Murdaugh Murder Mayhem: The Latest on Alex Murdaugh with Joshua Schiffer

Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum

iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline

True Crime

4.4 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 7 February 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Murdaugh family is an affluent American family that has lived in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina. Alex Murdaugh, 55, is sentenced to life in prison with no parole for the 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul. He and his legal team have sought to overturn the verdict and request a new trial, arguing court clerk, Becky Hill tampered with the jury.

Joshua Schiffer is an attorney providing legal services covering Criminal Defense, Personal Injury. Listeners can learn more about Joshua Schiffer at his website: https://chancoschiffer.com/

In this episode of Zone 7, Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum talks with Joshua Schiffer to analyze and explain the ethics violations, legal strategies, and potential outcomes of the latest updates of Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial. They also shed light on the challenges faced by the jury, and the potential for systemic reforms in the wake of technological advancements and societal shifts.

Show Notes:

[0:00] Welcome back to Zone 7 with Crime Scene Investigator, Sheryl McCollum.
[0:10] Background of the Murdaugh double murder case
[3:20] Sheryl welcomes guest and attorney, Joshual Schiffer back to the listeners
[6:00] Clerk of court accused of tampering with the jurors
[12:15] Insight into the cultural dynamics of the rural South
[13:50] “This is the asterisk on our justice system because we didn't fulfill the promises strictly. We didn't abide by our oaths completely. And if you've got that, you've gotta question the integrity of the whole process.”
[16:30] Examination of potential jury influence and courtroom integrity
[20:15] Interests in the outcome of the trial… to write a book
[25:45] Analysis of the Sixth Amendment and trial rights
[35:30] The importance of the rules when being a part of the jury
[37:30] The implications of technology on the justice system
[43:45] The role of mass media in shaping public opinion pre-trial
[49:10] “The reason I talk to myself is because I'm the only one whose answers I accept.” - GC
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Sheryl “Mac” McCollum is an Emmy Award-winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnLine, Forensic and Crime Scene Expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, and a CSI for a metro Atlanta Police Department. She is the co-author of the textbook., Cold Case: Pathways to Justice. Sheryl is also the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a collaboration between universities and colleges that brings researchers, practitioners, students and the criminal justice community together to advance techniques in solving cold cases and assist families and law enforcement with solvability factors for unsolved homicides, missing persons, and kidnapping cases.

You can connect and learn more about Sheryl’s work by visiting the CCIRI website https://coldcasecrimes.org

Social Links:

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @ColdCaseTips
Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	A prominent legal dynasty in South Carolina's low country is obliterated by murder, by somebody inside the family.
0:22.0	Alec Murdoch was convicted of the double murder of his wife and youngest son,
0:29.2	Margaret and Paul.
0:32.0	Alex's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all prosecutors for over 90 years.
0:40.3	At the time of the murder, the legacy was set to continue because Alec was a current lawyer
0:48.3	and his oldest son Bubba was in law school.
0:52.3	The double murder trial was right at a central casting for a southern courtroom scene.
1:00.0	Granddaddy's portrait hung in the courthouse, right there on the wall.
1:04.3	There were nicknames, there was the lifestyle everybody's come to understand.
1:09.3	Drugs were involved, scams were involved, other possible murders were involved.
1:16.2	And then there was the accents.
1:18.8	The low country was on full display and the drama, honey, it unfolded over money,
1:26.2	scamming, murder for hire, financial crimes.
1:29.6	It was just a lattice of suspicious deaths tied to this pillar of the community.
1:38.0	It was a morass of a case.
1:41.4	Six weeks of testimony.
1:48.4	Six weeks, y'all. And they found Alec Murdoch guilty. The defense at trial said the state had built a case on, quote, theories and conjecture.
1:56.5	But then there was a video. And on that video that was taken on Paul's phone, the victim, the youngest child, you could hear three voices.
2:07.8	Clearly, Paul, Margaret, and Alec.
2:12.8	And Alec had said he wasn't there.
2:14.8	He didn't see them prior to the murders.
2:17.0	And yet there it was. It blew his alibi to peace. Alec had said he wasn't there, he didn't see them prior to the murders,
	...

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