Alex Murdaugh trial: Doctor describes graphic details on crime scene photos: full video

Dr Kenzie how you doing today Kenneth Lee Kinsey k-i-n-s-e-y I'm fine sir good uh Dr Kenzie let's talk a little bit about uh your career and who you are uh first of all just kind of introduce yourself to the jury a little bit and tell them where you where you grew up and where you went to school and then we'll start to talk about your law enforcement career and and your ex expert uh qualifications yes sir happily I grew up a long way from here in a little County called Orangeburg was there about 54 years of my whole life went away for college a couple times and came back and I'm currently the chief Deputy of the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office and I'm also a professor of Criminal Justice at Claflin University where I teach crime scene related classes all right and pull that mic a little bit closer to you and let's first of all before we get to the professorship and what led to that let's talk about your law enforcement career so walk walk me back to the beginning and if you could just kind of walk through the various stages of your career and the things that you did along the way that led you to become the chief Deputy for uh for Orangeburg yes sir I began my law enforcement career approximately 30 years ago and I've held many positions in those 30 years but for the last 22 years my concentration other than Administration has been crime scene investigations and working violent crime scenes I have ran the crime scene unit in Orangeburg for six or seven years and then I went on to sled for approximately four years and then I came back and now I directly supervise the captain of Investigations and investigations includes the crime scene unit so I'm still hands on on crime scenes either as a primary or a backup crime scene investigator and as I mentioned earlier uh I teach a crime scene investigation and other criminal justice related courses I received my bachelor's degree from Clemson University in 1991. my my master's degree in science from Troy University in 2011 and my PhD from Walden University in 2019 with a concentration on use of force cases involving police officers and my research is use of force and crime scene investigations so we could call you Dr Kinsey correct my grandmother told me it's what you answered to but yes sir I'll answer to that Kenny or uh Chief Kinsey and we could call you to uh we could call you Professor Kenzie correct yes sir that is quick and then you we could call you Chief Kenzie as well yes sir okay well let's talk a little bit more um about the law enforcement then I want to talk a little bit more about the uh the education uh now you mentioned that you've done a lot of administration and tell the jury just a little bit about what it is to be the chief um and just what that entails and then we'll talk a little bit more about sort of the crime scene stuff yes sir I answer directly to an elected Sheriff I'm the number two man at the Sheriff's Office and I supervise approximately when we're full when every slot is full I supervise over 127 people 105 or certified law enforcement men and women and that encompasses about nine different divisions at the Sheriff's Office including narcotic Special Operations us criminal investigation civil courtroom uh school resource officers there's several groups in there and our uh civilian employees um now as you've already testified you don't just do the administration stuff as a number two man but over your career you've also extensively done actual law enforcement work processing homicide and other major crime scenes is that correct yes sir I have I have boots on the ground uh processed north of 800 Death Scenes not all of those are homicide that also includes suicides accidental deaths and unexplained deaths that is either as a primary investigator or as a secondary investigator in my career and I still have a directive that I placed with uh my co-workers 11 approximately 11 years ago I still go to Every death scene if possible and over that time you said over 800 Death Scenes over the course of your career is that correct that is correct and then you know how many how many pieces of forensic evidence do you think you've processed over the years that would be hard to determine multiple pieces for each scene but part of my duties yes sir part of my duties when I was at sled was to also process evidence that was submitted through the door and what through the door means these are items of evidence from other agencies that have worked their own crime scenes and they send their items to sled for an analysis and that's in the thousands I would have no way to give you a quantitative number in the thousands yes sir uh is it also over the years have you attended autopsies as part of your investigative work as it relates to death scenes that is correct uh every agency I have worked at had a mandate that you attend autopsies to collect evidence do major case prints GSR and that kind of thing and also to give the pathologist an idea of your interpretation of what happened and have you ever had to been asked to consult on death cases and jurisdictions throughout the state or even in other states yes sir I have and describe that as a consultant I work for uh to be franked and honest sometimes it's against law enforcement uh sometimes it's defending law enforcement just depending on on what I believe is wrong and right and I have participated with private attorneys in the Civil process doing both and I've also been asked for colleagues by colleagues and comrades across the country to review a piece of evidence if they may have needed a qualified examiner to technically or administratively review that piece of evidence or their findings um before I come back to uh to the specific crime scene training and experience that you have I just want to go back again to your education uh you went to Clemson right yes sir all right and I started a law enforcement career not long after that that is correct and what year did you graduate Clemson I was on a five-year plan I graduated in 1991 and I started as a reserve Deputy the records are a little shaky because back then you worked until they had a certification class but best I can guess was somewhere around 92.93. it's a 91 Clemson yes sir I was 92 Carolina all right uh then you went on to Troy University at some point later in your career I did yes sir I attended Troy's satellite campus which is in Sumter an actual uh brick and mortar school and the purpose of Troy being placed in Sumter is because of Shaw Air Force Base a lot of your uh our men and women who protect our country use their GI bills to further their education at such campuses and I had to travel three nights well one night a week and two days a week for approximately a year and a half to complete that past proficiency all right that accomplish exam is not a pretty tough exam it's the second toughest thing I've ever done yes sir is the pass rate pretty low on that thing it is very low uh we probably had 30 uh people in our class and I only know of four that passed the competency the first time yes sir and then you went on and got is that right I did yes sir and I was at Walden University program there it was yes sir did you have to do any residencies with that who stipulate to him as a qualified expert if we could just go ahead and move on thank you to uh to explore the extent of his qualifications that goes directly to the uh to the value of his opinion to the jury uh I'll do it expeditiously but I think we're entitled to do that do you accept the stipulation I know stipulation I would like to very quickly finish up the qualification process so that the jury understands that ladies and gentlemen he is so qualified in the matrices thank you John all right so real quick you've done some residencies in uh and your doctorate is that correct I did four residencies in Atlanta yes sir all right and ultimately did uh dissertation and all that comes with getting your doctorate uh relevant to criminal justice and criminology is that correct I defended my prospectus and my dissertation yes sir successfully all right now let's get to the last thing I want to cover as far as your qualifications but what specific areas of crime scene uh investigation and reconstruction have you had training and experience in in previous qualifications then yes sir I have been certified internationally by the International Association for identification as a crime scene technician that's a five-year deal and then five years as a crime scene investigator where you have to do uh or not oral practical and written examinations and you have to have statistics in your background a certain number of each item to even be able to take the test and that that encompasses all of the uh different aspects of crime scene investigation my training also encompasses Footwear and tire tread examination bloodstain pattern analysis crime scene reconstruction fingerprint examination and fabric impression but I haven't done a lot of the fabric impression have you ever been qualified in courts of record as a expert in crime scene examination and reconstruction yes sir I have how many times approximately 35 36 times have you ever been qualified as an expert in fingerprint examination I have yes so many times maybe 20 25. sometimes and let me explain why sometimes it's not individually sometimes you will qualify for two or three of the different disciplines and I didn't keep track of which time you know was singular or which time was multiple qualifications all right and then uh have you ever been qualified as an expert in Footwear examination I have sir approximately eight times entire trade as well yes sir all right I believe that that's uh what I wanted to go through with your qualifications which I believe you stipulate in those areas is that yeah correct all right all right uh let's move on did you have a opportunity uh to review uh at the request of the State uh the crime scene here as it relates to uh Maggie and Paul I did yes sir all right and just very quickly uh what are some of the the types of things that you reviewed and as part of your uh process when I do a reconstruction I look at the available evidence as I feel it's pertinent to help me answer some questions and the questions that I or the things I wanted to accomplish from this uh reconstruction you can determine sequence you can determine movement a lot of times you can determine the number of of blows or in the event of a hand-to-hand combat or a firearm was used those kind of things so I I examined uh forensic reports that were issued by law enforcement Laboratories I also examined extensively photographs that were taken on the scene measurements that kind of thing and I also responded to the scene it was rather close and I took my own measurements when you say I responded to the scene when did you first get involved in this guy the end of 2022 and I'm not talking about when the scene was actually going on I went after the fact and and did my own measurements and when you were retained uh by the state in this case where you told any particular goal or were you told to just take a fresh look at it and offer your opinions I was told to look at all of the evidence and determine what I may be helpful on and to use my own judgment objectively independently and come up with my own conclusions all right let's uh if we can and again we're going to have to deal with some of uh maybe not the images as much but deal with some of the the injuries that that Maggie and Paul suffered correct yes sir Let's uh if you could just remind the jury uh what were the injuries that Paul suffered please they were they were very very severe Firearms injuries uh one was a shotgun wound to just a little uh anatomical left of the midline of the body one was to the shoulder and it proceeded into the jaw and ultimately into the head and uh the uh was that the first injury or the second the first injury was the shotgun wound to the middle of the chest and it was non-fatal at least not fatal immediately a second injury the second injury was immediate of immediate death and uh were you able in reviewing the crime scene evidence to come to any conclusions as to the order in which Paul suffered those gunshot wounds from the shooter yes sir I was all right and please relate that to the jury my conclusion was that the first non-fatal wound to the midline of the body occurred as Paul was standing with his body candid in the middle of that dog food room pointed slightly Southwest and the shot entered the midline of his chest exited his underarm entered his underarm on it on the actual arm and exited the outside of his arm and most of those nine pellets proceeded through the back window of that dog food room he's right and then just real quick you said non-pellance so explain that to the jury why you say non-pellets that double all buck shot shell contains nine pellets and a I guess you describe it as a styrofoam packing to keep it tight so it doesn't shake and when that cartridge is expelled out of the end of that Barrel the the styrofoam packing dissipates or goes its own way and those projectiles continue in the in the correct path and hold on for me real quick I want to get a couple things marked all right I'm going to show you uh can I have the Elmo please all right I'm going to show you what's been marked as States 531-532 and 533 and see if you recognize these particular images yes sir I do all right and tell the jury just generally what these are please these are views of the floor of the feed room and a view from the entrance to the feed room and some digitally placed uh foot up footprint not Footprints legs that I placed in there to show Paul's approximate position in that feed room at the time of the shooting your honor at this time I'd offer States five three one five three 2 and 533 I believe without objection very good all right I'm gonna put uh five three one up on the screen here make sure we can see it all right all right all right Dr Kenzie uh you were talking a little bit about Paul's positioning and his location uh when that first shot happened and if you could tell the jury your conclusion as to where he was located uh when when that shot was fired and then if you want to uh step down and if you could maybe point out uh What uh was added to this image to kind of reflect your conclusion in that regard step down thank you and there's a dowel stick right behind you if you want to use that okay as you see here those are the digital legs that I placed here showing Paul's approximate position as he was standing when he had the first gunshot wound here along the floor what you see your passive or 90 degree blood droplets and when blood you can tell a lot of from the direction of Blood by the way it strikes an object slud has a cohesive Factor it's viscous and you probably heard that term before with the motor oil for your car it's thicker than water and the thing that causes that blood droplet to change shape is the friction and the direction and how much force was used well a 90 degree drop just is exactly that it's perpendicular to the ground so these 90 degree drops right here tell me that Paul was standing there for a moment can't tell you how long but those drops were running down from that wound on his arm more than likely his arm because his chest area had a shirt on it it takes a little while for that blood to make it through the shirt but it'll run down the outside of your arm and drip off your fingers and you can see these 90 degree droplets here here and then they actually lead to the door you can follow the path to the door he's not moving very fast because most of them are almost perfectly circular or 90 degrees had he been moving real fast you can see some directionality animal a tail because the tail always tells you the Direction with a with a blood draw so I know he was moving slowly and I know he was standing in the middle of this room for some time after he after the first shotgun wound all right and uh approximately how far was Paul inside the feed room can you describe a little bit about the dimensions of the feed room and your conclusion as to how far within the room Paul was when he was struck by that first blast yes sir well the feed room is 10 foot deep by my own calculations and by looking at the other sketches and where you see his feet here is just on the other side of the halfway point so I went you know I'm guessing because I have no way of running a tape measure because when I went there everything was moved but this door is 36 inches and it's approximately a foot and a half two foot past the door so that's how I come up with that determination and he's just on the other side of the midpoint of that 10 foot room which is about how far from the doorway five foot all right and I'm going to show you what's been marked as 534 Stage 5 30 34 and see if you recognize that I do yes sir all right and tell the jury what that is real quick that is a general view from outside the feed room that was taken at the time the crime scene was originally processed and I added a digital enhanced Arrow showing the the reader or the viewer the direction of the shot pass right this time I offer a safe spots all right um I'm going to put 534 up on the screen and uh if you would just show that arrow that you're talking about that's been added to this image yes sir right here as well just show generally where those blood spots are it's not the best image in the world but where those blood spots are that led to your conclusion about Paul's location within the feed room when the first flash Struck it the placard hasn't been moved although it's hard to see the droplets and of course I didn't add the legs to this but just on the other side of that placard and then you have uh here a quantity of 90 degree blood droplets with a partial Footwear impression in it and then you can follow the blood droplets to the door going back to States 531 again point out to the jury if you would the uh the sort of the digitally added feat that you had added all right and if we would if you could just if that's the feed room doorway uh can you just sort of position me in your opinion how Paul was standing on that first blast uh happened that's the door we're coming in yes about right here all right and um let me ask you this and in your review of the evidence and the available crime scene uh evidence that you've reviewed uh in your expert opinion is there any way that Paul's arms were raised when he shot when he suffered that first blast to the chest has to be no possible way his arms were up when he suffered that first shotgun wound and can you explain the basis for your conclusion to the jury in that regard yes sir I can the shot peeling real close because they stayed together they went in as one as a unit and then they did what a shot pellet does they separated once they struck the skin and made the entry run along inside his body cavity and exited his underarm if his arms would have been up he would have had no entry wounds on the bottom of his arm and then more Exit Wounds on the outside he had over 20 entry and exit wounds they've only got nine pellets so the only way the math works out is if his arm was down and additionally the wad stopped and was under his arm had his arms Fed Up in my opinion that wad would have went on and exited his body because it's only plastic it doesn't take as much resistance to stop that wad as it does a shot pellet and the wad stopped it was right you could grab it with your fingers if you would have been medical personnel and needed to if it was right there all right um and let me ask you this uh do you have uh a lot of General experience with Firearms I do I'm a Firearms instructor for uh handguns shotguns control rifles sub guns and fully automatic control rifles everything but uh precision rifle all right and you when you say an instructor where is that I'm certified I have credentials through the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy I've also been certified as an NRA law enforcement instructor and I currently have a cwp endorsement to teach concealed weapon permits from the South Carolina law enforcement and you testified how many Buckshot are typically in your average bug shot show according to the literature and according to my experience there are nine in that particular Buckshot so did you see uh any evidence I think you've already mentioned this but did you see any evidence from the crime scene as to what happened to some of those pellets uh as Paul was struck as they continued on yes sir I did they exited on through the back window all right and I'm going to show what's already been admitted as 532. and put that up on the screen and if you could describe to the jury what you're talking about in that regard please thank you this is that window at the back of the feed room and you can see the shot shell pellet defects here as they went through the window and continued on their path those kind of big holes are those consistent though with a buckshot pellets striking that yes sir they are and some are bigger than others because it it's just the the makeup of glass I mean sometimes you'll get one individual hole and sometimes it'll take out you know a large portion so I have have no way to know that all right and uh just real quick I've got uh 533 I'm gonna put that up on the screen and again is that just a close-up of where Paul was standing uh about five feet or so inside that feed room it is yes sir based on your view of the blood evidence that you saw yes sir and here are the partial Footwear Impressions and here you can see the 90 degree blood droplets and and some other biological materials all right and in your conclusion what's the most just again what's the most likely explanation for those 90 degree blood drops so how is that physically happening it's the arm wound uh even though it was non-fatal there's less restriction from clothing or anything else on the arm you know here you've got the T-shirt that's got the completely saturated before it gets to the bottom and drops but here on the arm you've got nothing so once those pellets exited entered and exited again that blood's free free pouring or not free pouring free running down his arm and then they'll drip off the ends of your fingers uh one thing I I want to ask you about is uh you've testified as to your conclusions as to the position of Paul when that first shot struck him um is there anything about the intertwin itself that supports your conclusion as to the shape of the entrance win yes it's all gone instead of completely round and had he been standing facing that door and took that double lock buck shot to the middle of a chest I've seen it dozens and dozens of times instead of coming out this side up a shot shell or a a projectile doesn't make a 90 degree right generally it's going to follow the same path unless it hits something hard enough to make it Ricochet it would have went on through his body it still would have exited the window it just wouldn't have done the damage to his arm and his underarm so he had to be candid in this direction and the wound is not perfectly circular it's more oblong which tells you that he was candid to some degree all right in your review of the crime scene evidence uh did you come to any conclusion about the location of the shooter when that first Buckshot blast struck Paul in his chest it would be hard to say exact but I can say to a bare minimum the breach of the shotgun because I don't have the shotgun I don't know the length of the barrel that kind of thing or I could run it from the door but the breach of a shotgun where it ejects the shot shell casing after it fires was somewhere inside the door because had it been on the other side of the door the shot shell would have been located outside so depending on the length of the shotgun at least I can say the the ejection Port was inside the the door of the shed and then the shooter I have this image up here which I apologize yes sneaks 534 and can you uh kind of illustrate what you're talking about to the jury using that image yes sir the breach the ejection Port where you load and unload that shotgun which is a little less than midpoint from the shooter was inside this door frame at least to some degree inside and where uh were the um expended shot shells found on this crime scene according to the photographs and the original crime scene behind this door and uh is that consistent with your review of The Evidence as I support your review of the evidence that you just uh that conclusion you just related to the journey very easily this is if you look this room is kind of cluttered and I measured that door myself it had been pressure washed put the same door found the same shot shell pellet defects in that door an inch and a half at the bottom of the door that's plenty of room for a shot shell to bounce and roll under the door so I have no reason to believe it didn't end up there because of the location of the shoe all right um all right let me get a couple other things Mark you can kind of head back to your home base and I'll let me just get these marks real quick all right um Dr Kinsey I'm going to show you what's been marked as 535-536-537-538 States exhibits and see if you generally recognize those images yes sir I do all right and generally explain to the jury what these images are and then we'll talk about them specifically those are images at the door that I've added some Vis visual enhancements to help the reader understand the flight path of the second shot and the the different elements that I looked at in determining where the shooter was for the second or the Fatal shot to Paul all right your honor this time I'd offer States 535-536-537 and 538 in evidence I believe without objection no objection yeah admit it all right let's look first at 535 and before we get to that I generally describe again to the jury uh your conclusion as to that second injury suffered by Paul the Fatal shot as you've described it well the first thing is once Paul received that second shot he never walked again he never made any movement any movement he made was involuntary and it was due to gravity pulling his body down to the ground when you sustain an injury to your brain like that that ceases all movement so he was found outside the feed door he fell over forward after sustaining that movement some some wounds are fatal later yeah you can actually see someone that receives a fatal wound and they I've seen them run 100 yards they can move for a little while this is not that type of wound once he received this wound it ceased all movement right and did you uh I'm gonna put attachment excuse me uh stage 535 up on the screen and uh tell the jury what this particular image reflects please yes sir if you can look at the green funnel that I've added just visually if you look at that green funnel that is approximately The Shot Shell Path the shot path from the shot shell after it uh did the injuries to Paul or the direction of the shot from the shot shell and I determined that by shot shell pellet defects that are still in the door even though the door had been cleaned I went and looked at it myself run my own measurements took the width of the door I took Paul's approximate height it's listed as several different things DMV shows him at five six the pathologist listed him I believe at five nine so I had to split the difference I went somewhere in the middle then I deducted the distance between the top of your head and the top of your shoulder so I took another foot off then I took the width of the door and it's one other thing I looked at and that was a void pattern that's on the door frame of the door avoid patterns caused by something being there when the blood and biological materials are are uh let let we call it a bloodletting from the wound and there's a void pattern which tells me something was in that way and because of the narrow door in my opinion it was Paul so that's what caused that void pattern on that door so I use all of that and I use the dowel rod and I used a protractor on the uh doorknob side of that door frame and I ran it up and that's what helped me establish the angle of that shot pattern all right and we're going to use the images to kind of talk about that a little bit more specifically but quickly I want to show you 539 and 540 and see if you recognize these images yes sir I do uh 540 is my photograph when I visited the scene and 539 is also my photograph and it shows uh that top hinge of that door is approximately 72 inches at the top of the at the top of the hinge all right your honor this time I'd move into having us to play for that production stage 539-540. okay admit it all right let's uh if you could I'd ask you to step down again I know I just sent you back there but uh come on down I'm gonna put 539 up on the screen and if you could tell me what this image reflects if you would please yes sir these are 36 inch standard yellow yardsticks we use them to measure uh certain things and it right here is the top of the top hinge it's a three hinge door and this is the top of the hinge and then four inches above this are where those shot pellet defects were that I used to figure out my angle all right I'm looking at 5 40. who took this particular image I took this image so this has been long after it must have been long after the actual event occurred is that correct this was uh last December yes sir all right until the jury what this image reflects you can still see the pellet defects in the door and this is the approximate center of it here so that's four inches above 72 that's approximately 76 inches on an 80 inch door I'm going to show you States 536 and explain to the jury what this is and in particular how that's relevant to your conclusion about the England which Paul suffered the Fatal head wound this is the original crime scene pictures and this is where the pellets took their path this is where they struck and did damage to the door and you can actually still see the dents that are documented in my photograph you can see them in the original crime scene this is the concentration of blood that's caused by the brain exiting Paul's body in the path of the shot shells and then you also have biological material hair and blood here at the top of the door frame and that's where I drew my conclusion at some time those body parts made contact with these sections of the door and my opinion is that it hit here hit here and then landed on the sidewalk looking at States 537 can you explain what the jury's seen in this image and how it relates to your opinion about the manner in which Paul suffered that fatal womb I can with a major bloodletting let me ask you to I'm going to move this Podium and that's actually ask you to step back just a hair so that the jurors over here can see what you're what you're saying yes sir with a shotgun wound you know you've got 100 well not hundreds you've got over 800 pellets that are making damage it's not like a projectile a single projectile from epistle or a rifle so there's Mass damage and it it throws body fluids and blood in several different directions but they follow the path when I mentioned that it was a void pattern this is the last Blood drop you can see it in the photograph that I could see and it's uh it's approximately five foot right there and this is not green tape that is a digital effect I put on the photograph to show the uh the void I was talking about so at some time it's my opinion that Paul was up against that door or real close to that door to keep that blood from striking the door at the point in time that he was shot all right and the green tape reflects that that blood Pat or that void area that is consistent with Paul blocking that area is that correct yes or digital tape it's not really tape right yes sir so that's that's been added to yes sir okay to illustrate your opinion yes sir all right and then uh 538 I'm going to show you this image and again if you can point out what's been added and how this uh relates to the conclusion that you're offering to the jury yes sir one thing that I looked at to determine that it happened in the doorway and a little bit outside the doorway more outside than inside you don't just look for the presence of biological material and blood you look for the absence of biological material and blood here at the top it didn't have a scale or a ruler so I can't tell you exactly but looking at some of these other objects I was able to scale it approximately four inches up here you have a void so I know that it happened the the second wound happened far enough outside of that door frame that the actual frame kept the biological material from hitting at the very top right here I also looked at these items uh you got some medication uh canine medication or some cleaning materials and that kind of thing up here you can see all the spatter at the front of those containers and then we got what I call a demarcation line right here here and I drew it through most of these cans and that separates the blood the blood contaminated area in the clean area so that tells me that it was at least forward of the angle on those containers and that's why I believe he was shot the second wound happened just outside the door frame but his feet were probably still in the door frame all right and just quickly point to the jury we can can we see part of the door frame in this particular image you can yes sir right here all right um once uh been going back now the state's 535 and just for the record we were just looking at States 538 and 537 going back to State's 535 did you reach a conclusion as to the location of the shooter on that second fatal shot that Paul suffered to his head yes sir I did all right and explain that to the jury if you would please the shooter was right here if you're facing that door to the right of the doorway outside and um would you have expected there to be uh in that particular range uh any sort of uh biological evidence in that area uh in proximity to the shooter yes sir I would the door frame have potentially blocked any of that as well it would block some and just depending on the positioning how much of the body of the shooter was exposed because uh you know once you have that kind of catastrophic injury it's real real real fine blood blood particles and and biological fluids that go in all directions and the closer the shooter was to the muzzle to the exit end of that firearm the more stuff you would expect um let me ask you this and your expert opinion is there any way that Paul's fatal head injury came from the top in a contact fashion or a close fashion no sir I see no possible way for that and explain your conclusion in that regard to the jury please what factors weigh against that in your expert opinion well number one I don't know of a way to mimic this Blood evidence on this door that pattern where that shot traveled through Paul's shoulder into his jaw into his brain and then took a path up and placed the biological material here at the top of the door if he was shot in the head then you'd have biological material out here on the ground or at least going down you know on the sidewalk in front of him and it would be different than just free pouring blood you would see this pattern and you would see those High Velocity blood droplets there on the ground and plus the shooter would have to be on the roof to shoot down into him but you wouldn't have this on the door in your extra opinion did you see any support or evidence in this crime scene that could support that the injuries suffered by Paul or in any manner a suicide or self-inflicted I don't see the possibility knowing that it's not a contact shotgun wound and I'm I'm fairly strong and I'm bigger than Paul was and I don't know of any way you could hold that shotgun out and and shoot yourself in that direction at that angle and put that biological material on top that door like that I don't think it's possible all right thank you all right I hate to keep sending you back and support um now let me ask you this uh excuse me um the second one the fatal wound that Paul suffered to his head was that Buckshot or was that bird shot the second wound was bird shot all right and can you describe to the jury the difference between the composition of a buck shot round as it relates to the pellets on a bird shot round yes sir I can all right please do that with buckshots you've got a number of larger pellets uh approximately 30 36 caliber pellets and you've got fewer of them they're they're made for bringing down larger gain so in the typical double lock buck shot you're going to have nine pellets in your typical number two and it's called many things you know the typical person calls it burn shot bird shot chill shot steel shot coated shot I've heard it called many things so I just typically call it birdshot but in this particular shot there's approximately 150 to 156 pellets in that dry lock shot shell so that's the difference with the buckshots you've got fewer and they're larger and with the bird shot you've got many and and that they're greater they're for bringing down winged animals squirrels uh rabbits Dove quail uh turkey duck I mean just depending on the number shot that that's what that's for all right and about how many approximately bird shot might be in an average shotgun shell the literature says that it's 156 in a dry lock I cut one open and only counted 150 but that may have been human error around 150 yes sir uh in your expert opinion uh when you have bird shot is is there a forensic value to collecting every single pellet or can you explain those Concepts to the jury when you're dealing with bird shot I always try to collect enough that the Firearms examiner can weigh it and he can have a good representative sample of what was used to cause this injury with a projectile or a bullet you have what's called lands and grooves markings rifling some people call it rifling and it's caused from that projectile spinning as it goes down the barrel you don't have that in a shotgun and a pellet is so small that you couldn't probably couldn't find it if you could have it in a shotgun so in my opinion there's no forensic value as long as you have enough to determine what type of shot or what type of shale and the weight of it in your opinion uh was the and you've talked about this but was the shooter when that fatal shot was fired inside or outside of that door frame the second shot the second shot yes sir it was outside the door frame right and where was that second shot shell located it was also located under the door and uh does that still consistent with your opinion absolutely and can you explain that to the jury please yes sir like I mentioned earlier the ejection port on a shotgun typically and they are left-handed shotguns but typically the majority of shotguns the ejection Port is on the right side so as long as that Shooter had it at an angle and had that ejection Port pointed toward the door even just the least little bit that would give plenty of opportunity for that shot shell to be ejected and go inside that door all right I know I just sent you back and we'll bring you back down I'm sorry uh before we move on from Paul I would and if you could just use me as a mannequin but can you uh sort of describe to me your conclusions about the positioning of the of Paul when he suffered that fatal head wound and uh and and just how the trajectory of that wound uh and that shot as you've described and as supported by the evidence as you see it can I describe it in yeah and demonstrate yes oh the second wound as I mentioned went in his arm and caused a an injury here a a large entrance exit entrance and then of course exit here so it had to be typically with the kind of non-fatal wound Paul suffered to his chest in his arm it's my belief that now he is five foot eight frame is dipping or favoring that arm because as you know that's that's over 20 something entrances in exits I believe it would have hurt him I believe he would have been in pain and I believe he would have been somewhat affected and the reason I believe that is because I've got the 90 degree blood drops moving really really slow if he wasn't feeling it or if it hadn't affected him in some way I believe his youthfulness would have allowed him to get out of there faster but he's moving real slow to the door so that's going to drop that angle just a couple inches and I can demonstrate all right and if we can make sure that juror can see yes sir absolutely all right that when we went in approximately right here they've traveled in out in and out in a straight line in a straight line shot always goes in a straight line and then when you're pressing the dowel stick there you're showing the trajectory of the winter night implying that was a contact lens no sir I'm not I'm not implying it's contact I'm just showing the level of the one all right while I'm thinking about it uh the wound to uh Paul's chest it didn't show evidence of stippling yes sir all right and just very quickly what is simply commonly referred to as tattooing is particles and and material that's in that shell that don't burn up because it's superheated that at the time that the powder charge ignites it doesn't explode it ignites and burns rapidly and that's unburnt particles of powder and other contents of that shell they're hot and when they hit the body they cause stippling or in the old days they call it tattooing and and that's basically what it is it works as an ink looking at this particular image falls about five feet in the feed room when he surfaced the first wound correct yes sir that is correct and then he moves towards the door is that correct that is correct and supper is the second one somewhere near the door frame on the inside of it yes sir with his shoulder just outside that door frame and when he suffers that second wind what happens to Paul he falls immediately and where does he fall he falls outside the feed room all right um let's move on uh now and let's talk a little bit if we can about the injuries to Maggie Murdoch and if you could start out by reminding the jury of the injuries that she suffered and then let's talk about your conclusions as to the manner and the order in which those are suffering yes sir all right so good just to remind us again of those injuries and if you could go ahead and describe them in the order that your expert opinion they were suffering yes sir Miss Maggie Murdock suffered three non-fatal injuries from a firearm one was through her wrists one was her left upper thigh above the knee one was at her abdomen here and it exited somewhere around her kidneys now I'm not that kind of doctor I can't tell you all the damage it did inside all those organs and things but it ran a straight line through her body this one on her left leg and this one on her midsection were approximately the same angle and they were really really close in distance one or had stippling that that said that it was a a foot closer than the other but that would probably fit this was either a total separate non-fatal wound or it could have been a continuation of one of the two fatal wounds her fatal wounds were she had an abrasion or a burn on the left side of her abdomen from the outside in that bullet followed a straight path it entered the end of her breast and did extensive damage to the end of her breast entered her left jaw side of her face area and went into her brain that's the first fatal injury and it was immediate and she dropped right where she was at I saw no evidence that her body had been manipulated moved or rolled over the second fatal injury was down into her head and it actually did what in in the day they call a keyhole injury just from appearances the entrance and exit in the top of her head was so close it made one big injury and then it entered into her upper shoulders and went down into her body that would have also been a fatal wound but it was second in my opinion that one came second all right let's uh let's talk about that a little bit in a little bit more detail those first two wounds uh that uh that you described uh you believe those are the first two ones she suffered yes or impossibly three I can't tell you much about this because the arm could have been moving or it could have been here there's all right well let's talk about the thigh wound and the abdomen wound can you did you have any conclusions about uh the the location of the shooters those two wounds were uh um suffered yes sir I did all right and explain that to the jury please a little bit more right here all right left leg out a little bit about here and here here and here and in your opinion were those two shots fired at a fairly quick secession or around the same time I think it would have been really really difficult to get a similar angle if they weren't uh all the shooter had to do is raise the weapon or lower the weapon and you're still on the same plane and those wounds to the abdomen and to the thigh reflect the presence of stippling they did and what does that indicate to you about the distance between Maggie and the shooter when those wounds were suffered I guess four or five feet fairly close yes sir all right and after those two uh wounds were suffered and again we'll put aside the risk wind for for a bit uh what would have happened after that in your expert opinion in my opinion at bare minimum she would have been over she would have been in pain I believe sometime in close proximity she fell to the ground and that's when the first fatal wound was delivered when she had been prone on the ground or still somewhat raised by the ground or in a bent over position when that first fatal wound was suffered in my opinion from the angle she would have been on her knees and had at least one hand on the ground those first two shots uh well let me ask you this uh there were obviously six show uh shell cases that of 300 Blackout that were used to murder uh Maggie Murdock found in the scene is that correct that is correct explain to the jury is there what conclusions if any can you draw about the location of those showcases uh if anything once again just like with the shotgun I'm not saying it doesn't exist but I don't think there are many left-handed AR platforms so generally speaking the ejection ports but be on the right side I own seven uh some of them throw it the ship the shell casing a little bit forward some throw it a little bit back some throw it perfect 90 degrees to the ejection port if they were always uniform where they come out if you go target practice you could place a bucket there in all your shell casings would drop in the bucket you wouldn't have to bend over and pick up your shell cases unfortunately that's not the real world so I don't put a lot into that unless I have the actual weapon and we can test the weapon with the same ammunition and you can generally get an idea of where that shell case is going to go so no sir I don't pay a lot of attention to it and I definitely don't think the sequence of from one end to the other or from this end to this end means that's necessarily the movement of the shooter all right um You said that when she suffered that first fatal wound in your opinion I mean she would have been over and perhaps been on her hands and knees is that correct yes sir all right I'm gonna get down to my hands and knees and if you can come around here and kind of show me where the trajectory of that wound would have gone uh the first wound that uh was fatal for maybe Murdoch I guess you can come behind me yes sir all right right there the shooter was right here approximately right here all right and show us the trajectory as it went uh through Maggie into her brain yes it burnt or grazed her stomach outside to inside went through the end of her breast into her jaw and then into her brain okay and what would have been the effect on her once that shot was suffered she would have immediately fell down with the front of her body all right and that is the position her arms were in the original crime scene photographs and while I'm down here so I don't have to get up again tell me about the Fatal shot in the position of the shooter as the evidence indicates too the second shot was not not as close but it still wasn't a long distance it was approximately here into the crown of the head and I used the dial stick to show that injury that Maggie suffered in out in in that line okay thank you I need to go to the dry cleaner after this all right um the first shot uh the first fatal shot that would have immediately been fatal is that correct yes sir uh the second shot uh also would have been fatal had she still been living but in your opinion she was not at that point is that correct yes sir all right um she may have had a sign of life but there was no movement she was not capable of any movement at that time all right uh go ahead and have a safe for him of course as soon as I say that to you I'm sure probably gonna have to get back up foreign let me talk about something else real quick before we come back to this all right I'm gonna show you what's been marked to States 541 and see if you recognize this document I'll bring it back to you yes sir I do all right tell the jury generally what this document is please that is a comparison and presentation that I put together over an unidentified impression on Miss Maggie Murdoch's left calf okay your honor this time I would move uh State 541 into evidence under seal okay it's the middle without objection we could uh make sure the monitors are secured please all right I'm gonna uh are all the monitors secured we're good I'm going to put States 541 up on the screen I'm sorry I got thumbs up Report TV correct moving uh 541 and putting it up on the screen uh if you could tell me first of all what do we see here uh before we get to your analysis on this particular issue this is a general photograph of an impression on Miss Maggie Murdoch's left calf okay and uh do we also see a wound on this particular in this picture you can see the exit wound from that thigh wound that I described earlier all right and what if anything uh did you notice about or conclude from uh the sort of the blood pattern on on the back of her thigh there she's doing a little while I can't tell you how much time just like with Paul but she was standing after she suffered that thigh wound because the blood is running down the leg and gravity always pulls it to the Earth all right and then uh you know I sent you back there and we'll just bring you back on down I'm sorry about that and bring the stick uh if you would and again make sure you're out of the way of of the jurors um was there any sort of a Mark or any sort of mud mark on uh on the back of her leg yes sir it was all right and put that out to the jury please right here an unknown impression on her leg okay and did you engage in an analysis of that particular impression I did yes sir all right you just stay there I think it's probably easier than sending you back I'm gonna move to the next slide and just tell me what this is if you would please that is the same impression a known impression I've just cropped everything out so you can concentrate on the actual impression all right moving on to the third page of this exhibit what is this this is a side-by-side all-terrain vehicle that was in close proximity to miss Maggie Murdoch's body where she her final spot where they located her and this is in close proximity to where she was located all right stand by for me real quick [Applause] foreign States 70 and State 71. and can you tell me what these images reflect that is that Polaris ATV Side by Side that I mentioned right and generally remind the jury where this was located Miss Murdock was was laying face down that was to her left underneath uh a overhang or or a uh I don't know what you call it a shed that was attached to that airplane hangar a lean tube that's the word I was trying to think of all right and do you see any in the end any indication of any biological material and the crimes and images that were taken of that Polaris that was my first indicator that's what made me concentrate on a specific Tire yes sir and you'll see how washed out that is if I can maybe fix it foreign example of what you're talking about on that image yes sir I can and I can bring you the original image of this better right here we've got some kind of biological material and I'll tell you the reason I believe that to be so like I said blood has a viscosity or a cohesive factor to it that's why Blood drop stays together you know if you throw a drop of water on a tire what's going to happen it's going to run down but here here and actually here on the front of that four wheeler in my opinion that's some type of biological material all right let me slide by you real quick all right looking now at defense 29. again if you could just uh this is the feed room right here is that right yes sir and just if you could just point to the general location of this ATV and where it was located in the crime scene right here in this area all right and that would be again on this this is not to scale but that would be at least on this diagram where Maggie was is that correct yes sir that's our approximate location all right looking at uh going back to this particular slide and uh and your uh your analysis of this tire uh if you went explain a little bit about what you see here and what an examiner looks at and looking at sort of this particular Tire as it relates to your analysis yes sir what we look at it as Footwear and tire tread or tire track examiners we look at the actual tread pattern and design of that tire of that shoe and there are a couple different uh conclusions you can come up with We compare known and unknown it's not like you see on TV where you take a picture of a shoe and feed it into a computer some people have Footwear databases but it still has to be examined by a human there's no Magic Machine if it is I've never seen it what we look at we look at the dimensions of the tread pattern we look at the shape the soul the outsole design the tread design the measurements and we try to find uh class characteristics that's shape size sometimes depth or or the the physical uh properties included in that pattern and then to make a complete identification that's a class characteristic that's saying there's an association either this shoe or this tire could have made this unknown impression or another one just like it could have made this unknown impression so that's a class or an association then you've got an identification that's where you say to the exclusion of all others this you or this tire made this print now to to make an actual complete identification to the exclusion of all others you've either got to have a you got to have what's called a random unique characteristic a thumbtack in the bottom of someone's shoe bubble gum damage to the tread pattern on that tire you know you hit something and it cut a tread pattern so that's pretty difficult unless you have the actual Tire the actual shoe and then you take it and compare it to the unknown and what you'll do is take that tire and you three dimensional comparisons are always better than two-dimensional two-dimensional is a photograph you can't tell depth if you have the actual cast of that footprint or that tire now you've got three dimensional you've got the the width the length and the depth so it's a little bit better to have a three-dimensional to compare with but you can do a lot with the two dimensional you can if you can get it scaled to the size you can associate it with another thing you're looking for them unique random characteristics they call them accidentals it's something that happens by accident just because of the way you walk the way you drive what you might hit and that's what you look at when you when you do a tire or Footwear and impression uh analysis I'm going to move on now to the next page and uh your exhibit and uh tell the jury what these two images are please yes sir this is the unknown impression on Miss Maggie Murdock's left calf and this is the photograph of the known front driver side Tire of that side by side so did you have to make any account relationship from Maggie's thigh and this ATV tire I did explain that to the jury duty just like if you're driving in your car and an ambulance comes up behind you and you look in the rear view mirror you can read ambulance but if you look at the front of that ambulance it's written backwards because you're looking through a mirror well with a shoe a tire or Miss Maggie Murdock's leg you can't see through her leg you can't see through the tire so you have to flip one of them or the other so flipping the tire in my opinion because it has some characteristics on it that I wanted the reader to be able to look at I chose to flip the impression on her leg to do the comparison Because unless you do Footwear and tire tread examinations you're not going to be able to look at something in reverse and find those points some orientation is that correct it is yes sir and then flipping over to your next slide that's uh where you've reversed the image is that correct same photograph I just pulled it over in the old days with 35 millimeter film and I'm from the old days we just flipped the negative that's all you had to do it's a little bit more complicated in the digital world but not that hard to do but this is a direct uh representation it's just in reverse all right continuing on as we go through uh your analysis what does this reflect this is just a side by side so you could understand the orientation here here here and here those are the two treads that we're talking about now and by the way those on the tire are the only Treads at that level on her calf that I believe needed to be examined all right and again these are just additional images uh illustrating uh the what you were focusing on in your analysis yes sir okay and then this one right here yes sir that's a side by side view once again with all the background cut out of it all right and then the final one is this uh uh explain this to the jury and how this supports your opinion this is my actual comparison and we use a process called Ace V where you analyze compare evaluate and verify it's a peer-reviewed process I never go by just my results I always have another competent examiner with like experience and like skills look at my work because if you're going to make a mistake that's where the mistakes found you don't want to put a conclusion out for something important and you miss that and that is a very important process in the examination world that you use peer-reviewed process you have someone else look at it and so what I do so that person and the jury in the court your honor so that person can look at these details I've got a mark up here showing some unique random characteristics that I've used but I also put the actual impression there so you can make your own decision I didn't want to look like I was being deceptive and put enhancements in there and point things you can look at it make your own conclusion but I wanted to uh put it right next to mine so you know I'm I'm being straight here or you can make your own opinion all right very quickly is it your expert opinion that this Mark on the back of Maggie's leg is a tire impression uh and not anything else that is a tire trade impression that is my opinion all right now I see you have a number of arrows here that have different colors and so I'd like to move through those and you explain what you're pointing to with those arrows in this image okay absolutely let's start with the uh the baby blue one and tell tell the jury what what that indicates to you now you're gonna have to tell me because I can't tell Shane from up here okay the top one yep yes sir all right here you've got your unknown impression you got your unknown impression and what I pointed here is at the start of that impression and it's in mud by the way it's in mud and so it's really really fragile but it's still here you got an unknown impression and here's approximately where it starts in the unknown and here is where it starts in the known and you can look at both the marked up one and the actual impression itself and it's here all right and then moving on to the to this this one right here kind of uh we got a purple one and then uh kind of that uh yes sir I see whatever that one is but explain the jury what you're seeing there and how that supports your concluding right here is the other side of that tread and this tread is this tread is this tread those two are the same and right here you can see it come up and it actually makes a complete corner there comes up and it curves out just a little bit there all right and does that consists of the with the sort of unique shape of that top Target yes sir it is uh right here and then it comes up now it's not it's exaggerated a little bit in the drawing but that's the best I could do with a with a stylist trying to get it there now those very interesting patterns that you see in the mud that match up with that particular Tire yes sir not so much uh not so much the corner there but these in here are you can see a unique random characteristic here and all that is is a void pattern in the mud you can also see it here I mean I'm almost perfect you can see one here where the yellow area is you can see it here it's right there all right you're kind of doing a little mountain or a little hop and you can expand on that with a jury why is that particular why is that significant to you because that's not in the that's not in the process of making the tire that's because whoever drove that side by side last hit some dirt or some mud and that is a pattern that's left in mud on the tire and in my opinion it transferred to miss Maggie Murdoch's calf show the jury where you're talking about the little humping this image right here if you could show it it's marked with a yellow arrow and here it is right here and I mark it there but you can look at the one that's not marked and you can also see it here all right talking about uh this bottom uh impression we got a white Arrow to that line right there explain that to the jury what's significant in your analysis I Mark that because unless you examine your my unless you got really really good eyesight you might not even pick up on that but here you've only got a partial line the whole line didn't show through in the transfer of the mud or dirt or debris and I kept myself honest I only highlighted the length of that but you can also see it here and here you can see that that side of that tread that tire tread all right and uh moving on now to uh to the uh this green one right here and kind of green uh to the baby blue to that blue just kind of going around there if you can explain that to the jury and it's no significance if any to hear enough it's just a continuation and there's a little break in there but there's still the same angle same lines and they match up and that's just because the the dirt didn't transfer completely but you got plenty of skeletonized lying here to show the outline of that tread here here and here and that's here here and here in your opinion that's a tire impression that is entire impression that's my opinion and in your opinion based on these very significant uh mirror images and accidentals and that sort of thing is that most likely that specific tire tread that's on the back of it it is most likely that tire if it's not that tire it's a similar Tire with the same tread design and that particular tire was in close proximity to where Maggie was found in close proximity um looking at how you had Maggie uh in that first shot I think you had me kind of angled a little bit like that is that correct yes sir and if she was angled that way near that front tire would she be facing towards the feed room yes sir all right and are those two shots that that were suffered in the abdomen and the thigh are those uh consistent with the shooter coming from the direction of the feed room certainly could be yes sir all right go ahead go ahead and have a sleep for me if you would I'm sure I'll have you back up all right all right additionally with this particular tire tread impression on the back of uh of Maggie's calf is that consistent with her running into it or backing up into it with her with her calf hitting that tire as it was parking leading um I'm not this is my first leading objection on this but I object waiting our pleasure all right uh with uh let me ask you this with this particular Tire impression and what we see on Maggie's calf is there a reasonable explanation as to how that uh impression got on her cap at some point in time Miss Maggie Murdoch's left calf made contact with the inside of that front driver side Tire or one just like it and I saw no evidence that she was run over so she had to make contact at some point in time gotcha all right um hold on for me one second I just got a few more matters all right I'm going to show you and watch today be careful this one will be under sealed so can we secure the monitors please I'm going to show you what's been marked as 542 and see if you recognize this image I do right and just generally tell the jury what that is it's a cell phone sitting up on the back right hand side pocket of the victim Paul Murdock all right your honor this time I'd move uh stage 542 with the evidence under seal let's admit it all right are the monitors secured I'm going to put this image up on the screen all right and uh again is this your understanding of uh how Paul's phone was found at the crime scene it is all right and did you uh make any assessment or analysis of whether or not Paul's phone could have popped out and be found in that position I did all right and can you relate that to the jury please it's my opinion that his his phone was placed there by someone else and tell the jury your basis for that conclusion please well after I mentioned the the fatality the Fatal shot at that point in time you have no movement even involuntary movement and there's no way Paul could have retrieved that phone from his pocket and placed it on top his the back of his pants and in your opinion if he had been carrying that in his hand could it have landed in that fashion following the Fatal shot he suffered to his head mathematically you may could have made it happen but I don't believe it's possible I believe the phone would have fell to the ground and it wouldn't have fell behind him up in the air and landed on him a couple other things I you've testified about your experience and crime scene and that sort of thing is that correct yes sir is there any forensic value in a residence uh belonging to certain family members and doing any sort of DNA swabs of the bathroom sink or the shower drain or anything like that if it's an unknown person maybe but not if someone lives there I see I see very little forensic value in that and why is that can you explain that to the jury because because we as humans we we swap we lose biological material every day we brush our teeth or we should we brush our teeth and we shampoo and we wash and there's commonly blood and other bodily fluids in our drains in our tub drains and generally everywhere except in a toilet bowl generally generally yes or under blacklight um you've uh talked about your experience and your certifications with Firearms is that correct yes sir do you only own yourself any AR style platform rifles I have seven complete rifles and I also own a couple strip lowers that I'm just holding for a rainy day gotcha and uh um what what are those uh chambered in two two three five five six in the AR platform is that the most common chambering for an AR platform I believe it is yes sir do you personally own a 300 Blackout I do not but I have trained and shot a 300 Blackout and why do you have two two three instead of 300 Blackout the cartridges were a little bit more difficult well they were a lot more difficult to find during covid and they are a lot more expensive than two two three and five five six 300 Blackout pretty loud I think they're all loud yes sir uh I have to wear hearing protection around my rifles 300 Blackout louder than a shotgun absolutely I don't wear hearing protection when I hunt I'm going to have an Hunter but I have to wear here in protection with my rifle hold on for me one sec the Jury Room for a break please do not discuss the case

Channel: News 19 WLTX

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Keywords: [ alex-murdaugh, news, special-reports ]

Id: JKIX5uYqKiM

Length: 85min 10sec (5110 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 16 2023