The biggest mistake the prosecution made was not finding an experienced older female to do the closing and also rebuttal. The rebuttal had all the elements it needed, but the delivery came across as brash. His yelling was unnecessary and distracted the jury from his important points IMO. They needed to hear a kind soft motherly voice filled with compassion but also concern that justice be served. I just read that there were 8 women and 4 men on the jury. I am not sure how this will play out, but I doubt the rebuttal yelling was appreciated by the women. Women only appreciate yelling when they are the ones doing it. I am glad it is over so I finally have no excuse for not doing my taxes.
If Maggie had spoken to a divorce attorney, you can be sure that s/he would have been on the stand, and if Alex had any personal responsibility for the boating accident, it wouldn't go away with the death of his son.
I don't know why they didn't subpoena the divorce attorney, unless client privilege comes into play. From ABC News... "HAMPTON COUNTY, S.C. (ABC News/GMA) — The Murdaugh investigation has revealed that prominent South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh's wife, Maggie, saw a divorce lawyer weeks before she and her son were killed. According to the source, Maggie drove one hour from the family's home into Charleston in late April to meet with a lawyer to explore her options about ending her marriage to Alex Murdaugh. What happened during that exploratory consultation is not known — but the source tells that Maggie, 52, had just begun to look into the family finances to determine the state of their marital assets. I assume that Alex was named in the civil suit as owner of the boat, but I don't know the details of that suit. I do know that on the day of the murders, the civil attorney had presented Alex with the court order compelling him to produce his financial records. (From Tinsley's testimony.)
My latest research shows the jury isn't sequestered and can dismiss at 10 PM tonight and must dismiss by 4 PM on Friday and won't go through the weekend. If they don't reach a verdict tonight, then the chances for a hung jury are very high. They say since the start, 5 jurors have been dismissed. How can anyone think they will go home and not discuss this with family or watch videos by expert analyst? I see no hope that true justice will be served. I can't think a retrial will accomplish anything if it is as haphazard as this 6 week show. Where will they find an impartial jury?
Having never served on a jury, I can't speak for juries overall, but I'm pretty sure I'd look further into things if I were allowed to go home, and people I've known who served on juries for interesting cases have all discussed it when they were allowed to go home during breaks. I think it's naive to believe that juries will follow jury instructions, although I don't doubt that some will.
I have a newfound respect for justice in South Carolina. Those jurors were paying attention to the key factors.
I wonder if "egg lady" was the defense's ace-in-the-hole and she got sent home. LOL We'll have to ask Shirley if that egg thing is common practice.
I wonder what will happen to the civil suit and all the financial crimes charges. Will they proceed or what?
Apparently one of the jurors brought eggs for all of the jurors from what I heard. I heard a panelist on a news program (a defense attorney by trade) say that whenever there is a tight bond between jurors it usually ends up guilty (I thought that was weird), also when there's a quick decision it's usually guilty.