Lawyer who testified against Alex Murdaugh is accused of paying another witness $1,000

Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial took a sensational turn today as a lawyer who has testified against him was accused of making a $1,000 payment to another prosecution witness. 

Defense attorney Phillip Barber interrupted proceedings to demand that the testimony of Mark Tinsley be struck from the record, alleging that he last night donated to a GoFundMe page for Shelly Smith, Murdaugh's mother's caregiver.

Smith's daughter, Rachelle Buckner, set up the page to 'reward her mother's bravery' after her emotional testimony about seeing Murdaugh on the night of the murders which prosecutors say shatters his alibi.

Barber said that Tinsley made a $1,000 donation to the page before later removing his name from the record. The defense demanded that the judge strike out the evidence of Tinsley, who was suing Murdaugh and his son Paul at the time of the murders for a fatal boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach.

'He made a financial payment to a witness in the middle of a trial, that he has a financial interest in the outcome of,' Barber told the judge, adding that Smith was still under subpoena.

Defense attorney Phillip Barber (left) interrupted proceedings to demand that the testimony of Mark Tinsley (right) be struck from the record

Smith's daughter, Rachelle Buckner, set up the page to 'reward her mother's bravery' following emotional testimony (Smith pictured on Monday) seeing Murdaugh on the night of the murders that poked holes in his alibi

Judge Clifton Newman appeared stunned by the intervention as he was told about the donation by the defense who said there was no precedent for such a payment

However, Judge Clifton Newman refused to strike out Tinsley's evidence, instead telling the defense: 'That will make good fodder for cross examination.' 

The GoFundMe page for Smith has so has so far raised more than $7,000.

Barber stated that Tinsley had admitted making the donation to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Tinsley told the court during his testimony that Murdaugh tried to 'intimidate and bully' him because he was suing him over his son Paul's drunken boat crash.

That evidence allegedly infuriated Alex's son Buster so much he made an obscene gesture and has been moved to the back of the courtroom as a result. 

Legal experts earlier warned that the GoFundMe page would invite problems for the prosecution.

Former prosecutor Lori Murray told DailyMail.com: 'It clearly doesn't look good.'

'It looks especially suspect because the first donation was made within an hour of the page being set up,' she added.

Murray was speaking before it was alleged that the donation had come from Tinsley. 

However, Murray said she did not believe there was anything sinister about the payment. Murdaugh's double-murder trial is gripping the public and many people have expressed sympathy for Smith online following her emotional testimony.

'I just don't think that's the case right now, there's a lot of people feeling sorry for her on social media,' Murray said.

Smith wept on Monday as she told jurors how Murdaugh had visited his mother's home on the night of the murders for around 20 minutes.

A few days later he instructed her to tell cops he had been there for 40 minutes.

Smith told jurors this made her so 'nervous' she called her police officer brother to tell him about the conversation. 

Prosecutors say Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, were shot dead shortly after 8.49pm and that Murdaugh drove to his mother's home at 9.06pm in order to 'manufacture an alibi.'

Data from his Chevrolet Suburban shows the car was parked for 21 minutes around the time Smith said he came to visit his mother.

Mushelle 'Shelly' Smith (left) - the caregiver of Murdaugh's elderly mother Elizabeth 'Libby' Alexander Murdaugh (right) - told how she spoke to the alleged killer on the night of the murders when he visited his parents house. Prosecutors say this was after he killed Maggie and Paul

Rachelle Buckner, Shelly Smith's daughter, has so far raised more than $7,000, including an anonymous donation of $1,000 that was made in the first hour of the fundraising page being created

Elsewhere, Smith's evidence appeared more beneficial for Murdaugh's defense.

She testified she saw Murdaugh holding a blue tarp when he visited the home again a few days after the killings.

The prosecution claim this was a blue raincoat that was covered in gun residue, but under cross-examination, Smith said what she saw was a blue tarp.

Murray said she does not think it would be in either the prosecution or defense's interests to recall Smith as a witness and the idea that either side would pay her for her contradictory and confusing evidence seems unlikely.

Former prosecutor Lori Murray told DailyMail.com 'it clearly doesn't look good'

However, Elizabeth Riley, a trial lawyer with 35 years' experience, said that if the State finds out about the page they will swiftly move to shut it down. 

'This is a really bad idea. This witness is now receiving something of value for her testimony. If the prosecutor's office knows about this they'll shut it down. Defense could call the daughter as a witness to establish that Smith is profiting, during the trial, from her testimony,' Riley tweeted. 

Another trial lawyer, Robert Rikard, tweeted: 'She and the daughter are now fair game in the defense case and it won't be pretty...shows bias, motive to embellish testimony, motive to testify a certain way for financial gain etc. Could get real ugly.'

 Miller Shealy, a professor at the Charleston School of Law and a former prosecutor, said he has never seen a fundraiser for a traumatized witness but does not see anything improper as long as people understand what they are donating to.

'I have never heard of such a thing but I don't have any reason to believe it is improper,' Shealy told the Post and Courier.

The fundraising page says: 'As you all know my mother was the caretaker for Alex Murdaugh's mom. She recently had to testify against him and it had brought much heartache and stress to her ...

'Since knowing she would have to testify she had gone through so much with the what-ifs, should I, and the I HAVE TO! I want to reward her for her bravery and her honesty as it was one of the hardest things she had to do. We want to show her that she is not alone and we stand behind her 100%!'

Murdaugh arrives at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on February 9

Buster Murdaugh and his girlfriend, Brooklynn White, and Alex's brother John Marvin Murdaugh (right) and sister Lynn (left) arrive at Colleton County Courthouse Thursday

Alex Murdaugh with his wife Maggie, eldest son Buster, right, and younger son Paul, left

Buckner said her mother had taken a leave of absence from her job because she worries that the media attention could distract the students at her place of work.

The description on the GoFundMe page has since been cut to just two lines. It states: 'These are her children doing this for her!! She had no idea about this!!!'

Smith's daughter has been contacted for comment. 

Murdaugh, 54, is accused of shooting his wife and younger son Paul on the evening of June 7, 2021, at the family's sprawling hunting lodge in Islandton, South Carolina.

The prosecution is still laying out its case in the trial that began three weeks ago.

TIMELINE: NIGHT OF THE KILLINGS 

Alex Murdaugh, 54, is accused of shooting his wife, Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, at the family's hunting estate in Islandton, South Carolina, on the night of June 7, 2021. 

Here are the key events in the timeline laid out by prosecutors:

At 7.56pm, Paul sent a Snapchat video to friends showing the 22-year-old riding around the estate with his father.

At 8.15pm, Murdaugh's wife Maggie arrived home and the trio ate dinner together. Autopsies showed similar stomach contents in Maggie and Paul.

About 8.30pm, Paul's phone starts moving towards the kennels. 

Then at 8.44pm, a second video taken by Paul at the kennels - soon to become a murder scene - allegedly proves that Maggie, Paul and Alex were together.

At 8.49pm the prosecution say Paul's phone locked and went silent forever, never to send another text or make another call.

Between 9pm and 9.30pm, Paul and Maggie were killed - according to the coroner.

At 9.06pm, Murdaugh's car is fired up.

The alleged killer said he went to go visit his mother, who is in the late stages of Alzheimer's disease, in Almeda - around a 15-minute drive. 

At 10.07pm, Murdaugh called 911 claiming he had arrived home a to find his wife and son shot dead.

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