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Alex Murdaugh case: Prosecutors allege theft by maid’s family

For much of South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial, witnesses spoke of a generous and loving man — but prosecutors wanted the jury to know that it was he. That man stole more than $4 million from the housekeeper’s relatives after she died at work and murdered his wife and son to cover up his crimes.

Prosecutors asked a judge on Friday to consider allowing the son of Murdaugh’s longtime housekeeper to tell jurors how after she died in a fall at Murdaugh’s home, he promised her family to take care of them and then stole millions of dollars in payments with his insurance company.

Tony Satterfield said his mother has been cleaning Murdaugh’s house, but also babysitting their two sons and doing whatever else they asked for for more than 20 years. She died at the age of 57 weeks after falling and hitting her head in February 2018 on the family’s doorstep.

“Have you ever received a dime from Alex Murdaugh?” Prosecutor Creighton Waters asked Friday.

“No,” Satterfield replied.

Murdaugh, 54, is on trial in the shooting deaths of his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul, on June 7, 2021, at their home in Colleton County. He faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted of murder.

Prosecutors are asking Judge Clifton Newman to allow them to present evidence of Murdaugh stealing money from clients and his law firm to bolster their theory that Murdaugh killed his family for his own money. and buy time because his thefts and huge debts are about to be discovered.

Murdaugh is charged, but has not been tried, with a range of about 100 other counts, including theft, running a drug ring and money laundering, tax evasion and insurance fraud for attempting to settle the his own death so that his surviving son could collect $10 million in life insurance premiums. Police said the fatal shot just grazed Murdaugh’s head.

Newman has yet to rule on how much if any evidence of a financial crime he will allow jurors to try. The issue of whether jurors can hear testimony about financial misconduct is its own mini-trial in the double-murder proceeding.

Satterfield testified that after Murdaugh promised to take care of his butler’s family, he suggested they hire one of his friends – who was also a college roommate and godfather to one of his friends. his sons – as the administrator of his mother’s estate.

Satterfield heard little from Murdaugh until they spoke in June 2021. He said Murdaugh told them they hoped to reach an agreement by the end of the year. Court records show Murdaugh’s insurers paid out more than $4 million for the fall.

“Did you allow him to steal your money?” Waters asked Satterfield.

“No,” he replied.

Griffin asked only a few questions during the cross-examination, but honed on Satterfield’s lack of exact date of the June 2021 conversation. Murdaugh’s wife and son were killed on June 7, 2021. 2021. Paul Murdaugh is shot twice with a shotgun and Maggie Murdaugh is shot four or five times with a rifle.

Although Gloria Satterfield died in an accident, her death was never reported to the Hampton County coroner. State Law Enforcement agents exhumed her body about a year after the deaths of Murdaugh’s son and wife, but never released any findings on the reopening of the case. investigating her death.

Other attorneys have come to the aid of the Satterfield family, and they have collected more than $4 million in settlements from Murdaugh’s friend, the bank linked to Murdaugh, and others.

The jury returned to the courtroom late Friday morning to hear several state agents collect fingerprints and DNA samples and examine the guns, ammunition and handgun ammunition found in the bodies of the victims. core.

Marks on cartridges found near Maggie Murdaugh’s body match those found on fired cartridges discovered near a swath of firearms on the property and elsewhere, implying that they have may have been fired from the same Blackout rifle, State Law Enforcement agent Paul Greer testified.

But the rifle that fired all those rounds has yet to be found, Greer said.

During the cross-examination, defense attorney Jim Griffin asked a number of questions based on scientific advances in matching firearms to fired ammunition. The defense argued that based on new science, ballistics experts cannot say with 100% certainty that there are unique indications that link the gun to the cartridge loaded into the Blackout rifle.

Greer said the bullets recovered from Maggie Murdaugh’s body and those found fired elsewhere on the property were not suitable for testing to see if they came from the same firearm.

“You’re not here to tell the jury that in your opinion any weapon in this courtroom was used to kill Maggie or Paul, are you?” Griffin asks Greer to begin his cross-examination.

Greer answered nearly all of Griffin’s yes or no questions with lengthy explanations stating that the test results were inconclusive or that he had not studied every Blackout rifle in the world.



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