Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Alex Murdaugh to Take the Stand?
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Greece. The jury is on their
- 0:13Speaker 1: lunch break and we're going to try to bring you
- 0:15Speaker 1: up today with everything that has happened since we talked.
- 0:18Speaker 1: Last testimony coming in from the witness stand, and we
- 0:22Speaker 1: all know the defense is not required to prove a thing.
- 0:26Speaker 1: The entire burden is on the state. I've seen defendants
- 0:30Speaker 1: that put absolutely nothing up as a defense, and sometimes
- 0:35Speaker 1: they've won. One reason some defendis hues not to put
- 0:40Speaker 1: up any evidence at all is because in many jurisdictions,
- 0:44Speaker 1: if the defendant puts up nothing except for the defensis
- 0:47Speaker 1: own testimony, or nothing at all, they reserve the right
- 0:51Speaker 1: to a final closing argument. What's the defense puts in
- 0:55Speaker 1: any evidence? Then they lose a final closing argument. In
- 1:01Speaker 1: many jurisdictions, you will very likely see the state give
- 1:05Speaker 1: a closing argument, the defense give a closing argument, and
- 1:09Speaker 1: the state have a final closing argument. We'll see how
- 1:13Speaker 1: that shakes out. But while everybody is hustling out of
- 1:16Speaker 1: the courthouse and to their seats, I want you to
- 1:19Speaker 1: see something that you may have missed. I want you
- 1:22Speaker 1: to take a listen at what heartpooling in The lead
- 1:26Speaker 1: defense attorney said, in court. Take a listen. I'm not
- 1:30Speaker 1: five ft two or five foot four. I think you
- 1:33Speaker 1: should five four, but position me tempting, But I don't
- 1:44Speaker 1: know how I can do this, so I'm not pointing
- 1:46Speaker 1: at somebody. There you see the lead defense attorney pointing
- 1:50Speaker 1: the gun at States Council a prosecutor and say tempting.
- 1:57Speaker 1: He I didn't think it's very funny, but I did
- 2:01Speaker 1: guess it did give a comedic break for a moment,
- 2:06Speaker 1: you know, to Chris Painting joining us from New York
- 2:11Speaker 1: forensic firearms consultant for the Stria Consulting Group and president
- 2:17Speaker 1: of Stockwell Consulting, former NYPD, that's not easy, Chris, thank
- 2:22Speaker 1: you for being with us. You know whatever, I would
- 2:24Speaker 1: handle a gun in front of a jury, I would
- 2:28Speaker 1: go to great pains to open the barrel, check it
- 2:30Speaker 1: out in front of the jury, shoved the barrel back
- 2:33Speaker 1: where it's supposed to be, and then hand it over
- 2:37Speaker 1: to the witness. So the jury was never in any
- 2:42Speaker 1: fear that there was even a bullet in that gun.
- 2:45Speaker 1: So I find it really odd that you got one
- 2:48Speaker 1: of the lawyers actually pointing the gun in the court. Yes, Nancy,
- 2:52Speaker 1: it's a little bit odd to point the weapon at people.
- 2:55Speaker 1: And I agree with you, it should be made safe.
- 2:57Speaker 1: It should be shown that Liz safe, pulling the slot
- 3:00Speaker 1: the rear, locking into the rear, and visually and physically
- 3:03Speaker 1: inspecting the weapon before you'd make any demonstration. And that
- 3:06Speaker 1: being said, you still wouldn't point the weapon at anybody,
- 3:10Speaker 1: preferably at the ground, and treat all the weapons as
- 3:13Speaker 1: if they're loaded. Yeah, I mean't look in the chamber
- 3:15Speaker 1: when I said barrel. That's a number one rule of
- 3:19Speaker 1: using firearms, loaded or unloaded. And I learned on day
- 3:24Speaker 1: one trying cases, never point the gun at the jury
- 3:29Speaker 1: or at anybody in the courtroom. Very often i'd hold
- 3:32Speaker 1: a gun out like this, straight down with the barrel
- 3:35Speaker 1: facing down if I needed to hand it to a
- 3:39Speaker 1: witness or needed to hold it in front of the jury,
- 3:43Speaker 1: just as a precaution. The last thing you need is
- 3:45Speaker 1: one of the jars becoming afraid. But I can tell
- 3:47Speaker 1: you what I've learned about Hartpooling and the lead defense attorney,
- 3:51Speaker 1: Ted Williams. He reminds me in a way of my
- 3:54Speaker 1: old co anchor Johnny Cochrane. God rest his soul, guys
- 3:59Speaker 1: with me. Ted Williams defense attorney, former Washington DC police
- 4:04Speaker 1: detective Fox, and his contributor starting power of Attorney Ted.
- 4:08Speaker 1: This is what I learned from Cochrane, because of course
- 4:10Speaker 1: I didn't agree with one thing that ever came out
- 4:13Speaker 1: of his mouth. But I can tell you this Cochrane
- 4:17Speaker 1: had kind of an it factor, and can't take that
- 4:20Speaker 1: away from Johnny Cockrane. He would walk in a room
- 4:22Speaker 1: and everybody would go and look right at him. And
- 4:27Speaker 1: he was just a guy that people wanted to be around,
- 4:31Speaker 1: you know, talk to talk about his cases, hear him
- 4:34Speaker 1: tell stories, and I think Judge Eto felt the same
- 4:38Speaker 1: way about Cochrane. What I have learned from speaking to
- 4:42Speaker 1: many lawyers that have practiced against Tartpoolian is he's like
- 4:47Speaker 1: this good old guy that he can spend a yarn,
- 4:51Speaker 1: He'll throwback some drinks with you. He's very well liked.
- 4:56Speaker 1: Now does that mean his client's innocent, No, but it
- 5:00Speaker 1: may mean he can spin a yarn and that closing
- 5:04Speaker 1: argument that may transfix at least one girard, just like
- 5:09Speaker 1: he pointed a gun at the prosecutor and when he
- 5:12Speaker 1: and everybody laughed, Yeah, Nancy. The one thing that every
- 5:18Speaker 1: lawyer that's trying the case want to do, and that
- 5:22Speaker 1: is to be able to establish a repair with the jury.
- 5:27Speaker 1: And when Dick Harpollion did his act yesterday, maybe some
- 5:34Speaker 1: took exception to it, but in reality he got laughed
- 5:40Speaker 1: out of it, and most of the court was laughing
- 5:44Speaker 1: at that. So what Dick did was he, in his
- 5:51Speaker 1: unusual way, in his good old country boy way, was
- 5:55Speaker 1: able to establish a repair with the jury. One of
- 6:00Speaker 1: the worst things that can happen to a lawyer doing
- 6:03Speaker 1: the course of a trial is far the jury to
- 6:07Speaker 1: dislike the lawyer, because if the jury dislikes the lawyer,
- 6:12Speaker 1: that may have some effect on the client and the averting.
- 6:16Speaker 1: So Dick Harpulian, going through the theatrics that he went
- 6:21Speaker 1: through yesterday, did an excellent, excellent job of establishing a
- 6:27Speaker 1: paw with that jury, and that's what he wanted. And
- 6:30Speaker 1: did you know, I agree with you, Ted Williams, and
- 6:34Speaker 1: I think when I tried cases, I think it's more
- 6:37Speaker 1: important to me that I'd be absolutely correct on the
- 6:41Speaker 1: facts and the law without a single mistake, so that
- 6:44Speaker 1: I would be believed. I don't know that I was
- 6:47Speaker 1: ever liked, but believed, And I think it's all about
- 6:52Speaker 1: credibility and know Harpulian is nobody's fool. He's tried a
- 6:56Speaker 1: lot of cases. I mean a lot of cases, and
- 6:59Speaker 1: he's one major money settlements as well. He knows his
- 7:03Speaker 1: way around the courtroom, but so do the prosecutors. But
- 7:06Speaker 1: that was one moment in the courtroom that really struck me. Guys,
- 7:10Speaker 1: you got to hear more of what the defense expert said. Now,
- 7:15Speaker 1: this guy on the stand is an engineer. He has
- 7:18Speaker 1: no training at all in ballistics, and I believe the
- 7:22Speaker 1: judge threw him a bone through the defense, a bone
- 7:26Speaker 1: by letting him even testify about ballistics. No training. He's
- 7:30Speaker 1: more of an accident investigator, accident reconstructionists. And I'll tell
- 7:34Speaker 1: you how he got into the defense mix. He worked
- 7:37Speaker 1: with the law firm pimped as I like to call
- 7:41Speaker 1: it PMPD than that was Murdog's firm. He worked with
- 7:46Speaker 1: them on accident civil cases and he also was called
- 7:51Speaker 1: in on the Mallory Beach case to defend Civilly Alex
- 7:57Speaker 1: Murdog and Paul Murdog. That's how he got roped into
- 8:01Speaker 1: this thing. Take a listen to the expert on the stand.
- 8:05Speaker 1: Have you had any formal training in pathology? No? Have
- 8:09Speaker 1: you had any formal training in firearms or firearms? They
- 8:14Speaker 1: how they were? No? Are you a member of any
- 8:17Speaker 1: organizations UM that that do that line of work, that
- 8:21Speaker 1: that do tests on firearms or pathology? No? Have you
- 8:25Speaker 1: taken any shooting incident reconstruction classes? No? Do you have
- 8:31Speaker 1: any certifications in shooting incident and reconstruction? No? Do you
- 8:34Speaker 1: have any Have you taken any classes in gunshot wounds? No?
- 8:38Speaker 1: Any of those studies that you did, were they subject
- 8:39Speaker 1: to peer review? Are published in any publication? No? I
- 8:43Speaker 1: typically don't write papers or or submit papers. I'm not
- 8:46Speaker 1: a firearms expert or a pathologist or a wooded expert.
- 8:50Speaker 1: That's that's not my area of physics. It's not my
- 8:54Speaker 1: area of expertise. Well, at LASTI didn't try to lie
- 8:57Speaker 1: to Chris Payton joining us again NYPD, and he is
- 9:02Speaker 1: a forensic firearms expert. How did this guy end up
- 9:09Speaker 1: testifying about the bullet trajectory or anything about bullets or
- 9:14Speaker 1: ballistics or guns at all. Well, that's an interesting question.
- 9:18Speaker 1: I don't want to put down any defense witness or
- 9:22Speaker 1: expert witness if they claim they are Usually that type
- 9:25Speaker 1: of stuff is uh done during the war, dear, and
- 9:28Speaker 1: whether it was up to the prosecuting eternity to let
- 9:31Speaker 1: him proceed as a defense expert. So it's entirely up
- 9:37Speaker 1: to the court and the judge. If they want to
- 9:38Speaker 1: do that, set to the judge. It's set to the
- 9:41Speaker 1: judge whether he an expert. Now, look expertly, he is
- 9:48Speaker 1: an expert in accident reconstruction. That is what he's an
- 9:53Speaker 1: expert in. Uh. You know what, when I would put
- 9:55Speaker 1: a ballistics expert up on the stand, I would ask them,
- 9:59Speaker 1: what's your education, where do you work, what did you study?
- 10:02Speaker 1: How many how many ballistics tests have you conducted in
- 10:07Speaker 1: the course of your career? How many times have you
- 10:10Speaker 1: testified about ballistics? Have you ever written a paper? Have
- 10:14Speaker 1: you taught a class? Have you been to a class?
- 10:15Speaker 1: On and on and on. And I would have ballistics experts,
- 10:19Speaker 1: you know, especially people from the crime lab that have
- 10:21Speaker 1: done seven or eight thousand ballistics exams over the course
- 10:27Speaker 1: of their career. This guy has not not saying he's
- 10:31Speaker 1: not an expert, but he's not an expert in ballistics.
- 10:34Speaker 1: But I want you to hear how he testified about ballistics.
- 10:38Speaker 1: You didn't do any other renders along these lines of
- 10:40Speaker 1: an adult sized human being kneeling on the ground while shooting.
- 10:43Speaker 1: Did you know what I did do is consider that,
- 10:47Speaker 1: because I mean, obviously from your question you kind of
- 10:50Speaker 1: can see that in your mind. The first thing you
- 10:52Speaker 1: look at is that Alex is seventy six inches tall.
- 10:59Speaker 1: I measured to knee is twenty five inches. So that
- 11:02Speaker 1: means that if he went down on one knee, his
- 11:06Speaker 1: shoulder is still fifty one inches above the ground. And
- 11:10Speaker 1: if he shouldered the rifle and a kneeling position, he
- 11:13Speaker 1: still can't make the quail shot because the muzzle would
- 11:16Speaker 1: be above where the hole is. So that's number one.
- 11:19Speaker 1: So the more you back him up, then it just
- 11:22Speaker 1: gets more and more improbable. That's basically two feet above
- 11:26Speaker 1: the ground. So that's why it only fits, you said,
- 11:31Speaker 1: eleven year old kid. But it only fits with a
- 11:34Speaker 1: short person or with some bizarre shooting posture that doesn't
- 11:41Speaker 1: match an aiming position or a normal shooting position, or
- 11:46Speaker 1: just an abnormal shooting position. Time stories with Nancy Grace.
- 12:05Speaker 1: If he shouldered the rifle and a kneeling position, he
- 12:07Speaker 1: still can't make the quel shot because the muzzle would
- 12:11Speaker 1: be above where the hole is, so that's number one.
- 12:13Speaker 1: So the more you back him up, then it just
- 12:17Speaker 1: gets more and more improbable. That's basically two feet above
- 12:20Speaker 1: the ground. So that's why it only fits, you said,
- 12:26Speaker 1: eleven year old kid. But it only fits with a
- 12:28Speaker 1: short person or with some bizarre shooting posture that doesn't
- 12:35Speaker 1: match an aiming position or a normal shooting position, or
- 12:40Speaker 1: just an abnormal shooting position. This is very, very critical
- 12:44Speaker 1: to the state and the defense when you're talking about
- 12:47Speaker 1: trajectory path and where the shooter was standing at the
- 12:51Speaker 1: time of the murders. To Dr Michel du Pree, pithologist,
- 12:55Speaker 1: medical examiner, former detective and author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide,
- 13:00Speaker 1: what do you make of this guy testifying about ballistics
- 13:04Speaker 1: and trajectory paths and guns and bullets. He's an engineer, Well, Nancy,
- 13:10Speaker 1: I don't like to criticize anyone, but from criticizing him,
- 13:15Speaker 1: I said, he's an expert. I think it's an engineering, yes,
- 13:20Speaker 1: but not in this and I think this is rubbish.
- 13:23Speaker 1: I think that there are so many variables. And he
- 13:26Speaker 1: even admitted that there were many variables, but then all
- 13:28Speaker 1: of a sudden he forgot to mention what those variables
- 13:31Speaker 1: were and how important they could be. For example, where
- 13:35Speaker 1: on that line of trajectory was the shooter standing. That's
- 13:39Speaker 1: going to make a difference in how tall that person
- 13:42Speaker 1: is supposed to be. In addition, you know he could
- 13:45Speaker 1: he could be kneeling on one knee that wasn't even discussed,
- 13:48Speaker 1: and that would make it a very big difference in
- 13:51Speaker 1: the size of the height of that shooter. I want
- 13:53Speaker 1: you to take a listen to Oh I was just waiting.
- 13:57Speaker 1: I knew Ted Williams could not stand by in this.
- 14:00Speaker 1: Go ahead, hit me, I'm ready. Look, Look, the prosecution
- 14:05Speaker 1: had to be stuck on stupid to let this guy
- 14:09Speaker 1: come in as an expert under those circumstances. Nancy, you're
- 14:13Speaker 1: one of your guests mentioned it. I have before an
- 14:17Speaker 1: expert is qualified, I've asked the judge the boar dear
- 14:21Speaker 1: that expert, and then after I boar deer that expert.
- 14:26Speaker 1: We'd been able to disqualify that expert before that expert
- 14:30Speaker 1: even testify. And you would have thought that the prosecution,
- 14:35Speaker 1: not the defense, because they wanted this guy and they
- 14:38Speaker 1: got some good testimony from him. The prosecution child have
- 14:41Speaker 1: taken him on boarder and then asks the judge, and
- 14:45Speaker 1: you're right, asks the judge not to qualify him as
- 14:48Speaker 1: an expert, a ballistic expert. They didn't do that. They
- 14:52Speaker 1: were stuck on stupid and not doing that. I knew
- 14:55Speaker 1: somehow you twist this around and making the state's fault.
- 14:58Speaker 1: And I admire the way you spun that out. Guys
- 15:01Speaker 1: with me right now. And Emerson Senior investigative reporter WCIV ABC,
- 15:06Speaker 1: and she is the host of UNSAWD South Carolina, The
- 15:10Speaker 1: MURDERI Murders, Money and Mystery podcast, which is awesome, very
- 15:15Speaker 1: in depth. And Emerson, how did this guy And again
- 15:18Speaker 1: everybody's worried about hurting his feelings. This is not hurting
- 15:21Speaker 1: his feelings. He can read his own resume. He knows
- 15:25Speaker 1: he is not a ballistics expert. They asked him on
- 15:28Speaker 1: the standing went now, I never did any of that.
- 15:30Speaker 1: He's an engineer, he is an expert in accident reconstruction.
- 15:36Speaker 1: I'm not saying he's some hazy that just fell off
- 15:39Speaker 1: the turnip truck. I'm saying the man's an engineer. He's
- 15:42Speaker 1: an expert, but not in this field. How did he
- 15:46Speaker 1: end up testifying all the witness stand And Emerson, that's
- 15:49Speaker 1: a great question, and I think that's exactly what they
- 15:52Speaker 1: were driving in and drilling down when the prosecution was
- 15:58Speaker 1: crossing them. And you know, honestly, just to watch the
- 16:01Speaker 1: jury because you know, we're in the room with them,
- 16:04Speaker 1: to watch their sort of the expression on their face
- 16:08Speaker 1: when you when you trying to explain to a jury
- 16:11Speaker 1: that the person who or persons who did this would
- 16:15Speaker 1: have been five two to five four. I think that's
- 16:18Speaker 1: where it just stuck, right, And it was so easy
- 16:21Speaker 1: for the prosecution to come in and just really kind
- 16:25Speaker 1: of bring that point home. I mean, what had they
- 16:28Speaker 1: kept on saying, is this a twelve year old like
- 16:30Speaker 1: that did this? So watching the jury's expression, it's just
- 16:34Speaker 1: it kind of took the top off of that his
- 16:37Speaker 1: whole testimony that day, it was hard to listen to
- 16:42Speaker 1: that part of it. Now. As far as what they
- 16:45Speaker 1: did that was effective, And I think I brought this
- 16:48Speaker 1: up before, but the optics of the three D animation,
- 16:52Speaker 1: the visual I mean, you would know this so much
- 16:55Speaker 1: better than me. But from a prosecutor standpoint, isn't that
- 16:58Speaker 1: effective to have that visual tool? Yeah? I thought that
- 17:01Speaker 1: the visuals were really beneficial to the defense. Let me
- 17:05Speaker 1: ask you did the state object to this guy, Mike
- 17:10Speaker 1: Sutton coming on as an expert, and did the state
- 17:15Speaker 1: object to him coming on? They did not. Okay, I'm
- 17:18Speaker 1: really surprised. I didn't care any major objection to Mike
- 17:21Speaker 1: Sutton coming on. Guys, take a listen to more to
- 17:24Speaker 1: this guy, Mike Sutton, and you're here to say, to
- 17:28Speaker 1: testify to these jurors that you're most likely answer is
- 17:32Speaker 1: that it was a twelve year old two twelve year
- 17:34Speaker 1: olds at five to two. There's no testimony the two
- 17:39Speaker 1: twelve year olds are involved in this anyway. Misstating the
- 17:42Speaker 1: facts sustained the objection. You're saying, though, that two five two,
- 17:50Speaker 1: which we can all guess, approximates what size individual or
- 17:55Speaker 1: age of individuals. That's your best that's your best desk
- 17:59Speaker 1: that one went on that night. It's not a guess.
- 18:02Speaker 1: And again it's not two individuals. It could be one
- 18:07Speaker 1: person moving slightly there, but that is not a guess.
- 18:13Speaker 1: That is my opinion, and I've tried to explain it
- 18:16Speaker 1: to the court as best as I possibly can. Mc
- 18:18Speaker 1: du Chris Paynton joining us out of New York forensic
- 18:21Speaker 1: firearms consultant for the STRIA Consulting Group president Stockball Consulting Corporation,
- 18:28Speaker 1: and former NYPD detective. What do you make of this
- 18:31Speaker 1: guy's testimony. Well, he's going by the aspect that he
- 18:34Speaker 1: was already admitted into the court as an expert, so
- 18:37Speaker 1: he felt he was able to give his opinion. I
- 18:40Speaker 1: thought the prosecutor did a pretty good job of denouncing
- 18:44Speaker 1: everything that he said by saying he wasn't an expert
- 18:47Speaker 1: in firearms, and he went through no formal training, no experience,
- 18:51Speaker 1: but since he was already admitted, he decided to give
- 18:54Speaker 1: his opinion. It takes a long time to be an
- 18:57Speaker 1: expert in the field of firearms and ballistics. Takes suppressible
- 19:01Speaker 1: a year and a half of training just to do microscopy.
- 19:04Speaker 1: You have to test, like you said, thousands of cases,
- 19:08Speaker 1: thousands of guns. You have to testify was you started
- 19:12Speaker 1: with one, but then you testify hundreds of times, and
- 19:15Speaker 1: you have to take various courses. And he didn't do
- 19:19Speaker 1: any of those things, So you're you're right, he didn't
- 19:23Speaker 1: qualify as an expert for somehow or other, he still
- 19:25Speaker 1: got in at least not not an expert in bullistics,
- 19:28Speaker 1: and he admitted he wasn't an expert in ballistics, Chris Paynton,
- 19:32Speaker 1: you mentioned the study of microscopy. You mean when you
- 19:35Speaker 1: put bullets under a microscope and compare grooves or tool markings.
- 19:41Speaker 1: That's correct. When you put cartridge casings and fired bullets
- 19:45Speaker 1: under comparison microscope to see what marking is that the
- 19:48Speaker 1: gun left on those fired cartridge casings and fired bullets. Yeah,
- 19:54Speaker 1: it's very painstaking undertaking, but once you get the hang
- 19:58Speaker 1: of it, it's just like looking at two fingerprints to
- 20:01Speaker 1: determine if they're the same one. If you're an experienced expert,
- 20:05Speaker 1: you can spot it immediately. And that's what Chris Paynton
- 20:09Speaker 1: is talking about. So, you know, one last question on
- 20:12Speaker 1: this before I moved to the million dollar question about
- 20:15Speaker 1: whether Murdoch is taking the stand, Doctor Michelle Dupree. When
- 20:20Speaker 1: we're talking about variables and we're talking about this incredible
- 20:26Speaker 1: light display the defense put on with this expert expert witness,
- 20:31Speaker 1: you know, the green lines of the trajectory path. Hey, Christine,
- 20:34Speaker 1: can we show that to them? What Payton and Nancy,
- 20:37Speaker 1: I don't want to say. You did say it's an
- 20:38Speaker 1: immediate It's not always an immediate process. Sometimes it takes time,
- 20:42Speaker 1: especially with bullets, if I remember correctly, the sled. The
- 20:46Speaker 1: state law enforcement investigator gave an opinion that it was
- 20:51Speaker 1: inconclusive that the cartridge cases that found whether they fired
- 20:54Speaker 1: from any of the guns that were seized on the property.
- 20:58Speaker 1: So it's not Sometimes it's a painstaking process. It takes
- 21:01Speaker 1: a little bit. Sometimes the things are matched right away,
- 21:04Speaker 1: but it's not an easy thing to do. No, it
- 21:07Speaker 1: is not true word words that were never spoken. So
- 21:11Speaker 1: doctor dupri I don't know. If you can see what
- 21:12Speaker 1: we're showing right there with a green light showing the
- 21:17Speaker 1: trajectory path of the bullets, it doesn't mean a thing.
- 21:23Speaker 1: And I'll tell you why, and tell me if I'm wrong.
- 21:26Speaker 1: You're the expert. I'm just a JD. Because of the
- 21:29Speaker 1: burn on the bodies, the stipling, it shows they weren't
- 21:35Speaker 1: standing out there. They were standing right up on the body.
- 21:39Speaker 1: You can only get stipling or powder burn. It's like
- 21:43Speaker 1: a tattoo of burn marks because you're so close to
- 21:47Speaker 1: that hot gun barrel. It scorches your skin. There was stipling,
- 21:54Speaker 1: So all of that right there doesn't mean a hill
- 21:56Speaker 1: of beans. They weren't standing out there, they were right
- 21:59Speaker 1: up on the that's right, Nancy. Because of that stippling
- 22:03Speaker 1: or tattooing as we call it, that person had to
- 22:05Speaker 1: be within about three feet or so of their target.
- 22:09Speaker 1: And we know that the expert said that he could
- 22:12Speaker 1: be anywhere along that line, that green line, but that
- 22:15Speaker 1: just isn't so that person has to be within approximately
- 22:19Speaker 1: three feet of their target in order to get that
- 22:21Speaker 1: stipling or tattooing on the body. Guys, again, you're seeing
- 22:24Speaker 1: doctor Michelle Dupree, but on the right you're seeing it's
- 22:28Speaker 1: a pretty good demonstrative display the defense put on. I'm
- 22:33Speaker 1: wondering if anybody's going to get hung up on it
- 22:35Speaker 1: back there in the dreary room, because it was pretty impressive.
- 22:37Speaker 1: Of course, with those stipling marks on a victim, it
- 22:41Speaker 1: means the shooter was right there, up on the body,
- 22:44Speaker 1: so close to the body that the skin was burned
- 22:48Speaker 1: with a gunshot powder tattoo. That's what that means. Guys,
- 22:55Speaker 1: go ahead, jump in here, he comes. Go ahead. I'm sorry,
- 22:59Speaker 1: I've got the ask the question. Why you're not sorry?
- 23:04Speaker 1: Go ahead? Why did the prosecution have to bring out
- 23:10Speaker 1: this evidence and put on that three D demonstration? Why
- 23:15Speaker 1: didn't the prosecution put on this information instead of the defense.
- 23:21Speaker 1: I meant, I stand to be corrected. It seems to
- 23:24Speaker 1: me that the prosecutor brought up with doctor dupre just
- 23:29Speaker 1: represented and they would have shown how the stippling, They
- 23:32Speaker 1: would have shown how close everything was it ballistic. Wise,
- 23:37Speaker 1: they let the defense steal the day with that. I
- 23:42Speaker 1: believe Nancy Well, I don't know if you were listening
- 23:44Speaker 1: to the case in chief of the state put up
- 23:46Speaker 1: their evidence, but the stipling did come in. The stipling
- 23:50Speaker 1: has come in, so that's going to be argued in
- 23:53Speaker 1: closing argument. And why did they Why did the defense
- 23:56Speaker 1: use such an awesome demonstrative tactic because they could, and
- 24:00Speaker 1: they've got the money to do it, so why not
- 24:02Speaker 1: do it? Doesn't mean it hill of beans to me.
- 24:04Speaker 1: They get put up all the slides they want to,
- 24:07Speaker 1: But I know what stippling is, and that jury is
- 24:10Speaker 1: going to know what stippling is on the bodies of
- 24:12Speaker 1: the victims. That means the shooter was not out there
- 24:15Speaker 1: as depicted in that picture presented by the defense, that
- 24:19Speaker 1: slick three D. Let me just say, um scenario that
- 24:26Speaker 1: they put up, that's not true, that's not real. The
- 24:29Speaker 1: stipling is real. The medical examiner saw it and it
- 24:34Speaker 1: has been accepted into court that the killer was at
- 24:37Speaker 1: close range. Hey guys, another thing. Let me just ask
- 24:41Speaker 1: everybody on the panel right now. Now, Hey, Williams, this
- 24:44Speaker 1: is a yes no question. Okay, you're on cross. Will
- 24:50Speaker 1: Murdock take the stand? Williams, you don't want me to
- 24:53Speaker 1: just say yes and no? Please if I yes, I do, Okay,
- 24:59Speaker 1: go yes. I think he's gonna have to take the stand.
- 25:03Speaker 1: I think he's gonna have to take the stand. There's
- 25:06Speaker 1: just too many things that are left out there that
- 25:09Speaker 1: needs to be explained, the timeline, the fact that eight
- 25:13Speaker 1: forty four, you've got that video of his voice along
- 25:17Speaker 1: with Paul and Maggie's. Somebody's got to explain that that
- 25:22Speaker 1: is the prosecution's case and they need to focus on
- 25:27Speaker 1: that aspect of the case. Nancy, Well, have you ever
- 25:30Speaker 1: thought what about it with me? Is irv Brandt? He
- 25:32Speaker 1: has seen prosecutions all over the world. Why the world,
- 25:37Speaker 1: Senior Inspector US Marshal Service. You know, I love the
- 25:40Speaker 1: US Marshals. They will track you down no matter where
- 25:43Speaker 1: you are in drag your are in in a court.
- 25:46Speaker 1: He was with dj Office of international affairs. He's been
- 25:51Speaker 1: placed in embassies around the world. He is an author
- 25:54Speaker 1: of solos shot Curse of the Blue Stone on Amazon,
- 25:58Speaker 1: also Flying Solo Top of the World on Amazon. I
- 26:02Speaker 1: don't know when you've got time to write books, but
- 26:04Speaker 1: power to you, man. Let me ask you this. IRV Brent,
- 26:08Speaker 1: let me set it up for you. Hold on and Emerson.
- 26:12Speaker 1: Isn't it true that today the defense put up a partner,
- 26:17Speaker 1: one of Murdoch's law partners, on the stand. And on
- 26:21Speaker 1: the stand, this law partner advised how Murdoch cannot keep
- 26:29Speaker 1: his story straight? First, he said, he checked, I believe
- 26:34Speaker 1: this unless I've got it beast ekwards, he checked Paul's
- 26:37Speaker 1: body first, then Maggie's, then later he got it reversed.
- 26:42Speaker 1: That kind of thing. You don't confuse whose body you
- 26:46Speaker 1: went to first. He can't keep his story straight, even
- 26:50Speaker 1: talking one on one with his law partner. What's gonna
- 26:53Speaker 1: happen when he's on the stand. Didn't that happen right
- 26:56Speaker 1: before he went to break? Well? Absolutely, Mark Ball was
- 26:59Speaker 1: the defense witness, but he really felt like he was
- 27:03Speaker 1: working for the prosecution as well. I have to be honest.
- 27:06Speaker 1: I mean Mark Ball, as far as a witness goes
- 27:10Speaker 1: just in general, the ability for him to recount some
- 27:15Speaker 1: of the details, not just of that night, but of
- 27:18Speaker 1: their entire relationship. I mean, this is someone that Alec
- 27:22Speaker 1: is known for thirty four years. He came across when
- 27:26Speaker 1: he was talking about the defenses, very sympathetic to his family,
- 27:30Speaker 1: but boy was he mad about the lying and angry
- 27:35Speaker 1: about what had happened, not just in these murders but
- 27:39Speaker 1: the financial crimes. I mean, he was talking about how
- 27:42Speaker 1: ten to eleven million dollars had to come out of
- 27:45Speaker 1: his pocket, and all of his partners at this firm
- 27:48Speaker 1: where they saw his family. So first off, I don't
- 27:51Speaker 1: know who he was more effective for, if it was
- 27:54Speaker 1: for the defense or the prosecution. But one of the
- 27:57Speaker 1: things that was on top of the who did you
- 28:00Speaker 1: check first, Maggie or Paul. The other thing that came
- 28:03Speaker 1: out in that was about the kennel video, And that
- 28:05Speaker 1: was tough to hear because he said three times, three
- 28:10Speaker 1: times Alec had lied to him or had had neglected
- 28:15Speaker 1: to say that he had been at the kennel at
- 28:17Speaker 1: eight forty four. And this is this is a guy
- 28:20Speaker 1: who remembers details. Came across very and got I agree
- 28:24Speaker 1: with you, and tell me if I got it wrong,
- 28:26Speaker 1: because there've been over sixty witnesses at this point. I
- 28:28Speaker 1: believe IRV Brandt, formerly with the US Marshall, this guy
- 28:35Speaker 1: is one of those guys that's a real believer. In
- 28:39Speaker 1: other words, he's devoted his life, his life's work anyway,
- 28:43Speaker 1: to this law firm. I believe. He said he clerked
- 28:46Speaker 1: a year with a judge and then he joined this
- 28:50Speaker 1: law firm, and he's been with this law firm his
- 28:53Speaker 1: whole career. You know, like us, IRV. We've been in
- 28:58Speaker 1: prosecution and representing the state, our whole lits. That's the
- 29:04Speaker 1: way we see the world. This guy was very believable.
- 29:09Speaker 1: He talked about how much money he had lost because
- 29:12Speaker 1: of Alex and Murdog, and how he had devoted himself
- 29:15Speaker 1: to this firm. He talked about the night that Maggie
- 29:19Speaker 1: and Paul were murdered. He talked about going and trying
- 29:22Speaker 1: to console Alex and Murdog and how Murdog changed his
- 29:28Speaker 1: story about what he did that night. Whose body did
- 29:33Speaker 1: he check first, who did he go to immediately to
- 29:38Speaker 1: see if they were alive? And, as Anne pointed out
- 29:42Speaker 1: about the kennels, he denied or failed to state he
- 29:46Speaker 1: had ever been at the kennels, which is a lie.
- 29:51Speaker 1: And this witness who is Murdog's friend, agreed that was
- 29:55Speaker 1: a lie. But he make that well exactly what he said.
- 30:01Speaker 1: It's one thing for him to say it, and he
- 30:03Speaker 1: actually said it during the testimony. It doesn't matter to
- 30:07Speaker 1: me that he changed his story. He was upset, he
- 30:10Speaker 1: was traumatized. He tried to explain that away. I don't
- 30:16Speaker 1: like to disagree with Ted Williams. I actually loved to
- 30:21Speaker 1: disagree with Ted Williams. It would be a massive mistake
- 30:25Speaker 1: for Alec to take the stand. He's not going to
- 30:29Speaker 1: be able to get away with saying something like that,
- 30:32Speaker 1: you know. To the reason why I changed my story
- 30:35Speaker 1: is because I'm what's traumatized. He would get cut apart
- 30:41Speaker 1: if he takes the stand. It'll be over the objections
- 30:45Speaker 1: of his defense. He would be sliced up like a
- 30:48Speaker 1: Thanksgiving turkey on a silver platter, put on top of
- 30:54Speaker 1: the Christmas tree. That is what would happen, and all
- 30:57Speaker 1: of his lines would be exposed. And Nancy, you know,
- 31:01Speaker 1: and this is what we saw at the very top
- 31:02Speaker 1: of this morning before the jury came in Jim Griffin
- 31:05Speaker 1: has already talked to the judge about whether or not
- 31:11Speaker 1: the financial crimes would be let in. Are their stipulations?
- 31:14Speaker 1: Can we go ahead and have some ground rules if
- 31:16Speaker 1: Alec goes on the stand, And of course the judge
- 31:19Speaker 1: was like, absolutely not, I'm going to happen. That's interesting
- 31:23Speaker 1: that you brought that up. That is exactly what I
- 31:25Speaker 1: was just about to play for the listeners. Take a
- 31:28Speaker 1: listen to our cut five. We are discussing with mister
- 31:34Speaker 1: Murdock on his right to testify or not testify. And
- 31:38Speaker 1: one of the issues that has come up as the
- 31:40Speaker 1: scope of cross examination that the state would be permitted
- 31:44Speaker 1: to go into. The basic rule is where the defendant
- 31:46Speaker 1: takes the stanny waves as Fifth Amendment privilege as to
- 31:51Speaker 1: matters to which she testifies on direct and relevant matters.
- 31:55Speaker 1: What we're asking it for an order excluding the state
- 31:59Speaker 1: from being able to question mister Murdoch on cross examination
- 32:04Speaker 1: matters related to the financial crimes. You're on. A rule
- 32:07Speaker 1: six to eleven B on the scope of cross examination
- 32:10Speaker 1: expressly says that a witness may be cross examined on
- 32:12Speaker 1: any matter relevant to any issue in the case. So
- 32:15Speaker 1: these matters which go right to the heart of the
- 32:17Speaker 1: credibility and frankly, the extensive dishonesty of this definition. I
- 32:22Speaker 1: am not going to issue and order and events limiting
- 32:26Speaker 1: the scope of cross examination. Any objection will matter, must
- 32:30Speaker 1: be addressed as the evidence is presented. Okay, what they're
- 32:35Speaker 1: asking there, the defense is asking when Murdoch and if
- 32:41Speaker 1: Murdoch takes the stand, can his cross examination be limited? Well,
- 32:48Speaker 1: I don't see that under the constitution, but the fact
- 32:51Speaker 1: that they're even talking about it suggests that Murdoch may
- 32:55Speaker 1: take the stand. I think for the defense it would
- 32:57Speaker 1: be a horrible, horrible because, as I was asking IRV
- 33:02Speaker 1: Brandt earlier, if he can't keep his story straight when
- 33:05Speaker 1: he's talking to his friend the night of the murders
- 33:09Speaker 1: and he gets his story confused, what is going to
- 33:12Speaker 1: happen when he is under cross examination by the state
- 33:18Speaker 1: that states. And I also noticed an Emerson that the
- 33:23Speaker 1: more this witness was talking, the more Alex Murdog got
- 33:28Speaker 1: to chewing on those life savers. I mean, he was
- 33:32Speaker 1: chewing up so that he was chewing up a storm.
- 33:36Speaker 1: But it was I think partly because he saw who
- 33:39Speaker 1: was looking at him. There were the twelve jurors, plus
- 33:43Speaker 1: you know, the two alternates that are left staring at him.
- 33:47Speaker 1: They at least, you know, half of them looked very
- 33:50Speaker 1: uncomfortable as well as they were hearing everything you're talking
- 33:54Speaker 1: about with the Mark Ball testimony, that it was very
- 33:58Speaker 1: uncomfortable and they looked angry. I mean they did. There
- 34:02Speaker 1: was several of them that did not look happy at
- 34:04Speaker 1: all as they were listening to this. So you know,
- 34:07Speaker 1: I was definitely when Mark Ball was on the stand
- 34:12Speaker 1: and it was on cross exam, I remember, this is
- 34:15Speaker 1: the defense witness. The defense did this. They put this
- 34:18Speaker 1: guy on his fan a friend of Murdog's, and he
- 34:21Speaker 1: was very, very believable when he was on cross exam
- 34:25Speaker 1: and the prosecutor got ahold of a list of all
- 34:28Speaker 1: these clients that Murdog had built. It's not just money
- 34:33Speaker 1: and Emerson. I believe it was Mark Ball that was
- 34:36Speaker 1: testifying to one of the clients had colon cancer and
- 34:42Speaker 1: was dying and he was a friend of Murdog's and
- 34:46Speaker 1: Murdog stole his money. There was another sheriff or cop
- 34:52Speaker 1: that had been injured, and I think it was coming
- 34:57Speaker 1: up on Christmas. I can't remember the way that one
- 34:59Speaker 1: went yes, yeah, I talked to Tommy about this. I
- 35:08Speaker 1: talked to Tommy about this. I actually interviewed him not
- 35:11Speaker 1: far after the time came out that with the indictments
- 35:15Speaker 1: against Alec Murdoch for this particular charge, very believable, boy,
- 35:20Speaker 1: if they get Highway patrol Trooper Tommy Moore up there.
- 35:23Speaker 1: I mean, talk about a difficult situation. I mean, it
- 35:27Speaker 1: was just another financial victim. He got hurt on the job.
- 35:30Speaker 1: He was helping a car during a freak snowstorm that
- 35:35Speaker 1: we had down here, and he basically broke his neck
- 35:39Speaker 1: and never got the money. And because Alec Murdoch could
- 35:43Speaker 1: allegedly pocketed it. And that's what Mark Ball was talking about,
- 35:46Speaker 1: because the Tommy case was really hard for Mark because
- 35:49Speaker 1: Mark was working on the i think the workman's comp
- 35:52Speaker 1: part of that case, so they were working together on
- 35:55Speaker 1: Tommy's money. So when that went through that you could
- 35:59Speaker 1: just see how that just hit Mark Ball on the
- 36:02Speaker 1: wrong angle. He's obviously a very truthful man. He's this
- 36:08Speaker 1: is his legacy, he said, this is this is his family,
- 36:12Speaker 1: the whole firm. He took this incredibly personally. So did
- 36:16Speaker 1: the jury. So did the jury. Let me circle back
- 36:19Speaker 1: to Ted Williams. Ted Williams, you think Alex murdogu should
- 36:24Speaker 1: get up on that stand? Oh boy, how I would
- 36:27Speaker 1: like to cross examine him because I'd like to ask him,
- 36:30Speaker 1: why did you steal this trooper's money with a broken neck?
- 36:34Speaker 1: That was your friend? Why did you steal the money
- 36:37Speaker 1: from the guy who was dying of cancer? You stole
- 36:40Speaker 1: his money? If you would lie to them, wouldn't you
- 36:43Speaker 1: lie to this jury to save your own skin, murdog
- 36:47Speaker 1: wouldn't you? Oh? Yeah, side would tear him a knee
- 36:50Speaker 1: wear end? Oh and I'm putting it mildly. No way
- 36:54Speaker 1: this guy's taking a stand. Well, let me say I
- 36:57Speaker 1: agree with you, and I want to say something to
- 36:59Speaker 1: get my friend, and that is I do not think
- 37:02Speaker 1: Murdoch should be anywhere near the stand, But I do
- 37:07Speaker 1: believe that there is a possibility that he is going
- 37:11Speaker 1: to take the stand. And the reason being is because
- 37:14Speaker 1: sometime lawyers are stuck on stupid and dumber than they are.
- 37:19Speaker 1: Sometime lawyers believe that they can get up there on
- 37:23Speaker 1: that stand and that they can tell a story that
- 37:27Speaker 1: is believable to the jury. In this case, you are
- 37:31Speaker 1: absolutely right, Nancy, they will cut him up every which
- 37:37Speaker 1: way but loose, and I question the sanity of this
- 37:43Speaker 1: man to get up and get on that stand when
- 37:46Speaker 1: he cannot explain even the timeline, When he can't explain
- 37:50Speaker 1: that he left from Moselle there going to visit his mother,
- 37:57Speaker 1: but along the way, guess what they find is Maggie's
- 38:00Speaker 1: cell phone on the same route that he was visiting.
- 38:04Speaker 1: How do he explain that? So so, No, I don't
- 38:10Speaker 1: want him to take the stand, but he may take
- 38:13Speaker 1: the stand unfortunately ignorantly. Well, I never said times you
- 38:17Speaker 1: would advise him to take the stand. I'm saying. What
- 38:21Speaker 1: I'm saying is it would be a big mistake for
- 38:24Speaker 1: him to take the standing. The question firearms consultant and
- 38:29Speaker 1: join him that I mean to cut you off, RV.
- 38:31Speaker 1: Sorry about that, Chris. Have you ever had a client
- 38:36Speaker 1: that you have told a B C and then they
- 38:42Speaker 1: get up on the stand and they say X, Y Z,
- 38:48Speaker 1: and you're sitting there going how did that happen? I
- 38:52Speaker 1: can tell you a story. I don't. I don't have clients,
- 38:54Speaker 1: but I have had where prosecutors have asked questions or
- 38:59Speaker 1: defense attorneys have asked questions. I've gone completely off script
- 39:04Speaker 1: to what was supposed to be talking about what was
- 39:06Speaker 1: supposed to be discussed. I don't have defense clients, but
- 39:12Speaker 1: sometimes the things just go completely off the rails and
- 39:15Speaker 1: the court and it has to be corrected during No,
- 39:18Speaker 1: you're not a defense attorney or a lawyer, but I
- 39:21Speaker 1: know you've got a lot of clients to be the
- 39:24Speaker 1: CEO the president of Stockwall Consulting Corps. The point is,
- 39:29Speaker 1: sometimes you get a client that just absolutely will not
- 39:33Speaker 1: do what you tell them to do. I mean, I
- 39:36Speaker 1: don't know why he's paying hard Putley and all this
- 39:38Speaker 1: money if he's not going to do what hard putleyan
- 39:41Speaker 1: tells him to do. But I've seen it over and over, Williams.
- 39:44Speaker 1: Haven't you seen that in court? I've looked over there,
- 39:47Speaker 1: and of course I love it when it happens, but
- 39:49Speaker 1: I've looked over there and seen the defendant and the
- 39:50Speaker 1: lawyer is just fighting furiously, whispering, and you know, then
- 39:55Speaker 1: the defendant decides to take the stand and I'm just
- 39:57Speaker 1: so happy. You must have been in court somewhere when
- 40:01Speaker 1: I was there with my handkerche about crying, because there
- 40:05Speaker 1: are times that we learned one thing. It's hard to
- 40:09Speaker 1: control a client. And once that client is on the stand,
- 40:13Speaker 1: he is fair he or she is fair game. And
- 40:17Speaker 1: when you look at what happened this morning where they
- 40:20Speaker 1: wanted to come in meeting the defense and try to
- 40:23Speaker 1: limit the testimony that he's gonna give, that will never
- 40:27Speaker 1: happen in that court, in any in this country where
- 40:30Speaker 1: you're gonna limit the testimony under those circumstances. Now, I
- 40:34Speaker 1: wanted to also here, guys, hold on this was to
- 40:39Speaker 1: just have it on the record. He may have where
- 40:42Speaker 1: he may be trying to psych out the state thinking
- 40:44Speaker 1: they need to run home tonight and burn the midnight oil,
- 40:47Speaker 1: getting ready for a Murdock's cross exam. I guarantee they've
- 40:50Speaker 1: already been thinking about that because we know Murdoch is uncontrollable. Guys,
- 40:55Speaker 1: I want you to listen to our cut seven. I
- 40:59Speaker 1: want you to hear Mark Ball talking about what he
- 41:03Speaker 1: saw the night of the murders. Did you look in
- 41:05Speaker 1: the feed, ron I did. You could see where one
- 41:08Speaker 1: of the shot had gone through and hit embedded in
- 41:11Speaker 1: the window frame right there the molding, and then there
- 41:15Speaker 1: was a piece of buckshot laying on them the legendum
- 41:18Speaker 1: the windowsill. What did you do when you observed the shots.
- 41:22Speaker 1: I walked back out and asked what I thought was
- 41:25Speaker 1: the agent. We said, we've got all we need, and
- 41:27Speaker 1: so I walked back over there, looking around down them,
- 41:30Speaker 1: around the floor and all that. There was a piece
- 41:33Speaker 1: of Paul's skull about size of the baseball laying there.
- 41:38Speaker 1: Did that upset you, It did very much. I mean,
- 41:41Speaker 1: it just really infuriated me. This young man had been
- 41:44Speaker 1: murdered and there was still his remains there, and there
- 41:48Speaker 1: was a large blood spot and tissue out right off
- 41:53Speaker 1: of the apron of that area right outside the feed
- 41:58Speaker 1: room that was there. And it's kind of like walking
- 42:01Speaker 1: across the grave Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Did you
- 42:37Speaker 1: look in the feed ron? I did. You could see
- 42:39Speaker 1: where one of the shot had gone through and hit
- 42:42Speaker 1: embedded in the window frame right there, the molding, and
- 42:47Speaker 1: then there was a piece of buckshot landing on them,
- 42:50Speaker 1: the legendum the windowsill. What did you do when you
- 42:53Speaker 1: observed the shots? I walked back out and asked what
- 42:56Speaker 1: I thought was the agent. We said, we've got all
- 42:59Speaker 1: we need, and so I walked back over there, looking around,
- 43:02Speaker 1: down around the floor and all that. There was a
- 43:05Speaker 1: piece of Paul's skull about size of the baseball laying there.
- 43:10Speaker 1: Did that upset you? It did very much. I mean,
- 43:13Speaker 1: it just really infuriated me. This young man had been
- 43:16Speaker 1: murdered and there was still his remains there, and there
- 43:21Speaker 1: was a large blood spot tissue out right off of
- 43:25Speaker 1: the apron of that area, right outside the feed room
- 43:31Speaker 1: that was there, and it's kind of like walking across
- 43:34Speaker 1: the grave. And you know, doctor Michelle Dupree joining me,
- 43:37Speaker 1: medical examiner, pathologists, former detective, also author of Homicide Investigation
- 43:46Speaker 1: Field Guide, Doctor Dupree, there is nothing light being on
- 43:53Speaker 1: a homicide scene. It's very upsetting, much less when you
- 43:57Speaker 1: know the victim and in this case, the victims and
- 44:01Speaker 1: you hear this is the dichotomy I'm presenting to you,
- 44:06Speaker 1: doctor Dupris. You hear this witness Mark Ball and his
- 44:11Speaker 1: seemed like anger that this young man's body was still
- 44:17Speaker 1: laying there, splayed out a riddle, torn apart with bullets.
- 44:23Speaker 1: But yet Murdog was thumbing through his phone looking up
- 44:28Speaker 1: a restaurant Nancy. That to me, that's unfathomable. I can't
- 44:32Speaker 1: imagine there. And there have actually been unfortunately published photographs
- 44:37Speaker 1: of exactly what he's talking about. The entrance to the
- 44:40Speaker 1: feed room, and two sections of Paul's skull are shown
- 44:44Speaker 1: in that photograph. I can't imagine that being someone that
- 44:48Speaker 1: you are close to, a loved one, a family member,
- 44:51Speaker 1: and you are looking at a restaurant. You can't dial
- 44:56Speaker 1: that by mistake. I don't know what was going through
- 44:59Speaker 1: his mind at that point in time, but I don't
- 45:02Speaker 1: think it was about you can't because you really can't.
- 45:06Speaker 1: Because he had to put in the name and spell
- 45:09Speaker 1: the restaurant into Google to get it to pop up.
- 45:13Speaker 1: What was he looking at the closing time? Did he
- 45:15Speaker 1: think he was going to run by and have a
- 45:16Speaker 1: stake in a potato? I don't know, but he was
- 45:18Speaker 1: looking at restaurants and opening a group chat a group
- 45:22Speaker 1: email about a woman in a bikini. And here you've
- 45:25Speaker 1: got the friend Mark Ball angry and upset about Paul's remains.
- 45:32Speaker 1: Not murdog. But I want you to hear what Ann
- 45:35Speaker 1: Emerson w CIV was telling us about in our cut
- 45:39Speaker 1: ten And did you talk to him about what he
- 45:42Speaker 1: did that night? Yea? And did he deny ef he
- 45:45Speaker 1: going down to those kennels to his buddy and malk
- 45:47Speaker 1: partner thirty four years he said that he ate dinner,
- 45:51Speaker 1: laid down on the couch, took a nap, and then
- 45:54Speaker 1: left to check on him. And now you know that's
- 45:56Speaker 1: not true for you seeing the kennel video, right, dude.
- 45:59Speaker 1: And that wasn't the only time he told you that.
- 46:00Speaker 1: At least three times and his conversations with you, did
- 46:03Speaker 1: he ever change his story about who he checked first
- 46:07Speaker 1: at the scene supposedly. I don't know whether it's just
- 46:10Speaker 1: because of the trauma of the situation, but first time
- 46:13Speaker 1: I remembered he checked Maggie first and then went to Paul,
- 46:16Speaker 1: And then I heard him say at one point that
- 46:19Speaker 1: it was Paul and then it was Maggie. It didn't
- 46:21Speaker 1: really matter to me. It wasn't something I really was
- 46:25Speaker 1: picking up on because it was horrendous either way. I mean,
- 46:31Speaker 1: I can't imagine seeing my wife dead and my son
- 46:34Speaker 1: dead in such a brutal manner. And Emerson, let me
- 46:38Speaker 1: ask you a question. Has anybody performed a test where
- 46:44Speaker 1: one person sits inside of Moselle in the hunting lodge
- 46:49Speaker 1: and the other person goes out to the dog kennel
- 46:52Speaker 1: and fires guns multiple times? Has anybody done that to
- 46:56Speaker 1: find out if the person in Moselle can hear the gun? Well,
- 46:59Speaker 1: that's actually interesting because that's what they were messing around
- 47:02Speaker 1: with yesterday with Mike Sutton, the forensic engineer that was
- 47:05Speaker 1: on the stand for the defense. He was talking about
- 47:07Speaker 1: the decibel levels and he said that the house is
- 47:10Speaker 1: so well insulated that when you're inside, and I am
- 47:13Speaker 1: literally just kind of replaying what Mike Sutton was talking
- 47:17Speaker 1: about was that the decibel levels he tested at a
- 47:21Speaker 1: shotgun level and it was extremely hard to hear, especially
- 47:24Speaker 1: if there was like a TV on. So that is
- 47:26Speaker 1: what we heard in testimony yesterday from the defense and
- 47:30Speaker 1: actually I was prosecution actually didn't They didn't go after him.
- 47:34Speaker 1: The prosecution did not really go after him on this
- 47:37Speaker 1: decibel part. And I don't know why. I don't know if,
- 47:40Speaker 1: I don't know why. I thought that they would have
- 47:43Speaker 1: something that it doesn't seem like they had any decibels
- 47:47Speaker 1: said it was extremely hard to hear, but that he
- 47:51Speaker 1: did hear it correct. I think that's basically it would
- 47:54Speaker 1: be if you were watching TV, might be distracted, you
- 47:56Speaker 1: may not know what it was. Um, it was kind
- 47:59Speaker 1: of that idea, yea, that like you wouldn't really know
- 48:01Speaker 1: what you were listening to if you heard gunshots going off?
- 48:04Speaker 1: Is where he was going with it, I think, but yeah,
- 48:07Speaker 1: that the house is really well insulated, it would be
- 48:09Speaker 1: hard to hear. Prosecution, but he didn't even he said
- 48:12Speaker 1: it's extremely to hear. He said, it's extremely hard to hear.
- 48:17Speaker 1: That didn't was not I didn't hear it. It was
- 48:20Speaker 1: hard to hear it, but he heard it. Nancy, Yes,
- 48:23Speaker 1: did he replicate did he actually at Straya and Stockwell,
- 48:28Speaker 1: we trained people in microscopic analysis, and you know, dealing
- 48:32Speaker 1: with the ballistics in this case. That's the court thing
- 48:35Speaker 1: that we do. As far as training people in microscopic analysis,
- 48:39Speaker 1: we don't really necessarily do with firearms. But in my experience,
- 48:44Speaker 1: did they replicate did he have a shotgun? And if
- 48:48Speaker 1: he did have a shotgun does how did they know
- 48:51Speaker 1: exactly the length of the shotgun, what load was used,
- 48:57Speaker 1: the barrel length, where there was choke restrictions on it.
- 49:00Speaker 1: It's a difficult thing to determine after the fact that
- 49:04Speaker 1: hearing would rather be subjective. You know, shotgun blasts are
- 49:08Speaker 1: allowed to have in cases where there's been gunfire inside
- 49:11Speaker 1: of a building and people didn't hear it. But I
- 49:14Speaker 1: think it's a strange approach to say that it could
- 49:18Speaker 1: be heard or not be heard after the fact, whether
- 49:21Speaker 1: they actually could replicate the firing of a gun when
- 49:24Speaker 1: they don't actually have the shotgun. Yeah, here they do
- 49:27Speaker 1: not have the weapon. They don't have the actual murder weapon.
- 49:32Speaker 1: It has vanished. But you know what I think, Ted Williams,
- 49:35Speaker 1: it's kind of thing where you don't want to do
- 49:39Speaker 1: the experiment, the science experiment, because it may go wrong.
- 49:43Speaker 1: If the state does that experiment and the person cannot
- 49:46Speaker 1: hear it in the house, they got to turn that
- 49:48Speaker 1: over under Brady vw. Maryland. That's the sculpritory. And if
- 49:52Speaker 1: the state, if the defense does it and you can
- 49:55Speaker 1: hear it, well that hurts them. So I think that
- 49:59Speaker 1: is really why everybody's dancing around this. Nobody really wants
- 50:03Speaker 1: to talk about it in court because it could backfire
- 50:06Speaker 1: well because I actually I do need some information about
- 50:11Speaker 1: that as well. What's going on or I think that's
- 50:14Speaker 1: going on, is that there's going to be there could
- 50:16Speaker 1: be a rebuttal case. Right. They had Kinckinseye up for
- 50:20Speaker 1: the prosecution a while back as their forensics expert. I
- 50:24Speaker 1: think that's what they're waiting to be able to do
- 50:27Speaker 1: if they're going to have any kind of rebuttal case
- 50:29Speaker 1: once the defense is done. I think that's where you're
- 50:32Speaker 1: going to hear some of the prosecution coming back, Ted,
- 50:34Speaker 1: what were you saying? No, I wholeheartedly agree with you, Nancy,
- 50:41Speaker 1: you know, but I gotta tell you, I don't know
- 50:43Speaker 1: what the prosecution is doing. I think that they should
- 50:48Speaker 1: have went at this guy when he represented about the
- 50:52Speaker 1: quietness of the bullet and the ballistics, and that they
- 50:55Speaker 1: should have gone at him. They didn't go at him,
- 50:58Speaker 1: meaning the prosecution. Also, I need to go back just
- 51:02Speaker 1: for a second where we talked about Mark ball and
- 51:05Speaker 1: the skull and all of this. Remember what he said.
- 51:08Speaker 1: He said that the sled the law enforcement had allowed
- 51:13Speaker 1: him to go back into that area. So what he
- 51:17Speaker 1: was trying to get out and the help dicking them
- 51:20Speaker 1: was with and the help Alex is that the scene
- 51:23Speaker 1: itself was contaminated because he was allowed to go back
- 51:27Speaker 1: and forth in that area where the crime scene was,
- 51:31Speaker 1: and that he discovered this piece of the skull. So
- 51:35Speaker 1: that is where they're going with this contamination of evidence.
- 51:39Speaker 1: But again, the prosecution it's missing, is missing some great
- 51:47Speaker 1: things that they could come at in this case, and
- 51:49Speaker 1: they're not doing it. And I don't know why in
- 51:51Speaker 1: the hell they're not doing it a cross exam. You're right,
- 51:54Speaker 1: You're right about that, guys. There is more. Wan't you
- 51:57Speaker 1: take a listen to our cut eleven. We were describing
- 52:01Speaker 1: it earlier where his longtime friend and law partner was
- 52:05Speaker 1: on the stand. He's very very believable that he describe
- 52:09Speaker 1: the money that he stole from Barrett. Barrett had had
- 52:14Speaker 1: a fire on a piece of property that he had
- 52:19Speaker 1: and it burned down a house, and there were proceeds
- 52:24Speaker 1: for cleaning up, and then there were proceeds for various
- 52:30Speaker 1: and sundry things that were associated as well as the structure.
- 52:36Speaker 1: And we started looking at it and figured out that
- 52:40Speaker 1: the seventy five thousand dollars had been stolen, and then
- 52:44Speaker 1: later on that there was an additional amount that never
- 52:48Speaker 1: went through there. How much was our additional amount two
- 52:51Speaker 1: hundred and seventy nine thousand according to this exhibit number.
- 52:54Speaker 1: I would say that was one of his closest friends.
- 52:56Speaker 1: One of his closest friends, that's who he ended up
- 52:58Speaker 1: getting Mozelle from Barrett was DNA colon cancer. This and
- 53:02Speaker 1: needed that money. Alex stole it anyway, right, I assume
- 53:05Speaker 1: he needed the money or Brandt. You've been in a
- 53:08Speaker 1: lot of courtrooms. I guarantee you the jury was shooting
- 53:11Speaker 1: daggers at Alex Murdog right about then. No, absolutely, Nancy.
- 53:16Speaker 1: And if he don't, I can't predict this guy's behavior.
- 53:21Speaker 1: But if he decides to get on the stand and
- 53:25Speaker 1: the prosecution is allowed to under cross examination going to
- 53:33Speaker 1: things like that, it's going to be disastrous for the
- 53:36Speaker 1: defense and it would be something thats never recover from
- 53:39Speaker 1: because there's no telling what Murdog will say, and then
- 53:43Speaker 1: it can be cross examed on what he says out
- 53:45Speaker 1: of the blue. Guys, One last thing I want you
- 53:50Speaker 1: to hear. This is Mark Ball's reaction when he finds
- 53:56Speaker 1: out Alex Murdog has been shot in the head. I
- 54:00Speaker 1: had to take a listen to our cut twelve. The
- 54:02Speaker 1: storm was arriving again for Alec on September three, when
- 54:05Speaker 1: y'all confronted him, is that correct? I said yes, yes,
- 54:09Speaker 1: or then it was over? And then on September fourth,
- 54:11Speaker 1: what happened? What did you hear about eleven thirty twelve
- 54:14Speaker 1: o'clock whatever time it was. I was on a tractor
- 54:17Speaker 1: and he called me and said, you're not gonna believe
- 54:19Speaker 1: what happened. And I thought. My first response was, don't
- 54:22Speaker 1: tell me that Jackass killed himself, and he said, no,
- 54:26Speaker 1: somebody shot him. And I just said, I don't believe that.
- 54:29Speaker 1: You don't believe that. A lot of people followed right away,
- 54:32Speaker 1: and oh my gosh, the real killers are back. Correct,
- 54:35Speaker 1: the chickens were home to rouse again for Alec and
- 54:37Speaker 1: all of a sudden, he's a victim again. Correct. I
- 54:40Speaker 1: went to the scene. I went straight to the scene,
- 54:43Speaker 1: but I didn't I didn't believe it. I said, I
- 54:45Speaker 1: don't I don't buy it. And we walked up towards
- 54:48Speaker 1: the car and I think I said, it's got run
- 54:51Speaker 1: flat tires, and then tires not flat. Before we got
- 54:55Speaker 1: to it, Ronnie said it doesn't even have a spare.
- 54:58Speaker 1: And then when we got up to it, you could
- 55:00Speaker 1: see it at nine o'clock where somebody stab at the time,
- 55:03Speaker 1: you know, when he said that on the stand and Emerson,
- 55:07Speaker 1: I asked myself, did that jackass kill himself? I mean,
- 55:12Speaker 1: everything changed when Murdog got shot in the head. It
- 55:17Speaker 1: was a little skin mark on the side of his head.
- 55:20Speaker 1: And I still say if he had wanted to get
- 55:23Speaker 1: shot and killed for those insurance proceeds to go to
- 55:27Speaker 1: buster his remaining son, he would have been shot and killed.
- 55:31Speaker 1: This was a ploy I say, not to make people
- 55:35Speaker 1: feel sorry for him, I mean to take attention off
- 55:37Speaker 1: of all of his theft, but to suggest the real
- 55:40Speaker 1: killer was out there and now finally coming for Alex Murdog. Well,
- 55:45Speaker 1: two things on that. One is, you know I've spoken
- 55:47Speaker 1: with Eddie Smith, cousin Eddie before he went to jail
- 55:51Speaker 1: where he is still, you know, and when I talked
- 55:55Speaker 1: to him, I mean he said, and he said this
- 55:57Speaker 1: a couple of times. You know, if I was gonna,
- 55:59Speaker 1: if I wanted to shoot somebody, I would have shot
- 56:01Speaker 1: him like in other words, I wouldn't have missed if
- 56:04Speaker 1: that was the case, which was an interesting thing to say.
- 56:07Speaker 1: But also, you know, if you were gonna, if you
- 56:10Speaker 1: were gonna have somebody write a book about all of
- 56:12Speaker 1: this that has happened with Alec Murdoch, would Mark Ball
- 56:15Speaker 1: not be your person to write the book. I mean,
- 56:17Speaker 1: he literally has the details that are like I'm on
- 56:21Speaker 1: a tractor. I mean the jury immediately goes oh, he's
- 56:24Speaker 1: sitting on a tractor, he's on his farm, he's a
- 56:26Speaker 1: couple of miles away from Mozelle, and he gets the word.
- 56:29Speaker 1: It's so descriptive. You have to believe everything that Mark
- 56:33Speaker 1: Ball's sang. And when he says it, he's kind of
- 56:36Speaker 1: you're kind of living through this experience with him again.
- 56:39Speaker 1: He's obviously not only grieving over the fact that he's
- 56:42Speaker 1: lost half of this family that he adored, he also
- 56:45Speaker 1: lost the man, which he says very clearly, I didn't
- 56:48Speaker 1: know him. It was hard to believe that the defense
- 56:51Speaker 1: had him up on the sand when he said that,
- 56:54Speaker 1: he goes after September fourth everything changed, or September second,
- 56:59Speaker 1: not even the fourth, that everything changed, that everything was
- 57:03Speaker 1: torn down. His legacy, his his his life, his firm,
- 57:07Speaker 1: his everything that he believed about Alec Murdoch was was gone.
- 57:11Speaker 1: And I mean, well, if he could lie about doctor
- 57:14Speaker 1: Michel du Pree, what else is he lying about doctor
- 57:17Speaker 1: Michelle Dupree. I remember very clearly the moment I heard
- 57:22Speaker 1: Alex Murdock had been shot, and I didn't know how
- 57:26Speaker 1: it happened. I didn't know the story, but I knew
- 57:30Speaker 1: he was somehow involved in his own shooting, and I
- 57:34Speaker 1: at the time thought it had been Jerry rigged to
- 57:38Speaker 1: somehow make it look like the killer of Paul and
- 57:43Speaker 1: Maggie had come after him and lo and behold, while
- 57:47Speaker 1: they were riddled with bullets, he managed to walk off
- 57:51Speaker 1: with a scrape on the head. And that changed everything
- 57:54Speaker 1: because we knew he was lying, and like Ann Emerson
- 57:57Speaker 1: just said, if he would lie about that, what will
- 58:00Speaker 1: he lie about? Exactly. Nancy and very many people believed
- 58:06Speaker 1: when they first heard it, without knowing the circumstances, that
- 58:08Speaker 1: this was some type of a ruse. It just didn't
- 58:11Speaker 1: make sense. And as facts began to come out about
- 58:14Speaker 1: the no flat tire and all of that, it was
- 58:17Speaker 1: clearly evident that this was something that he had probably
- 58:19Speaker 1: orchestrated to take as a diversion off of him, to
- 58:23Speaker 1: buy him time or to make people feel sorry for him,
- 58:26Speaker 1: that now somebody else is after him, just as they
- 58:28Speaker 1: were after Maggie and Paul too, Ted Williams joining us. Ted.
- 58:33Speaker 1: You know, in every trial there is that one moment
- 58:37Speaker 1: that changes everything. In Simpson, it was the glove that
- 58:42Speaker 1: I still can tend fit. At every trial there's a
- 58:46Speaker 1: moment where everything changes and The thing here is you
- 58:51Speaker 1: can't even blame the state for the roadside shooting evidence
- 58:55Speaker 1: to come in because the defense opened the door. And
- 58:59Speaker 1: I really believe that that is going to efface this
- 59:02Speaker 1: jury because they will see if he will lie about
- 59:04Speaker 1: that and set up that shooting. Are we going to
- 59:09Speaker 1: believe him about what happened in the dog kennel? You know, Nancy,
- 59:13Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, I'm of the same mindset that
- 59:18Speaker 1: that is significant that he's a liar. It is no
- 59:21Speaker 1: doubt about it that this man is a jury he's
- 59:24Speaker 1: a thief. But the question is has the prosecution in
- 59:28Speaker 1: its case proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Alex Murdock
- 59:33Speaker 1: murdered Maggie and his son Paul, And I don't know
- 59:38Speaker 1: if they have done that. The best evidence they have
- 59:42Speaker 1: in this case is that video at eight forty four
- 59:48Speaker 1: putting Alex, Paul, and Maggie in the same location at
- 59:54Speaker 1: the same time, and believing that from their own evidence
- 59:59Speaker 1: that she was killed and Paul was killed shortly thereafter.
- 1:00:04Speaker 1: That is the best evidence. That's where they're gonna have
- 1:00:07Speaker 1: to focus their circumstantial evidence case. Everything else in this
- 1:00:11Speaker 1: case is pretty weak. I must believe I say at
- 1:00:15Speaker 1: this stage, unfortunately, well I'm hearing in my ear like
- 1:00:19Speaker 1: it or not, that Ted Williams is actually getting the
- 1:00:23Speaker 1: last word. He is, because everybody's heading back in the courthouse,
- 1:00:28Speaker 1: so we are too. Everybody, thank you for being with us.
- 1:00:31Speaker 1: We're heading straight back into the courtroom to see what
- 1:00:34Speaker 1: the defense is gonna pull out of their sleeve next. Goodbye, everybody,