Episode 3: Will the Murdaugh verdict be overturned as rumors swirl

Transcript

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It appears that the murder conviction of Alex Murdaugh, the prominent South Carolina lawyer who was convicted of the murders of his wife and son, will likely be overturned, according to several South Carolina news agencies. In case you've been living off the grid or under a rock, Alex Murdaugh was convicted of murdering his wife Maggie and his son Paul in South Carolina at their home and hunting camp, and it became a national and international news story, complete with documentaries, a series, and a movie. I followed this case daily when the murder trial was happening since I was home with an injured foot. I watched gavel to gavel coverage on TV and knew nothing about the case before that. I was like the perfect juror who had no opinion because they had heard nothing. What killed him was he lied and said he wasn't at the kennels the night of the murders. But he actually was, and it was caught on his son's video. Evidence at trial had him there minutes before they were killed. There's no way he couldn't have known, even if we were to believe he didn't shoot them but was tooling back home on his little golf cart. Based on the timeline, he would have heard the shots. Then prosecutors say he goes about trying to establish his alibi. All of this to say, the court clerk's comments to jurors and one juror testifying it affected her verdict really left the state's highest court with no other decision. Prosecutors may decide not to even retry him for the murder, since he will spend the rest of his life in prison for the financial crimes that he pleaded guilty to after his murder trial. But if he wanted a win that put in doubt whether or not he murdered his family, even if it's just to try and convince and save face with his remaining family members, he will have gotten it if this is a true reversal. Nothing will bring back his wife and son. I can't imagine at this point they could even find 12 impartial people to sit on a jury. He has been everywhere. National, international, media, news agencies, four or more documentaries, and countless news shows. One Hulu series and one Lifetime Movie. You'd have to be living completely off the grid not to have heard of this case. Apparently, according to some news reports and the rumors swirling, the court may also come down on the trial judge for allowing in all the financial crimes testimony during the murder trial. There was actually more evidence on the financial crimes than they even put up on the murder. And he admitted to the financial crimes on the stand. People at the time of the trial, if they felt he didn't kill his family, said they couldn't see someone killing their child. But my goodness, that happens every day. People killing their spouses, people killing their children. This isn't some shocking, never heard of thing. Statistically, most people are killed by someone they know. It's why the spouse or ex or current lovers are always the first people investigators look at in a murder case. While there are random murders, murders during robberies and the lone serial killers out there, that is still less likely to happen to you. If they found you dead tomorrow, they would start looking at your inner circle. And if you happen to be having an affair, well that's all coming out, whether you are the killer or not. So I never understood why people claimed it was so hard to believe he would do it. Maybe they found it harder to believe because he came from a prominent South Carolina family. People kill for a number of reasons, but if it is someone close to you, it's usually heat of the moment or more commonly referred to as a crime of passion, or it involves money or sex. I read a quote one time in a book by a Miami news reporter, Edna Buchanan, who covered police in Miami. She said, and this is actually so very true, more people are killed over sex that it's surprising more people don't give it up. You didn't have that here, other than some unverified reports about his extracurricular activities with possibly prostitutes, but that wasn't his alleged motive. Here you had it with the financial crimes. There were reports that his wife Maggie was planning on divorcing him before her death, but whether that's absolutely true or not, we will never know. But the possibility of filing for divorce and his son's civil lawsuit, where he was being sued for the wrongful death of Mallory Beach during a drunken night involving a boat crash were about to expose all his financials. That is what the prosecution argued was the motive. Without the financial testimony, there would have been a clear-cut lack of motive, though you don't need one to prosecute for murder. Juries like to have one though, as does the general public. People think everything runs like TV shows and movies, and it really just doesn't. Most of that is not even close to real life. Trials can be boring and mundane, filled with sparks of wake up and smell the coffee moments of shock. Either way, there was no way once the argument was made that the court clerk interfered with the jury, and then the one juror testifying it impacted her decision that they could get around not tossing the verdict out, in my opinion. They almost have to in this case because even though every other juror said it didn't affect them, one said it did. And that person was not an alternate, she was a sitting juror. Seemed pretty clear-cut to me after her testimony. So the rumor mill is flying because a reporter, the same reporter who the latest Murdoch series was based on, came out and said she had a reliable source telling her the South Carolina Supreme Court had voted unanimously to reverse the conviction, further stating the ruling would come out any day. Now the Supreme Court in that state is not going to like that that leak came out, and it could have come from any number of sources, both within the court itself or possibly outside of the court, even with attorneys directly or indirectly tied to the case. But either way, the Supreme Court's not gonna like it leaked. I guess we will see when the ruling comes down how accurate she was in her reporting. I bet Alex Murdaugh is dancing in his prison cell about all of this. He's worked hard to keep his family believing in his innocence. And what family wants to believe really that their brother, son, or father killed their family? Although I often wonder if in private any of them believe he did it. I think if that video hadn't existed the night of the shootings, it might have been harder to get a conviction, but not impossible. They did a good job of proving his movements with the car data and the cell phone data that pinpointed almost his every move, including how many steps he was taking and when. And while that certainly put a nail in his coffin, that video that his son seemed to be reaching out from the grave with was his ultimate downfall. You can't explain why you lied about that and why you were there moments before they were killed, or as prosecutors pointedly said at his trial when their phones stopped working forever. I am very interested to see if they will retry this case if the verdict is overturned. They don't need to with him in prison for the rest of his natural life on the financial crimes, but they certainly still can. I will be waiting for this ruling to come down and see what it actually says. It's interesting the South Carolina Supreme Court always releases advance sheets every week on opinions about to come down. But after April 22nd, up until this current week, nothing was released, and that ironically coincided with the rumors that were swirling that the Murdaugh ruling was coming out that last week of April. On another update, my latest podcast was about the FedEx delivery driver who murdered the seven-year-old little girl in Texas, and it was all caught on tape. I predicted they would vote for the death penalty, and that is exactly what happened as I was writing this for the Murdaugh podcast. Tanner Horner was sentenced to die by lethal injection for the murder of Athena Strand. His appeals process will automatically start now. The saddest thing of all is Athena never got the chance to appeal for her life. This is Real Talk with Stacey Kelly. I hope you'll join me next time for another High Profile Crime Case. Don't forget to like and follow to never miss an episode.