Alex Murdaugh trial live updates: Defence seeks mistrial as housekeeper recalls cleaning after murders
Alex Murdaugh’s housekeeper was told to clean the house on morning after murders
Alex Murdaugh’s housekeeper gave emotional testimony at his murder trial on Friday – revealing that she cleaned what she described as “unusual” items found around the family home on the morning after the killings.
Blanca Simpson, who was the Murdaugh family housekeeper for several years, testified that Mr Murdaugh asked her to come to the house on 8 June 2021 – hours after the murders – to make the house “the way Maggie liked”.
When she went to the house, she noticed several “very unusual” things including pots being in the fridge instead of on the stove or sink and Maggie’s pyjamas lying “neatly in the middle of the doorway” of the laundry room.
In the shower room, she found a pair of khaki pants which she then put in the wash.
On the morning of 7 June, she had seen Mr Murdaugh wearing a pair of pair of khaki pants, she testified.
The defence briefly asked for a mistrial, objecting to what it said was hearsay. The judge denied it.
This comes at the end of a chaotic week which included a bomb threat, a controversial GoFundMe account – and the Murdaugh family’s bad behaviour in court.
Murdaugh family warned they will be thrown out of murder trial
Alex Murdaugh’s family members have been warned that they will be thrown out of his murder trial after his surviving son Buster appeared to “flip the bird” at a witness.
The family members have already been moved to the back of the courtroom in Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina – and are now only one wrong move away from being booted out altogether.
Rachel Sharp has the details.
Oliver O’Connell11 February 2023 03:30
Housekeeper never saw Murdaugh clothes after killings
Alex Murdaugh‘s housekeeper testified Friday at his double murder trial that she never saw the shirt and shoes the disgraced attorney was wearing in a video hours before his son and wife were killed after their deaths.
Prosecutors were trying to explain why certain expected things — like bloody clothes — have still not been put into evidence after three weeks of trial.
Oliver O’Connell11 February 2023 01:30
Murdaugh asked housekeeper to clean home morning after murders
Alex Murdaugh asked his housekeeper to clean the family home on the morning after the murders of his wife and son – and then tried to get their stories straight about what clothes he was wearing before the killings.
Blanca Simpson, who worked as the Murdaugh family housekeeper for several years, gave dramatic courtroom testimony in Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Friday morning.
Oliver O’Connell10 February 2023 23:30
Court adjourns for the weekend.
The trial will resume at 9.30am on Monday morning.
Oliver O’Connell10 February 2023 21:59
Mr Tuten says he was not aware that Paul’s replacement 300 Blackout rifle was missing and was the alleged murder weapon until the trial.
He had assumed that Buster’s rifle was Paul’s as he used it so often (it was different in that it had a thermal scope on it which the replacement for Paul did not).
Mr Tuten says that after the boat crash, Paul got threats on social media. Asked if Maggie did, he says he does not know.
We also learn that when he was working outside with his hands he would often put his phone in his back pocket.
When he was killed, his phone was found resting on his back by that pocket.
Oliver O’Connell10 February 2023 21:55
During cross-examination, Mr Tuten is asked about the people in Mr Murdaugh’s office when he would drop off the cash he had brought from Palmetto State Bank.
Defence: “Are you suggesting he was giving [police chief] Greg Alexander money?”
Mr Tuten: “I’m not suggesting anything.”
Oliver O’Connell10 February 2023 21:52
After the murders, Mr Tuten drove Mr Murdaugh to the airport to visit Maggie’s family in Florida.
Mr Murdaugh told him he wanted to clear Paul’s name in the boat crash case.
Oliver O’Connell10 February 2023 21:45
Mr Tuten also testifies that he assisted Jeanne Seckinger in her investigation into Mr Murdaugh’s thefts from the firm and its clients.
Oliver O’Connell10 February 2023 21:43
Mr Tuten is asked if people would be in Mr Murdaugh’s office when he brought the cash back from Palmetto State Bank.
He identifies local police chief Greg Alexander as being there as well as Mr Murdaugh’s friends Cory Fleming and Chris Wilson.
A few weeks before the murders he was no longer asked to cash any more checks.
Oliver O’Connell10 February 2023 21:41
Mr Tuten also worked as a runner for Mr Murdaugh’s law firm, PMPED from 2019 until May 2022. He was there throughout the murders and in the aftermath of Mr Murdaugh’s termination from the firm when his theft from clients was discovered.
We learn that one of Mr Tuten’s duties was to deliver court documents and cash checks for Mr Murdaugh on a regular basis and bring the cash back to his office from Palmetto State Bank.
Oliver O’Connell10 February 2023 21:39
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