The Murdaugh Murders

[kdonnel]

This case really has been riveting. And that you have to feel for his younger son Buster. His life is ruined as well. Losing his mother and older brother. Now his father to be in prison for life.

I can't remember if it was in the HBO 3 part series or the Netflix 3 part series but Buster probably does not deserve any compassion from you.

He is perhaps involved in the death of Stephen Smith in 2015.

One of the series mentioned that based on evidence uncovered during the Alex Murdaugh trial investigation, the investigation into the death of Stephen Smith had been reopened.

 

[morgan98]

This case really has been riveting. And that you have to feel for his younger son Buster. His life is ruined as well. Losing his mother and older brother. Now his father to be in prison for life.

Not that it really matters for this comment, but Buster is the older son. He is/was older than Paul. Buster is Richard Alexander, Jr.

 

[dvcgirl67]

It is difficult to explain the influence of the Murdaugh family and the law firm in this part of the State. Hampton, Jasper, Bamberg, Barnwell and Colleton (location of the trial) Counties are isolated, rural and among the poorest counties in South Carolina. Therefore, they are among the poorest counties in the U.S.

I’m no conspiracy theorist but there is a reason why cases are valued at 10 or 20 times the normal amount in these places. Juries are heavily influenced (that is a kind way to put it) and this law firm made tens of millions by capitalizing on liberal venue rules. No much happens in these counties but if you have the opportunity to sue General Motors, for example, the go to move is to associate this firm and multiply the value of your case by having it heard in Hampton County.

Fairness is removed from the equation which includes many of the judges stationed in that area. These counties did not benefit from economic development because business would not locate in this area for fear of being an ATM. For example, WalMart would face so many overinflated slip and fall cases it wouldn’t be financially feasible.

Alex Murdaugh took advantage of his family name. I didn’t know him very well in law school but was aware that his family had great influence and that he was not shy about using that. I am not in the personal injury world but do have occasion to handle matters in these counties. Fortunately, I haven’t had to work with him over the years. He is known as an average to below average lawyer who used threats and intimidation. The depth of his thievery is astounding but when you consider the arrogance and family history it is easy to see that the rules didn’t apply to him. He lived a life where he always got what he wanted and used intimidation and fear when necessary.

In this context it was hard for me to believe that a jury would agree to convict. The evidence was overwhelming and I am relieved and pleased that Murdaugh is done.

However, I wonder whether the jury was influenced by the PMPED law firm(or whatever they are calling it now) who due to the circumstances might have an interest in his conviction. I hope not, but things have been so bad for so long in Hampton and surrounding areas that I’ve come to expect more of the same.

There are many more cases to come. I am most interested in what is going to happen, if anything, to his former law partners. They knew or should have known of his theft. They have paid more than $10 million to the victims and who knows what else will surface. It will be interesting to see whether any of them face criminal or ethical charges.

Very interesting. Jeanne Seckinger's testimony was something for sure, super detailed in how Murdaugh stole all of this money over many years. What is amazing is how he was able to hide this for all of those years. I mean, she's the CFO and talked about how the settlements came in, how the the clients got paid (or not in his client's cases) and then expenses were paid and at least the partners got a cut of that final number. How did they miss this for so many years? Or was he just stealing the client's money and paying the firm? He was obviously manipulating his clients and putting them off or lying to them regarding when they'd receive the funds.

It seems that the firm moved very quickly to pay the clients, bring in forensic accountants and planned to hire an ethics attorney. So I guess that was the move to cover their own butts.

I'm glad the judge ruled that all of the financial crimes were allowed in as testimony. You could feel the pressure building on him....that it was all going to fall apart. And that Seckinger confronted him on the day of the murder was a big deal. The murders that he committed did put off the questioning and heat on him for the rest of the summer, but when confronted again on Labor Day weekend, he was forced to resign and then pulled another crazy move with the fake shooting that immediately fell apart. I'm glad they convicted him....he was smart, and I think if not for that video of him being at the kennel minutes before the murders....he may have actually gotten away with it.

 

[GAN]

Ohhhh…I love Alex’ new clothing designer!

 

[HopperFan]

That’s definitely been debated …whether you keep all juries anonymous. But at this point it’s by a case by case basis and totally determined by State prosecutors or the judge.

Just for thought, there were probably 200 people in that courtroom. Do you think the jurors were disrespected by those people that could look at them all day long for 6-weeks …and there were probably at least a 1000 different people in there at one time or another during the course of the trial. What if the courtroom held 500 or 1000 people? So my point is, what’s the difference if people see you in person or on camera ? Unless you’re suggesting we put paper bags over jurors heads or have them watch from a tv screen in a back room of the court.

If a potential juror had an issue with the chance they might be on tv, they could have said that during selection and they would have been released. They all understood it was a televised courtroom and could have gotten out of it if they felt strongly enough. I don’t feel bad at all….

There is a huge difference between spectators, that I am sure are not allowed to videotape, and news organizations using film to broadcast my image around the world. HUGE difference person vs camera? Really? Camera is forever, camera is being a part of history in this case, camera identifies me to the world. No sarcasm needed, we don't need bags, we need respect for those who do the job most do not want to do. Their images, their names, their families are not important to the case ~ and yes I do object to some of the personal info that is asked of them that has nothing to do with a case. There are questions that can be asked of my beliefs, my thought processes, my experience that might align with the crime and my exposure to news about the specific crime .. but no more is needed.

AND if I told them in my district I didn't want to serve because of cameras, they'd laugh in my face. Considering that these days cameras are in every corner for security that wouldn't even be considered, so I have no belief in that as a reason. Now I don't think I would have been chosen in this case because I would have been truthful. I believed he was guilty from the minute it hit the news and that never changed.

The system is so broken on so many levels and we, average people, can not trust it.

I can't remember if it was in the HBO 3 part series or the Netflix 3 part series but Buster probably does not deserve any compassion from you.

He is perhaps involved in the death of Stephen Smith in 2015.

One of the series mentioned that based on evidence uncovered during the Alex Murdaugh trial investigation, the investigation into the death of Stephen Smith had been reopened.

1000% agree for many reasons I won't list. He is a party to this world with his father and hopefully he gets no monetary rewards out of it. Let him keep living off his girlfriend hoping for some payout. Although her condo is very lovely and would be a nice place to hang out it.

And they absolutely should reopen the case, along with all the others who died in their orbit.

 

[Sanchez]

Seckinger was well prepared to testify and clearly took the position that problems were solely related to Alex. The partners clearly prepped her as it is the only move they could make. The problem is that she was able to go back, review and see the problems. This means that she ALWAYS had the information available. Further, the partners had the information available. There was no oversight plan with this firm.

I guess you have to understand how law firm trust accounts work. There is no way that Alex should have been able to get away with this even one time, much less for 15-20 years. I pay $500 per month to have a daily third party reconciliation of my accounts. Further, we review every transaction, every day.

Maybe this firm was making so much money they didn’t care. But no one can deny that there was an atmosphere that allowed this to happen. I can tell you that every lawyer I know is pissed off that the law firm seems to be escaping ethical scrutiny.

 

[GAN]

There is a huge difference between spectators, that I am sure are not allowed to videotape, and news organizations using film to broadcast my image around the world. HUGE difference person vs camera? Really? Camera is forever, camera is being a part of history in this case, camera identifies me to the world. No sarcasm needed, we don't need bags, we need respect for those who do the job most do not want to do. Their images, their names, their families are not important to the case ~ and yes I do object to some of the personal info that is asked of them that has nothing to do with a case. There are questions that can be asked of my beliefs, my thought processes, my experience that might align with the crime and my exposure to news about the specific crime .. but no more is needed.

AND if I told them in my district I didn't want to serve because of cameras, they'd laugh in my face. Considering that these days cameras are in every corner for security that wouldn't even be considered, so I have no belief in that as a reason. Now I don't think I would have been chosen in this case because I would have been truthful. I believed he was guilty from the minute it hit the news and that never changed.

The system is so broken on so many levels and we, average people, can not trust it.



1000% agree for many reasons I won't list. He is a party to this world with his father and hopefully he gets no monetary rewards out of it. Let him keep living off his girlfriend hoping for some payout.

And they absolutely should reopen the case, along with all the others who died in their orbit.

It’s the worst justice system in the world, except for all the others….. .

 

[HopperFan]

It’s the worst justice system in the world, except for all the others….. .

Sadly I don't even know about that anymore.

 

[WEDWDW]

It has been interpreted both ways.

Once and for all, is that nut job saying Paul-Paul or Paw-Paw?

 

[GAN]

It has been interpreted both ways.

Once and for all, is that nut job saying Paul-Paul or Paw-Paw?

Pretty sure it’s Paw-Paw or Pau-Pau. Either way it was an impressive job by the judge to finish it all off, and even opened the door for Alex to come clean one more time and he couldn’t do it. The whole describing the last time they looked him in the eyes…. Totally brilliant!

 

[a1tinkfans]

Justice? While he’s living off all of us eating our food with a clean bed, clean clothing and housed with medical care.. more than some of our Veterans and Seniors have. I hope his son and wife Visit him Nightly.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Wow what a incredible reflection or however you would describe it the judge gave. Very elegant but wow.

 

[barkley]

but when confronted again on Labor Day weekend, he was forced to resign and then pulled another crazy move with the fake shooting that immediately fell apart.

i don't think the labor day event was crazy at all. no matter what was going on with the law firm alex had to know that at some point someone was going to have to be
'sacrificed' to take the fall for the murders so what went down with curtis 'cousin eddie' smith makes to me total sense-

alex gets 'eddie' to meet up with him and pulls out a gun acting crazy and saying he wants to set up a suicide to financially benefit buster. 'eddie' claims there's a struggle and the gun went off but he managed to get a hold of it and ran off in fear. i suspect if all had gone to plan 'eddie' would have been killed with the gun and alex would have claimed his distant cousin/former client was trying to kill HIM as he had done to the other members of his family. alex would have had a self defense excuse, the case on his family would have been closed and at least one very large issue would have been 'handled'.

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

It has been interpreted both ways.

Once and for all, is that nut job saying Paul-Paul or Paw-Paw?

It’s Paul Paul. He was saved in Alex’s phone as Paul Paul.

 

[GAN]

It’s Paul Paul. He was saved in Alex’s phone as Paul Paul.

Admittedly, I need to brush up on my southern…..

 

[Imzadi]

Here is an interview with one of the jurors, then with the lead prosecutor, on Good Morning America this morning.

 

[barkley]

well, it won't be televised but for those that like to follow trials..........set the calendar for april 3rd for opening arguments in the lori vallow case. lori and chad's trials will no longer be combined (he waived his right to a speedy trial-she did NOT).

going to be interesting-idaho has the death penalty and the prosecution is seeking it for both lori and chad. i'm wondering if he's managed to break whatever spell she had him under and will flip on her to cut a deal (idaho's prisons are horrifically violent-he would do well to secure a deal for no death penalty/some kind of protective environment cuz those prisoners don't take well to child murderers esp. murdering a disabled child).

 

[RoseGold]

Maybe this firm was making so much money they didn’t care. But no one can deny that there was an atmosphere that allowed this to happen. I can tell you that every lawyer I know is pissed off that the law firm seems to be escaping ethical scrutiny.

The Girardi one too from the Real Housewives. It's the same thing. Decades, millions of dollars. Who is watching these guys?

 

[barkley]

The Girardi one too from the Real Housewives. It's the same thing. Decades, millions of dollars. Who is watching these guys?

i've thought of this during the murdaugh trial. giardi allegedly had some MAJOR players protecting him-including some high profile politcos. where's the accountability?

 

[WEDWDW]

It’s Paul Paul. He was saved in Alex’s phone as Paul Paul.

Thanks Thanks