- 12 hours ago
A case that people thought was closed – the Murdaugh murders case in South Carolina – was turned on its head this week. A judge overturned the convictions of Richard Alexander Murdaugh, known as Alex Murdaugh, for allegedly killing his wife and son, and ordered a new trial. While the Murdugh case made plenty of headlines this week, you may have missed an update to another high-profile case, the 2024 Kansas City Super Bowl parade shooting. This week, two men convicted of the shooting went free. We’ll also check in on the Tanner Horner case in Texas and other quick updates from across the U.S.
Featuring audio from 1010 WINS in New York, NYW Newsradio in Philadelphia, KRLD 1080 in Dallas, The Dana & Parks Show out of KMBZ in Kansas City, The Tara Show out of 98.9 WORD in Greenville, South Carolina and KCBS Radio out of the Bay Area.
Featuring audio from 1010 WINS in New York, NYW Newsradio in Philadelphia, KRLD 1080 in Dallas, The Dana & Parks Show out of KMBZ in Kansas City, The Tara Show out of 98.9 WORD in Greenville, South Carolina and KCBS Radio out of the Bay Area.
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00:08When equipment breaks down and operations come to a halt, every single second counts.
00:14So why is your maintenance team spending 60% of their time doing anything but turning wrenches?
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01:00That's Maintain and the letter X dot com slash AI.
01:03Get more out of every mile when you share the ride to work.
01:07With carpooling, you'll have time to relax, save money, and pick up new friends.
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01:30That's commuterconnections.org.
01:33This is attorney Omid Azari from Azari Law.
01:37If you've been injured in an accident and feel like no one is fighting for you, it's time to fight
01:42back.
01:42Call Azari Law at 888-828-HURT.
01:45Just with one call, you can put a proven legal team on your side.
01:49Azari Law has been serving the DMV for over 15 years, proudly fighting for our local community.
01:55I was born and raised right here in the DMV, and my team is made up of experienced, reputable local
02:01attorneys dedicated to fighting for injury victims just like you.
02:05Follow us on all social platforms at Azari.law.
02:09That's A-Z-A-R-I dot L-A-W.
02:14Don't wait.
02:15Don't settle.
02:16Fight back with Azari Law.
02:17With offices in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia, my team and I are ready to stand up for you.
02:24Call 888-828-HURT.
02:26That's 888-828-HURT.
02:29And let us fight back for you.
02:35This is a true crime roundup from the On Deadline podcast.
02:40Each week, we dive into crime stories reported by Odyssey's radio newsrooms across the nation.
02:46I'm your host, Lauren Berry.
02:48A case that people thought was closed, the Murdaugh murders case in South Carolina, was turned on its head this
02:56week.
02:57A judge overturned the convictions of Richard Alexander Murdaugh, known as Alex Murdaugh, for allegedly killing his wife and son.
03:05The judge also ordered a new trial.
03:08Murdaugh, an attorney himself, was from a prominent legal family in South Carolina.
03:13The case has attracted significant media attention, from podcasts and books to a Hulu series.
03:22In this roundup, we'll hear some reactions to the latest news.
03:25And we'll get some background on the Murdaugh case, including why that judge decided to overturn Alex Murdaugh's convictions.
03:34While the Murdaugh case has made plenty of headlines this week, you may have missed an update to another high
03:41-profile case.
03:42The 2024 Kansas City Super Bowl Parade shooting.
03:47Two men convicted of the shooting recently went free.
03:51That's another story that we'll hear about in this roundup.
03:54First, we have some quick crime report roundups from around the country, starting with two crimes covered by Odyssey Station
04:021010 Winds in New York City.
04:06A strap hanger is fighting for his life at this hour after he was stabbed at an East Harlem subway
04:12station.
04:13Cops say the stabbing happened at about 1.15 p.m. on the downtown 6 train platform at the 125th
04:20Street station.
04:20The victim is said to be critical.
04:23Police say two attackers fled the scene.
04:25So far, there have been no arrests.
04:31Charges have been upgraded against a Queens man accused of setting a fire that killed four people, including a three
04:38-year-old girl.
04:39Queens District Attorney Melinda Katt says Roman Amatilla now faces first-degree murder charges in addition to second-degree murder
04:47and arson.
04:48A total of 37 counts.
04:51Katt says he set the fire at the base of the only stairwell exit from the upper floors of a
04:56flushing building.
04:57The sequence of events show someone who was angry and, you know, went to that building and then came back
05:06to start the fire,
05:08knowing that, you know, our allegations is that he knew that in the staircase no one could get out.
05:14In addition to the four people killed, seven others were injured, including two firefighters.
05:19The upgraded charges mean Amatilla could be sentenced to life behind bars if convicted.
05:28Odyssey station KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia also covered multiple crimes this week, including this road rage incident that spiraled into
05:38violence.
05:39A Philadelphia man under arrest accused of shooting at a driver in what police are calling a road rage incident
05:46in Bethlehem.
05:48Jamie Alexander Paramo Zamudio, taken into custody yesterday, charged with aggravated homicide and aggravated assault.
05:57It was early yesterday morning when authorities say he fired a handgun through a woman's windshield while he was stopped
06:04at a red light at the intersection of Linden Street and Johnston Drive.
06:09The woman wasn't hit, but suffered minor injuries from the shattered glass.
06:14Police say the bullet also missed her 15-year-old son, who was sitting in the passenger seat.
06:20It's not clear what led up to the shooting.
06:23Police say they identified Ramo Zamudio after reviewing footage of the incident from two nearby school buses.
06:31He now is being held at Northampton County Prison without bail.
06:40While one teen narrowly avoided a bullet, another teen in the area was taken into custody, according to KYW.
06:48A teenager who admitted to fatally shooting a man during a carjacking in South Philadelphia three years ago, sentenced to
06:57at least a decade behind bars.
06:59Here's KYW's crime and justice reporter, Christian Johansson.
07:03Rashid Banks Jr. was 15 years old when he shot and killed 50-year-old Michael Salerno in July of
07:082023 over his Pontiac sedan.
07:10Banks pleaded guilty in February at a third-degree murder conspiracy robbery of a motor vehicle and a gun offense.
07:16Three other firearms charges were dropped.
07:18Police say Banks was one of three armed suspects who jumped out of a red Kia Soul and tried to
07:22steal the car at 11th and Porter.
07:24They say Salerno, who had a friend in the car at the time, was trying to protect her and fought
07:29back when he shot.
07:30Judge Charles Ehrlich sentenced the now 17-year-old Banks to 10 to 25 years behind bars.
07:35The other two suspects were never arrested.
07:43When equipment breaks down and operations come to a halt, every single second counts.
07:49So why is your maintenance team spending 60% of their time doing anything but turning wrenches?
07:57MaintainX is the AI-powered maintenance and asset management system that helps your team get back to actually fixing breakdowns.
08:04No more searching for manuals.
08:06No more hunting down parts.
08:08No more drowning in paperwork.
08:10With MaintainX, your team can access manuals from anywhere, create new procedures in minutes, and turn voice notes into clear
08:17and complete work order feedback.
08:19What used to take hours now only takes minutes.
08:22Keep your operations moving and your wrenches turning.
08:25Join over 13,000 maintenance teams that are already fixing more and filing less.
08:31Try MaintainX for free today.
08:32Go to MaintainX.com slash AI.
08:35That's Maintain in the letter X dot com slash AI.
08:39Get more out of every mile when you share the ride to work.
08:42With carpooling, you'll have time to relax, save money, and pick up new friends.
08:47Commuter Connections can help you find carpool partners who live and work near you.
08:51Even if you're commuting just a few days a week.
08:53It's a free service.
08:55Carpooling.
08:56Every dollar saved.
08:57Every friend made.
08:58Register for free carpool partner ride matching at commuterconnections.org or call 800-745-RIDE.
09:06That's commuterconnections.org.
09:09This is attorney Omid Azari from Azari Law.
09:12If you've been injured in an accident and feel like no one is fighting for you, it's time to fight
09:17back.
09:17Call Azari Law at 888-828-HURT.
09:21Just with one call, you can put a proven legal team on your side.
09:24Azari Law has been serving the DMV for over 15 years, proudly fighting for our local community.
09:30I was born and raised right here in the DMV, and my team is made up of experienced, reputable local
09:37attorneys dedicated to fighting for injury victims just like you.
09:41Follow us on all social platforms at Azari.law.
09:44That's A-Z-A-R-I dot L-A-W.
09:49Don't wait.
09:50Don't settle.
09:51Fight back with Azari Law.
09:53With offices in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia, my team and I are ready to stand up for you.
09:59Call 888-828-HURT.
10:01That's 888-828-HURT.
10:05And let us fight back for you.
10:12KYW also reported on a tragic firearm incident that officials believe was an accident.
10:19It claimed the life of an elementary school student this week.
10:25A student in the Upper Darby School District in Delaware County has died in what officials believe was a case
10:30of accidental gunfire.
10:32Here's KYW's Vic Ragupathy.
10:34Upper Darby School District Superintendent says Thursday afternoon a student was shot inside their home.
10:39While Upper Darby Police are still investigating the incident, authorities believe the shooting was the result of children playing with
10:45a gun.
10:46The school district is working with police as they look further into the incident, and officials say they will provide
10:50updates as they become available.
10:51Adam Garber is the CEO of Ceasefire PA, an anti-gun violence advocacy group.
10:56He says if you have a gun in the home, keeping it locked away is paramount.
11:00You don't want any unauthorized individual, especially a child, getting access to that firearm.
11:06The American Academy of Pediatrics and experts recommend always securing your firearm, ideally unloaded.
11:13Options include getting a lockbox or a cable lock that will prevent your gun from firing.
11:17The Upper Darby Superintendent shared resources with parents about discussing the consequences of playing with guns and the grieving process
11:23after violent events.
11:25There will also be professionals available at Beverly Hills Middle School Friday to lend support to anyone who needs it.
11:32In Dallas, Texas, Odyssey station KRLD 1080 provided a report on the search in Everman, Texas for Noel Alvarez, a
11:42child last seen more than three years ago.
11:46Here's KRLD reporter Austin York.
11:49This is the latest in several attempts to find the remains at that location.
11:53Everman police confirmed the search is linked to the little boy's disappearance, but say no new leads or information brought
11:59them back to the house.
12:00The six-year-old was last seen alive in the fall of 2022.
12:03However, police were not made aware of his disappearance until the following year.
12:07His mother, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, was charged with his murder, but took off to India with her other kids before
12:13she could be taken into custody.
12:15Last year, she was extradited back to Texas to stay in trial, but a judge has ruled her incompetent and
12:20ordered her held at a state mental facility.
12:23Noel is presumed dead.
12:26KRLD also provided an update on the Tanner Horner case.
12:30The station has been following the trial for this former FedEx driver who pleaded guilty to the murder of seven
12:37-year-old Athena Strand.
12:39She was killed in 2022.
12:42Tanner Horner sentenced to death in Fort Worth for killing seven-year-old Athena Strand, and he's now appealing his
12:47sentence.
12:47He pleaded guilty to killing the little girl at the start of his trial, and jurors for weeks heard difficult
12:52testimony as they had to decide whether he should die or spend the rest of his life behind bars.
12:57Jurors deliberated less than three hours when they made their decision, and now as attorneys have filed an appeal with
13:03the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
13:04If they affirm the sentence, they can go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
13:12Kansas City, Missouri was in a great mood on Valentine's Day 2024.
13:17There was this huge parade celebrating the Super Bowl win of the Kansas City Chiefs, and the weather?
13:24It was unseasonably nice.
13:26Families and friends were gathered near Union Station to enjoy the festive atmosphere.
13:32Then, amid the joy and the confetti, pops of gunfire could be heard.
13:38As shots rang out, more than 20 people were hit.
13:42One of them, radio host Lisa Lopez-Galvan, died.
13:47Others were left injured, including children.
13:51Terry Young and Dominic Miller were both found guilty of unlawful use of a weapon
13:56after initially facing higher charges connected to the parade shooting.
14:01Both were sentenced to two years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.
14:05But both of them have been released as of this week, according to reports.
14:10The Dana and Parks Show, out of Odyssey Station KMBZ in Kansas City, discussed the case this week.
14:16Let's listen.
14:19Are you ready to get upset?
14:21Oh, don't do this to me. Why?
14:23From the Kansas City Star.
14:24Uh, I already know what you're going to say before you say it.
14:29Two men accused of firing shots in the mass shooting at the 2024 Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory rally
14:36that left one woman dead have been released...
14:39You mispronounced murderers.
14:41...have been released from prison...
14:43Alleged.
14:44...after short stints in state custody.
14:46Both men, Dominic Miller and Terry Young, faced murder charges
14:51and pleaded guilty to lesser gun charges in March and April.
14:57Idiots.
14:57...and received two-year prison sentence.
14:59How do you kill a woman?
15:01Bullets are flying at the Chiefs Parade.
15:04Families are separated, screaming.
15:07People are injured trying to flee in the melee.
15:10Mm-hmm.
15:11And two years later, you're just out somewhere back on the streets of Kansas City?
15:17Yeah.
15:17Can you not say when something like this happens that as part of your parole,
15:21we don't want you anywhere near our town.
15:22Go find another town.
15:24Both pleaded guilty to an unlawful use of a weapon charge.
15:27Unbelievable.
15:28Why not put them up on murder?
15:30Oh, God, it makes me mad.
15:31I don't understand, and I guess I understand it from like a political perspective,
15:37if that's the way we want to go with it.
15:39I don't want to go politics here, but this whole stand-your-ground kerfuffle
15:43in the state of Missouri, it all comes down to an interpretation of the law.
15:48So, yes, I understand that a certain number of prosecutors are leaning on
15:54this one interpretation from this one Supreme Court decision
15:57regarding the stand-your-ground laws about one case that happened in St. Louis.
16:00However, we then ask a jury of 12 people, the peers of the people accused
16:07of committing the crime, whether or not they committed the crime
16:10based on their interpretation of the law.
16:13But, Sam, there's no wiggle room with that interpretation.
16:15I will remind you, the case in St. Louis was one woman saying to another woman,
16:21I'm going to whomp you.
16:22It was a W word that means smacking.
16:25Molly walk.
16:26I'm going to molly walk you.
16:28The other woman then said, well, I'm going to stab you.
16:31And the Missouri Supreme Court found that the way this crap law is written,
16:36the stand-your-ground law, that just the act of saying,
16:40excuse me, ma'am, I'm now going to molly walk you,
16:43is enough that the crazy lady number two has every right to stab her.
16:48What does molly walk even mean?
16:49It means knock out with one punch.
16:51But, again, Dana, I think that we're leaning too far onto this interpretation.
16:54And if, I don't know what the drive is behind it.
16:58Deep down inside, I feel like they're trying to get the law tightened up,
17:02and this is their way of doing it.
17:04But there are, Sam, wait, there are prosecutors who are Republicans,
17:06and there are prosecutors who are Democrats,
17:08and they're all screaming about the same crap law.
17:11Okay, but that's still, we can still put it before a jury and let them decide.
17:14Boom, and go with the lesser included.
17:16We can still charge them.
17:18The whole, we're just not going to charge them.
17:20Something else is going on.
17:21The problem is, on paper, this seems like a decent law.
17:25The lawmakers are like, ooh, ooh, look, we love gun rights.
17:28What it really comes down to is, if I'm shooting at you, and I'm an idiot,
17:31and now you're shooting at me, and you're an idiot, we both felt fear,
17:34who are you going to prosecute for that?
17:36But why not take them to trial on a murder charge and include a lesser included charge?
17:42Because all they have to say is, I felt in fear of my life.
17:46He was shooting at me.
17:47I shot at him.
17:48We both felt fear.
17:49End of story.
17:50Can't go to prison.
17:51They have to rework the law.
17:53But you killed an innocent person.
17:54That's absolutely right.
17:55So in that scenario, you take it to trial.
17:57Worst case scenario, they get the same charges they walked away with.
18:01Best case scenario for the public, they go to jail for murder.
18:04Absolute travesty.
18:07Lindell Mays, another man charged in connection with the Kansas City Super Bowl parade shooting,
18:12still faces charges of second-degree murder, armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon,
18:18and causing a catastrophe, according to KCTV.
18:23His trial is set to begin next March.
18:31In 2023, the trial of South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh resulted in convictions for the
18:38murders of his wife and son, and eventually two life sentences.
18:43Those convictions were overturned this week.
18:46Here's Tara Servatius of Odyssey Station 98.9 Word FM in Greenville, South Carolina, discussing the news.
18:54It's truly one of the most stunning cases I've ever seen.
18:57I mean, for the clerk of court, Becky Hill, who, by the way, is now the convicted clerk of court,
19:04criminally convicted clerk of court, to tell the jury,
19:07Ah, that guy Murdaugh, don't listen to what he says.
19:10He's not very credible.
19:12He's probably lying.
19:15Dang, girl.
19:17What were you thinking?
19:22Even the jurors were stunned, and of course she was thinking she'd write a book and wanted a certain outcome.
19:29And, you know, I didn't think much of, you know, basically turning the jury, Lee, into, you know, part of
19:35the story.
19:36It's just, legally, you can't do that.
19:38And she would have known that.
19:40I don't know how she thought she was going to get away with this.
19:45Ah, nobody will say anything.
19:52Before we dive further into new developments, including a new trial for Murdaugh,
19:58let's get some background about that original trial.
20:01This is audio from March 2023, when anchor Pat Thurston of Odyssey station KCBS Radio in San Francisco
20:09spoke with David Katz, a former federal prosecutor who's also worked as a defense attorney in Beverly Hills,
20:18about the Murdaugh convictions.
20:2020 months ago, the wife and son of a highly influential attorney in South Carolina
20:25were shot to death on the family's vast property near the dog kennels.
20:30Alex Murdoff claimed he was nowhere near the kennels when his family members were murdered.
20:34He was proved a liar when a video was presented taken by his son that showed he was at the
20:39kennels just before they were shot.
20:41Alex lied about a lot of things in the case.
20:43He admitted opioid addiction, admitted on the stand to his addiction to his financial crimes
20:48and to lying to investigators trying to find the killers.
20:51But there was no physical evidence connecting him to the crime.
20:54The defense seemed to rest their argument on that more than anything else.
20:58The jury has found Alex Murdoff guilty of killing his family members.
21:04Were you surprised at the verdict?
21:06I wasn't surprised at the verdict, Pat, but I was surprised at how quickly it was returned.
21:11I think a lot of people were, I think a lot of stations and media got kind of invested in,
21:17you know,
21:17it was close, like a ballgame that you want to be close.
21:20And in my judgment, it really wasn't close because of what you said,
21:25that after he had this false alibi narrative,
21:28after he'd said he was nowhere near the scene of the shootings of his wife and his own son,
21:33he was undone by this very short video that was taken by the son who was killed.
21:40And it took about a year to get it off of the, you know, security system that's put on the
21:45Apple device.
21:47But the police and the prosecution were very persistent.
21:50They got it.
21:52And once they got it, it undid the whole story that Alec Murdoch had been telling,
21:56that he was nowhere near the scene of the shootings.
21:59It put him at the scene of the shootings just five minutes before they happened.
22:04And had he really left, none of this made any sense because he would have heard shotgun blasts.
22:10They're very, very loud.
22:11So they would have called his attention.
22:13And he never returned, according to him, to the scene until much later.
22:17But as I say, he wouldn't even have taken the stand.
22:20He wouldn't have had to sort of tell this utterly, to me, improbable story
22:24had it not been that the police and the prosecution were persistent at getting that piece of evidence,
22:30that crucial piece of evidence, that minute-long video.
22:32They called two witnesses who identified his voice.
22:36Once that put him there, I think he felt that he had no choice as a seasoned trial lawyer himself
22:41but to take the stand and to try to, you know, just go for broke.
22:45And that failed.
22:46And I don't think any of the appeals will end up succeeding either.
22:49I think he's going to spend the rest of his life in prison.
22:51And we'll know what his sentence is tomorrow morning.
22:54The judge will sentence him tomorrow morning.
22:55I suspect the life without parole.
22:57You know, one of the things, and I didn't watch this trial start to finish,
23:00as I've done with a lot of trials you and I have spoken about.
23:03But one of the things that I did see that bothered me was evidence that showed that
23:08after he knew that his wife and son had been murdered like this,
23:13he didn't call family members, the people who were closest,
23:17the people who would care the most about these deaths.
23:20But he was making phone calls.
23:22He was making phone calls to other people.
23:24He was calling friends.
23:25He was calling business associates.
23:27That, to me, made me believe that he didn't care,
23:31that he didn't care about what happened
23:33and that he wasn't thinking about,
23:36oh, my God, how am I going to break the news to so-and-so?
23:39What did you think of that testimony?
23:42He came across to me as an utter egomaniac,
23:45a person who was totally self-involved, arrogant.
23:48He was from this legal dynasty down there.
23:51You know, it might have been a small pond,
23:52but they were the big fishes there.
23:54For over 100 years, they controlled the prosecutor's office.
23:58You know, their word was kind of a big deal down there.
24:01And things started to unravel for him, too, with his 19-year-old son,
24:04the one who ended up being shot to death.
24:06He'd been in a boat accident.
24:08And, of course, one of the sub-themes of this whole thing,
24:11and he admitted this on the stand,
24:13was that Murdoch was a liar.
24:15He was an embezzler.
24:17He looked people right in the eye and stole their money.
24:19He said, I'm going to get a big recovery for you.
24:22And then he absconded with the money.
24:24He said that was to feed his opioid addiction,
24:26which also didn't make a whole lot of sense.
24:28In the course of that, he ended up opening the door
24:31to the fact that he had had somebody shoot him,
24:34and he had actually been shot.
24:36But apparently he wasn't injured that much.
24:38But he opened the door to the fact that he had actually had somebody shoot him.
24:42I guess that was a client who was also like a distant cousin.
24:46So the whole thing ended up being terrible.
24:48And he had to stay on the stand, as he did repeatedly,
24:51that I'm a liar, I'm a cheat, but I'm not a murderer.
24:55And I think that what he thought, talking about the arrogance point,
24:58the egomaniacal part of him,
25:00is he really was one of those people, I think,
25:02who thought he could commit the perfect crime.
25:03And the reason was he was going to cover up all the financial machinations.
25:07And he did manage to delay several probes into his stealing and embezzlement.
25:13And I think that he actually thought through that it will be so outlandish
25:17that anyone would kill their own wife and their own son
25:19that they'll never think that I could have had that motive,
25:23and the jury will ultimately acquit me.
25:25Well, the prosecutor had the last laugh, if you want to call that,
25:28because it was two and a half hours.
25:30It was shorter than the O.J. verdict.
25:32And I have to tell you this, in case you haven't seen it,
25:34O.J. actually called in to opine on the verdict.
25:38No, he didn't.
25:39He did.
25:40It's on every news station.
25:41It's on every TV station.
25:43And the satirists are saying,
25:47you know, Murdoch didn't do this.
25:48Maybe O.J. did.
25:50Maybe he found the real killer after all.
25:53They're all looking for the real killers.
25:55They're all looking for the real killers out in South Carolina
25:57on that huge estate who happened to kill his wife and son
26:00five minutes after he left them alive.
26:03Yeah, David Katz.
26:04So in a horrible, tragic case like this, you've left me laughing.
26:11By September 2023, Murdoch's attorneys were requesting a retrial,
26:17citing interference.
26:17Eric Thomas and Maggie Schaefer of KCBS spoke with Bruce Green,
26:23a law professor at Fordham University who specializes in criminal law
26:27and procedure, about the case and about legal ethics at the time.
26:32Attorneys for Alex Murdoch are vying for a retrial,
26:35saying the clerk of the court had a hand in influencing the jury.
26:38The clerk apparently rushed jurors to a decision and even made up a story
26:42to get one dismissed, as well as going on a book tour about the case after it closed down,
26:48all bringing up ethical, legal, and other questions surrounding the trial.
26:53So I've covered a few hundred trials in my time.
26:55In most cases, you never even notice the clerk.
26:58So what does the clerk normally do?
27:01Normally, the clerk brings the jurors in and out of the courtroom,
27:05makes sure that they're comfortable, arranges for them to have meals.
27:09If they're being transported somewhere, you know, arranges that.
27:14It's a ministerial job and has nothing to do with the adjudication of guilt or innocence.
27:21So what, in this case, would you describe as unethical?
27:26Well, I can only talk about the allegations.
27:29Allegations, exactly.
27:31So the allegation is that the clerk of the court
27:38talked about the substance of the case with some of the jurors
27:41and basically stated or implied that Murdoch should not be believed
27:47before he testified, allegedly, she told one of the jurors or the juries in general
27:56to watch him closely and look at his actions and his movements,
27:59implying that he was going to be lying.
28:03And then, allegedly, she pressured the jury to rush its verdict
28:08by not allowing the smokers on the jury to have a cigarette break
28:14and suggesting that they weren't going to be allowed to go home for the night
28:17if they didn't reach a verdict.
28:19And then there's some allegations that she also had secret communications
28:25with the jury foreperson, which, and the foreperson did not submit an affidavit,
28:31so we don't know, A, whether that's true and B, what they talk about.
28:35But the implication was that they were talking about the substance of the case.
28:39So basically, you know, during a jury trial, the jury is not supposed to, A,
28:45deliberate until after they've gotten the trial completed
28:49and gotten the jury instructions from the judge,
28:52and, B, they're not allowed to talk to anybody outside the jury
28:55about the substance of the case.
28:56And so certainly they're not allowed to have, I don't know,
29:00a friend or neighbor or the court clerk talk to them about the case,
29:05much less, you know, try to persuade them about who's telling the truth or not.
29:10So these are pretty, you know, they're just allegations that we haven't heard from the clerk,
29:15that there's just, you know, an affidavit from a juror.
29:19They haven't, you know, the jurors haven't testified or spoken to the judge about what they observed.
29:25So it's really just at a very early stage.
29:27But if these allegations turn out to be true, then it really jeopardizes the verdict.
29:33Indeed, it jeopardizes the verdict, because, I mean, if a judge clearly tells the jurors
29:40unambiguously that you can't talk about the case,
29:42then officers of the court and clerks of the court know that they can't have anything to do with that
29:47either.
29:48That's absolutely right.
29:49And, you know, there's not a lot of case law about this,
29:53because these things don't happen very often.
29:56The leading Supreme Court case goes back to 1954, so that's, you know, almost three quarters of a century old.
30:05And it's a very short opinion that basically just says, you know,
30:10if somebody, a third person was communicating with the jury about the substance of the case,
30:16it's presumptively prejudicial, presumptively reversible error.
30:19And unless the court finds that the error was harmless, you have to go back and try the case again.
30:26I don't know how you would find this was harmless if, in fact, it occurred.
30:31So I think the $64,000 question is whether these conversations, you know, really took place.
30:37If it's true, it's a very expensive mistake, a potential retrial.
30:43But what's so odd is that this was such a high-profile case, right, televised.
30:49I mean, does the defense team really think that it can get a different verdict?
30:55Well, you know, it was a circumstantial case, but nobody saw Murdoch kill his wife and son.
31:02And, you know, I think it was an incredibly strong circumstantial case from what I've read.
31:08But maybe he's hopeful.
31:10And now that he's seen the prosecution's evidence, maybe he feels that there's a better way strategically to address the
31:19case.
31:20But, you know, it also gives him hope.
31:24And there's no downside, you know, to appealing and reversing the conviction and trying again.
31:30Well, let me ask you this. We have about 45 seconds left.
31:34The case was already, as Mark, you mentioned, high-profile.
31:37If you have it reversed because of something as, you know, flashy as this, then how do you find an
31:44impartial jury after this?
31:47Well, that is an amazing thing.
31:49But it's not that the jury has to have no knowledge.
31:54It has to is that the jurors have to be able to say truthfully that they'll put aside what they've
32:01read and learned about the case from other sources and make the draw just on the evidence in the case
32:09and reaching their verdict.
32:10So I don't think, you know, there have been lots of high-profile cases over history.
32:15And judges managed to find jurors who say they could put aside what they've read and decide based on the
32:22evidence.
32:23In Greenville this week, Tara Servatius asked News Director Lee Rogers what he thought of the judge's move to overturn
32:31Murdoch's convictions.
32:33It's not just the clerk of court, but it is also the judge that was involved in the case.
32:38And this honestly did not surprise me.
32:41Me either.
32:41Because we've known for a long time that, you know, she was making these comments, that she'd spoken to the
32:47jury, said things that should not have been said.
32:49So this didn't surprise me a bit.
32:52Even though Murdoch's murder convictions have been overturned, he still has sentences for federal financial crimes to serve.
32:59In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Murdoch had been sentenced to 40 years in prison
33:07for those financial crimes.
33:11Thank you so much for listening to this True Crime Roundup from the On Deadline podcast.
33:17This episode was written and produced by me, Lauren Berry.
33:20Special thanks to 1010 Winds in New York, KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia, KRLD 1080 in Dallas,
33:31The Dana and Parks Show out of KMBZ in Kansas City,
33:34The Tara Show out of 98.9 Word in Greenville, South Carolina,
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33:43WBEN News and Talk in Buffalo,
33:45and WCCO News Talk in the Twin Cities.
33:49You can find these programs on the Odyssey app, or wherever you find your podcasts.
33:56You can find these True Crime Roundups by subscribing to the On Deadline podcast,
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34:03or the Bitter Academia podcast,
34:06on the Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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