Law, Power, and Justice

MONDAY 8 JANUARY 2024

News Notes:

The Trial of Alex Murdaugh (Podcast)

• January hearing about the clerk of the court in the Alex Murdaugh trial, Becky Hill.
• The defense wants to attack her credibility. 
• The state wants to keep this information about her credibility out. 
• She was involved in a high-profile case and saw dollars to be made.  She published a book. 
• This hearing is leading into a bigger appeal. 
• It is possible that Murdaugh ends up with a new trial.
• Did she tamper with the jury?
• She may be facing charges.  There’s a plagiarism charge involved as well.
• This has to do with comments she made in front of potential jurors. 
• The state’s position is that whatever she said, it had no effect on the jurors. 
• It’s not going to be retried on the elements of the actual trial.
• The defense will change strategy in the next trial, if they get one.  Especially, they will rethink whether Murdaugh testifies. 
• They may make the decision in the late January hearing. 
• Becky Hill is not going to be a popular person in the area.

Article by Crime Online

New Trial for Alex Murdaugh? Hearing Set for Later This Month

• The defense is arguing that Hill was pushing for a guilty verdict because she was writing a book about the trial.
• The book was self-published and recently “unpublished” after a portion of it was found to be plagiarized.
• The defense claims that Hill regularly counseled jurors not to be “misled” by the defense, or “fooled by” Murdaugh’s testimony. 
• Prosecutors say that the one juror who has talked with the defense about the issue was dismissed from the case and didn’t even deliberate.
• The other jurors have reported that Hill did not influence them and the state has pointed out that much of what Hill is accused of saying was said by the Prosecutors in opening and closing statements.  (Note: How that would make a difference, I don’t know).
• The hearing is scheduled January 29.

Life with Cats

• Last night, when my friend Mike came up to bed, Jake da Mouth and Alva Edison (Eddie) were sleeping together on the breakfast room sleeping pad.  This is notable because Jake rarely sleeps with anybody.
• Jake is a retired cat mob boss and accountant who came to live with us about three or four years ago.  He was beaten up and rail thin when he showed up in the yard.
• Now, he’s the bossy pants of the house.  He loves to intimidate, but not much to fight.  He loves putting his head down a little bit and walking toward another male cat.  If the cat flinches, or turns and runs, he’s happy and his strut gets a little higher. 
• He intimidates the males, but doesn’t bother the girls.  We suspect at least one of the kittens (Myra’s kittens), Nicki D., is Jake’s. she is jet black from head to two with only a few white hairs on her chest.
• Eddie is our “on the spectrum” kitty.  We never know quite what is going on in Eddie’s head.  He is slim, fit, and an impressive athlete.  Most of the time, he follows his step father, Flynn, around and if he can get away with it, sleeps with Flynn.  So, sleeping with Jake is unusual, but good for both of them.