Alex Murdaugh double murder trial: Key observations and unanswered questions after Week 3

WALTERBORO - Week three of the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial in South Carolina was a wild ride that included a bomb threat, a motion for a mistrial and even a GoFundMe controversy involving two of the State’s key witnesses.

Murdaugh is standing trial for the June 7, 2021, killings of his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, and is expected to later stand trial for roughly 100 financial and drug-related crimes.

Here are the highlights from the third week of the murder trial, which began Jan. 23 and is expected to last until the week of Feb. 20-24. Court resumes at 9:30 a.m. Monday.

To date the State has called 46 witnesses and has roughly 400 exhibits of evidence.

Bomb threat halts Wednesday proceedings

Around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Judge Clifton Newman ordered that the courtroom be evacuated.

SLED later confirmed that it was the result of a bomb threat. The S.C. Attorney General's Office confirmed the threat was "phoned in."

Murdaugh was taken from the courthouse and seen being driven from the property in a large black van, according to reports from journalists outside of the courthouse.

Court resumed around 3:07 p.m. Wednesday, after law enforcement cleared the building.

Judge denies motion for mistrial in Murdaugh murders

Day 15 of the Alex Murdaugh murder trial in South Carolina got chippy as Judge Newman denied a motion for a mistrial and sent the jury out of the room amid a flurry of contentious objections.

After hearing several days of highly contested financial crimes testimony - which the State says relates to Murdaugh's alleged motive - and then hearing questions about the Murdaugh's anxiety over finances related to pending lawsuits, Murdaugh attorney Richard Harpootlian objected and moved for a mistrial.

Seconds earlier, Assistant Attorney General John Meadors had asked Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson, one of the Murdaugh's household employees, if murder victim Maggie Muraugh was concerned over anxious over money matters.

Harpootlian immediately objected on the grounds of hearsay, and stating that Meadors was "testifying" instead of answering questions. "You can't un-ring the bell" once the jury has heard something, contended Harpootlian.

After sending the jury from the room to discuss, Newman overruled the objection and denied the motion, citing the fact that Murdaugh's defense had previously asked questions about Murdaugh's "loving" family that didn't appear to have any problems.

This contentious moment midday Friday came after Murdaugh's defense tried unsuccessfully to strike two witnesses: financial victim Tony Satterfield and Beach family attorney Mark Tinsley.

Murdaugh team objects to Mark Tinsley donation for Smith GoFundMe

Prior to calling State's witness, Beach family attorney Mark Tinsley, Murdaugh defense attorney Phil Barber asked that Tinsley's testimony be excluded. Barber told the court that a GoFundMe account had been established for a previous witness, Murdaugh family caregiver Mushelle Smith, and that one of the first donations was made by Tinsley.

The account was created for "her bravery," the page said, and in case she lost her job for testifying against Murdaugh. Tinsley's name was later removed from the page.

Barber objected to an attorney donating money to a state's witness in a case in which he had a vested financial interest. But Judge Newman did not see it his way.

"That would be good fodder for cross examination," said Newman. "I won't attempt to screen testimony in advance. Lawyers ask questions, lawyers object, judges rule."

By Friday the GoFundMe account had raised more than $20,000, with people donating money in the name of Murdaugh’s attorneys and even under the name “Fake Forge,” a reference to the fake bank account Murdaugh allegedly used to steal millions from clients and partners.

Key revelations from week three of the murder trial

Several key developments and insights were brought forward during the third week of evidence and testimony, including:

∎ Judge Clifton Newman ruled that alleged financial crimes evidence was admissible in the murder trial.

∎ Murdaugh family caregiver Mushelle “Shelley” Smith testified that Murdaugh visited Almeda after the time of the killings for roughly 15-20 minutes, but later Murdaugh told her to tell anyone who asked that he was there 30 or 40 minutes.

∎ Smith also testified that roughly a week after the killings, she observed Murdaugh carrying a blue, vinyl object into his mother’s Almeda home. SLED investigators later seized a blue tarp and blue raincoat from that home – and the raincoat had “significant” amounts of gunshot primer residue inside and out.

∎ Multiple witnesses have now identified Murdaugh’s voice in an incriminating June 7 cell phone video taken by Paul that places Murdaugh at the crime scene minutes before investigators thing the killings occurred.

∎ FBI experts testify about the location and movements of Murdaugh’s phone and vehicle on the night of the killings.

Murdaugh household employee Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson testified that:

∎Prior to the killings, Maggie Murdaugh and Alex were worried about what she was told was a $30 million lawsuit in the boat case.

∎Maggie told her that Alex wanted both Maggie and Paul to make a special trip to Moselle on the day of the killings.

∎After the killings, she never saw the clothes Murdaugh was wearing that evening ever again.

∎She cooked Paul and Maggie's last meal: cubed steak with gravy, rice and green beans.

∎Murdaugh asked her to go to the Moselle home, which was a crime scene, and "straighten up" the morning after the killings.

∎Alex coached her on what to say if police asked her what clothes he had been wearing that day. "I felt confused at first," she said. "I know what we was wearing when he left the house (to go to work)... It didn't feel like he was enquiring what clothes he was wearing. It felft like he was trying to convince me of what clothes he was wearing."

∎She identified Murdaugh's voice on an incriminating cell phone video which placed him at the murder scene.

∎She found Maggie's wedding ring in her Mercedes after the killings.

Michael DeWitt is the editor of the Hampton County Guardian. Follow him on Twitter @MichaelDeWitt.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Alex Murdaugh double murder trial: Key observations and unanswered questions after Week 3