesses instructed the court docket final week they have been sure they heard Alex Murdaugh’s voice in that footage.
Smith, the caregiver, testified Monday that Murdaugh visited his mom for about 15 or 20 minutes the night time of the killings.
Also Tuesday, jurors heard from Jeanne Seckinger, the chief monetary officer of Alex Murdaugh’s former legislation agency who testified final week with out the jury current. At the time, the decide nonetheless was weighing whether or not to permit the admission of proof in regards to the alleged monetary schemes. He determined Monday to permit it.
Seckinger testified Tuesday – this time in entrance of jurors – that she confronted Murdaugh about lacking funds from the agency on the morning of June 7, 2021 – hours earlier than his spouse and son could be killed.
She appeared for Alex that morning and located him standing exterior his workplace, she testified. He “looked at me with a pretty dirty look – one I’ve not seen before – and said, ‘What do you need now?’ Clearly disgusted with me.” she testified.
Seckinger instructed Murdaugh she had purpose to consider he personally acquired authorized charges from a settlement – amounting to about $792,000 – that ought to have been made payable to the legislation agency, she testified.
“He assured me again that money was in there,” Seckinger mentioned Tuesday. “I told him I still needed to see ledgers or proof that it was.”
At the time, Murdaugh was dealing with a lawsuit from the household of 19-year-old Mallory Beach, who was killed in February 2019 when a ship, owned by Murdaugh and allegedly pushed by Paul, struck a bridge piling.
Murdaugh’s monetary information – which state court docket filings mentioned “would expose (Murdaugh) for his years of alleged misdeeds” – might have been disclosed following a listening to within the civil case scheduled for June 10, 2021, three days after the killings.
Prosecutors’ pretrial movement contended “the murders served as Murdaugh’s means to shift the focus away from himself and buy some additional time to try and prevent his financial crimes from being uncovered, which, if revealed, would have resulted in personal legal and financial ruin for Murdaugh.” According to that submitting, the lacking cash had already been spent.
But the June 10 listening to was canceled after Maggie’s and Paul’s deaths, Seckinger mentioned final week.
Immediately after the killings, nobody on the agency was involved about discovering the lacking cash, “because we were concerned about Alex,” Seckinger testified Tuesday.
Yet Seckinger dug into extra of Murdaugh’s information within the weeks forward and located extra impropriety, she testified. In September 2021, the agency’s companions confronted Murdaugh in regards to the cash and knowledgeable him they have been forcing him to resign, she instructed the court docket.
To cowl the price of the misappropriated cash, “Each partner put up money and we refunded the money to the clients,” Seckinger instructed the court docket. When requested why, she mentioned that Murdaugh “stole it.”
Source: www.cnn.com