This Morning’s Top Headlines – March 2 | Morning News NOW

We begin with the latest developments in the Alec Murdock double murder trial with the defense set to present their closing arguments

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morning

. Yes, prosecutor Creighton Waters yesterday delivered the state's closing arguments against the disbarred South Carolina attorney Murdoch is accused of murdering his wife Maggie. and his son Paul during his testimony Waters again argued to the jury that the evidence in the case shows Murdoch carried out the murders, prosecutors said all in an effort to mask his financial problems he had avoided accountability his entire life he had trusted in his last name he had a powerful family he wore a badge and used that authority he lived a rich life but now he was finally faced with total ruin and he couldn't live for that he is the kind of person for whom shame is an extraordinary provocation throughout the entire life. case Murdoch's defense team has rejected the prosecution's theory behind Murdoch's motive, arguing that the prosecution has not shown evidence to show how Murdoch would benefit financially from the deaths of his wife and son.

Yes,

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all comes about when the jury had to do something that few of them ever got to do, they toured the Murdoch family property where these murders occurred. We have our team here to discuss the latest on the Murdoch trial. NBC News legal analyst Stanley Cevallos and trial consultant Richard Gabriel are both on standby to help guide us through all of these developments, but first, let's turn to NBC News correspondent Ellison Barber, who lives outside from the courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, with more Ellison, good

morning

, yes, good morning, Allison, so to begin, good morning, can you walk us through the key takeaways from the prosecution's closing arguments yesterday?

Yes I say it seriously. It was complicated, these were very long closing arguments, this has been a very long trial, but what you heard, uh, the prosecutors said a lot in their closing comments, a storm was brewing, he described this storm that he said was exerting so much pressure on Alec Murdoch that he felt that his only way out, his only chance to buy himself some time to cover his tracks was to kill his family and really, when they were talking about that coming storm, they were breaking it down into three key motivating factors. , they said one was this financial crime story specifically a legal case he had been working on within his firm where people had started to notice that the legal fees he had received were missing from his firm his colleagues were asking questions they were starting to investigating it then there was a boat accident in 2019 where his son Paul was accused of driving the boat that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach, a boat that was owned by Elec Murdoch.

He was named as a defendant in a multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit, the attorney in that case testified. that once Elec Murdoch's family was dead, the case against him essentially ended because he was too sympathetic to one defendant and they had other, more culpable defendants they would have to move forward with in that case. The third thing in that gathering storm, they say, was the fact that Elec Murdoch's father was dying, someone he trusted, someone he was close to, they say all of that was too much for Elick Murdoch to bear and his The only way out was to kill both his son and his wife.

They also said, "Hey, look at his history, listen and remember everything you've heard from people who knew him so well who say that Murdoch-elect's life was basically a Ponzi scheme and that he was a skilled lawyer and every time Things got difficult, he manipulated and lied. Listen to everyone who thought they were close to him. Who thought he knew who he was? He fooled them all and he fooled Maggie and Paul too and they paid for it with their lives. Don't let Let him fool you too and remember that much of the prosecution's case has focused on the GPS data cell phone data they say look at the timeline look at the technology there is only one person who could have been there that night and There is only one person who had the means, motive and opportunity and prosecutors say it was Elec Murdock Sinclair Stephen Yes, prosecutors were very insistent on that timeline in their closing arguments yesterday Allison, the jury was able to tour the family property Moselle where these murders actually occurred.

Can you talk to us about what they were actually able to see there? Yes, so they had 30 minutes in because they were seeing that outside of the press, the video that we have access to is because the press was able to see exactly what the jury saw, after they saw it, they were able to see the outside of the main house , which is what we saw. We're seeing here, they were also able to spend time where these murders occurred in the kennels. We have heard a lot of talk from both the prosecution and the defense about the feeding room the size of that space where Paul Murdoch's body was. found at the door and the distance between Paul Murdoch and Maggie Murdoch, the jury was able to walk around and see all of that, our colleagues who were traveling with them, while they were not able to see every moment of what the jury was doing.

They say they could see a juror standing in the doorway of that feeding room looking up and appearing to try to get a sense of the size of that space. There were many things that could be seen, still a little left over from what happened. The important thing here is that there is like a stain on the cement where Paul Murdock was killed, everything else has been cleaned. The state had emphasized that beforehand, saying the crime scene had changed a lot, but the judge ruled at the defense's request. that it was worth it for the jury to have the opportunity to physically see where all this happened Stevens and Clay an unusual move there we're going to talk more about that Ellison thank you very much and we have NBC News legal analyst Danny Savalas on standby to help us walk through this case, also here with us as trial consultant and acquittal author Richard Gabriel to give us an idea of ​​the jury process, so Danny, let's start with you, the prosecution has to show the burden of proof, which seems to be the key phrase .

The burden of proof here after yesterday's closing arguments, is there room for reasonable doubt? We'll see if the defense can create it. I mean, as a defense attorney, what I'm going to insist on if I'm them is that burden of proof. even if you have a graph that I use, then you put up a sort of layered Continuum and say, well, look, even if you think it's very likely that my client is guilty, then you should acquit him, even if you think he's probably guilty, you should acquit him. only if you meet or reach the highest level, the highest burden of proof Beyond a reasonable doubt, which really means excluding a reasonable doubt, then you can convict sometimes, when you're on the defense, it's the only thing you have in your favor and for me.

I venture to say that this is one of those cases where you are going to hear Reasonable Doubt, the burden of proof and the presumption of innocence over and over again, it is what you argue when you don't have much else. and Richard, we know that while we were talking about this, the jury visited that Moselle property where these murders occur. It's not completely unheard of for a jury to do this, but it's pretty rare, how could that influence their decision? Well, it's crucial for jurors. because they want to have an idea of ​​what it is that they have been hearing, everything is two-dimensional and verbal and they are there, they can feel the gravity, they can feel the seriousness and they can measure three basic components.

What is the moment? the distance and the space because they want to know, especially with the opportunity that the feeding space is very small, if he has the opportunity, Kenny actually does it there and then how long will it take him to move into the house? some reason it's not your fault how long it takes you to get there take a nap or if you did you'll be able to shower and you can also if you didn't you can hear the sound of gunshots all of those things can be measured much more when they're in the scene and they have a sense of the physical space and Richard, you touch it.

There has been so much information here that we know that they have even looked at Murdoch's steps in At that time, in addition to a lot of electronic data, of course, they brought information about whether there were multiple shooters, whether it was big enough to fit, as well that Danny, I wonder with the closing arguments expected today, what do you expect to hear? Yes, the state had a challenge. that they had too much evidence and it is difficult Marshal all that the defense on the other hand does not have much they are going to focus on two or three points that came out in the case in Chief and in the case of the defense one of which is the theory of a engineer that one shooter was five feet tall.

Then, the idea that an expert admitted that there may have been more than one shooter is very important because then you can make a good argument to the jury if that is the case. 50 50 50 50 is not a reasonable doubt and thirdly, I don't even know if you can count Murdoch's own theory on the stand, where he expresses the idea that, oh Paul, by the way, he had all these nasty comments on social networks. They put any of those comments on social media, no, and the theory that people on social media commit murder. I mean, friends, I guarantee you that some nasty things have been said about you on social media.

Obviously it's serious if it's a threat, but that kind of theory. without any evidence it is difficult to accept, so they are going to criticize them and then they are going to take the podium with the presumption of innocence of Reasonable Doubt and the prosecution has not met its burden because that is all they have. It will be fascinating to watch and Richard, you obviously know a lot about juries. What do you expect once they enter that room behind that closed door? What are you waiting for there? Well, for the most part, everyone has their ideas straight even before the final arguments.

It's really about arming your defenders in the closing argument, you have to choose who are the people that I think are going to carry the water for me and in order for you to get into the room, they already know more or less who the four people are because the social dynamics that happens in the trial and then it's a matter of them actually negotiating because what happens is they don't know exactly what their positions are, they can go in there and they can say, hey, we're all pretty much in agreement, we might as well Let's say no, we're completely divided here and then it's a matter of "okay" or some people might say we have some real questions that they have to answer, so it's a process of "okay", let's go over the evidence, let's figure it out.

There are two typical types. of the deliberations there is a verdict based on a verdict and a verdict based on evidence the verdict based on evidence is usually a faster verdict because you have to discuss how many yes, how many know, that is usually fast, but the verdict based on the evidence is going through all the evidence and that can take some time, oh, a lot. to dig deeper here, we're all watching it, uh, Danny Savalas and Gabriel, thank you very much. All right, yesterday on Capitol Hill, Attorney General Merrick Garland faced a grilling from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The explosive hearing focused on a variety of topics, including the rise of fentanyl-related deaths and protesters who had gathered outside the homes of conservative justices after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. NBC News Congressional Correspondent Julie Sirkin is with us now with more on all of this, much of what they talked about yesterday. Julian. Senator Cruz. criticized Garland on the issue of protesters leaving the judge's house, explain to us what were the key points that Cruz was trying to make there, yes, well, look, this was Garland's first appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a year, so there was a lot to talk about and essentially think about in his appearance as an annual review before the panel and there were some heavyweights from the Republican side on the panel, including Senator Ted Cruz, who decided to use his moment of questioning to focus on Roe v Wade in Dobbs. and the consequences of that specifically as it relates to security threats made against Supreme Court justices.

Listen to that exchange and we'll talk about it on the other side. If the Justice Department has brought at least a single case under the statute, it's a yes. There is no question, this is not a speech about the other things you did, the job of the United States Marshals is to defend lives, so the answer is no, it is to defend the lives of judges and that is our number one priority. one. I'm not willing to say no, the answer is no, you know it's no, I know it's not, everyone in this courtroom knows it's no, you're not willing to answer a question, as far as I know, have you filed a case yes or no?

We have not done it and what we have done is defend the lives of the judges. Cruz was talking about the attempted assassination of Judge Brett. He also went to crisis pregnancy centers and protesters targeted those areas, so he did Exchange at those times. Yes, I got quite hot. I know there was also a little more heat. Committee members focused on the current issue of those fentanyl-related deaths. ItWhat was happening on that front. Well, this was really interesting because it was one of the moments of agreement between Garland. between Republicans and Democrats on the panel Durbin, who chairs the committee, the top Democrat, actually said he had committed to Lindsey Graham, the ranking member, the top Republican there, to spend equal time discussing gun violence than death from fentanyl, so it was definitely a big topic of the hearing hear one point from Senator Cornyn's questioning cure approximately 71,000 people from fentanyl overdoses do you consider your current policies successful?

We have a huge fentanyl epidemic problem created by intentional acts of the cartels, we are doing everything we can within our resources to fight that, I have personally traveled to Mexico twice to try to get greater cooperation from Mexicans on exactly the problem that you're talking about, yes, certainly, this was a big topic, millions of affected Americans die every year from fentanyl deaths crossing the border and this is a committee that is also looking into immigration issues, so it's important to have it keep in mind when listening to that line of questioning. Garland, okay, Julie Sirkin, thank you so much for breaking that down with the latest on the winter system heading south.

It's not a tour. I'm buying tickets for you. Yeah, I won't be either, but luckily we're in New York, where. I haven't really had much to deal with but we will have a wintry mix working for the next few days but today it's all down to the severe weather concentrating in parts of the south, it will be a real asset in the afternoon and into the early hours night and one that people will want to pay attention to and have a way to receive watches or warnings because there is a possibility of strong tornadoes. This is the system that is to blame for this journey, just like you.

I've said we'll see it run into parts of the Southern Plains, which is where the main focus of the severe weather will be today, but there's the wintry mix that will stretch from parts of the Great Lakes all the way northeast into New England. and the rain extends into parts of the south where we will once again see strong to severe storms tomorrow, eventually we will see this work out and we will have a better weekend for ourselves, but there are many impacts that we will have. We're going to have to keep an eye on it over the next few days, tornado risk, flooding, we've got ice, we've got snow, all of that is going to be something you're going to want to pay attention to depending on where you live, so let's get started.

With the severe weather, this dangerous setup that we're seeing really hits home for places like Shreveport LA, Alexandria Little Rock, that's where we'll see the best chance to see some of these stronger storms and where you see this shadowed or this. striped rather I should say red bubble that's where we have the best opportunity for some of these stronger tornadoes and this is not just a couple of hours this is going to be from the afternoon until the evening and of course until tonight we know that when the When the sun goes down, those tornadoes are much more dangerous than nighttime tornadoes, so keep in mind that if you live in that area and are preparing for tomorrow in the Southeast, you will also need to be on the lookout for strong storms which are not as likely. let him see those tornadoes or as many of them, but we will have to be aware that we have a lot of rain, we have gusty conditions with this and we also have that accumulation of snow and ice that I mentioned for parts of the Northeast and the Gulf or in the Great Lakes, guys, let it snow, let us know, yes, I've been lucky here in New York to not have a lot of snow.

I want the snow, just you snow angels, okay, Angie, thank you. Thank you very much for watching our YouTube channel. Follow today's top stories and breaking

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