How important is evidence for a criminal trial? Evidence for sex crimes in the U.S. and the implications for the judicial system

Since 2017 the name Harvey Weinstein has been practically synonymous with “sexual predator.” The accusations against Mr. Weinstein have made it a point to argue that other serial abusers are not as bad as he is.

People disagree about how much a jury should know about a person. The American legal system has long checked prosecutors’ wish to share negative history about the accused. We should hold people accountable for their bad acts, rather than their bad reputations, because prosecutors pursue crimes and not people. The courts rarely allow prosecutors to present the testimony of their prior bad acts. There are exceptions — for example, if that evidence helps to establish a motive, or to undermine a claim that something happened by accident. Courts must make a decision about whether the evidence is important enough to outweigh the jury’s effect on it.

Limits have limits. As former prosecutors who handled cases involving many types of serious crimes, including sexual assault, we think trials for sex crimes are different from other trials, and these differences must be reflected realistically in the rules of evidence.

Murdaugh, David Dove, and a friend of his wife, Jay-Jacobi, in New Jersey, are charged with murder in the June 7, 2018, killings

Prosecutors have sought to place Murdaugh at the scene of the killings, in part with with testimony from several witnesses who said Alex Murdaugh’s voice can be heard on a video that authorities say Paul Murdaugh started recording on his phone at 8:44 p.m., shortly before authorities believe the killings happened.

The video was filmed on his phone at 8:44p.m. on June 7th, just minutes before he and his friend were killed. David Dove is a supervisor in the computer crimes center.

Three different voices could be heard in the footage, Dove testified Wednesday. And while Dove did not personally know the voices, he said, “You can tell that they’re different voices.”

The state contends that Alex Murdaugh could have been exposed to the public if he faced a June 10, 2021 hearing on the case. The hearing was canceled after they were killed.

At 8:40 p.m., Paul Murdaugh asked if there was something wrong with Cash, who was being held at the Murdaugh property. The reception of the video call wasn’t good enough in order for the two to see the dog. Paul Murdaugh told him he would take a video of the dog and send it to him if the FaceTime call didn’t work, Gibson said, but he never received the footage.

The case against Murdaugh has been about circumstantial evidence. They have tried to show he lied to investigators about being at the crime scene and that the fraudster who killed his wife and son was just trying to distract investigators from his actions.

The video obtained by the prosecution would show a normal discussion of no animosity between Murdaugh and his wife, according to Dick Harpootlian as his own opening statement. Paul is “very happy,” Harpootlian claimed. “Nobody’s down there threatening him. Daddy is not pulling out a shotgun and killing him.”

But prosecutors accuse Murdaugh of committing the murders to distract attention from a series of alleged illicit schemes he was running to avoid “personal legal and financial ruin,” per court filings. He is charged with murder, but also has 99 charges stemming from alleged financial crimes.

Murdaugh visited his mother’s home for a short time on the night of the murders according to a testimony from a home care worker. They saw each other a few days later, and Murdaugh insisted that he was there for about 30 minutes on the night of the murders.

Dove, the 15th witness called by the prosecution, gave testimony that included a text from Alex at 9:47 pm, when the killings occurred. It was never read.

In his opening statement last week, Waters told the jury Murdaugh repeatedly called his wife that evening before texting her that he was going to visit his mother and driving to Almeda, South Carolina.

The morning of June 10, 2021, Murdaugh confronted his ex-law firm CEO about alleged financial crimes against his wife, Maggie, and son Paul

At 8: 53 pm, the display of his phone was turned off. At 8:54 p.m., the orientation changed to landscape and the camera activated – an indication, Dove said, the phone was moved and the camera tried to locate Maggie’s face in an unsuccessful attempt to unlock.

Asked specifically if the calls were deleted from the log, Dove said, “it would appear that way,” noting there was no way to know when they were deleted or who was responsible.

“A gap like that would indicate” that calls were “actually removed from there,” Dove said, adding the only way to remove the calls from the log would be to do so manually.

Dove said that when relatives were texting about his father, Murdaugh was in a group chat with his wife. And while evidence shows Maggie read both messages, Murdaugh did not read them until the next day, Dove said, despite telling state investigators about his concern for his father’s health.

The chief financial officer of Alex Murdaugh’s former law firm testified in his double murder trial Thursday about confronting the now-disbarred attorney about missing funds the morning his wife and son were killed, as prosecutors work to convince the judge to allow testimony about Murdaugh’s alleged financial crimes.

The testimony of Jeanne Seckinger, CFO of the firm formerly known as PMPED, was heard Thursday morning without the jury present as Judge Clifton Newman weighs whether to allow the admission of evidence about Murdaugh’s purported schemes, for which he faces 99 charges separate from the murder case.

That morning, Seckinger confronted Murdaugh about $792,000 in missing funds, she said Thursday, testifying that legal fees should have been made payable to the law firm – renamed to Parker Law Group after Murdaugh’s ouster – and not to individual attorneys.

She told Murdaugh he had to prove to her he did not receive the funds himself after she confronted him on June 7.

At the time Maggie and Paul were killed, Murdaugh was facing a lawsuit from Beach’s family. According to prosecutors, the June 10, 2021 hearing had the potential to reveal Murdaugh’s financial problems.

The civil case, which was scheduled to begin three days after the killings, could have revealed Murdaugh’s financial records.

The firm decided against confronting Murdaugh about the missing money, after the deaths of Paul andMaggie.

Seckinger said that Alex was upset and distraught after the killings. “And nobody wanted to harass him about nothing that we thought was really missing, when we had several months till the end of the year to clear it up. At that point we were not going to do anything to him.

Waters, Murdaugh, and a friend of Paul, testified in the prosecution’s cross-examination in the Seckinger case

A number of grand jury indictments resulted in the disbarred man being charged with 99 counts, including allegations of white-collar theft and fraud.

Dick Harpootlian argued that the evidence amounts to speculative andjecture for the defense. They have highlighted Murdaugh’s loving relationships with his family and ridiculed the prosecution’s focus on irrelevant financial misconduct.

But Creighton Waters of the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office – which is prosecuting the case due to the Murdaugh family’s decades-old ties with the local solicitor’s office – indicated to the judge the state hoped to focus on “just a few areas” most closely connected to the case.

“There are two things very temporally connected with this particular crime. Waters said the confrontation was over missing fees that had been percolating for a while. The pending hearing in the boat case is number two.

Can you think of any reason? Waters was referring to the cross-examination done by the defense on Wednesday of afriend of Paul who was asked if he had any reason to believe that Murdaugh might commit the murders. The friend didn’t think he could.

“And all of this going on in his life, which is a stellar series of events like nothing ever seen,” Waters said. It is relevant for the jury to consider when making a decision on the fate of this man.

The prosecution’s case heard in camera Thursday illustrated Murdaugh’s alleged transgressions went far beyond the missing $792,000 Seckinger confronted Murdaugh about the morning prior to the murders.

The checks played a key role in discovering that he had been misappropriating money, according to testimony from his coworkers.

Alex Murdaugh, Michael Satterfield and a former housekeeper’s son, testified at a murder trial that he had been murdered on the side of the road

“And it was my understanding that Alex admitted it and that it was determined he would resign,” Seckinger said, adding the firm decided not to announce his resignation until the beginning of the following week.

Before that could happen, however, Seckinger testified she heard Murdaugh had been shot while on the side of the road. Murdaugh told authorities that he and a former client plotted to kill him in order to make his son collect his life insurance money.

An attorney who said he was Alex Murdaugh’s best friend testified at his murder trial Thursday that Murdaugh admitted he had a drug addiction and had been stealing money from his law firm and clients.

The testimony about financial wrongdoing is more relevant to a murder case than evidence of guilt, as defense lawyer JimGriffin said in court.

Murdaugh offered to file a claim against his insurance company to get money for his housekeeper’s sons, Michael Satterfield testified. However, Satterfield did not see any of that money and did not know Murdaugh had collected more than $4 million in settlements, he testified.

Wilson also testified he spoke with Murdaugh on the phone at 9:11 p.m., 9:20 p.m. and 9:53 p.m. on June 7, 2021, around the time of the murders. Wilson said that the short conversations did not sound out of the ordinary.

Also in court Thursday, Michael “Tony” Satterfield, the son of Murdaugh’s former housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, testified about being defrauded by Murdaugh.

Satterfield testified that he learned of the settlement from his family, who heard about it through media reports. When he asked Murdaugh if it was still making progress he was told that it would be ready to settle by the end of the year.

Murdaugh and Seckinger: a lawyer representing an overdrawn bank account, prosecuted in a $Feds-For-hire” lawsuit

The CEO of the local bank testified for the jury that Murdaugh’s account was overdrawn by $350,000. As of August 2021, Murdaugh had a total debt to the bank of $4.2 million, according to Palmetto State Bank CEO Jan Malinowski.

On Thursday, the prosecution asked Tinsley about how that lawsuit was proceeding. He testified he was seeking $10 million from Murdaugh, but was told Murdaugh was broke and might only be able to come up with $1 million. Tinsley was not cross-examined Thursday and is expected to resume his testimony Friday morning.

“We weren’t going to go in there and harass him about money when we were worried about his mental state and the fact that his family had been killed,” the CFO, Jeanne Seckinger, testified.

His law firm confronted him once again about the misuse of funds, leading to his resignation, a bizarre murder for-hire and insurance scam plot, and dozens of financial crimes.

The video had been shown to the jury in January, but Monday was the first time the public could watch Murdaugh’s actions as deputies arrived at his home on the family’s estate after he placed a 911 call.

The deputy asked if the gun he brought to the scene was from inside the house after he and Murdaugh began talking. Murdaugh says yes, and then gives a reason for why someone would kill his family.

The deputy asks where the gun is, and Murdaugh tells him it is leaning against Murdaugh’s vehicle. The deputy looks at Murdaugh’s shirt.

This is a long story. My son was in a boat wreck … months back. He’s been getting threats,” Murdaugh says. “Most of it’s been benign stuff. He has been getting hit and we didn’t think we were serious. Um, I, I know that’s what it is.”

When he was asked when he was last with the couple, Murdaugh said he left the home to visit his mother in a 15-minute drive away.

Editorial: Ellen Murdaugh’s son- and wife-injured father died in a fatal shooting on Monday, July 27, 2005

Ellen Riemer, a Pathologist at the Medical University of South Carolina, testified about the injuries that were suffered byMaggie and Paul in her testimony on Monday.

Alex Murdaugh clenched his jaw when Riemer described the amount of wounds to his son and wife. He shook his head as he listened.

Paul Murdaugh was shot twice with a shotgun, Riemer said. The first shot damaged his lung but it wasn’t fatal, according to Riemer. The second shot entered through the top of his left shoulder and entered the left side of his neck and head and came out the right side of the top of the head.

“I don’t see anything on his hands that would indicate he had his hands up to his face in anticipation of the injury that was about to happen,” Riemer testified. “That first shot, his arm was down, and I don’t see any evidence of injury to his hands from the second.”

The next shot went upwards, through the left side of her face. Riemer claimed that the first two shots caused the double over, with her head bent over. This wound would have been immediately fatal, she said. Riemer testified that the last shot was to the back of the head.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/13/us/alex-murdaugh-trial-monday/index.html

A video of Murdaugh and his family in Islandton, Calif., that shows circumstantial evidence does not imply that he was asleep

The remaining jurors were tested Monday and will be tested again Wednesday. The jury was suppose to wear masks and have a positive attitude, but Judge Newman said that was not something they wanted to do.

“A lot of times people hear, ‘Oh, it’s just a circumstantial case,’ but the law says otherwise,” prosecutor Creighton Waters told the jury. The law states circumstantial evidence is as good as direct evidence.

Legal experts who have followed the trial told CNN the prosecution’s lack of direct evidence makes it harder to convict – though certainly not impossible.

The trial attorney said it made the case more difficult. It can rise to a level needed for a conviction if the prosecutors have evidence that shows motive and opportunity.

The video focuses on a dog and was filmed at the family home in Islandton. In the background, three different voices can be heard in the footage, and family friends identified those voices as that of Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh.

The prosecution has used that Snapchat video to try to disprove his assertion that he was asleep, and other testimony has also cut into his claims about how long he had been with his mother.

Finally, state prosecutors have tried to put forth an adequate explanation of why Murdaugh – described as a loving and devoted family man – would slaughter his wife and son.