Compelling Facts with Many More to Come:
No Notes.
From the first day, the judge instructed the jury that no notes were to be taken during this highly technical and complex trial of six weeks duration.
Murdaugh planned the murders in advance.
The prosecution maintained that Alex Murdaugh used the trip to his parents' house as an alibi in the detailed plan he had concocted to kill Maggie and Paul. In fact, Mrs. Barbara Mixon, was a long-time employee of forty-plus years of the Murdaugh's family, and she testified that she placed a call to Alex on the afternoon of the murders. (This call placed by Mrs. Mixon to Murdaugh at 3:58:39 P.M. is in the call log of Alex Murdaugh). She testified that she told Murdaugh that his mother, Miss Libby, who was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, was upset because she had found out Alex's father had been admitted to the hospital in Savannah that afternoon. Barbara Mixon said his mother was "agitated" and "crying" and she asked Murdaugh to come to Almeda that night to comfort Miss Libby. Alex Murdaugh told her he would.
Alex Murdaugh had already told Maggie and Paul he would meet them at Moselle to straighten out the "mess" C. B. Rowe, the groundskeeper, had created when Rowe inadvertently killed off a very large sunflower field that Paul had had as a project for the upcoming dove shoot in the fall. (Doves are attracted to sunflowers.) So the state's proffer that Murdaugh had planned his alibi well in advance by planning to commit the murders and then go to his mother's house as an alibi again is a real stretch.
The prosecution were keenly aware that Mrs. Mixon had asked Alex to come to Almeda that night by chance. Are we to believe that he schemed between those less than five hours to kill Maggie and Paul and then use the trip that had just come up as an alibi? Additionally, on the day of the murders he was in his office late in the day and then meet Paul at Moselle where they were together until Maggie arrived for dinner (affirmed by the timeline presented at the trial). Could he have planned and executed all this in those scant hours? The state's position that Murdaugh created the alibi well in advance by visiting his mother's house falls apart in light of Ms. Mixon's testimony.
Moreover, it is doubtful that Murdaugh would have been planning to go to visit Almeda that night as he and Maggie had been there the night before. They had brought "Handsome", Alex's father's nickname, his favorite raspberry donut from Krispy Kreme in Columbia, South Carolina when they returned to Moselle.
Were there other suspects?
Why was there a must fought-over protective order granted by the judge in favor of the prosecution on August 22, 2023? The granting of this motion in late December, 2023 was a defeat. The ultimate outcome of the protective motion thwarted the defense from introducing any evidence that might indicate someone else, other than Alex Murdaugh, could be responsible for the killing of his wife, Maggie, and his son, Paul. Who had what to hide?
More questions about DNA
Why did the defense have to file motions to have access to the DNA that the State withheld? The DNA under Maggie Murdaugh's nails did not match Alex Murdaugh's DNA and she had had her nails done only hours before the murders. Maggie had driven straight home from the salon that evening. This extraordinary fact was treated as nothing to see here, just "transfer DNA" - move on. Much more to come on the DNA story. Many more facts that were under-reported or not paid any attention to, were, as a result of the breathtaking attitude of the prosecution, ignored. Again, move on nothing to see here.
A thought: Politics and the Media Game Did this trial succumb to partisan politics that we are now witnessing all too often at play in this country? Murdaugh and his family were reasonably powerful Democrats, and his attorneys are Democrats as well. In fact, one attorney is a senator in the South Carolina State House and a past two-time chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, but he was defeated in the primary, in June 2024 after decades of service. It is said that Richard (Dick) Harpootlian can be arrogant and occasionally offend a jury – is that why he asked the jury to not hold his demeanor against his client, Alex Murdaugh?
On the other hand, Alan Wilson, an elected Republican Attorney General, who attended the trial most days and even took over questioning from the lead prosecutor of a key witness in the televised trial, is the son of the powerful United States Congressman, Joe Wilson (R SC). Some say Attorney General Wilson has ambitions for a higher office and the siren call of a televised trial was more than he could resist.
Did Alex Murdaugh, the self-avowed drug addict and self-avowed thief, become the trophy to be awarded at the end of the trial? Where were the probing media who were not being fed tidbits by both sides? Most, unfortunately, remained unaware or could not separate themselves from their leaked morsels of scoops favoring one side or the other as the under-covered machinations were taking place back of house beyond public view? A fair trial? That remains open to debate and appeals.
About Shay McNeal
Passionate and Dedicated
Shay McNeal is passionate about creating compelling fact-based books that engage and inform readers. With a strong work ethic and a commitment to excellence, Shay McNeal is known as a whip-smart renaissance woman who is fearless when calling balls and strikes as she sees them.
McNeal has been fortunate to have gained access to many in the Murdaugh story. Her contact list is impressive and extensive. Her conclusions are, in part, as a result of what she has learned over the months from those who were either a party to the events of that night, or close to the investigation or the Murdaugh family. Who knew when she sat behind Alex Murdaugh and to his right in the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, that the trial and its outcome would become her single focus over the next sixteen plus months. The Closing Argument: Unraveling the Alex Murdaugh Mystery and Verdict is the compilation of her work. It is compelling.
During her professional career, she has been listed in numerous Who's Who over the years, and is the winner of countless awards for excellence in advertising and marketing for domestic and international clients. She really enjoyed heading up, as a political consultant, the media campaign that led to the defeat of David Duke, the former neo-Nazi and Klansman in the closely contested Louisiana Governor's race.
After running on the fast track of the media world, she wrote her first book, The Secret Plot to Save the Tsar. Its successful initial release in the United Kingdom landed the book at the top of Amazon's list for weeks. The book also received many positive reviews, including an almost full page review in The Sunday Times, in London.
Finishing a lengthy book tour, she settled down at her farm, Aspen Dale, in Northern Virginia. A new challenge emerged. A few years on she taught herself to make wine and founded Aspen Dale Winery at the Barn. Ultimately, she won the best Cabernet Sauvignon and the best Sauvignon Blanc on the East Coast, presented by the American Wine Society, on Capitol Hill at the Cannon House Building in Washington, D.C. She sold the winery in 2012.
Continuing to write, she became Associate Publisher of The Charleston Mercury, in Charleston, South Carolina where she published a column, Meet You in the Middle for over 13 years. On October 22, 2018, she published a very prescient book, entitled, The Road to Trump: How Failure to Meet in the Middle Fueled Trump's Rise and the Resurgence of China and Russia. The book is a compilation of her columns with emphasis on China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran; highlighting decisions made in the global body politics that led to the election of Donald Trump amid a climate ripe for turmoil both here at home, in the United States, and across the world.
Shay has spent the last 16 months examining the Alex Murdaugh case.