Beleaguered Averhealth Drug Testing Company: Michigan; Major (disturbing) development; From our 'Here we go again' department: This drug-testing company used in child custody cases is under investigation for fraud, Vice News (Corespondent Alice Hines) reports... "Averhealth, a drug testing company used by courts around the country to decide whether people go to jail or parents retain custody of their children, was under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for fraud in 2022, according to emails reviewed by VICE News. Averhealth runs millions of drug tests a year, working with courts and government agencies in 34 states. The DOJ was looking into the company as early as June 2021, according to emails between the DOJ and Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services, (MDHHS), one of the state agencies that contracted with Averhealth. The investigation was still active as of March 2022. The probe led Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services to stop doing business with Averhealth, according to an internal email at the department."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Congrats to Alice Hines on  this superb, eye-opening piece of journalism.

Harold Levy: Publisher. The Charles Smith Blog.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We are struggling to do casework with Averhealth and don’t trust them,” one Michigan Department of Health and Human Services supervisor wrote to her colleagues in January 2021. “We are making BIG decisions, including having parents leave home or removal, and that’s scary to do when you don’t trust who you’re getting services from. Is there a different agency we can use?”

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PASSAGE  ONE OF THE DAY: "Riley’s court testimony was part of a case in which a mother contested a test from Averhealth that came back positive for cannabis, in an effort to regain custody of her kids. The mother submitted drug tests, which came back negative for weed, from an external lab. But the judge ultimately sided with the prosecutor and wouldn’t throw out Averhealth’s results. The judge later terminated the mother’s parental rights. Riley, who’s now director of the forensic toxicology laboratory at Saint Louis University, declined to comment. The emails referencing the DOJ and Michigan attorney general’s investigations were made public as part of a separate lawsuit in Missouri federal court. Multiple parents are suing Averhealth after they say they received false positive results for cocaine and opiates from the company. One of them subsequently lost visitation rights to their children. “I have never used cocaine,” one parent wrote in an email to Averhealth, cited in the complaint. “These results are not accurate. I also lost my overnights with my children and now my visitation is supervised. Averhealth filed a motion to dismiss the original complaint in the Missouri lawsuit. An amended complaint was filed on Jan. 25."

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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "The Missouri lawsuit also contained official letters and internal emails from the College of American Pathologists. In letters the accreditor sent to Averhealth, it placed Averhealth on probation between January and July of 2021 due to improper lab practices—and substantiated allegations made by Riley.  Those included concerns that Averhealth had unacceptable quality assurance in its mass spectrometry confirmatory tests, as well as that it had manipulated the calibration of lab instruments.  “They have adopted acceptance criteria that has no scientific foundation in good practice,” wrote the College of American Pathologist’s investigations analyst, in Dec. 2020.  After reviewing thousands of pages of data, the organization informed Averhealth in a letter on January 29, 2021, that Riley’s allegations were substantiated.  But, in emails to Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services in March 2021, Averhealth continued to say that the issues Riley testified about were non-existent, according to communications obtained by VICE News in a public records request. “Facts prove that the allegations have no basis,” the company wrote in an update to its client—one month after its accreditor substantiated the opposite.'

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STORY: "Drug-Testing Company Used in Child Custody Cases Investigated for Fraud," by Vice News Correspondent Alice Hines, published on January 29 2023.

SUB-HEADING: "The DOJ investigated Averhealth, emails reviewed by VICE News show, after the company’s ex-lab director testified up to 30 percent of its results in Michigan were wrong."

GIST: "Averhealth, a drug testing company used by courts around the country to decide whether people go to jail or parents retain custody of their children, was under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for fraud in 2022, according to emails reviewed by VICE News.

Averhealth runs millions of drug tests a year, working with courts and government agencies in 34 states. 

The DOJ was looking into the company as early as June 2021, according to emails between the DOJ and Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services, (MDHHS), one of the state agencies that contracted with Averhealth. 

The investigation was still active as of March 2022. The probe led Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services to stop doing business with Averhealth, according to an internal email at the department. 

The DOJ investigation gathered information about court testimony, given by Averhealth’s former lab director Sarah Riley in 2021, that up to 30 percent of the results reported to the state of Michigan’s child welfare agency were wrong, both false positives or false negatives. 

As VICE News previously reported, Riley testified Averhealth was botching the quality controls that ensure lab instruments are properly calibrated. The company denies those claims.

The DOJ would not comment on the investigation, including whether it was concluded or ongoing. Neither would Averhealth. 

The Michigan attorney general was also investigating the company in 2021, according to an internal email sent by a lawyer in the office involved with the investigation. The state attorney general’s office wouldn’t comment on the investigation. 

Averhealth told VICE News that its contract with Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services, which handles the state’s child welfare cases, remains in place, although the state has stopped sending samples to process. 

The company also said that the Michigan attorney general had not contacted it as part of an investigation. 

Riley, a forensic toxicologist, was hired to oversee Averhealth’s central lab, where samples are processed and tested, in Sept. 2020. She quit in November that same year. Riley also filed a complaint with Averhealth’s accreditor, the College of American Pathologists, about what she said were unacceptable lab practices. 

"I know that there were false positives  reported based on the practices," Riley testified.

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Bet‌ ‌Respon“I know that there were false positives reported based on the practices,” Riley testi

In a statement to VICE News, Averhealth said the College of American Pathologists “determined that Dr. Riley’s allegations were unfounded.” Averhealth also said the College of American Pathologists never asked them to correct any results. 

But a letter from the accreditor to Averhealth, reviewed by VICE News, shows that the College of American Pathologists actually substantiated Riley’s allegations.

Riley’s court testimony was part of a case in which a mother contested a test from Averhealth that came back positive for cannabis, in an effort to regain custody of her kids. The mother submitted drug tests, which came back negative for weed, from an external lab. But the judge ultimately sided with the prosecutor and wouldn’t throw out Averhealth’s results. 

The judge later terminated the mother’s parental rights. Riley, who’s now director of the forensic toxicology laboratory at Saint Louis University, declined to comment.

The emails referencing the DOJ and Michigan attorney general’s investigations were made public as part of a separate lawsuit in Missouri federal court. Multiple parents are suing Averhealth after they say they received false positive results for cocaine and opiates from the company. One of them subsequently lost visitation rights to their children. 

“I have never used cocaine,” one parent wrote in an email to Averhealth, cited in the complaint. “These results are not accurate. I also lost my overnights with my children and now my visitation is supervised.”

Averhealth filed a motion to dismiss the original complaint in the Missouri lawsuit. An amended complaint was filed on Jan. 25.

The Missouri lawsuit also contained official letters and internal emails from the College of American Pathologists. In letters the accreditor sent to Averhealth, it placed Averhealth on probation between January and July of 2021 due to improper lab practices—and substantiated allegations made by Riley. 

Those included concerns that Averhealth had unacceptable quality assurance in its mass spectrometry confirmatory tests, as well as that it had manipulated the calibration of lab instruments. 

“They have adopted acceptance criteria that has no scientific foundation in good practice,” wrote the College of American Pathologist’s investigations analyst, in Dec. 2020. 

After reviewing thousands of pages of data, the organization informed Averhealth in a letter on January 29, 2021, that Riley’s allegations were substantiated. 

But, in emails to Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services in March 2021, Averhealth continued to say that the issues Riley testified about were non-existent, according to communications obtained by VICE News in a public records request.

“Facts prove that the allegations have no basis,” the company wrote in an update to its client—one month after its accreditor substantiated the opposite.

“Averhealth has been certified by CAP since 2016 and has maintained this certification without interruption since that date,” the company told VICE News in a statement.

 “A non-routine inspection was conducted by CAP in May 2021 and a few areas were identified that needed improvement, which is common in inspections. Since then, we have successfully completed a CAP inspection in April 2022 and a CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) inspection in July 2022 with zero deficiencies.” 

The company also said it had retained an independent third party auditor that determined results were accurately reported.

In a statement to VICE News, the College of American Pathologists confirmed that Averhealth’s laboratory is currently accredited and that it was last inspected on April 4, 2022. 

Averhealth’s pitch to courts is that it can manage the messy business of drug testing more than 500,000 people more accurately than competitors and for a low cost. In addition to lab services, the company provides case management software, training to state employees, and expert testimony to agencies. It even says its proprietary analytics can predict when people being tested will relapse. 

“The services provided by Averhealth are designed to help unify families and promote child safety,” Averhealth told VICE News in a statement. “Courts and agencies that make child custody decisions do so based on a long list of factors over time.”

Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services began contracting with Averhealth in 2019, because of its lower cost, according to emails obtained by VICE News in a public records request. But soon after the contract started, case workers and judges began complaining about discrepancies in results, according to internal agency emails previously reviewed and reported by VICE News.

“We are struggling to do casework with Averhealth and don’t trust them,” one Michigan Department of Health and Human Services supervisor wrote to her colleagues in January 2021. “We are making BIG decisions, including having parents leave home or removal, and that’s scary to do when you don’t trust who you’re getting services from. Is there a different agency we can use?”

That same month, after complaints from judges about inaccurate results, Michigan hired two independent scientists to look into issues. The scientists visited the lab and made recommendations for improvement but ultimately determined that Averhealth’s results were scientifically sound, according to public records reviewed by VICE News. The scientists wrote in their final report that Riley’s allegations were “unsubstantiated” and that they did not “observe any practices that support the allegations." The scientists made an “exhaustive, independent review of the lab,” Averhealth said to VICE News in a statement. 

But a year later, Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services suspended its $27 million contract with Averhealth, abruptly telling child welfare workers to use other providers. The state soon instructed its county offices to compile lists of every single child welfare case where positive Averhealth tests had had an impact on childrens’ out of home placements, according to an employee within Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services. And in March 2022, according to emails reviewed by VICE News from the Missouri lawsuit, an analyst at the agency estimated at least 2,885 children in foster care had parents or caregivers with positive drug tests from Averhealth. 

Michigan had previously declined to comment to VICE News as to the reasons for the sudden suspension. But an email, sent by a special advisor to the Children’s Services Agency director and cited in the Missouri lawsuit, states that the DOJ investigation was behind the decision. 

Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services “discontinued the use of Averhealth drug testing company after receiving information from the U.S. attorney that Averhealth was under investigation for medical fraud,” the advisor wrote to agency leaders, in March 2022, a few days after Michigan suspended its contract. 

The advisor also wrote that the DOJ’s investigation was motivated by the very issue Riley had testified about: improper calibration of lab instruments. “[Averhealth] were not complying with national accreditation standards as it related to calibration of testing devices despite agreeing to do so in their contract.""

The entire story can be read at:

averhealth-doj-fraud-investigation

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

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Alex Murdaugh: South Carolina; Live5News presents an excellent summary of the first week of the high profile double murder trial, by digital content reporters Steven Ardery and Patrick Phillips..."During the course of Friday’s testimony, jurors heard the first interview Murdaugh had with investigators just hours after his wife and son were killed. It was also revealed in court that the black Suburban that Murdaugh was driving on June 7, 2021, had been swabbed in nearly a dozen places around the driver and passenger sides. Those swabs preliminarily tested positive for blood. Colleton County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Laura Rutland was the first witness called Friday morning. She was the investigator who secured the search warrant for the Moselle property on the night of the murders. Rutledge was questioned by Prosecutor John Meadors on her role on the night of the murders. Rutland, along with SLED Agent David Owen, interviewed Murdaugh around 1 a.m. while still on the scene of the shootings. Murdaugh and a man he identified as his personal attorney Danny Henderson. The informal interview is inside Owen’s car because of the rain. Murdaugh can be heard breaking down during the interview as he tells them about finding Paul. He says he tried to turn Paul over and says his cell phone fell out of his pocket so he picked it up and decided to place it back down “real quick.” Murdaugh says he went to Maggie next. When asked if he touched Maggie he says yes but says he tried to be limited. Murdaugh then tells them he called 911 and called his brothers. Owen asks Murdaugh to describe his relationship with Maggie and Paul. “How about yours and Maggie’s?” Owen said. “Wonderful,” Murdaugh said. “I’m sure we had little things here and there but we had a wonderful marriage, a wonderful relationship.” “And your’s and Paul’s relationship?” Owen said. “As Good as it could be,” Murdaugh said. He also described the relationship between Maggie and Paul as “wonderful.” He’s asked about problems lately. Murdaugh brings up the boat crash again and says Paul has been punched and hit before because of the crash. He doesn’t think he knows the full story but is aware of the threats. After listening to the interview, Meadors asks about a point when Murdaugh mentions trying to move Paul’s body and checking Maggie’s pulse. Meadors asks Rutland how Murdaugh could have checked Paul’s pulse before asking about Murdaugh’s appearance. Rutland remarks that Murdaugh appeared to be clean and she could not see any blood on his clothes, hands, arms or shoes. Rutland also testifies that she didn’t see footprints or kneeprints in the blood. “Is the individual that you describe as clean head to toe sitting in this courtroom?” Meadors said. Rutland points out Murdaugh in the courtroom. In cross-examination, Attorney Jim Griffin asks Rutland about Murdaugh’s appearance. He says if Murdaugh was clean then did Rutland believe he looked like someone who had just “blew his son’s head off.” Rutland would tell Griffin that she couldn’t make that assessment based on the information available to her. During the redirect portion of Rutland’s questioning, Meadors again asks about Murdaugh’s appearance. This time if the clothes looked fresh, again Rutland replies with a yes. Griffin comes back and points to a section of the interview video and asks if Murdaugh’s clothes looked fresh out of the laundry. Rutland said yes because Murdaugh was sweating and his clothing was dry. The state also used SLED Agent Melinda Worley’s testimony to introduce loads of evidence including more photos, items collected during the autopsies of Maggie and Paul and ammunition found around the property both fired and unfired. The biggest evidence introduced during Worley’s testimony was nearly a dozen swabs that were taken from Murdaugh’s black Suburban. The swabs were taken in various places on the driver’s side of the vehicle including the steering wheel, front of the seat and the door handle. The swabs tested presumptive for blood. Later, agents returned to collect the entire seatbelt from the driver’s side of the vehicle. The defense did not get a chance to cross-examine Worley on Friday with Harpootlian telling the judge that his questioning could take several hours. The trial will continue Monday morning at 9:30 a.m. and is expected to last several weeks."

BACKGROUND: (Court TV):"The once-prominent heir to a low country legal dynasty is facing life in prison if convicted of murdering his wife and youngest son. Disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh, 54, is accused of fatally shooting 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh and 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh on June 7, 2021. Their bodies were found near the dog kennels on the family’s 1,770-acre estate in Islandton. Murdaugh claims he was at his mother’s home at the time of the shooting, but authorities say blood splatter allegedly found on his clothing indicates that he, too, was at the dog kennels when his wife and son were killed. Murdaugh called 911 at 10:07 p.m. to report finding Maggie and Paul deceased. His attorneys claim their client checked the bodies for signs of life, which ultimately transferred blood onto his hands and clothes. Prosecutors claim Murdaugh murdered his wife and son to gain sympathy ahead of a “pending motion that threatened to expose years of substantial debts and illicit financial crimes,” reported The Associated Press. In a shocking turn of events, Murdaugh was shot three months later while changing a tire on a rural road. Authorities quickly unraveled a murder-for-hire plot that would allow Murdaugh’s oldest son to receive a $10 million insurance payout. Curtis Edward Smith, the allegedly gunman and former client of Murdaugh, is accused of conspiring with Murdaugh. The duo was indicted for the alleged scheme in Nov. 2021.

RELATED: A timeline of events surrounding Alex Murdaugh’s charges

As of January 2023, Murdaugh faces 106 grand jury criminal charges, including murder, drugs, and financial fraud dating back to at least 2011. He is also named a defendant in three separate civil suits. He has been disbarred, and his assets frozen...."

https://www.courttv.com/news/sc-v-alex-murdaugh-murdaugh-family-murders/

(I will be dropping in on the trial from time to time  as forensic  issues of interested to the readers of this Blog appear in the case. HL);

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The first week of the Alex Murdaugh murder trial wrapped up Friday after a three-day jury selection, fiery opening statements and first responders detailing their response on the night his wife and son were killed. Murdaugh, 54, is charged with two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the fatal shootings of Maggie Murdaugh, 52; and Paul Murdaugh, 22. The killings happened at the family’s hunting property in the Islandton community of Colleton County on June 7, 2021."

STORY: "Here's what happened during the first week of the Alex Murdaugh murder trial," published by Live5News (Digital Content Reporters Steven Ardery and Patrick Phillips, on January 28, 2023.

GIST: "The first week of the Alex Murdaugh murder trial wrapped up Friday after a three-day jury selection, fiery opening statements and first responders detailing their response on the night his wife and son were killed.

Murdaugh, 54, is charged with two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the fatal shootings of Maggie Murdaugh, 52; and Paul Murdaugh, 22. The killings happened at the family’s hunting property in the Islandton community of Colleton County on June 7, 2021.

From 700 to 18

Three days of jury selection saw a pool of around 700 jurors get narrowed down into four groups. The groups were then qualified and 122 jurors were brought in on Wednesday to bring the final total to 12 jurors and six alternates.

Jury qualification questions by Judge Clifton Newman also provided insight into who might be called to the witness stand in the trial.

Newman went through a list of potential witnesses and asked would-be jurors about any possible relationships they have with them.

 Notable names Newman asked jurors about included Alex Murdaugh, his surviving son, Buster; relatives Randy and John Marvin Murdaugh; former Lowcountry banker Russell Laffitte, attorney Eric Bland, and Curtis “Eddie” Smith, the man who was charged for allegedly conspiring to shoot Murdaugh during Labor Day weekend in an insurance fraud plot.

In total, the witness list includes more than 200 names, though it’s not clear if all witnesses will be called.

Defense moves to block testimony

Before jury selection could begin, Murdaugh’s defense team sought to block testimony of potential blood evidence.

Murdaugh was wearing a white t-shirt when he arrived at the property and that t-shirt has become a point of contention between the state and Murdaugh’s defense team after the latter has said forensic tests failed to show stains on the shirt were from human blood.

Attorneys Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian asked the court to block the testimony of Orangeburg County Chief Deputy Kenneth Lee Kinsey, a recognized expert in bloodstain evidence. 

The defense argues that Kinsey said after reviewing a report and analysis from Thomas Bevel, a prosecution witness, he could not form an opinion on whether the blood stains on Murdaugh’s shirt were consistent with back spatter from a gunshot.

Without such an opinion, Kinsey’s testimony would only unfairly confuse and mislead the jury. Kinsey repeated Bevel’s findings of more than 100 stains and that the smaller stains that are present after a chemical treatment appear to be high-velocity impact stains that are caused from a gunshot or high-speed machinery.

But the defense says Kinsey then pivots away from that, saying that he can’t render an opinion.

That motion and the defense’s motion to block testimony from another blood spatter expert were heard on Tuesday after the final panel of potential jurors were qualified.

Both sides agreed to hold a counsel hearing once that evidence is set to be presented and whether either expert will be called as a witness.

The argument then shifted toward a motion filed by the state to admit financial evidence as a basis for motive in the killings.

Newman argued that a motion in limine, a legal term that means “a motion at the start,” is typically used to exclude evidence from a trial rather than to add it.

“I’m not prepared to grant a motion to admit evidence in limine,” Newman said.

The state agreed to introduce the evidence as needed.

Prosecutors have argued that the murders were a cover-up for Alex Murdaugh’s financial misdeeds. Previously, the defense has said the state turned over millions of pages of documents during discovery about these financial crimes.

The defense says this motive is completely fabricated.

“His theory is, he knew the jig was up, so he went home, and butchered, blew the head off his son, and butchered his wife,” Murdaugh’s defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said.

 “There’s not one shred of evidence there were any problems between any of them. There’s texts, pictures, people that were with them the previous weekend at a ball game, video from that day with Paul and he’s having a good time. There is no dispute anywhere that they were the perfect family in terms of their relationships.”

Murdaugh also faces about 100 charges related to other crimes, including money laundering, stealing millions from clients, tax evasion and trying to get a man to fatally shoot him so his surviving son could collect a $10 million life insurance policy. He was being held in jail without bail on those counts before he was charged with murder.

Finally, Newman ruled to allow the state to submit ballistic evidence.

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Agent Paul Greer was called to the stand. He told the court he had been called to testify in 25 cases as a forensics firearm expert.

The motion revolved around a series of bullet casings that were found around the body of Maggie Murdaugh. Those shells were then compared to shells found in another area of the property.

The state asserts both sets of shells came from a .300 Blackout rifle belonging to the Murdaugh family that was missing from the property.

During cross-examination by Murdaugh attorney Jim Griffin, Greer was asked how confident he was that the mechanism markings from both sets of casings can be from the same weapon.

Greer responded that those were his findings.

Newman ruled that Greer could testify and the evidence could be submitted. 

He said any questions about the qualifications of Greer or the science would be heard in cross-examination and should be heard by a jury.

Murdaugh openers paint different, but graphic pictures of night of killings

Attorneys on both sides launched into fiery opening statements Wednesday afternoon.

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters spoke first, and when he described Maggie Murdaugh being shot, Alex Murdaugh looked down and shook his head.

Waters attempted to poke holes in Murdaugh’s alibi and says he has the evidence to prove Murdaugh is the killer.

“You’re going to hear three recorded statements on video that he gave with law enforcement and you’re going to hear how things progress about what he says and what he says he did that night,” Waters said. “Watch those closely. Watch his expressions. Listen to what he’s saying. Listen to what he’s not saying.”

Waters told the jury they will hear that about a week after the killings, Murdaugh showed up early in the morning at his parents’ home, something “uncharacteristic” of him.

“He comes in. He’s carrying something in a blue tarp and he takes it upstairs. And eventually, law enforcement finds out about that, and they go upstairs and they find upstairs a wadded up very, very large raincoat, in a blue color, that could look like a tarp. And you’re going to hear evidence it was coated with gunshot residue on the inside,” he said, adding there would be “a lot” of forensic evidence in the case.

A key piece of evidence Waters said the jury would hear is cell phone evidence as the three Murdaughs were “prolific cellphone users.”

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian began his opening statement saying it is “an honor” to represent Murdaugh.

“I say it’s our honor because I submit to you what you’ve heard from the attorney general as ‘facts’ are not. Are not,” Harpootlian said. “They’re his theories, his conjecture.

Harpootlian asked Murdaugh to stand as he described a loving father and loving husband.

“You’re not going to hear a single witness say that their relationship, Maggie and Alex’s relationship, was anything other than loving. You’re going to hear about how they went to a baseball game the weekend before. You’re going to hear about their relationship. You’re going to see texts and emails indicating a loving relationship,” Harpootlian said.

 “Paul, the apple of his eye. You’re going to see a video somewhere between 7:30 and 8 o’clock the night of the murders with Paul and Alex riding around looking at some trees they planted. It’s a Snapchat that Paul sent to other people because the trees were not planted very well. They were cantilevering over. They’re laughing. They’re having a good time.”

Harpootlian then tried to poke holes in Waters’ assertions about the cell phone records.

“Now the cell phone records, and you’re going to hear this from their own experts, are incomplete,” Harpootlian said.

He said they found Maggie’s cell phone the night of the killing on the side of the road about a half-mile or so away from the crime scene.

“They found it by using ‘Find My iPhone.’ And the way they did, that they had to open it or have access. Who gave them the code to open the phone? Alex Murdaugh,” he said.

Harpootlian also said cellphone data will show that at 9:06 p.m., as he cranks his car and telemetry data shows his phone connecting with his car, Maggie’s phone was being thrown on the side of the road almost a half-mile away.

“Now that is Houdini. That is magic. That is inexplicable,” he said.

One thing both sides did seem to agree on is the brutality of the scene captured in crime scene photos of the bodies. Both told jurors they would see those images.

“It’s going to be gruesome. No other way around it. What he did,” Waters said.

“You’re gonna see crime scene photographs. You’re going to see the traumatic injuries and their suffering. We’re gonna hear from a pathologist, a doctor who will examine the injuries. It’s going to be gruesome. There’s no other way around it. On that 911 call and on the body-worn cameras. Pay attention to what he says. Look at how he’s acting.”

Harpootlian said even after having seen the crime scene photos for the last four or five months, the image still shock him.

“It’s still was tough to look at. It still bothers me,” he said. “And [Murdaugh] comes home and finds his son laying in his own blood with his brain laying at his feet, shot to hell. He walks over, he checks to see if there’s any life there. Although, I mean, he’s seen his brain laying outside his body. He knows there’s nothing there. He goes over and tries to get a pulse out of Maggie. No pulse there. He calls 911. I want you to hear that 911 tape. It is a man hysterical in grief, trying to, trying to figure out what’s going on.”

Harpootlian went on to describe Paul’s injuries in graphic detail as some jurors seemed to grimace. Alex Murdaugh had tears running down his face.

Harpootlian told the jury they will hear witnesses explain that his head “literally exploded” from the shotgun blast and that whoever fired was “probably no more than three feet away.”

“You would be covered in blood from head to foot, in blood. They seized [Murdaugh’s] clothes that night, SLED did, and they tested — well, first of all, you’re gonna see in the videos from the agent, the officers who arrived that night, there’s no blood on him. They didn’t find any blood on him,” Harpootlian said. “SLED’s testing indicated 12 different places on his shirt and pants. No human blood detected, period. You’ll see pictures, a white t-shirt. No blood on it. Those are facts. Those aren’t theories.”

Harpootlian then told the jurors Murdaugh’s behavior in videos showed a man who was hysterical at the loss of his wife and son.

“So anything he said that night is in the context of just an hour or two before, finding his wife and son butchered,” he said.

911 calls, emotions fill first day of testimony

Emotions, tire impressions, shoe impressions and 911 calls filled the first day of testimony in the Alex Murdaugh murder trial.

As the trial entered its fourth day, witnesses were called to the stand for the first time.

The state called six witnesses, two Colleton County deputies, the Colleton County Fire-Rescue fire chief, two E911 dispatchers and the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office’s lead investigator.

Thursday’s testimony began with Sgt. Daniel Greene taking the stand. Greene was the first person to arrive at Moselle on the night of the murders.

The court was shown Greene’s body camera footage in full. At times the footage was shielded from both Murdaugh and those inside the courtroom.

Greene is asked by the state to walk the court through the footage. He describes a grisly scene as he recalls seeing Paul and Maggie’s bodies laying in pools of blood.

The pure gruesomeness of the scene was reiterated by Colleton County Fire-Rescue Chief Barry McRoy.

McRoy describes Paul’s injuries as “substantial damage to his head” with lots of blood and says the blood around Maggie’s face was already congealed when he arrived on the scene.

Testimony from the first responders centered around evidence found at the scene on the night of the killings along with Murdaugh’s emotional state.

“In your interactions with Mister Murdaugh, was he able to understand your questions and respond appropriately to what you were asking?” Waters asked Greene.

“Yes,” Greene said.

“Was he panicking in any way?” Waters asked.

“He seemed upset, but I wouldn’t say panicky,” Greene said.

Dispatchers from Hampton and Colleton counties were also called to the stand during Thursday’s testimony. 

The original 911 call made by Murdaugh was routed to Hampton County. Tinish Bryson-Smith, who’s over the day-to-day operations told the court it wasn’t an unusual occurrence and the call would route to the nearest center. If that call was for another country then the center would transfer the call. The portion of Murdaugh’s 911 call from Hampton County until the time of transfer is played out in court.

Colleton County’s Administrative Services Captain Angela Stallings was also called to the stand. The full 911 call is played. In the call, you can hear Murdaugh say his wife and son had been shot.

The dispatcher asks if the wounds could be self-inflicted.

“Oh no, hell no,” Murdaugh said.

It’s during the initial 911 call that Murdaugh first makes mention of the Beaufort County boat crash involving Paul. He tells the dispatcher that Paul had been receiving threats and Paul knew who had been making the threats, but he did not.

Once, Greene arrived on the scene and approached Murdaugh he’s told about a shotgun that’s leaning against Murdaugh’s vehicle before Alex again mentions the boat crash and Paul receiving threats.

Murdaugh’s defense team used the first day of testimony to question the preservation of evidence by first responders.

During cross examination, Harpootlian suggested that law enforcement on the scene may have contaminated evidence. Greene testified no one was wearing protective shoe coverings but said everything deputies were shown doing in bodycam video was proper procedure.

Another witness, Cpl. Chad McDowell told Harpootlian his role was to move the sheet covering Paul Murdaugh’s body as detectives searched for a possible weapon under his body.

Harpootlian asks what Murdaugh was wearing on the night of the killings. McDowell described Murdaugh in a white shirt and shorts. McDowell testified he did not note any blood on Murdaugh and would have reported it if he had seen any.

The first interview is heard, blood on the Suburban

During the course of Friday’s testimony, jurors heard the first interview Murdaugh had with investigators just hours after his wife and son were killed.

It was also revealed in court that the black Suburban that Murdaugh was driving on June 7, 2021, had been swabbed in nearly a dozen places around the driver and passenger sides. Those swabs preliminarily tested positive for blood.

Colleton County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Laura Rutland was the first witness called Friday morning. She was the investigator who secured the search warrant for the Moselle property on the night of the murders.

Rutledge was questioned by Prosecutor John Meadors on her role on the night of the murders. Rutland, along with SLED Agent David Owen, interviewed Murdaugh around 1 a.m. while still on the scene of the shootings. Murdaugh and a man he identified as his personal attorney Danny Henderson.

The informal interview is inside Owen’s car because of the rain.

Murdaugh can be heard breaking down during the interview as he tells them about finding Paul. He says he tried to turn Paul over and says his cell phone fell out of his pocket so he picked it up and decided to place it back down “real quick.”

Murdaugh says he went to Maggie next. When asked if he touched Maggie he says yes but says he tried to be limited.

Murdaugh then tells them he called 911 and called his brothers.

Owen asks Murdaugh to describe his relationship with Maggie and Paul.

“How about yours and Maggie’s?” Owen said.

“Wonderful,” Murdaugh said. “I’m sure we had little things here and there but we had a wonderful marriage, a wonderful relationship.”

“And your’s and Paul’s relationship?” Owen said.

“As Good as it could be,” Murdaugh said.

He also described the relationship between Maggie and Paul as “wonderful.”

He’s asked about problems lately. 

Murdaugh brings up the boat crash again and says Paul has been punched and hit before because of the crash. He doesn’t think he knows the full story but is aware of the threats.

After listening to the interview, Meadors asks about a point when Murdaugh mentions trying to move Paul’s body and checking Maggie’s pulse.

Meadors asks Rutland how Murdaugh could have checked Paul’s pulse before asking about Murdaugh’s appearance.

Rutland remarks that Murdaugh appeared to be clean and she could not see any blood on his clothes, hands, arms or shoes.

Rutland also testifies that she didn’t see footprints or kneeprints in the blood.

“Is the individual that you describe as clean head to toe sitting in this courtroom?” Meadors said.

Rutland points out Murdaugh in the courtroom.

In cross-examination, Attorney Jim Griffin asks Rutland about Murdaugh’s appearance.

He says if Murdaugh was clean then did Rutland believe he looked like someone who had just “blew his son’s head off.”

Rutland would tell Griffin that she couldn’t make that assessment based on the information available to her.

During the redirect portion of Rutland’s questioning, Meadors again asks about Murdaugh’s appearance. This time if the clothes looked fresh, again Rutland replies with a yes.

Griffin comes back and points to a section of the interview video and asks if Murdaugh’s clothes looked fresh out of the laundry.

Rutland said yes because Murdaugh was sweating and his clothing was dry.

The state also used SLED Agent Melinda Worley’s testimony to introduce loads of evidence including more photos, items collected during the autopsies of Maggie and Paul and ammunition found around the property both fired and unfired.

The biggest evidence introduced during Worley’s testimony was nearly a dozen swabs that were taken from Murdaugh’s black Suburban. 

The swabs were taken in various places on the driver’s side of the vehicle including the steering wheel, front of the seat and the door handle. The swabs tested presumptive for blood.

 Later, agents returned to collect the entire seatbelt from the driver’s side of the vehicle.

The defense did not get a chance to cross-examine Worley on Friday with Harpootlian telling the judge that his questioning could take several hours.

The trial will continue Monday morning at 9:30 a.m. and is expected to last several weeks."

The entire story can be read at:

https://www.live5news.com/2023/01/28/heres-what-happened-during-first-week-alex-murdaugh-murder-trial/

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

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Richard Glossip: Oklahoma; (Destruction of crucial evidence/government misconduct): (Welcome) Development: The state Attorney General has appointed a special counsel to conduct a ‘thorough review’ of this death row prisoner who has faced nine execution dates despite strong evidence that he is innocent of the 1997 alleged murder-for-hire of an Oklahoma City motel owner, The Death Penalty Information Centre reports..."While (AG) Drummond expressed confidence in Oklahoma’s judicial system, he said that confidence “does not allow me to ignore evidence.” Part of that evidence is a 343-page independent report commissioned in February 2022 by a bipartisan group of 35 Oklahoma legislators that revealed extensive evidence supporting Glossip’s innocence claim. Stan Perry, who led the investigation by the law firm Reed Smith, concluded, “No reasonable jury, hearing the complete record and the uncovered facts detailed in this report, would have convicted Richard Glossip of capital murder.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Glossip’s lawyer, Don Knight, issued a statement praising Drummond’s decision to reinvestigate the case. “The new evidence we have uncovered since 2015 shows conclusively, as the first independent investigation by Reed Smith found, that no reasonable juror who viewed all the evidence would find Mr. Glossip guilty of murder for hire,” Knight said. “We are confident that this new investigation will reach the same conclusion.”

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STORY: "Oklahoma Attorney General Appoints Special Counsel to Conduct 'Thorough Review' of Richard Glossip's Case,"  published on January 26, 2023.

GIST: "Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has In a news release issued January 26, 2023, two days after the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals rescheduled Glossip’s execution from February 16 to May 18, 2023, Drummond said that Rex Duncan (pictured), a former Republican state representative and two-term Osage County District Attorney, would conduct an independent investigation into Glossip’s innocence claim.

Although the Oklahoma courts had refused to grant Glossip a hearing on his allegations of innocence, he is still permitted to present those allegations to the Oklahoma Board of Pardons as part of clemency proceedings. 

“As my office will represent the State at the clemency hearing,” Drummond said, “it is my responsibility to ensure that we are appropriately responding to all evidence that has been presented through Mr. Glossip’s conviction and incarceration. Circumstances surrounding this case necessitate a thorough review.”

While Drummond expressed confidence in Oklahoma’s judicial system, he said that confidence “does not allow me to ignore evidence.” Part of that evidence is a 343-page independent report commissioned in February 2022 by a bipartisan group of 35 Oklahoma legislators that revealed extensive evidence supporting Glossip’s innocence claim. Stan Perry, who led the investigation by the law firm Reed Smith, concluded, “No reasonable jury, hearing the complete record and the uncovered facts detailed in this report, would have convicted Richard Glossip of capital murder.”

Glossip’s lawyer, Don Knight, issued a statement praising Drummond’s decision to reinvestigate the case. “The new evidence we have uncovered since 2015 shows conclusively, as the first independent investigation by Reed Smith found, that no reasonable juror who viewed all the evidence would find Mr. Glossip guilty of murder for hire,” Knight said. “We are confident that this new investigation will reach the same conclusion.”

Glossip was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1997 murder of his boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese. After his initial conviction was overturned, he tried a second time and again ssentenced to death. Glossip has consistently professed his innocence.

No physical evidence links Glossip to the murder, and the prosecution’s case rested on the self-serving testimony of his co-defendant, Justin Sneed, who confessed to killing Van Treese but, after numerous inconsistent statements, eventually claimed that Glossip had hired him to do so. In exchange for his testimony, Sneed avoided the death penalty.

Glossip came within hours of being executed in September 2015 before his execution was halted by then-Governor Mary Fallin when she was advised that the compounding pharmacy that supplied execution drugs to the state had substituted an unauthorized drug for one of the drugs required in Oklahoma’s execution protocol.

In February 2022, a bipartisan group of 35 Oklahoma legislators, led by Republican State Representative Kevin McDugle, engaged pro bono attorneys at Reed Smith to review Glossip’s case. 

The investigation team reviewed 12,000 documents, interviewed witnesses and jurors, and uncovered evidence that had never been presented to a jury. 

The firm’s report revealed that the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office had told police during the time that Glossip’s retrial was pending to destroy a box of evidence.

 Records indicate the box included financial  records, duct tape, and a shower curtain from the crime scene.

Surveillance video from a nearby gas station that showed an unknown individual leaving the crime scene the night of Van Treese’s murder was entered into evidence, but then disappeared. 

McDugle called the destruction of evidence “gross misconduct,” saying, “We don’t seek convictions, we seek justice. If a defense attorney had done what the DA’s office did … charges would’ve been brought for obstructing justice.”

The report called the police investigation “sloppy and truncated” and sharply criticized law enforcement for an interrogation of Sneed in which they asked numerous leading questions that implied Glossip had been involved in the murder.

A supplemental report issued by the law firm subsequently revealed communications between Sneed and his lawyer suggesting that Sneed had wished to recant his testimony. 

The investigators also learned of communications between prosecutors and Sneed during the second trial, in violation of a witness sequestration order, that informed Sneed of other witness’s testimony so he could change the story he told the jury to avoid inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case.

Glossip filed two new challenges to his conviction based upon the new evidence, both of which were dismissed by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals without a hearing. In response, McDugle, who previously described himself as a strong proponent of capital punishment, wrote a blistering op-ed in The Oklahoman saying: “if the [Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals] cannot grant a hearing on this flimsy death penalty conviction, my confidence as a legislator in our state’s judicial system, and its ability to make just decisions and take responsibility for its failures, has been destroyed.”

McDugle has vowed to work to repeal the state’s death penalty statute if Glossip is executed."

The entire story can be read at:

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/oklahoma-attorney-general-appoints-special-counsel-to-conduct-thorough-review-of-richard-glossips-case

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

—————————————————————————————————

FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

------------------------------------------------------------