Is anyone watching/following the Alex Murdaugh trial?

[kittylady]

^^ The girlfriend had better not put his name as beneficiary on any life insurance policy. Not saying that he would do anything but better to be safe than sorry.

[dksnj]

So glad they are reopening this investigation. After watching the trial and the documentaries, I wouldn't be surprised if the Murdaugh sons had something to do with this.



What happened to Stephen Smith? Spinoff investigations heat up in wake of Murdaugh family murders

Thursday, March 16, 2023 4:49PM

Stephen Smith's family pushes for new autopsy in wake of Alex Murdaugh guilty verdict

New details as spin-off investigations heat up as disgraced legal scion Alex Mudaugh sits in prison, including the mysterious death of Stephen Smith.

New details as spin-off investigations heat up as disgraced legal scion Alex Mudaugh sits in prison, including the mysterious death of Stephen Smith.

The murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh have sparked new developments in spinoff investigations.

Now, the family of Stephen Smith is pushing for a new autopsy after Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering his wife and son.

"It's not going to bring Stephen back but I will have a piece of mind to know whoever did this is going to pay," Stephen's mother, Sandy Smith, said in a 2021 interview.

During the double murder investigation of Maggie and Paul in 2021, state agents said they found new evidence on another mysterious death, leading police to reopen the case in June 2021 as they look at how the 19-year-old was killed.

Authorities said he was the victim of a hit and run, however, his family always believed something else happened.

"They said he was shot in the head, then it turns out it was a hit and run, and then he was beat up. So, the story just kept changing over and over," Sandy said.

Smith's family is now raising money to exhume his body in hopes of doing an independent autopsy to find out how he died.

State investigators said they have "made progress" in the death investigation, however, adding that the investigation remains active and ongoing. They also have not named any suspects.

Meanwhile, Russell Laffitte, the banker already convicted as an accomplice to Murdaugh's financial crimes, is now asking for a new trial after Alex took the stand in the double murder case and admitted to financial crime after financial crime.

"You keep talking about what I did with Russell Laffitte. But what I want to let you know is that I did this and I'm the one that took people's money that I shouldn't have taken and that Russell was not involved in helping me," Murdaugh said on the stand.

Laffitte's attorneys said Murdaugh's testimony vindicates him.

"I can tell you that Russell Lafitte never conspired with me to do anything. Whatever was done was done by me," Murdaugh added.

"Alex Murdaugh's confession, and essentially saying, listen -- this was something I did, and I did alone -- is essentially new information. New information, new evidence that speaks to motivation that speaks to ability to commit a crime is grounds for a retrial," said Channa Lloyd, managing partner at Cochran Firm.

[lindsaywhit]

Jesus wept - the tentacles of evil on this family!

Was Buster the one rumored to be gay, or was that Paul?

[Sarzy]

^ Buster. He was the one rumoured to have had a relationship with Stephen Smith

[kittylady]

Mar 21, 2023 20:20:54 GMT Sarzy said:

^ Buster. He was the one rumoured to have had a relationship with Stephen Smith

Stephen Smith's death has now been reclassified as homicide.  Wonder if Buster is sweating yet?

[lindsaywhit]

Mar 23, 2023 23:49:49 GMT kittylady said:

Mar 21, 2023 20:20:54 GMT Sarzy said:

^ Buster. He was the one rumoured to have had a relationship with Stephen Smith

Stephen Smith's death has now been reclassified as homicide.  Wonder if Buster is sweating yet?

Unreal! I mean - who would have believed all this if it didn't sort of roll out in front of us? 

Actually - all the families of their victims probably feel like this monstrous clan is finally being exposed. Years of this evil - it both fascinates and repels.

[no1novice]

Alex Murdaugh New 22-Count Indictment ... Allegedly Stole $3.4 Mil from Dead Housekeeper

5/24/2023 7:54 AM PT

Murder's just the tip of the iceberg with Alex Murdaugh ... the feds say he plotted with bank CEOs and other attorneys to plunder millions from clients, and the estate of the housekeeper who died mysteriously in his home.

The feds just dropped a 22-count indictment on the convicted murderer, and according to the docs ... Murdaugh had quite the operation going behind the scenes of his family's personal injury law firm.
Gloria Satterfield

Perhaps the most disturbing charge involves Gloria Satterfield, the Murdaughs' longtime housekeeper, who died in 2018 after an alleged slip and fall -- caused by the Murdaughs' dogs -- in the family's home.

According to the indictment, Murdaugh recommended Gloria's family hire another attorney ... who was one of Murdaugh's close friends.


That lawyer negotiated settlements for Gloria's death from 2 insurance companies -- Lloyds of London and Nautilus Insurance Group -- totaling about $4.3 million. However, the feds say the lion's share of that settlement got funneled into an account Murdaugh set up to look like a legit consulting firm ... but it absolutely was not.



Gloria's family members spoke out in the Netflix documentary, "Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal," and said they never saw a dime of the insurance payouts. This indictment backs that up, and provides an answer for where the money went ... allegedly.

The Satterfields are just one of several of Murdaugh's financial victims, according to the indictment, which details other alleged incidents of pilfering his clients' funds.

He's accused of money laundering, wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.


Of course, Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year for the 2021 murders of his wife and son. He can't get more time behind bars, but the feds can collect money and assets for his victims ... if he's convicted. Again.

[notoriousmkg]

If Fernando Botero had been born in Scotland instead of Colombia, he would have made portraits that looked like this.

[no1novice]

Think he's already meet them...

[trixie]

Is there any money left? I know he wanted the surviving son to get the money. I hope the courts froze his assets so maybe some of his financial victims can recover some $$.

[no1novice]

Murdaugh-linked teen died from ‘single blow to forehead’ and wasn’t dumped at the scene: pathologist
By Social Links for Alyssa Guzman
Published Nov. 22, 2023, 10:57 a.m. ET



An pathologist claims a “single blow to the forehead” killed South Carolina teenager Stephen Smith, who had ties to the Murdaugh family.

Smith was found dead on a county road in July 2015 with a nearly 7½-inch fracture in his skull not far from the Murdaugh family estate.


The 19-year-old’s case was ruled a hit-and-run, before being reclassified as a homicide in 2021 after new evidence was brought forward by police investigating the shooting deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

Forensic pathologist Michelle DuPre, who has performed more than 3,000 autopsies, speculates that a single blow to the forehead killed Smith, she told “48 Hours” in an exclusive clip obtained by The Post.

Because of the location and size of the fracture, she believes he was killed in the roadway, but denies the possibility that Smith was struck in a head-on.

While drawing on a foam head, she showed where the fracture would have been on his forehead.




Steven Smith. 4
Stephen Smith was found dead with a nearly 7½-inch fracture in his skull on a county road in July 2015 — not far from the Murdaugh family estate. Courtesy of Sandy Smith

“That’s 7½ inches almost,” she explains. The teenager also suffered another fracture to the back of his head when it hit the pavement, “splitting his skull,” according to the clip.

Smith was openly gay, and one of the many unfounded rumors which circulated since his death was that he was having a relationship with surviving Murdaugh son Buster. It had also been speculated that Buster and friends beat the nursing student to death with a baseball bat because he was gay.

Both of those rumors have been strongly denied by Buster.

He addressed the issue in the documentary “The Fall of the House of Murdaugh,” saying: “I never had anything to do with his murder and I never had anything to do with him on a physical level of any regard.”

DuPre also says the injuries don’t match Smith being beaten with a baseball bat.

“Those type of injuries would cause something that we call pattern injuries and we don’t see that here. This is a linear fracture,” she said.



Smith’s body did have a little road rash, but DuPre maintains that was “expected.”

She also dismissed that Smith’s body had been dumped there, as rumors had previously claimed.



Earlier this year, it was revealed that a rape kit had been ordered shortly after Smith’s murder, despite his death being classified as a hit-and-run, and an examination of his body for rape was reportedly ordered within 13 hours of the discovery of his remains, according to Mike Duncan, a now-retired corporal with the South Carolina Highway Patrol.


Smith’s mother, Sandy, has wanted a second opinion on her son’s death for years and says all she wants is the “peace in knowing what happened to my son.”

“He’s my world and I’ll fight ’til the end,” she told “48 Hours.”


nypost.com/2023/11/22/news/murdaugh-linked-teen-died-from-single-blow-to-forehead-and-wasnt-dumped-at-the-scene-investigator/

Alex Murdaugh Sentenced to 27 Years for Financial Crimes: 'You Lied, You Cheated, You Stole'

Alex Murdaugh, 55, pleaded guilty earlier this month to 22 financial crimes
By Christine Pelisek
Updated on November 29, 2023 04:16PM EST



Convicted murderer and disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to 27 years in prison Tuesday.

Murdaugh pleaded guilty earlier this month to 22 financial crimes including money laundering, breach of trust and financial fraud, the South Carolina Attorney General's office confirmed to PEOPLE.

"It is unimaginable to me that you have done some of the things you have done," Circuit Judge Clifton Newman said, NBC News reported. "Whether it is you or someone you become upon using drugs or the process of committing crimes over and over, I don't know. I don't even know who I am speaking to now."

During the sentencing, numerous victims who were bilked by Murdaugh confronted the scion of a once-powerful legal family in the South Carolina Lowcountry.
Alex Murdaugh reacts as he addresses the court during his sentencing for stealing from 18 clients, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023, at the Beaufort County Courthouse in Beaufort, S.C

Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP,

“I’m not crying for what he stole from me,” said Murdaugh’s childhood friend Jordan Jinks who was destroyed financially by Murdaugh who stole settlement money from him after a car accident, according to the Associated Press. “I’m crying for what he did to everybody.”

Another victim who spoke out was the son of Murdaugh's longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, who died in a mysterious trip and fall.
Gloria Satterfield
Gloria Satterfield. Brice W. Herndon and Sons Funeral Home

"You lied, you cheated, you stole," Michael "Tony" Satterfield told Murdaugh, NBC News reported. "You betrayed me and my family and everybody else."

Ahead of sentencing, Murdaugh apologized to his own family and his victims.
'Modern-Day Monster' Alex Murdaugh Pleads Guilty to 22 Financial Crimes Ahead of Trial

“I want each of you who spoke to know I listened to you,” he said, per AP. “I heard you. Your pain and hurt is palpable... I promise you it resonates with me.”

“I hope that in time that each of you will be willing to talk to me,” he added. “I would like as time moves on to continue to reiterate just how sorry I am and how important it is to me that you know that.”

people.com

[kittylady]

I truly hope that some day, somehow, Stephen Smith's family is able to get some solid answers about what happened to their son and who was responsible, as well as Gloria Satterfield's family. There's too many deaths surrounding the Murdaugh's and not enough explanations.

[no1novice]

There are explanations - the deaths benefitted the Murdaughs in some way.



But I'll just add this here again

Smith was openly gay, and one of the many unfounded rumors which circulated since his death was that he was having a relationship with surviving Murdaugh son Buster. It had also been speculated that Buster and friends beat the nursing student to death with a baseball bat because he was gay.

Both of those rumors have been strongly denied by Buster.

He addressed the issue in the documentary “The Fall of the House of Murdaugh,” saying: “I never had anything to do with his murder and I never had anything to do with him on a physical level of any regard.”

DuPre also says the injuries don’t match Smith being beaten with a baseball bat.

There was also a tape kit ordered for his body. Time to process that kit eh?

[sputnik]

this whole story is very backwater trump country Shakespearean. i tried following the netlix series and mustering up any interest in it but i can't. everyone involved is awful, uninteresting and ignorant. and ugly to boot. and where they live sounds like hell.

[no1novice]

Alex Murdaugh could get retrial as state supreme court agrees to hear appeal

Disgraced South Carolina attorney found guilty of murder of wife and son accuses court clerk of jury tampering
Anna Betts
Wed 14 Aug 2024 15.36 BST
Last modified on Wed 14 Aug 2024 15.43 BST

The South Carolina supreme court has agreed to hear an appeal from Richard “Alex” Murdaugh for a retrial, after his attorneys accused a court clerk of jury tampering during his criminal trial, providing the latest development in the murder case that gripped the nation last year.

Last March, Murdaugh, the disgraced South Carolina attorney, was found guilty of murder in the 2021 killings of his wife, Maggie, 52, and his 22-year-old son Paul. The televised six-week trial captured the attention of the US public and beyond, and after less than three hours of deliberation, a jury found Murdaugh guilty on two counts of murder and two weapons-related charges. (Murdaugh has denied the charges against him.)

He was sentenced to life in prison shortly after. Several months later, his attorneys appealed for a retrial, accusing the court clerk, Becky Hill, of prejudicing and influencing the jury during the trial.

Murdaugh’s attorneys have accused Hill of telling the jurors not to trust Murdaugh when he testified, “not to be fooled” by the evidence presented by Murdaugh’s defense, giving jurors reporters’ business cards, and pressuring the jurors to reach a guilty verdict quickly, among other things. Hill has denied tampering with the jury.

South Carolina officials also reportedly filed 76 counts of ethics violations against Hill last year, including accusing her of being biased against Murdaugh for the book she published after the verdict, according to the Associated Press.

Hill has since resigned from the Colleton county court, and has been hit with accusations of plagiarism over her book.

Murdaugh’s bid for a new trial was denied by a trial court earlier this year in January, as the judge said that although she was not sure if Hill was telling the truth when she said she never spoke to the jury about the case, the jurors who testified all said that any comments did not directly influence their decision to find Murdaugh guilty, and therefore the judge said that she could not overturn the verdict.

Murdaugh’s lawyers then asked the state supreme court to review the lower court’s decision, and in a new order signed on Tuesday, the South Carolina supreme court justices agreed to take on and hear the appeal, and review the decision.

“The trial court abused its discretion when finding that the jury’s verdict was not affected by Ms Hill’s tampering despite a juror’s uncontradicted testimony that her verdict was affected,” Murdaugh’s lawyers wrote in their filing. “And the trial court erred when it held that deliberate jury tampering by a state official seeking a guilty verdict was harmless because, in its opinion, the correct verdict was rendered regardless.”

As of Wednesday morning, no date had been set for the state supreme court to hear the appeal case.

Murdaugh, who is currently serving life sentences without parole for the killing of his wife and younger son, also pleaded guilty last year to stealing millions of dollars from his legal clients for over a decade. He was sentenced to more than 25 years behind bars for financial crimes last November.


www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/14/alex-murdaugh-retrial