Years ago I was arrested on a bogus charge. There was video with audio that not only proved I was innocent, but that no crime had been committed. Before the jury saw the video, the cops lied on the stand. My accuser lied on the stand. Then I testified on my own behalf. Then the video was played. After that, my accuser and the cops were recalled and asked if they wanted to change their testimony. They did not. Once again the video was played proving that I was being honest and they were lying under oath. It took the jury 3 minutes to find me not guilty. The judge didn't charge cops or accuser with perjury (she should have), but did admonish both the accuser and cops for lying under oath. I sued the accuser and cops, but the state of Colorado gave the cops qualified immunity. The accuser was broke, so I only got 5% of the money I spent on the criminal defense lawyer, and zero of the $40,000 in lost wages because of losing my job over the false claim. At least now Colorado has ended qualified immunity, but too late for me since it wasn't retroactive to a date prior to my case. Funny thing about truth is that it doesn't require any strategy or complicated lies (like Murdaugh).
Ugh, the "qualified" sure was doing a lot of work there. I would like to hear the argument they gave as to how they needed to commit purgury to do their job.
@Simon Buchan When my lawyer confronted them individually about lying and showing video proof they lied, all they could do was a bunch of er...um...I guess I was wrong crap. They all claimed they didn't know that video with audio existed, but of course, in the video you can see and hear me tell the cops that cameras with audio capture everything in a 24 hour period. They also claimed (lied) that they interviewed eye witnesses, which on video, you can see they didn't. It didn't hurt that one eye witness also testified on my behalf, a total stranger who was a retired school teacher. The cops literally didn't investigate at all, the DA hadn't bothered to see the video nor interview any eye witnesses. It probably didn't hurt that I dressed for court (suit and tie), while my accuser wore a stained tank top, cut off dirty shorts, and combat boots with no socks, and he was 15 minutes late for court.
@@shinycaterpie4443 THAT is sadly not a smart move, as usually these untouchables have people armed to the teeth that will prevent you from holding them accountable.
Dude was spending $60,000 a week on opioids and/or other drugs? The fact that he's still standing tells me he was either getting ripped off, or reselling... edit: or lying to cover some other terrible deed.
Almost certainly lying to cover up other things. At least claiming he spent it all on drugs maybe excuses a bit more (take pity on him; he was a drug addict), but if the reality is that he spent most of it on his lavish lifestyle, then that only reinforces the image that he's a heartless killer who has no qualms about ruining other people's lives to feed his own.
Also would make sense that some is spent on the drugs, some is spent on money to cover up either the drugs or other crimes. You can't tell me this guy doesn't pay people off on either his own behalf or his kids'.
There are credible sources that indicate that he was engaged in trafficking and distribution. Thus the need for large sums of money. That's a whole other wasp's nest that I don't think LE want to touch now or in the near future unless necessary or incidental.
@@bigstew416 Half the suits in new york use cocaine or amphetamines, it's very very likely he was. Also 60k in pills would be about 6000 pain pills, which unless he was immune to overdoses the math says he would've had to been selling it to distributors. Very likely LE or others that are high up, which would explain why there was no prosecution of it.
Incredible, because the guy comes across as a complete tool. How that guy ever passed the bar, God only knows. Holy nepotism, batman! Ah, to be from a rich and prominent family in the south. You like to think that this sort of thing is largely of the past, but I bet there are plenty of examples still out there.
This! I was reading how when some of his colleagues testified (I think it was when they testified 🤔), they basically said he was a shitty lawyer and only got to keep his job because he could schmooze people and keep a client list. Funny enough, one of them commented (again, I think), that he was not as gifted as a lawyer as he thought he was.
I'm not at all convinced that he was/is a smart man. I suspect he is average intelligence at best otherwise, he would not have testified. He was arrogant that he thought he could fool the jury with all his BS. His legal counsel should have advised him that it was not a good idea. Again, arrogance tells him that he's smarter than the average bear. I watched an interview from his legal counsel that not testifying would have made him looked bad. IMHO, they would have convicted him even if he didn't testify because most, if not all of the jurors thought he was guilty based on his son's telephone video. They also thought he was a lying piece of crap.
As someone who’s had cases against them, you right - but they ran that district… you’d be surprised as to why ppl coming out of woodworks now, blood in the water what better way to expand and get pr - lots still to unravel in the 14th civil and criminal wise (see allendale Hampton and jasper counties and their solicitor as well as civil plaintiff attys)
A few months ago I watched a news video about how Stephen Smith's mother couldn't afford a gravestone, but after a group of people online found out a few years later they got together to finally buy a gravestone for him. During the video you got could catch a few glimpses of the stone right beside Stephen's... on the grave of his older brother Joseph, who died at two months old in 1992, with a photograph of the tiny little baby on the stone. Seeing it literally made me break down crying. That poor mother.
@@rosesweetcharlotte Yeah, I don’t recall anyone saying it would smh! 🙄 I do recall them simply stating how difficult it must’ve been for her to bury not one, but TWO sons and how tragic and sad it is that she couldn’t afford a 🪦 for Stephen! Your pointing out of the obvious was not just unnecessary, but also had a slight tinge of unwarranted condescension…
Correction: The prosecution didn't just "guess" the time of death, they based it on the phone data. Both Maggie and Paul's phones went silent at 8:49 pm (meaning the phones weren't opened anymore) and it was shown several times that Paul was having an active text conversation with his friend on the phone at that time but then suddenly just stopped reading and answering texts, which was very unusual for him.
It was even more unusual because the friend waited for a better (short) amateur video of a dog with a sore spot on his tail. The friend (the owner of the dog, which was on the farm with the other dogs) would then pass on the video to a vet for a diagnosis. Maggie had a reputation as dog lover (several people testified to that). Both seemed engaged in getting the dog diagnosed even if it likely was harmless and the dog was not especially unwell. The many texts the friend wrote (also to Maggie) and he attempted to call several times (to his dying or dead friend / mother) shows that HE too found it very strange why Paul all of a sudden did not send the promised video (a thing of 10 minutes incl. upload at most). Nor did he take the calls or react to texts. If Paul had been so weird and left a friend hanging - Maggie (the dog lover) likely would have objected. It would not only have been rude and strange - a dog's well being was involved.
How did he get away with threatening to let rapists out of prison if juries did not convict?! Wasn’t there a judge there?! He should have been disbarred!
Because he was a lawyer in private practice AND a prosecutor which made him a lawyer/poliTICian just like the JuDge lol only HE had more $ and $ talks$
@AmethystEyes he took over the family firm in 1940 dude. Probably wasn't too long after he was appointed prosecuter. National television wasn't what it is now. "“Buster” was larger than life in court, admonished more than once by the state Supreme Court for improper arguments - telling juries he wouldn’t try another death penalty case or would release rapists awaiting trials if verdicts didn’t go his way." Sounds like the courts wouldn't let it slide but overall didn't take it as a serious threat; Buster didn't have any awful dirt on his hands. Since those are the only two incidents mentioned and its not reported that it affected the outcomes, I'm assuming he stopped going that far.
9:30 Interesting that Alex mentions his flat tire, pulling the vehicle over, having a stranger assist him, and them trying to change the tire ALL BEFORE mentioning that HE WAS SHOT!!!
I was 100% expecting that outtro to transition to "And if you need to learn how to appear credible to a jury, you can learn that skill and hundreds of others on SkillShare!"
So, in South Carolina, the office of district attorney is essentially hereditary and it's legal to run your own law firm on the side, benefiting from your position as an official. Yeah that tracks.
Last couple decades it was DNA that was a critical tool for prosecutors. Now its cell phone data. So many criminals out themselves because they forget to not take their phone with them.
When you get away with scamming people out of millions of dollars for years and years without getting in trouble, despite not being very smart in the first place in how you do it, it makes sense to me that it would give you an inflated sense of your own intelligence. The problem of course is that people in such a situation tend to forget that their past success could be entirely due to luck, and the moment that you have actually intelligent people look into the matter you might be out of luck.
@@echomjp This happens quite often in these small towns and rural areas. These local guys with power think it's real power. It's not. As soon as you get the attention of people from outside podunk, it's over. This guy was a big fish in a very small pond. Once the ocean was let in, he was nothing more than chum.
It used to be a lot easier when the power hungry narcissist could just have anyone that noticed they were lying thrown in jail or worse, but thankfully this trial proves we’ve been able to take a few steps away from that 😂😂
Phone forensics is an amazing investigative technique. About a year ago there was a young boy hit and killed in a hit and run about three streets over from my parents house. Within a week they had arrested a suspect thanks to cell phone location data. The county sheriff's office got a warrant for all the nearby cell phone towers in the area and cross reference which phones were in the area at the time of the accident.
Kinda unrelated, but they killed Bin Laden by using ML models working off random data like weather patterns and other shit. Its funny, but there is a genuine chance that someone buying a dyson fan could have contributed to killing bin laden cus that air pollution data is usually sold to weather companies and government. Its alot harder to be a criminal these days.
Gloria's son only needed 17k to pay off that trailer to keep his home! Makes me so angry how greedy Akex was. Stole millions and let him lose his home.
@@shizachan8421Paul did do wrong no doubt about that but he was young and drunk. It doesn’t give him a pass but no one should feel good that he was murdered by his own father.
@@tommykovalick2596 It was a mistake that Paul was born though. His life brought nothing good to the world and he is better off dead. Him being killed by his father means, that Alex at least redeemed himself from not letting his wife have an abortion.
Speaking as someone who has served on three different juries, the two times where the defendant decided to take the stand and ended up admitting to participating in the events, made it excessively easy to find them guilty whereas we were on the fence up to that point.
@@tianna1116 For one of the trials, the defendant was charged with armed robbery at five different locations within the span of a couple weeks. He admitted to being at three of the places. For the other trial, I was an alternate, so I didn't get to be in the room for the final decision, but for me, I was on the fence until he testified "in his own defense" and all but admitted to participating in the home home invasion.
@@JewishJeff839 Yes, we knew that and no, it wasn't in the south. My favorite part was after we delivered the verdict for the armed robbery case, both lawyers and the judge came back into the jury room to talk with us and even the defendant's lawyer admitted to trying to talking him out of going on the stand, but he insisted.
Where are you living that you served on a jury 3 times? And is crime that high or are you living in a sparsely populated area? I've never served, nor has any of my friends or family.
The miserable thing is: there are families like this all across America. Every state has a bunch of them, practically every town. Old money, old power, all thinking they are above the law. This was one spectacular fall. I hope many more will come, with less blood.
Just another day in the American South... There are THOUSANDS of corrupt officials from long standing powerful families that think they're untouchable. Nice to see one of those actually get what they deserve.
Let's look at the culture for a little bit. Most of this region only became a democracy when an outside army, the union army, forced them to. Before that they were very much an aristocracy, with landowners having near unlimited rights on their own property.
I'll admit. I've watched this (and other) videos near daily at this point. It's quite soothing when a day goes bad or like somebody makes me angry in my private or professional life. No matter what happens to me. I'll NEVER have a day as bad as Alex Murdaugh is having right now in prison
Can't help but suspect that they felt confident that Alex was narcissistic and that they were going to be able to bait him exactly as happened. Best thing he could have possibly done was stay silent but it was the one thing he was most incapable of doing. And everybody that knew Alex knew that was the case.
Actually, the best thing he could’ve done was testify. Alex was in an impossible situation caused by his own pathological lying, narcissistic ass. If he didn’t testify, the prosecution had too much circumstantial evidence…..the missing gun, the missing clothes, the time stamps, his lie about suicide, his lie about where he was at the kennels, etc. By testifying, Alex is so used to pushing BS that he thought he could explain his actions on “drugs.” Jurors didn’t buy it, neither did America.
I don't see that he had a good choice. The Prosecution could prove that he was a dangerous man. They could prove that he was a compulsive liar, and that he had stolen millions of dollars from his family and clients. And there was conclusive proof that he was at the crime scene just before the murders took place, something he also lied about. Refusing to explain any of that was not going to look good. Probably, the real issue was that there was so much evidence against him that no legal strategy was likely to succeed.
They could've got him if a) the police weren't so incompetent as to let forensics clean up the scene washing away all the evidence. B) lowkey planting evidence when they realized what they did. C) let the courts know that he was on blood pressure medication that would make his hands slightly bigger than normal.
12:46 When someone like this says "I'm so sorry that I did" about lying, you know it's not that they're actually sorry about lying. It's that they're sorry they were caught
I would say that the motive was slightly more complicated than just to cover up his financial crimes. His wife had just hired a forensic accountant to look into the families finances, which would definitely have exposed more. Then there was Paul who was a legal "liability" in his own right, if you will, and he'd been pressuring his father to seek treatment about his pill problem. Its clear that they've been doing this for decades, and I guess Alex thought "hell, I've gotten away with it before".
@@rosesweetcharlotte very possible. According to that Netflix doco, she'd noticed that bills were going unpaid, which shouldn't have been the case because they were loaded (in theory)
I reckon that Buster was probably in on the cover-ups. I doubt whether Paul and Maggie knew all that much about it. What really infuriates me is that Alex was able to give Buster enduring power of attorney while in prison so that they could liquidate assets. Buster has been seen all over spending big since then.
Except that’s all nonsense made up on the internet. No divorce lawyers, no accountants hired. None. If that’s your reason for thinking he’s guilty then you should change your vote.
@@BigBoiiLeem I don't think you understand how power of attorney works. All it does is confer the authority on you to act legally on someone else's behalf which is of course useful in situations where someone has substantial business concerns that they suddenly become impaired or otherwise unable to administer on their own. However, it doesn't, as you erroneously seem to think and I'm sure you're not alone, give you any right to access someone's bank accounts or assets. That would be embezzlement which is a very significant financial crime and only one of the many that Buster's father was convicted of. To be able to access someone's bank accounts and assets, they have to make you the executor of their estate and/or the beneficiary of their will. If you are both, and there is no one else with a claim, then you are free to do with the money and wealth as you wish, as long as it isn't otherwise encumbered. But if you are only one of these, then it becomes legally problematic if you start using the funds for your own personal interests. As only executor, you have control over the estate but you are limited in what you can do with the money without breaching your fiduciary responsibility. And, as only beneficiary, you have to consult with the executor as they are the only person who can grant you access and it may be conditional based on the terms of the will. The other important factor that applies particularly in this case is that the estate and all associated accounts are tainted by Alex's gross malfeasance and criminal behaviour. I find it highly unlikely that the state would be allowing a relative of the family, in this case the convict's own son, to access any potentially tainted monies. I suspect that the estate will be frozen under the control of a state-appointed executor so that the tainted funds remain available to be recovered by the many former clients of Murdaugh's firm, who all have significant claims. If Buster has been dipping in somehow, then he may be doing it illegally and thus find himself facing criminal charges.
Correction: Alex was not a witness to Gloria Satterfield's death, let alone the only witness. It was Maggie and Paul that called 911 and presented the story of what caused Gloria to be fatally injured.
Thank you for posting this - it’s a HUGE error. I honestly think that Paul shoved Gloria and maybe beat her (she had broken ribs as well as massive trauma to her head) (I think Paul may have been angry at her for some reason - maybe helping Daddy hide his drugs). Those injuries were not caused by a fall down those patio steps imho. I think that also explains why Maggie has such a weird and detached manner in her 911 call - she was worried about protecting Paul
I have heard two versions of this. I think Alex told someone later he was there at the time. I don’t think Paul would harm Gloria because he seemed to care for her a great deal. But, it is suspicious that the umbrella policy that paid over four million was only thirty days in force at the time of accident. If the Murdaugh had anything to do with it I think they wanted an accident, not a death. They were probably looking to get a few hundred thousand in a fall, but her death provided a windfall for Alex and Fleming
@@gregvinson1 correct. Alex later stated he spoke to Gloria after the fall before the ambulance arrived and she indicated the dogs tripped her. But according to the 911 call, she couldn't speak after the fall.
Narcissistic PD is def rough, sad to think about sometimes that individuals think they're the best and go to therapy because of their lack of social groups. "I'm confused i'm the greatest why wouldn't people want to be friends with me?" :(
Seriously? It’s a mental illness. How can you diagnose someone based on a video or even news articles? He’s awful, he’s corrupt, he’s selfish, he’s egotistical - all likely true, all reasonable assumptions based off this video. But narcissism is a mental condition that you can’t diagnose from a video.
@@leeh4669, as a nurse for 20 years, I kinda call 'em as I see 'em. Sorry if that's not good enough for you. P. S. I DIDNT watch this video, only watched the shit hit the fan over the past year with this guy. Even his brother says so, but I guess he doesn't really know him either, right?
@@rosesmith6925 I'm a graduate student in psychology, which is VERY different from nursing. My boyfriend is actually a nurse practitioner, and we swap work stories all the time. He is an amazing nurse, but he does not diagnose mental illness (besides obvious situations where a patient is describing breaks from reality, self-harm, hallucinations, etc) because he has not received the same training as psychologists. NPD isn't the kind of thing you can immediately see, no matter what the internet has told you. I didn't see the part in the video where his brother called him a diagnosed narcissist. I did see a lawyer say he acted in a narcissistic way at one point, which is NOT the same this as actually being a narcissist. I've literally done research with experts in narcissism and sociopathy, and it frustrates me how these terms are thrown around on the internet.
@@leeh4669, Ooooo a Newbie! Have fun with that career and have a good life. Now go home and take a nap, for I feel a hurt your wittle fewings. PS be ready for life OUTSIDE the books.
Geolocation, snapchat, cell, and social media data from all the phones kind of sealed the deal for him. Digital forensics and foot printing is a heck of an audit trail you can't erase.
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020He left his phone at the house while he was at the kennels (claimed he was napping at the house), then picked it up again while he was cleaning up after the murders/preparing to visit his mother.
Interesting video! My sister had a still-birth and was charged for murder. She had no history of crime or even a speeding ticket, but at her trial, her lawyer didn't recommend her to testify in her own defense. She was found guilty and I still wonder if it's a mistake that she didn't testify. Perhaps she could have contradicted the picture that the prosecution painted; the picture of a person that never existed. There's also the chance that the prosecutor could have used my. sister's own naivety against her. I suppose it's always a measured risk.
@@alyssabrhytethe state gets involved if they believe an infant death was caused intentionally or thru neglect, but some have pushed that to interpreting non-existant humans as potential-people trying to hold women accountable for miscarriages if they think they can prove the woman did anything at all that may have contributed to the loss (even though it's been pointed out repeatedly that there's a lot of things you can do "wrong" that still may have 0 to do with that loss)
That sounds so traumatic. A still birth is one of the worst things a woman can go through, and accusing her of doing it on purpose? I hope she's okay now
I'm from Hampton Co, Alex didn't stand a chance. The Murdaugh's are infamous in South Carolina and especially hated in the Lowcountry. Nothing illegal is beyond the scope of believability when it comes to that family.
@@aurea. compassion for what happened to her and Paul but she was assured to be complacent or part of a lot the family (she, Alex, and sons) shenanigans... The devil's wife.
@@TheBigGSN5 in a more sensible state, sure that may sound like a great argument in appeals. But we're not in such a state. Good luck getting anyone from that jury to admit they knew of the Murdaugh's before this trial. A famous saying here is "aww, bless your heart", that means anything but the literal meaning.
I watched the trial gavel-to-gavel, and while it looked to me like Murdaugh was guilty, the trial was so messy that I wasn't convinced we'd get a verdict. I thought the jury would either hang or find him guilty (which they ultimately did), but I was sure it would take at least until the end of the next day. Didn't expect three hours! But really, you know your case is rough when OJ chimes in with "I think he probably did it, but this trial is messy AF."
Alex told the police Gloria told him the dogs tripped her before she lost consciousness and never regained it. The police later found out that he was never even there at the time of the fall so she couldn’t have told him that
@@debseles322 law enforcements knows he hadn’t been back to the house until the next day she couldn’t have told him and they reopened her investigation
Deb Selas: HE must have been quoting one of the dogs with the same name as the victim; probably named after the lady. They wouldn't have known it could be a cause of confusion in the evidence. 😊
I was on a jury last year where we dealt with a defendant testifying. When the prosecution rested I felt that they had in every way failed to prove that the defendant had committed the crime(accessory to murder,) or even that the defendant had been at the places they claimed. Suddenly the defendant is on the stand and tells us that he was at the scene and gave us his side of the story. The prosecutor tore him to shreds. We still ended up acquitting, but if anything had made us convict, it would have been his testimony.
Oof, the background info about his grandfather (I think) and the death penalty really puts some of the judge's comments at sentencing into perspective.
@@lycoffin7432 one of the Murdaugh's - Alex' father I think - coerced the courts to give the death penalty in two cases by threatening to use his position to get rapists released. It's at the 2 min mark.
Is he the face of the channel now? It was a surprise to see him hosting but no one is mentioning it in the comments. I assume they announced it in the past and I missed it.
It's nice to see consistent members of the Avian Initiative but your legal team needs more than just two bird based lawyers if they want to tackle an avengers level threat
Give it some time, this is only the second arc...a few more movies and a series for another 16 bird based lawyers, and we can convict Thanostrich to life before he kills half the universe.
Eh, kind of makes them seem stupid, which they most CERTAINLY aren't. Lol Maybe Avian something? Avian Auditors, Avian Avengers, the Amazing Avians...? All terrible, but maybe you can do better...😄
He got clean way before that trial happened. I'd say he was many months sober. Dude was more than oxy addict, a criminal lawyer cheating money and stealing, and then a damn murderer and cover up of Buster's likely murder because of his relationship with another male. To this day Buster stands behind his Dad, even though he murdered his mom and brother. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree in that family.
@@blanchfor Plus Paul was abusive and KNOWN for being a "viscous" drunk. I can only imagine what his grandfather who threatened juries saying he would release rapists got up to in his spare time.
I'm no lawyer, I've just watched TV shows about them, but seeing someone on stand have their lies revealed and then having them try to come up with new lies on the fly, is such a classic in court dramas. His original lies were the best cover up he could think of when he had time to plan it, it is obvious that when he tries to come up with something new on the fly, it is not only going to crash and burn, each new lie will make him look more guilty.
You combined two women into one! The housekeeper testified to his clothes. His mother's care taker testified to the length his visit with his mother, and the bundle of vinyl material he was carrying.
One other thing to cover is that killing one's family to cover up financial crimes also isn't unheard of, just last year the case of Anthony Todt went to trial, a man who murdered his wife and three children so he could blame her for his stealing tens of thousands of dollars from clients at his chiropractic institution.
They mostly are though. The Bushs, Clintons, Obamas, Bidens, all war criminals, and mafia/like, all have gone 100% without consequence. And we didn't even touch congress yet.
Think they're untouchable, while also being murderously defensive toward ANY sort of accountability. The punishments for uncovering those financial crimes would've been nothing compared to double murder.
Great job explaining the case you guys! A great summary too of what appears to be one of those corrupted dynasties with a story so surreal it'd be hard to believe if it was made into a movie. Also, great job on the prosecutors, the judge and the jury for finally bringing justice to this guy. I hope the case gives room to re-opening past cases and bringing justice to all these families who suffered all this time.
A lifetime of not facing the consequences of his actions led to this. His family wore getting away with crimes as a badge of honor and it came back to haunt them. Tragic for the mother and son.
Another correction: you conflate two different witnesses and their testimonies. Mushelle Shelley Smith was the caregiver for M's mother. He tried to get her to 'remember' that he spent some 40 minutes at his mother's on the night of the murders. Blanca was the M family housekeeper who M tried to mislead as to the shirt he was wearing that day.
8:26 this is interesting because that round is highly specialized, the biggest appeal is it works well with a silencer. basically if a bullet is moving really fast, it makes a sonic boom, and then it's gonna be really loud no matter how good your silencer is. 300 blackout has a heavy enough projectile that it can usually be loaded to fly just under the speed of sound, without losing too much stopping power like the standard 5.56 does in subsonic configurations. the reason it's not super popular is it's relatively expensive, it's not practical for most people. so TLDR it suggests that the perpetrator was specifically building a rifle for covert but highly effective assassinations.
@@ellie1639 Increasing the bus factor. Scowl Owl joined the team to help produce content and free up Devin's time for other things, though that's not to say it's a complete takeover. Having someone with a different take can also be useful.
@@dgalloway107 maybe it was acknowledged in another video but this came across so bizarre to me that the 2nd person wasn't even introduced- like they switched lawyers and didn't think we would notice. Wtf lol
@@dgalloway107 i dont think this channel was ever a one man show it seems like alot of work goes into these haha so having another face here and there isnt crazy
In my experience, most defendants who testify decide to do so out of arrogance and ego more than anything else. They are so confident they can convince a jury they are innocent that they don't think about all of the bad things that can happen (and often they don't consider possible questions by a prosecutor), which usually results in them saying something stupid the prosecution can use to convict them.
😂 it’s true they really cleaned up some messy prosecution testimony on cross. Alex testifying was the tipping point but according to his own lawyer he though he could “pull it off”. Such arrogance
Maybe we should thank his defense... there's enough plausible deniability to claim no wrong on behalf of their client, but maybe they let him testify on purpose, because they knew he was shit, too. Not likely, but a nice idea. :)
The thing that got me was, they actually had made some good points about motive and how the victims were shot. They did place some lingering doubt before the jury. That all went out the window the minute he got on the stand
This guy is so incredibly great at explaining all of this. And I really appreciate him giving us time to absorb what he is saying, as opposed to the speed mouth of most American UA-camrs.
I love the tone of the operator's voice in the call. The minute he says someone tried to shoot him she just continues being professional but it's clear she's internally like "What on earth...?"
I think if his wife was threatening to expose the financial crimes, and given he might have been afraid his son might mouth off to take the heat off himself, well, I think those are pretty good motives. Glad the jury agreed!
This is insane! I was waiting for this channel to cover it, so I only knew the basics. Good grief! If you wrote a show script for this, you’d be told it was too wild and too unbelievable. Thanks for the great explanations!
Your credibility really is everything in court. I was on a jury where the guy initially lied to police about having a drink earlier in the night and for some of the other jurors it was hard to look past that fact even though he had blown a negligible reading at the scene. It was kind of fascinating to see in action. I'm also pretty surprised by the 3 hour deliberation considering it took my jury over a day and the crime wasn't as serious as murder, but I guess if you're all in agreement, that's that.
Correction: As far as we know, Alex wasn't a witness to Gloria Satterfield's fall and never claimed to be. Maggie and Paul were the ones who called 911. However, Alex did claim that at some point in the subsequent few days that Gloria was still alive, she was somehow coherent enough to tell him that she tripped on the family dogs.
This is a pretty blatant example of local power bases creating cesspits of corruption. Same general thing happened with my nephew's father: he was murdered by some uneducated grandson of the local matriarchal despot who owned half the buildings in a small county of Missouri. He was protected by the police, and had to initially be shipped off to another state so he wasn't done in by vigilante "justice". All he ever got was a fine for a gun charge, then returned to that county and kept under watch by police and granny's little "goon squad" of maintenance men and construction workers. After she passed, all bets were off, and he ran for the hills.
You also have a mistake in this video. When the 911 call is made for Gloria, Maggie makes the call & gets so annoyed with the 911 operator she passes the phone to Paul. Alex was not at Moselle when Gloria was hurt. However, when Alex 1st filed the insurance claim he actually lied on them & claimed the accident happened at another one of their numerous homes in a different county. (The house Blanca testified someone tried to burn down)
Why can't anyone seem to get the Beach family's attorney's name right: It's Mark Tinsley - not Chris Tinsley 22:00 (according to the narrating district attorney), and not Alex Tinsley 22:12 (according to the note underneath the featured video on WLTX website). Good video, though.
I watched the trial. I tried explaining it to a friend and left them totally confused. Your presentation was incredibly accurate and easy to follow. I'm impressed 👍
Hold up... 4:35 "Alex was the only witness" It's my understanding that Alex wasn't home when his housekeeper fell on the stairs. It was his wife and one of his sons (Paul, I think). 9:47 "Alex hired his cousin" "Asked" not "hired" -- Alex specifically said that he did not pay Eddie to shoot him.
Thank you! I remember asking you to look into this, I have been following this families, crime spree’s, or what have you for a good minute since Mandy Matney was doing reports on it via podcast. Thank you Devon!
Every time I hear about these dynastic families I'm assuming there is a boatload of shady shit that is going on somewhere. Maybe not explicitly illegal, but you don't garner that much power without being at least morally ambiguous.
@@Boundwithflame23 that's more so for people who waive their right to a lawyer and represent themselves, like that shitstain darrell brooks. testing on your own behalf is a seperate thing in it's entirety
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 We do not have a counterfactual example of a world where OJ and Casey Anthony did *not* take the stand, however. It is perfectly possible that they would have been acquitted anyway.
Hey LegalEagle team and editors, maybe it's just me, but for cases like this where there are a handful of recurring people it'd be super helpful if you were to splash the people's faces on the screen every once in a while. I'm not familiar at all with the Murdaugh family and I swear I'm 9 minutes in and can't tell you a Buster from a Paul
@mipmipmipmipmip oh yea, it's not a slam at them. just a request from a viewer for where some improvement for the sake of helping alleviate how convoluted the story is
If you go outside and see snow on the ground you only have circumstantial evidence that it snowed the night before. Circumstantial evidence doesn't mean bad evidence but if you want to remove all 'reasonable doubt' it is pretty useful to have direct evidence or a LOT of circumstantial evidence.
I remember watching the first few episodes on Netflix about this case. It’s horrific to hear phone calls and interviews..watching this video, all I can hear is the 911 call when the boating accident happened. The fear, anguish, and panic in their voices is engraved into my brain..
@@adog3129 it's not really a "show" it's a docu-series, and they're great ways to get info on true crime. Don't know if you've ever tried, but following the trial yourself and gathering up all the evidence yourself in alot of cases is really really hard and time consuming
I live an hour south of where they live. The Murdaughs have been a regular headline in the local news since the boating incident. I was wondering if you all were going to cover this.
Nicely done, Spencer! I've been ignoring the trial because, no offense to either of you guys, the whole of the whole Legalese world bores the snot out of me but I don't think my mind wandered even once with yr presentation. Good show, old chap, good show. I like that LegalEagle is becoming more like a legal team. Feels maybe a bit more representative of reality that way.
FYI, at around 4:49 mark, you mention that AM was the witness to Gloria S.'s fall. I think Maggie and Paul were present since they were on the 911 call. Alex may have arrived after, but it didn't appear like AM was on the 911 call that reported the initial Gloria incident. Good vid.
Loved the way he admitted on the stand to a long laundry list of individuals and others he's lied to. Loved it more when he said " and I continued to lie" after admitting he lied in first interview.
⚖ What should I cover next?
☕ Morning Brew is better than McDonald's brew anyway. Sign up for free: legaleagle.link/morningbrew
I think you should cover the ashley guillard thing
Real Lawyer Reacts to Presumed Innocent (1990)
It's not you. You are more funny. This was a good explaination but it's not you.
How about investigating 'Skillshare' - there are some saying they are a scam.
Bring back Devin. This new guy just doesn't have enough delivery. Factual, but not entertaining.
Years ago I was arrested on a bogus charge. There was video with audio that not only proved I was innocent, but that no crime had been committed. Before the jury saw the video, the cops lied on the stand. My accuser lied on the stand. Then I testified on my own behalf. Then the video was played. After that, my accuser and the cops were recalled and asked if they wanted to change their testimony. They did not. Once again the video was played proving that I was being honest and they were lying under oath. It took the jury 3 minutes to find me not guilty. The judge didn't charge cops or accuser with perjury (she should have), but did admonish both the accuser and cops for lying under oath. I sued the accuser and cops, but the state of Colorado gave the cops qualified immunity. The accuser was broke, so I only got 5% of the money I spent on the criminal defense lawyer, and zero of the $40,000 in lost wages because of losing my job over the false claim. At least now Colorado has ended qualified immunity, but too late for me since it wasn't retroactive to a date prior to my case. Funny thing about truth is that it doesn't require any strategy or complicated lies (like Murdaugh).
Ugh, the "qualified" sure was doing a lot of work there. I would like to hear the argument they gave as to how they needed to commit purgury to do their job.
@Simon Buchan When my lawyer confronted them individually about lying and showing video proof they lied, all they could do was a bunch of er...um...I guess I was wrong crap. They all claimed they didn't know that video with audio existed, but of course, in the video you can see and hear me tell the cops that cameras with audio capture everything in a 24 hour period. They also claimed (lied) that they interviewed eye witnesses, which on video, you can see they didn't. It didn't hurt that one eye witness also testified on my behalf, a total stranger who was a retired school teacher. The cops literally didn't investigate at all, the DA hadn't bothered to see the video nor interview any eye witnesses. It probably didn't hurt that I dressed for court (suit and tie), while my accuser wore a stained tank top, cut off dirty shorts, and combat boots with no socks, and he was 15 minutes late for court.
"The judge didn't charge cops or accuser with perjury (she should have)" because that's the prosecutor's call.
Glad quality immunity ended there.
@@ilikedota5 And those prosecutors need to work with those lying cops to get other defendants to plead guilty.
"Los Angeles double murder expert O.J. Simpson" 💀 💀 💀 Damn, came swinging right out the gate
this 😀
This a juicy comment!
YES. I died when he said that. 😂
Shades of Norm 😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I love referring to OJ as “los Angeles area double murder expert”
I just about screeched in my office!
😂😂
lol i started this vid for background noise and i heard that and whipped around to my phone lol
It’s unimaginable what it must have been like for that mother losing her son and the only suspect being some untouchable brat.
5.56 reaches all equally that little shit isn't untouchable
Only untouchable legally. I applaud her restraint for not taking matters into her own hands
@@shinycaterpie4443 I kind of wish she had
@@shinycaterpie4443 THAT is sadly not a smart move, as usually these untouchables have people armed to the teeth that will prevent you from holding them accountable.
He became so comfortable with lying and manipulating that he murdered his wife and son and expected to be able to get away with it. Disgusting.
OJ seemed to forget that he got incredibly lucky to have a racist cop investigate the murder.
Unfortunately for cops that’s an easy gamble to find one.
@@Justanotherconsumer not if you're a powerful middle aged white man 😂
@@Justanotherconsumer to be fair a smaller portion of them have nazi memorabilia collections
@@Justanotherconsumer qualified immunity. they dont care
Well, that and a sympathetic, likely biased jury.
Dude was spending $60,000 a week on opioids and/or other drugs? The fact that he's still standing tells me he was either getting ripped off, or reselling... edit: or lying to cover some other terrible deed.
Almost certainly lying to cover up other things. At least claiming he spent it all on drugs maybe excuses a bit more (take pity on him; he was a drug addict), but if the reality is that he spent most of it on his lavish lifestyle, then that only reinforces the image that he's a heartless killer who has no qualms about ruining other people's lives to feed his own.
Also would make sense that some is spent on the drugs, some is spent on money to cover up either the drugs or other crimes. You can't tell me this guy doesn't pay people off on either his own behalf or his kids'.
There are credible sources that indicate that he was engaged in trafficking and distribution. Thus the need for large sums of money. That's a whole other wasp's nest that I don't think LE want to touch now or in the near future unless necessary or incidental.
I really don't think he was on drugs
@@bigstew416 Half the suits in new york use cocaine or amphetamines, it's very very likely he was. Also 60k in pills would be about 6000 pain pills, which unless he was immune to overdoses the math says he would've had to been selling it to distributors. Very likely LE or others that are high up, which would explain why there was no prosecution of it.
You can tell that Alex was so confident in his ability to talk his way out of any situation because it had always worked so well for him in the past.
I agree with you. Alex thought he could talk his way out of anything because he's been doing it his entire life.
He never seemed to understand that he only got away with so much because he was from a rich family.
Incredible, because the guy comes across as a complete tool. How that guy ever passed the bar, God only knows. Holy nepotism, batman! Ah, to be from a rich and prominent family in the south. You like to think that this sort of thing is largely of the past, but I bet there are plenty of examples still out there.
This! I was reading how when some of his colleagues testified (I think it was when they testified 🤔), they basically said he was a shitty lawyer and only got to keep his job because he could schmooze people and keep a client list. Funny enough, one of them commented (again, I think), that he was not as gifted as a lawyer as he thought he was.
That's a common trait among criminals, and in fact a reason why so many end up in prison in the first place.
Alex Murdaugh was a powerful lawyer, that doesn't mean he's a smart lawyer.
The family is average at best.
All that oxycodone probably smoothed his brain out
he probably was/is....doesnt mean he is a smart defendant.
I'm not at all convinced that he was/is a smart man. I suspect he is average intelligence at best otherwise, he would not have testified. He was arrogant that he thought he could fool the jury with all his BS. His legal counsel should have advised him that it was not a good idea. Again, arrogance tells him that he's smarter than the average bear. I watched an interview from his legal counsel that not testifying would have made him looked bad. IMHO, they would have convicted him even if he didn't testify because most, if not all of the jurors thought he was guilty based on his son's telephone video. They also thought he was a lying piece of crap.
As someone who’s had cases against them, you right - but they ran that district… you’d be surprised as to why ppl coming out of woodworks now, blood in the water what better way to expand and get pr - lots still to unravel in the 14th civil and criminal wise (see allendale Hampton and jasper counties and their solicitor as well as civil plaintiff attys)
A few months ago I watched a news video about how Stephen Smith's mother couldn't afford a gravestone, but after a group of people online found out a few years later they got together to finally buy a gravestone for him. During the video you got could catch a few glimpses of the stone right beside Stephen's... on the grave of his older brother Joseph, who died at two months old in 1992, with a photograph of the tiny little baby on the stone. Seeing it literally made me break down crying. That poor mother.
Yeah, none of this is gonna bring back her baby. It's a small justice.
Oh my God no
WOW I've never noticed that! THANK YOU. PRAYERS FOR THE SMITH'S
@@rosesweetcharlotte Yeah, I don’t recall anyone saying it would smh! 🙄 I do recall them simply stating how difficult it must’ve been for her to bury not one, but TWO sons and how tragic and sad it is that she couldn’t afford a 🪦 for Stephen! Your pointing out of the obvious was not just unnecessary, but also had a slight tinge of unwarranted condescension…
Correction: The prosecution didn't just "guess" the time of death, they based it on the phone data. Both Maggie and Paul's phones went silent at 8:49 pm (meaning the phones weren't opened anymore) and it was shown several times that Paul was having an active text conversation with his friend on the phone at that time but then suddenly just stopped reading and answering texts, which was very unusual for him.
It was even more unusual because the friend waited for a better (short) amateur video of a dog with a sore spot on his tail. The friend (the owner of the dog, which was on the farm with the other dogs) would then pass on the video to a vet for a diagnosis. Maggie had a reputation as dog lover (several people testified to that). Both seemed engaged in getting the dog diagnosed even if it likely was harmless and the dog was not especially unwell.
The many texts the friend wrote (also to Maggie) and he attempted to call several times (to his dying or dead friend / mother) shows that HE too found it very strange why Paul all of a sudden did not send the promised video (a thing of 10 minutes incl. upload at most). Nor did he take the calls or react to texts.
If Paul had been so weird and left a friend hanging - Maggie (the dog lover) likely would have objected. It would not only have been rude and strange - a dog's well being was involved.
That's the definition of a guess, they made an estimation without sufficient evidence to be sure that they are correct.
They guessed
You can't be sure that his phone going dark was the time of death. You can make an educated guess from it
@IECujo no, it is a conclusion based on data. Not a guess depending heavily on chance with little or no data.
It’s unusual that people were still friends with Paul after what he did
How did he get away with threatening to let rapists out of prison if juries did not convict?! Wasn’t there a judge there?! He should have been disbarred!
he probably only implied that instead of explicitly saying it to avoid repercussion
Because he was a lawyer in private practice AND a prosecutor which made him a lawyer/poliTICian just like the JuDge lol only HE had more $ and $ talks$
MURICA!!!!!!!!! because this country is a never ending dumpster fire
@@OpalBLeigh I know but weren’t some televised? Or reported on by the media or those in the courtroom? Or on appeal by the defense?
@AmethystEyes he took over the family firm in 1940 dude. Probably wasn't too long after he was appointed prosecuter. National television wasn't what it is now.
"“Buster” was larger than life in court, admonished more than once by the state Supreme Court for improper arguments - telling juries he wouldn’t try another death penalty case or would release rapists awaiting trials if verdicts didn’t go his way."
Sounds like the courts wouldn't let it slide but overall didn't take it as a serious threat; Buster didn't have any awful dirt on his hands. Since those are the only two incidents mentioned and its not reported that it affected the outcomes, I'm assuming he stopped going that far.
9:30 Interesting that Alex mentions his flat tire, pulling the vehicle over, having a stranger assist him, and them trying to change the tire ALL BEFORE mentioning that HE WAS SHOT!!!
I noticed that too, and I don't know if this means anything for the case, but he seemed pretty calm after almost being killed.
@@thevladman2000 Yep, weird!
Honestly that's more believable than most of his stories. People in shock tend to act a bit weird.
I was 100% expecting that outtro to transition to "And if you need to learn how to appear credible to a jury, you can learn that skill and hundreds of others on SkillShare!"
Same
Come for the LegalEagling, stay for the great transitions into sponsorship.
So, in South Carolina, the office of district attorney is essentially hereditary and it's legal to run your own law firm on the side, benefiting from your position as an official. Yeah that tracks.
And there are seventy times seven little counties in most southern states, giving lots of choices and hiding places for graft and corruption.
@@Andrew-iv5dq And bodies and murder weapons...
Not just in SC, either.
I mean that was pretty much the way things worked in the South period. The only unusual thing about this family is how blatant it was...
And if you don't agree with their sentencing recommendation they threaten to let rapist's loose. You couldn't make this up
Last couple decades it was DNA that was a critical tool for prosecutors. Now its cell phone data. So many criminals out themselves because they forget to not take their phone with them.
The Achilles heel of every narcissist is they believe they are smarter than everyone else.
When you get away with scamming people out of millions of dollars for years and years without getting in trouble, despite not being very smart in the first place in how you do it, it makes sense to me that it would give you an inflated sense of your own intelligence. The problem of course is that people in such a situation tend to forget that their past success could be entirely due to luck, and the moment that you have actually intelligent people look into the matter you might be out of luck.
They love to overhype their intellect, to the point where they are dumbed down by hubris.
@@echomjp This happens quite often in these small towns and rural areas. These local guys with power think it's real power. It's not. As soon as you get the attention of people from outside podunk, it's over. This guy was a big fish in a very small pond. Once the ocean was let in, he was nothing more than chum.
It used to be a lot easier when the power hungry narcissist could just have anyone that noticed they were lying thrown in jail or worse, but thankfully this trial proves we’ve been able to take a few steps away from that 😂😂
Weird that OJ felt the need to comment on the Murdaugh case. Guess he had to take a 'stab' at it.
I almost snorted, good one
OJ commented because, people were bombarding him on social media, about this case. It was compared to his trial so many times.
Slow clap 👏🏻
He apparently got paid pretty well for his commentary
💀
Phone forensics is an amazing investigative technique. About a year ago there was a young boy hit and killed in a hit and run about three streets over from my parents house. Within a week they had arrested a suspect thanks to cell phone location data. The county sheriff's office got a warrant for all the nearby cell phone towers in the area and cross reference which phones were in the area at the time of the accident.
Kinda unrelated, but they killed Bin Laden by using ML models working off random data like weather patterns and other shit.
Its funny, but there is a genuine chance that someone buying a dyson fan could have contributed to killing bin laden cus that air pollution data is usually sold to weather companies and government.
Its alot harder to be a criminal these days.
Gloria's son only needed 17k to pay off that trailer to keep his home! Makes me so angry how greedy Akex was. Stole millions and let him lose his home.
Yeah, but I still think murdering his wife and son is worse.
Nahhh
@@malvoliosf Considering what Paul did, wasn't murdering him the best he ever did in his entire life?
@@shizachan8421Paul did do wrong no doubt about that but he was young and drunk. It doesn’t give him a pass but no one should feel good that he was murdered by his own father.
@@tommykovalick2596 It was a mistake that Paul was born though. His life brought nothing good to the world and he is better off dead. Him being killed by his father means, that Alex at least redeemed himself from not letting his wife have an abortion.
Speaking as someone who has served on three different juries, the two times where the defendant decided to take the stand and ended up admitting to participating in the events, made it excessively easy to find them guilty whereas we were on the fence up to that point.
Hm, “the events” meaning the criminal event that the defendant is on trial for? Or some other event that makes them look bad/ like a liar?
@@tianna1116 For one of the trials, the defendant was charged with armed robbery at five different locations within the span of a couple weeks. He admitted to being at three of the places. For the other trial, I was an alternate, so I didn't get to be in the room for the final decision, but for me, I was on the fence until he testified "in his own defense" and all but admitted to participating in the home home invasion.
Was the JURY reminded that not taking the stand does not equal guilt, or are you from the South?
@@JewishJeff839 Yes, we knew that and no, it wasn't in the south. My favorite part was after we delivered the verdict for the armed robbery case, both lawyers and the judge came back into the jury room to talk with us and even the defendant's lawyer admitted to trying to talking him out of going on the stand, but he insisted.
Where are you living that you served on a jury 3 times? And is crime that high or are you living in a sparsely populated area? I've never served, nor has any of my friends or family.
One family should not ever hold that much power and influence over any community
If you've got alot of money, people give you that power, especially in a small town where few people have that much money.
The miserable thing is: there are families like this all across America. Every state has a bunch of them, practically every town. Old money, old power, all thinking they are above the law. This was one spectacular fall. I hope many more will come, with less blood.
Hopefully that old blood holding all that old money and power gets spilled by the bucketload.
Death is the only thing those vermin can't run from.
You got that right.
The thought of going to church every Sunday with a family that can make you "disappear" on a whim is terrifying what the actual f
@@seekittycat This guy goes to church? I hope that church is coping well. Poor pastor will take some flames.
@@RuSosan you need to start building guilliotines yourself if you want that kind of change.
Just another day in the American South... There are THOUSANDS of corrupt officials from long standing powerful families that think they're untouchable. Nice to see one of those actually get what they deserve.
Corrupt rich powerful people in the south thinking they're untouchable?
My word... (Faints) I just cannot fathom such an idea good sir
very aristocratic of the south
It's really everywhere, isn't it?
It ain't just the South. They're everywhere. They're like cockroaches. If you see one? You've already got an infestation.
Let's look at the culture for a little bit. Most of this region only became a democracy when an outside army, the union army, forced them to. Before that they were very much an aristocracy, with landowners having near unlimited rights on their own property.
I'll admit. I've watched this (and other) videos near daily at this point. It's quite soothing when a day goes bad or like somebody makes me angry in my private or professional life. No matter what happens to me. I'll NEVER have a day as bad as Alex Murdaugh is having right now in prison
Can't help but suspect that they felt confident that Alex was narcissistic and that they were going to be able to bait him exactly as happened. Best thing he could have possibly done was stay silent but it was the one thing he was most incapable of doing. And everybody that knew Alex knew that was the case.
This is why everyone is so eager to get Donald "Pele" Trump onto a witness stand. He can't help but lie and will quickly incriminate himself.
He had the right, just not the ability...
I wouldn't put it past them considering he did volunteer worked for the prosecutor's office.
Actually, the best thing he could’ve done was testify. Alex was in an impossible situation caused by his own pathological lying, narcissistic ass. If he didn’t testify, the prosecution had too much circumstantial evidence…..the missing gun, the missing clothes, the time stamps, his lie about suicide, his lie about where he was at the kennels, etc. By testifying, Alex is so used to pushing BS that he thought he could explain his actions on “drugs.” Jurors didn’t buy it, neither did America.
I don't see that he had a good choice. The Prosecution could prove that he was a dangerous man. They could prove that he was a compulsive liar, and that he had stolen millions of dollars from his family and clients. And there was conclusive proof that he was at the crime scene just before the murders took place, something he also lied about. Refusing to explain any of that was not going to look good. Probably, the real issue was that there was so much evidence against him that no legal strategy was likely to succeed.
Alex had the right to remain silent, just not the ability. ( I couldn't help myself) ❤️
Yeah, sorta like ex-President (and hopefully future felon) Donald J(ailbird) Trump, Senior.
I mean neither could he, apparently
Lol yes
That's a bit I heard during a Ron White comedy special.
@Don Miller exactly. Glad someone got it. 😁
Oj has nerve. Had they had this technology back when he was cutting up, he would be under the jail
Indeed
He would have gotten convicted if it wasn't for the crooked KKK cops investigating him
Fully believe he was involved somehow, even if his son committed the murders i know in my heart that OJ definitely asked him too
@@artsyscrub3226 OJ fr the criminal mastermind behind the simulation we’re living in
They could've got him if a) the police weren't so incompetent as to let forensics clean up the scene washing away all the evidence. B) lowkey planting evidence when they realized what they did. C) let the courts know that he was on blood pressure medication that would make his hands slightly bigger than normal.
One day we are going to get the whole set of lawyer birds. We got Legal Eagle and Scowl Owl so far. Perhaps an employment lawyer called Jobbin' Robin.
Probate Parrot?
Need a lawyer for bankruptcy? You need Pinch Finch.
Charlie Kelley is the best bird lawyer
A pirate's parrot is actually a copyright lawyer.
Bird Team is a reality!
Man I can't even keep the money in a wallet...This guy stole 4 million from people he owed damages who were already living on 14k a year and disabled.
8.8 million!
Some ppl know no low. He's going somewhere now that he's going to find out there is lower than low.
@@faiththrower7951 6ft under?
@@SonsOfLorgar However deep hell is.
@@GingeryGinger in all likelihood, he’s probably going to the cushier jails for white-collar convicts.
12:46 When someone like this says "I'm so sorry that I did" about lying, you know it's not that they're actually sorry about lying. It's that they're sorry they were caught
I would say that the motive was slightly more complicated than just to cover up his financial crimes. His wife had just hired a forensic accountant to look into the families finances, which would definitely have exposed more. Then there was Paul who was a legal "liability" in his own right, if you will, and he'd been pressuring his father to seek treatment about his pill problem. Its clear that they've been doing this for decades, and I guess Alex thought "hell, I've gotten away with it before".
I believe that they were about to go into a divorce and she likely believed he would hide money from her.
@@rosesweetcharlotte very possible. According to that Netflix doco, she'd noticed that bills were going unpaid, which shouldn't have been the case because they were loaded (in theory)
I reckon that Buster was probably in on the cover-ups. I doubt whether Paul and Maggie knew all that much about it.
What really infuriates me is that Alex was able to give Buster enduring power of attorney while in prison so that they could liquidate assets. Buster has been seen all over spending big since then.
Except that’s all nonsense made up on the internet. No divorce lawyers, no accountants hired. None. If that’s your reason for thinking he’s guilty then you should change your vote.
@@BigBoiiLeem I don't think you understand how power of attorney works. All it does is confer the authority on you to act legally on someone else's behalf which is of course useful in situations where someone has substantial business concerns that they suddenly become impaired or otherwise unable to administer on their own.
However, it doesn't, as you erroneously seem to think and I'm sure you're not alone, give you any right to access someone's bank accounts or assets. That would be embezzlement which is a very significant financial crime and only one of the many that Buster's father was convicted of.
To be able to access someone's bank accounts and assets, they have to make you the executor of their estate and/or the beneficiary of their will. If you are both, and there is no one else with a claim, then you are free to do with the money and wealth as you wish, as long as it isn't otherwise encumbered.
But if you are only one of these, then it becomes legally problematic if you start using the funds for your own personal interests. As only executor, you have control over the estate but you are limited in what you can do with the money without breaching your fiduciary responsibility. And, as only beneficiary, you have to consult with the executor as they are the only person who can grant you access and it may be conditional based on the terms of the will.
The other important factor that applies particularly in this case is that the estate and all associated accounts are tainted by Alex's gross malfeasance and criminal behaviour. I find it highly unlikely that the state would be allowing a relative of the family, in this case the convict's own son, to access any potentially tainted monies.
I suspect that the estate will be frozen under the control of a state-appointed executor so that the tainted funds remain available to be recovered by the many former clients of Murdaugh's firm, who all have significant claims. If Buster has been dipping in somehow, then he may be doing it illegally and thus find himself facing criminal charges.
Correction: Alex was not a witness to Gloria Satterfield's death, let alone the only witness. It was Maggie and Paul that called 911 and presented the story of what caused Gloria to be fatally injured.
Yeah, we need to know more about what really happened and now all three of these people are deceased. It’s unbelievable.
Thank you for posting this - it’s a HUGE error. I honestly think that Paul shoved Gloria and maybe beat her (she had broken ribs as well as massive trauma to her head) (I think Paul may have been angry at her for some reason - maybe helping Daddy hide his drugs). Those injuries were not caused by a fall down those patio steps imho. I think that also explains why Maggie has such a weird and detached manner in her 911 call - she was worried about protecting Paul
I have heard two versions of this. I think Alex told someone later he was there at the time. I don’t think Paul would harm Gloria because he seemed to care for her a great deal.
But, it is suspicious that the umbrella policy that paid over four million was only thirty days in force at the time of accident.
If the Murdaugh had anything to do with it I think they wanted an accident, not a death. They were probably looking to get a few hundred thousand in a fall, but her death provided a windfall for Alex and Fleming
@@4Mr.Crowley2 hell of an accusation against a murder victim based entirely on "imho" but ok
@@gregvinson1 correct. Alex later stated he spoke to Gloria after the fall before the ambulance arrived and she indicated the dogs tripped her.
But according to the 911 call, she couldn't speak after the fall.
The prosecution played Alex like a fiddle on the the witness stand, just keep talking Alex.
Alas, can't stop a Narcissist from believing "Only I can convince them!" 😂😂
Narcissistic PD is def rough, sad to think about sometimes that individuals think they're the best and go to therapy because of their lack of social groups. "I'm confused i'm the greatest why wouldn't people want to be friends with me?" :(
Seriously? It’s a mental illness. How can you diagnose someone based on a video or even news articles? He’s awful, he’s corrupt, he’s selfish, he’s egotistical - all likely true, all reasonable assumptions based off this video. But narcissism is a mental condition that you can’t diagnose from a video.
@@leeh4669, as a nurse for 20 years, I kinda call 'em as I see 'em. Sorry if that's not good enough for you. P. S. I DIDNT watch this video, only watched the shit hit the fan over the past year with this guy. Even his brother says so, but I guess he doesn't really know him either, right?
@@rosesmith6925 I'm a graduate student in psychology, which is VERY different from nursing. My boyfriend is actually a nurse practitioner, and we swap work stories all the time. He is an amazing nurse, but he does not diagnose mental illness (besides obvious situations where a patient is describing breaks from reality, self-harm, hallucinations, etc) because he has not received the same training as psychologists. NPD isn't the kind of thing you can immediately see, no matter what the internet has told you. I didn't see the part in the video where his brother called him a diagnosed narcissist. I did see a lawyer say he acted in a narcissistic way at one point, which is NOT the same this as actually being a narcissist. I've literally done research with experts in narcissism and sociopathy, and it frustrates me how these terms are thrown around on the internet.
@@leeh4669, Ooooo a Newbie! Have fun with that career and have a good life. Now go home and take a nap, for I feel a hurt your wittle fewings. PS be ready for life OUTSIDE the books.
Geolocation, snapchat, cell, and social media data from all the phones kind of sealed the deal for him. Digital forensics and foot printing is a heck of an audit trail you can't erase.
I was curious about this - I imagined a boomer like him wasn't smart enough to have his phone off before the murders, but it wasn't mentioned here
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020He left his phone at the house while he was at the kennels (claimed he was napping at the house), then picked it up again while he was cleaning up after the murders/preparing to visit his mother.
He is a boomer but being a lawyer should know just how much raw info the police can pull from phones, as well as records from the phone company, etc.
He was too old to factor that in. Lol
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 Alex Murdaugh was born in 1968. He is quite a bit too young to be a boomer.
Interesting video! My sister had a still-birth and was charged for murder. She had no history of crime or even a speeding ticket, but at her trial, her lawyer didn't recommend her to testify in her own defense. She was found guilty and I still wonder if it's a mistake that she didn't testify. Perhaps she could have contradicted the picture that the prosecution painted; the picture of a person that never existed. There's also the chance that the prosecutor could have used my. sister's own naivety against her. I suppose it's always a measured risk.
Damn, I'm so sorry 😔
I don’t mean to pry but as the mother who would’ve accused her of murder?
@@alyssabrhytethe state gets involved if they believe an infant death was caused intentionally or thru neglect, but some have pushed that to interpreting non-existant humans as potential-people trying to hold women accountable for miscarriages if they think they can prove the woman did anything at all that may have contributed to the loss (even though it's been pointed out repeatedly that there's a lot of things you can do "wrong" that still may have 0 to do with that loss)
That sounds so traumatic. A still birth is one of the worst things a woman can go through, and accusing her of doing it on purpose? I hope she's okay now
I'm from Hampton Co, Alex didn't stand a chance. The Murdaugh's are infamous in South Carolina and especially hated in the Lowcountry. Nothing illegal is beyond the scope of believability when it comes to that family.
If you don't mind me asking, what was the overall opinion on Maggie?
@@aurea. compassion for what happened to her and Paul but she was assured to be complacent or part of a lot the family (she, Alex, and sons) shenanigans... The devil's wife.
@@knowdaledge1 Thank you for your response! This whole affair was mind-boggling. To think there are hundreds of families similar to them.
@@TheBigGSN5 in a more sensible state, sure that may sound like a great argument in appeals. But we're not in such a state. Good luck getting anyone from that jury to admit they knew of the Murdaugh's before this trial. A famous saying here is "aww, bless your heart", that means anything but the literal meaning.
I always thought the jury had its mind made up from the beginning , and I think it was more about money, for the jury, than murder
I watched the trial gavel-to-gavel, and while it looked to me like Murdaugh was guilty, the trial was so messy that I wasn't convinced we'd get a verdict. I thought the jury would either hang or find him guilty (which they ultimately did), but I was sure it would take at least until the end of the next day. Didn't expect three hours!
But really, you know your case is rough when OJ chimes in with "I think he probably did it, but this trial is messy AF."
I love the "Los Angeles double murder expert" line.
Guilty is still a verdict.
I mean OJ would know better than anyone 😂
Finally one person who has immense amount of influence and power gets what they deserve
Unfortunately, they got to live an amazing life.
Alex told the police Gloria told him the dogs tripped her before she lost consciousness and never regained it. The police later found out that he was never even there at the time of the fall so she couldn’t have told him that
He zipped home and may have gotten there before EMTs. He’s the only one who heard that about the dogs. Allegedly.
@@debseles322 law enforcements knows he hadn’t been back to the house until the next day she couldn’t have told him and they reopened her investigation
Deb Selas: HE must have been quoting one of the dogs with the same name as the victim; probably named after the lady. They wouldn't have known it could be a cause of confusion in the evidence. 😊
I was on a jury last year where we dealt with a defendant testifying. When the prosecution rested I felt that they had in every way failed to prove that the defendant had committed the crime(accessory to murder,) or even that the defendant had been at the places they claimed. Suddenly the defendant is on the stand and tells us that he was at the scene and gave us his side of the story. The prosecutor tore him to shreds. We still ended up acquitting, but if anything had made us convict, it would have been his testimony.
I’m from Charleston, SC and this is literally the only thing everyone can talk about! But I’m here from it!
Yooooo I'm from Walterboro, what's good neighbor
Oof, the background info about his grandfather (I think) and the death penalty really puts some of the judge's comments at sentencing into perspective.
what about the death penalty and the judge's comments? I think I missed that part
Right?
@@lycoffin7432 one of the Murdaugh's - Alex' father I think - coerced the courts to give the death penalty in two cases by threatening to use his position to get rapists released. It's at the 2 min mark.
@@lycoffin7432 During sentencing, the judge commented that Alex's family oversaw death penalties for crimes less serious than his.
@@lycoffin7432 Go back and listen!!!!
As someone living in South Carolina, this is the way most things happen around here.
It happens this way everywhere, especially in Washington DC
Spencer is a great addition to this channel. He is an excellent host and a compelling story teller!
Is he the face of the channel now? It was a surprise to see him hosting but no one is mentioning it in the comments. I assume they announced it in the past and I missed it.
Scowl Owl was a fantastic guest! I got so vested I temporarily forgot this was a Legal Eagle video. I'm here for the expanded lawyer bird verse.
It's nice to see consistent members of the Avian Initiative but your legal team needs more than just two bird based lawyers if they want to tackle an avengers level threat
Give it some time, this is only the second arc...a few more movies and a series for another 16 bird based lawyers, and we can convict Thanostrich to life before he kills half the universe.
Should we call them the "bird brains?" 😅
Eh, kind of makes them seem stupid, which they most CERTAINLY aren't. Lol
Maybe Avian something? Avian Auditors, Avian Avengers, the Amazing Avians...?
All terrible, but maybe you can do better...😄
"What, are we some kind of... Fowl Force?"
birds aren't real
It's crazy to me how calm that guy seemed on trial considering he was supposedly an oxy addict lol.
He got clean way before that trial happened. I'd say he was many months sober. Dude was more than oxy addict, a criminal lawyer cheating money and stealing, and then a damn murderer and cover up of Buster's likely murder because of his relationship with another male. To this day Buster stands behind his Dad, even though he murdered his mom and brother. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree in that family.
@@blanchfor Plus Paul was abusive and KNOWN for being a "viscous" drunk. I can only imagine what his grandfather who threatened juries saying he would release rapists got up to in his spare time.
He seemed too articulate to be an addict. Probably lied about that, too
@@Trentcast That's not how that works.
@@Trentcastused to be an addict. Guy got clean before the trial.also different addictions have different symptoms and different withdrawals
I'm no lawyer, I've just watched TV shows about them, but seeing someone on stand have their lies revealed and then having them try to come up with new lies on the fly, is such a classic in court dramas. His original lies were the best cover up he could think of when he had time to plan it, it is obvious that when he tries to come up with something new on the fly, it is not only going to crash and burn, each new lie will make him look more guilty.
Like an Ace Attorney cross-examination in real life, just piling lies on lies lol
@@deanjustdean7818 or make them big and repeated enough to make people doubt and then question reality...
You combined two women into one! The housekeeper testified to his clothes. His mother's care taker testified to the length his visit with his mother, and the bundle of vinyl material he was carrying.
@@freddyc1995 I sometimes wonder why exactly I exist in the same plane of existence as some other people
@@StarryxNight5That's not crazy
There were actually quite a few mistakes in this.
One other thing to cover is that killing one's family to cover up financial crimes also isn't unheard of, just last year the case of Anthony Todt went to trial, a man who murdered his wife and three children so he could blame her for his stealing tens of thousands of dollars from clients at his chiropractic institution.
This is what happens when a family gets too much power over time. They start to think they are untouchable.
The drugs didn't help either. He took stimulants as well as narcotics
They mostly are though. The Bushs, Clintons, Obamas, Bidens, all war criminals, and mafia/like, all have gone 100% without consequence. And we didn't even touch congress yet.
Like the Kennedys? The Bushes?
@@susivarga7303 Yes.
Think they're untouchable, while also being murderously defensive toward ANY sort of accountability. The punishments for uncovering those financial crimes would've been nothing compared to double murder.
Great job explaining the case you guys! A great summary too of what appears to be one of those corrupted dynasties with a story so surreal it'd be hard to believe if it was made into a movie.
Also, great job on the prosecutors, the judge and the jury for finally bringing justice to this guy. I hope the case gives room to re-opening past cases and bringing justice to all these families who suffered all this time.
A lifetime of not facing the consequences of his actions led to this. His family wore getting away with crimes as a badge of honor and it came back to haunt them. Tragic for the mother and son.
I love it when you two work together. Absolutely incredible content, as usual
Another correction: you conflate two different witnesses and their testimonies. Mushelle Shelley Smith was the caregiver for M's mother. He tried to get her to 'remember' that he spent some 40 minutes at his mother's on the night of the murders. Blanca was the M family housekeeper who M tried to mislead as to the shirt he was wearing that day.
It’s insane how much this guy gets wrong
@@Uhohlisa literally just got two small things mixed up
8:26 this is interesting because that round is highly specialized, the biggest appeal is it works well with a silencer. basically if a bullet is moving really fast, it makes a sonic boom, and then it's gonna be really loud no matter how good your silencer is. 300 blackout has a heavy enough projectile that it can usually be loaded to fly just under the speed of sound, without losing too much stopping power like the standard 5.56 does in subsonic configurations. the reason it's not super popular is it's relatively expensive, it's not practical for most people. so TLDR it suggests that the perpetrator was specifically building a rifle for covert but highly effective assassinations.
Omg as someone who closely followed the trial for this case for weeks now, I'm super excited to hear Legaleagle's take on this!
I was too, then it wasnt there. Hes literally outsourced his youtube channel.
@@dgalloway107 Do you know what happened? I don't understand why there's a completely different guy now
@@ellie1639 Increasing the bus factor. Scowl Owl joined the team to help produce content and free up Devin's time for other things, though that's not to say it's a complete takeover. Having someone with a different take can also be useful.
@@dgalloway107 maybe it was acknowledged in another video but this came across so bizarre to me that the 2nd person wasn't even introduced- like they switched lawyers and didn't think we would notice. Wtf lol
@@dgalloway107 i dont think this channel was ever a one man show it seems like alot of work goes into these haha so having another face here and there isnt crazy
Thanks for the coverage, this was so wild. RIP to all the victims
Countless as they are.
In my experience, most defendants who testify decide to do so out of arrogance and ego more than anything else. They are so confident they can convince a jury they are innocent that they don't think about all of the bad things that can happen (and often they don't consider possible questions by a prosecutor), which usually results in them saying something stupid the prosecution can use to convict them.
He changed his story more times than Ashton Kutcher in the butterfly effect
*Slow Clap* for the deep cut reference.
The defense team did this weird thing where they went around and just removed any and all lingering doubts from the prosecution’s arguments. Bizarre.
😂 it’s true they really cleaned up some messy prosecution testimony on cross. Alex testifying was the tipping point but according to his own lawyer he though he could “pull it off”. Such arrogance
Maybe we should thank his defense... there's enough plausible deniability to claim no wrong on behalf of their client, but maybe they let him testify on purpose, because they knew he was shit, too. Not likely, but a nice idea. :)
@@varethedemon it’s a lot funnier if they were just too arrogant to know it’s a bad idea
The thing that got me was, they actually had made some good points about motive and how the victims were shot. They did place some lingering doubt before the jury. That all went out the window the minute he got on the stand
Yeah, that's fair... so just arrogant/ ignored by murdaugh. Lol
“Don’t trust your soul to no backwoods southern lawyer” 🤷♀️
I'm in a Mock Trial class, and I love listening to your videos. They're very insightful!! 😊
This guy is so incredibly great at explaining all of this. And I really appreciate him giving us time to absorb what he is saying, as opposed to the speed mouth of most American UA-camrs.
I love the tone of the operator's voice in the call. The minute he says someone tried to shoot him she just continues being professional but it's clear she's internally like "What on earth...?"
I think if his wife was threatening to expose the financial crimes, and given he might have been afraid his son might mouth off to take the heat off himself, well, I think those are pretty good motives. Glad the jury agreed!
@@deanjustdean7818 True. The prosecution doesn’t need to prove motive, but it can help if they can.
Huh. That IS a motive.
The most unfortunate thing about this investigation, is that he has a son named Buster. Like it’s 1935.
it's a nickname
It's the South man. You grow up here you're gonna know at least one Bubba, Buster, or Scooter. And you might even be one of them.
@@Calvin_Coolagewhat does it mean? where do these nicknames come from? is it like maggie for margaret or dick for richard?
2:22 That is an absolutely crazy thing to say! I think he should have been disbarred for that.
This is insane! I was waiting for this channel to cover it, so I only knew the basics. Good grief! If you wrote a show script for this, you’d be told it was too wild and too unbelievable. Thanks for the great explanations!
I've watched it three times now and think I'm only just getting to grips with the story.
I listened to all 60+ hours of Mandy Matney’s coverage of this case and still learned things I didn’t know in this video - great work!
Being from South Carolina, I’ve heard so much about this case and it’s crazy! Great video!
Your credibility really is everything in court. I was on a jury where the guy initially lied to police about having a drink earlier in the night and for some of the other jurors it was hard to look past that fact even though he had blown a negligible reading at the scene. It was kind of fascinating to see in action. I'm also pretty surprised by the 3 hour deliberation considering it took my jury over a day and the crime wasn't as serious as murder, but I guess if you're all in agreement, that's that.
Correction: As far as we know, Alex wasn't a witness to Gloria Satterfield's fall and never claimed to be. Maggie and Paul were the ones who called 911. However, Alex did claim that at some point in the subsequent few days that Gloria was still alive, she was somehow coherent enough to tell him that she tripped on the family dogs.
This is a pretty blatant example of local power bases creating cesspits of corruption. Same general thing happened with my nephew's father: he was murdered by some uneducated grandson of the local matriarchal despot who owned half the buildings in a small county of Missouri. He was protected by the police, and had to initially be shipped off to another state so he wasn't done in by vigilante "justice". All he ever got was a fine for a gun charge, then returned to that county and kept under watch by police and granny's little "goon squad" of maintenance men and construction workers. After she passed, all bets were off, and he ran for the hills.
You also have a mistake in this video. When the 911 call is made for Gloria, Maggie makes the call & gets so annoyed with the 911 operator she passes the phone to Paul.
Alex was not at Moselle when Gloria was hurt.
However, when Alex 1st filed the insurance claim he actually lied on them & claimed the accident happened at another one of their numerous homes in a different county.
(The house Blanca testified someone tried to burn down)
Why can't anyone seem to get the Beach family's attorney's name right: It's Mark Tinsley - not Chris Tinsley 22:00 (according to the narrating district attorney), and not Alex Tinsley 22:12 (according to the note underneath the featured video on WLTX website). Good video, though.
I watched the trial. I tried explaining it to a friend and left them totally confused. Your presentation was incredibly accurate and easy to follow. I'm impressed 👍
Hold up... 4:35 "Alex was the only witness"
It's my understanding that Alex wasn't home when his housekeeper fell on the stairs. It was his wife and one of his sons (Paul, I think).
9:47 "Alex hired his cousin"
"Asked" not "hired" -- Alex specifically said that he did not pay Eddie to shoot him.
Great breakdown! I would love to see more of this type of content.
Thank you! I remember asking you to look into this, I have been following this families, crime spree’s, or what have you for a good minute since Mandy Matney was doing reports on it via podcast. Thank you Devon!
Every time I hear about these dynastic families I'm assuming there is a boatload of shady shit that is going on somewhere. Maybe not explicitly illegal, but you don't garner that much power without being at least morally ambiguous.
I heard some famous guy was found guilty but didn't follow the trial at all so finding all this out all at once was a wild ride.
I know he was a lawyer but testifying in your own defense is still not a good idea
Especially since he seems to be guilty.
Isn’t there a saying that the man who represents himself has a fool for a lawyer?
@@Boundwithflame23 that's more so for people who waive their right to a lawyer and represent themselves, like that shitstain darrell brooks. testing on your own behalf is a seperate thing in it's entirety
@@deanjustdean7818 this video says otherwise. Also it worked for Casey Anthony and OJ Simpson, astoundingly well actually
@@Caffeine_Addict_2020 We do not have a counterfactual example of a world where OJ and Casey Anthony did *not* take the stand, however. It is perfectly possible that they would have been acquitted anyway.
Hey LegalEagle team and editors, maybe it's just me, but for cases like this where there are a handful of recurring people it'd be super helpful if you were to splash the people's faces on the screen every once in a while. I'm not familiar at all with the Murdaugh family and I swear I'm 9 minutes in and can't tell you a Buster from a Paul
@mipmipmipmipmip oh yea, it's not a slam at them. just a request from a viewer for where some improvement for the sake of helping alleviate how convoluted the story is
definitely agree
Thanks!
People should keep in mind that A LOT of criminals are convicted on circumstantial evidence, and that circumstantial evidence is still evidence.
If you go outside and see snow on the ground you only have circumstantial evidence that it snowed the night before.
Circumstantial evidence doesn't mean bad evidence but if you want to remove all 'reasonable doubt' it is pretty useful to have direct evidence or a LOT of circumstantial evidence.
I remember watching the first few episodes on Netflix about this case. It’s horrific to hear phone calls and interviews..watching this video, all I can hear is the 911 call when the boating accident happened. The fear, anguish, and panic in their voices is engraved into my brain..
That’s why it’s so important to teach kids and young adults to respect mother, nature, and have a respect for consequences.
theres just a netflix show about everything, huh
@@adog3129 it's not really a "show" it's a docu-series, and they're great ways to get info on true crime. Don't know if you've ever tried, but following the trial yourself and gathering up all the evidence yourself in alot of cases is really really hard and time consuming
@@adog3129 a intense, multi-part one in this case. It digs deep too.
Just came here from Penguinz0. I like how you break it down with just the facts and no annoying music or voice changer, etc. New sub!
Every time I hear "Cousin Eddie" I think Randy Quaid and Shltter's full! AND it actually applies here...
I live an hour south of where they live. The Murdaughs have been a regular headline in the local news since the boating incident.
I was wondering if you all were going to cover this.
"Double murder expert OJ Simpson"
I'm dead😂😂😂😂
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
In 2023 , always is closer than sometimes
Nicely done, Spencer! I've been ignoring the trial because, no offense to either of you guys, the whole of the whole Legalese world bores the snot out of me but I don't think my mind wandered even once with yr presentation.
Good show, old chap, good show.
I like that LegalEagle is becoming more like a legal team. Feels maybe a bit more representative of reality that way.
It's interesting--and a little nerve-wracking--to learn just how much of a case relies on the art of persuasion.
As always, top tier content 🔥
Yikes. That is a crazy true crime story. Really enjoying the second voice on the channel!
FYI, at around 4:49 mark, you mention that AM was the witness to Gloria S.'s fall. I think Maggie and Paul were present since they were on the 911 call. Alex may have arrived after, but it didn't appear like AM was on the 911 call that reported the initial Gloria incident. Good vid.
Loved the way he admitted on the stand to a long laundry list of individuals and others he's lied to. Loved it more when he said " and I continued to lie" after admitting he lied in first interview.