The Alex Murdaugh Defense Team's Most Compelling Arguments This Week, with Peter Tragos — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:03what do you think was the biggest
3. 0:05testimony we we got this week I know
4. 0:08they introduced some police
5. 0:10interrogation tapes that we had never
6. 0:11seen before it definitely seemed like
7. 0:13the cops knew early on he had changed
8. 0:16outfits on the day of the murder and
9. 0:18that he wasn't necessarily being
10. 0:19forthcoming about that they they showed
11. 0:21him the Snapchat video his son Paul a
12. 0:26murder victim one of the two had taken
13. 0:28in which you can hear Alex voice like
14. 0:31they seemed to know Alec was guilty or
15. 0:34at least a suspect early on but what
16. 0:37stood out to you is like the most
17. 0:39interesting piece of evidence introduced
18. 0:40this week
19. 0:41so if we're talking this week the
20. 0:43biggest piece of evidence is definitely
21. 0:44that video that puts him at the scene at
22. 0:468 44 which is right around when the
23. 0:48murders occurred but this week to me and
24. 0:50I'm on an island a little bit talking
25. 0:51about this case because you know as a
26. 0:53lawyer looking at our Criminal Justice
27. 0:55System Beyond A Reasonable Doubt is
28. 0:57important and and prosecutors need to be
29. 0:58held to that standard and this was one
30. 1:00of the worst investigations I've ever
31. 1:02seen for sled not why that happened who
32. 1:04knows Alex connections was it a good old
33. 1:06boys club were they trying not to let it
34. 1:07happen or did they just drop the ball I
35. 1:09don't know but the most important
36. 1:11evidence this week was from the lead
37. 1:12investigator I think Owen was his last
38. 1:14name and during the cross-examination
39. 1:17they basically went through the entire
40. 1:18defenses theory of the case how they
41. 1:22really didn't do anything that they were
42. 1:24supposed to in this case they didn't
43. 1:25protect the crime scene people were
44. 1:27walking through it there was law
45. 1:28enforcement uh bloody footsteps
46. 1:30throughout they didn't search the house
47. 1:32appropriately they just kind of walked
48. 1:33through and didn't gather any real
49. 1:34evidence they didn't search the mom's
50. 1:36house which was his entire Alibi he said
51. 1:39he was at the mom's house when the
52. 1:40murders occurred they never searched it
53. 1:42and he was letting them do he was
54. 1:43cooperating fully with them they had
55. 1:45this video where you mentioned he had
56. 1:47different clothes on that seems really
57. 1:48important to URI right so it would be
58. 1:51important to try to find those clothes
59. 1:52right we find out they never did
60. 1:54anything to try to find those clothes
61. 1:55they never asked where those clothes
62. 1:56were they never looked for those clothes
63. 1:58yeah they never found them but that's
64. 2:00because they never looked for him and
65. 2:02when we talk about the missing weapons
66. 2:03they didn't walk the 16 minute drive
67. 2:06from Mosel where the murders occurred to
68. 2:08the mom's house in Alameda they dropped
69. 2:10the ball left and right and even so far
70. 2:13as to say they thought the white shirt
71. 2:15that we all know now has no blood
72. 2:17basically and no DNA on it and expert
73. 2:20said there was blood spatter the chief
74. 2:22lead investigator told the grand jury
75. 2:24there was blood spatter to indict Alec
76. 2:26Murdoch now we know confirmed by state
77. 2:28witnesses there was no blood spatter on
78. 2:30that shirt which is why it seems like
79. 2:32they've kind of Switched their angle to
80. 2:34he must have changed because for a long
81. 2:36time in this investigation they thought
82. 2:38that white shirt he was wearing that
83. 2:40looked so clean to the naked I had blood
84. 2:42spatter on it to prove that he must have
85. 2:44been close enough to pull the trigger to
86. 2:46get the blood or biological material on
87. 2:48his shirt the investigation was was
88. 2:50pretty piss-poor if you ask me
89. 2:52um I this the sled uh maintenance of the
90. 2:55murder scene in the wake of the crime
91. 2:58was absolutely abhorrent that they've
92. 2:59done a good job of bringing that out
93. 3:01even through the state's Witnesses and
94. 3:03you raised a good question about why why
95. 3:05is that because Alec Murdock is a very
96. 3:06very well connected man his family
97. 3:08basically ran this town for a century
98. 3:11and there might have been a oh you know
99. 3:14let's take care of him and not
100. 3:17suspecting him but soon they got onto
101. 3:20his Trail and we're hearing some of that
102. 3:22in the examinations of Alex Murdoch
103. 3:24hasn't taken the stand but they he did
104. 3:26give interviews and this one was from
105. 3:28August 11 2021 that's uh two months
106. 3:30after the murders where they're asking
107. 3:33him about the Snapchat video that his
108. 3:35son took that he Alec clearly did not
109. 3:37know that his son had taken this
110. 3:39Snapchat video of him there's two videos
111. 3:40there's one in which Alec is uh I'm
112. 3:43sorry Paul the murder victim is handling
113. 3:45dogs and you can clearly hear Alec in
114. 3:47the background it places Alec at the dog
115. 3:49kennels where the murders took place
116. 3:50something Alec denied he never went to
117. 3:51you on the day the murder and and then
118. 3:54there's a Snapchat video that shows um
119. 3:57that shows Alec Murdock with his son on
120. 4:00scene the day of the murder in a
121. 4:02different outfit from the one that he
122. 4:03would later be talking to police in so
123. 4:05so every time he's confronted with
124. 4:07something like this he starts asking law
125. 4:08enforcement questions like when was that
126. 4:10when was that video and they're they're
127. 4:12saying well it was at dusk because it
128. 4:14was still kind of light out I thought
129. 4:15you told us to change he's like I
130. 4:16thought I would have changed before then
131. 4:18they're like well clearly he didn't
132. 4:20change before then so when did you
133. 4:21change and he would ask them a lot of
134. 4:23questions again very clearly trying to
135. 4:25put together his alibi problem is I
136. 4:28think law enforcement could have blown
137. 4:29it out of the water if they would have
138. 4:30done a proper investigation because it
139. 4:32seems like that's exactly what he was
140. 4:33doing putting this Alibi together
141. 4:34talking to Witnesses after the fact
142. 4:36trying to get stories straight after
143. 4:37he's confronted with this he goes and
144. 4:39talks to Blanca about what shirt he was
145. 4:41wearing that day to try to get their
146. 4:43story straight Shelley Smith caregiver
147. 4:45he's trying to get how long he was at
148. 4:46Mom's house what uh for to try to get
149. 4:48the story State straight but I think the
150. 4:51prosecution and sled mostly dropped the
151. 4:53ball by not actually looking in to each
152. 4:57of these problems when they actually had
153. 4:58an opportunity to right after the
154. 5:00murders occurred and so the defense is
155. 5:02making it look like you guys can't prove
156. 5:04anything there's all these possibilities
157. 5:05and could have happened and would have
158. 5:07happened and maybe happened but you
159. 5:08haven't proved anything beyond A
160. 5:10Reasonable Doubt and I think they
161. 5:11actually have for as bad of a character
162. 5:12as Alec Murdock is for these murder
163. 5:14charges I think they actually have a
164. 5:16pretty decent argument that there is
165. 5:18reasonable doubt in this case oh my
166. 5:20goodness all right we have our sod 18
167. 5:21let's listen there was a
168. 5:31enhancing address here
169. 5:34playing with a tree but I mean the
170. 5:37question in that is when I met you that
171. 5:39night you were in shorts and a t-shirt
172. 5:41at what point and that evening did you
173. 5:43change clothes
174. 5:48I'm not sure uh you know it would have
175. 5:52been
176. 5:54before dinner after dinner that would
177. 5:56have been
178. 5:58what time of day was that I would have
179. 6:00thought out already changed well there's
180. 6:02not a time but I want to say it looks to
181. 6:05be about dusk
182. 6:07so that would have been 7 30 8 o'clock
183. 6:11I guess that changed when I got back to
184. 6:13the house
185. 6:15that change of clothes is going to be
186. 6:17important he's clearly there was a
187. 6:18change of clothes his defense is going
188. 6:20to argue what it was hot in South
189. 6:21Carolina he was doing yard work he
190. 6:23changed but you could see he's on his
191. 6:25heels there he didn't realize there was
192. 6:26a video showing the change of clothing
193. 6:28we've had testimony by the housekeeper
194. 6:30finding the shower and the wet towel in
195. 6:33the house and those clothes the first
196. 6:34the first clothes have never been found
197. 6:36and you say the prosecution you know
198. 6:37they should have introduced something
199. 6:39about it's their burden of proof but you
200. 6:41know the truth is for us if he's really
201. 6:43innocent why wouldn't he just go find
202. 6:45those clothes and say here they are they
203. 6:47have no blood on them he doesn't have
204. 6:49the burden of proof but you and I know
205. 6:50his commentators if he had those clean
206. 6:52clothes with no blood on them we'd be
207. 6:53seeing them
208. 6:55yeah and some some other stuff has come
209. 6:57out that potentially could be good for
210. 6:59them that's coming out during the trial
211. 7:00with some of his GM data on his car and
212. 7:02I believe you're right about that but
213. 7:04this was an exact question asked to
214. 7:06agent Owens in I think redirect where he
215. 7:09said they didn't tell you to go search
216. 7:10Alameda which was where he was during
217. 7:12his Alibi the mother's house they didn't
218. 7:13give you the clothes things like that
219. 7:15and then on recross the defense attorney
220. 7:17made a good point is it the suspect's
221. 7:19job to do this investigation for you and
222. 7:21I think on in closing argument we've
223. 7:23made closing arguments like this in in
224. 7:24cases where we've defended in criminal
225. 7:26defense cases where they can sit there
226. 7:28and point the finger at us all day but
227. 7:29if they didn't do their job and prove
228. 7:31the case the law says you've got to come
229. 7:33back with not guilty if you have
230. 7:34Reasonable Doubt based on that and
231. 7:35that's the big issue in this case we can
232. 7:37sit here and he's going to prison for
233. 7:39the rest of his life we have seen the
234. 7:40financial crimes evidence entered into
235. 7:43this case slam dunk
236. 7:45absolutely Beyond a reasonable doubt
237. 7:47he's going to get convicted for those so
238. 7:48he's going to prison forever I'm just
239. 7:49not sure they can prove he did this
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