Act Daily News
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Maggie Murdaugh was anxious about cash presumably being demanded of her household in a lawsuit and suspicious her husband wasn’t being solely trustworthy together with her within the days earlier than her killing, housekeeper Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson testified Friday within the double-murder trial of Alex Murdaugh.
“She was concerned about the amount of money that they were requesting in that lawsuit – $30 million is what she told me,” Turrubiate-Simpson stated. “She stated she knew the sum of money they have been asking.
“She felt that Alex was not being truthful to her with regard to what was going on with that lawsuit. She said he doesn’t tell me everything.”
Turrubiate-Simpson, who stated she was a pal of the Murdaugh household, additionally testified Alex Murdaugh requested her the day after Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, the couple’s grown son, have been killed at a household property to wash the house there.
“He said there was going to be people probably stopping by and bringing food and stuff,” Turrubiate-Simpson stated. “He said I just want the house to look the way Maggie would like for it to look. So, I said OK and I went to the house.”
Alex Murdaugh is on trial for the killings on June 7, 2021. He has pleaded not responsible to 2 counts of homicide and two weapons costs, with the trial anticipated to final about two extra weeks.
Much of this week’s testimony has targeted on Alex Murdaugh’s monetary points. The decide dominated Monday to permit such proof, saying it was “so intimately connected” with the state’s case “that proof of it is essential to complete the story.”
Ahead of Turrubiate-Simpson’s testimony, some Murdaugh kinfolk have been ordered this week to take a seat farther again within the South Carolina courtroom attributable to inappropriate contact and conduct, the Colleton County clerk of courtroom stated.
In courtroom Wednesday, Alex Murdaugh’s sister Lynn Murdaugh Goettee handed him a e-book by way of a member of his protection group. It was not shared with the sufferer’s advocate, and Goettee had been admonished simply 5 minutes earlier than that, a supply with data of the incident instructed Act Daily News.
The e-book was thought-about contraband as a result of it was not clear what was in it, the supply stated, including Murdaugh was already again in his jail cell with it earlier than anyone may verify it. The e-book – John Grisham’s “The Judge’s List” – was later confiscated.
State Judge Clifton Newman additionally was made conscious of an obscene gesture Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son Buster Murdaugh made towards Mark Tinsley, the legal professional representing the household of Mallory Beach, who was killed in a 2019 boat crash involving Paul Murdaugh, Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill instructed Act Daily News. The gesture occurred Monday throughout Tinsley’s testimony exterior the presence of the jury.
The youthful Murdaugh was admonished for the incident, Hill stated. Lynn Murdaugh Goettee and Buster Murdaugh have been warned that any extra violations will end in them being barred from the courtroom.
Amid the e-book incident, Wednesday’s testimony was interrupted when a bomb menace was known as into the clerk’s workplace and the courthouse in Walterboro was evacuated, Hill stated. Court resumed hours later.
Tinsley’s testimony continued Friday after ending Thursday with him on the stand. He represents the household of the 19-year-old Beach, who was killed when a ship owned by Alex Murdaugh and allegedly pushed by Paul Murdaugh crashed.
Turrubiate-Simpson and Nathan Tuten, Paul’s childhood pal, additionally each recognized in courtroom Friday Alex Murdaugh’s voice in a key video authorities say was recorded shortly earlier than the killings.
The video, simply in need of a minute lengthy, was filmed on Paul Murdaugh’s telephone beginning at 8:44 p.m. the evening of the killings, a legislation enforcement witness testified earlier within the trial. Three completely different voices may be heard within the footage, which appeared to have been recorded across the Murdaugh household’s kennels, in accordance with that earlier testimony.
Turrubiate-Simpson and Tuten each recognized Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh’s voices within the clip. At least three different witnesses within the trial have recognized Alex Murdaugh’s voice because the third one within the video, although he has repeatedly denied being on the kennels across the time of the killings.
Legal groups on Thursday supplied a glimpse into the remaining trial schedule: Closing arguments may begin round February 23, primarily based on attorneys’ estimates – weeks after Friday’s initially scheduled finish date.
The state hoped to relaxation its case by the center of subsequent week, prosecutor Creighton Waters stated, whereas the protection will want at the very least every week, protection legal professional Dick Harpootlian stated, noting it might be on the shorter facet due to how lengthy testimony already has lasted.
The protection has out-of-state knowledgeable witnesses who would require journey and lodging, Harpootlian stated, declaring the size of the state’s case is making that tough and costly to schedule. The state up to now has known as 44 witnesses and launched greater than 400 reveals of proof.
Harpootlian deliberate to ask the decide to let jurors go to Moselle, the searching property the place Maggie and Paul Murdaugh have been killed, he stated in opening statements.
Correction: A earlier model of this story incorrectly reported whose testimony was underway when Buster Murdaugh allegedly made an obscene gesture; it was Mark Tinsley’s. It additionally misstated which John Grisham e-book was confiscated from Alex Murdaugh; it was “The Judge’s List.”
Source: www.cnn.com