Michael Knecht — Direct/Cross/Redirect/Recross

MR. CONRAD: The state calls Anthony Kniche.

MR. CONRAD: Mr. Kniche, how are you doing, sir?

MR. CONRAD: Am I pronouncing that correctly?

MR. CONRAD: And where are you employed, sir?

MR. CONRAD: And what are your duties there?

MR. CONRAD: All right. So, it's -- in its normal course of business, does Verizon keep records?

MR. CONRAD: And does it keep call records?

MR. CONRAD: Just generally speaking, what kind of records does Verizon keep in relation to phone accounts and call records?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. All right, and these have been previously shown to counsel. I'm going to show you what's been marked as State's Exhibit 268, and I'm going to ask you if you recognize that, sir.

MR. CONRAD: And what is that?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and have you reviewed the contents of that CD?

MR. CONRAD: And what is the contents in that -- on that CD?

MR. CONRAD: And was that -- were those records previously turned over to law enforcement?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and you've reviewed those records, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And after reviewing them, are those true and authentic copies of the records that are kept by Verizon?

MR. CONRAD: And those are related to Alex Murdaugh's Verizon account, sir?

MR. CONRAD: With number ending 1227?

MR. CONRAD: All right.

MR. CONRAD: At this time, State moves to enter Exhibit 268 into evidence.

MR. CONRAD: All right, I'm going to approach and hand you State's Exhibit 269, and you recognize that, sir?

MR. CONRAD: And what is that?

MR. CONRAD: And have you had an opportunity to review the contents of that CD?

MR. CONRAD: And what is the contents of that CD?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and are the contents of that CD accurate -- true and accurate copies of the records kept by Verizon in the normal course of business?

MR. CONRAD: And at this time, the State would move to enter Exhibit 269 into evidence.

MR. CONRAD: And I'm going to hand you -- this is Exhibit, 265 so a little bit out of order. And do you recognize that, sir?

MR. CONRAD: And what is that?

MR. CONRAD: Have you had an opportunity to review the contents of that CD?

MR. CONRAD: What are its -- what are the contents of that CD?

MR. CONRAD: That's in relation to the number associated with Paul. Is that correct?

MR. CONRAD: Oh, excuse me, yes, Maggie. And what's the last four digits of that number?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. All right, and that's Exhibit 265, correct?

MR. CONRAD: All right.

MR. CONRAD: And at this time, the State would move to enter Exhibit 265 into evidence.

MR. CONRAD: I'm going to approach and I'm going to hand you what's labeled as State's Exhibit 262. Do you recognize that, sir?

MR. CONRAD: And without reading any phone number, full phone number, what is that?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and have you had an opportunity to review the contents of that CD?

MR. CONRAD: And what are the contents of that CD?

MR. CONRAD: And those are related to the account associated with Claude Rowe, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And there is a phone number associated. We're just not going to read it into the record. Is that correct?

MR. CONRAD: At this time --

MR. CONRAD: What number is that?

MR. CONRAD: At this time, the State would move to enter Exhibit 262 into evidence.

MR. CONRAD: All right. I'm going to approach and hand you State's Exhibit 263. Do you recognize that, sir?

MR. CONRAD: And what is that?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and is there a phone number associated to that without reading it?

MR. CONRAD: And that's a Verizon phone number, correct?

MR. CONRAD: What are the contents of that CD?

MR. CONRAD: And you've had an opportunity to review that, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And those are the -- a copy of the same records that were provided to law enforcement pursuant to a search warrant. Is that correct?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and what number was that again?

MR. CONRAD: All right. At this time, the State would move to enter Exhibit 263 into evidence.

MR. CONRAD: State's Exhibit 263, which -- what's the name on that account?

MR. CONRAD: All right, I'm going to hand you State's Exhibit 264. Do you recognize that, sir?

MR. CONRAD: And what is that, sir?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and is there a phone number associated with that?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and we're not going to read that into the record, but have you had an opportunity to review the contents of that CD?

MR. CONRAD: And what are the contents of that CD?

MR. CONRAD: And the contents of that CD are an accurate copy of the original records provided by Verizon to law enforcement pursuant to a search warrant?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. All right, and that's Exhibit 264, correct?

MR. CONRAD: All right.

MR. CONRAD: At this time, the State would move to enter Exhibit 264 into evidence.

MR. CONRAD: All right, and I'm going to hand you what's marked as State's Exhibit 266. Do you recognize that, sir?

MR. CONRAD: And what is that?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and is there Verizon associate -- an account associated with Connor Cook?

MR. CONRAD: Have you had an opportunity to review the contents of that CD?

MR. CONRAD: All right. What is the contents of that CD?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and that's a true and accurate copy of the records originally provided by Verizon to law enforcement pursuant to a search warrant?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and what's that number you have again?

MR. CONRAD: All right.

MR. CONRAD: At this time, the State would move to enter Exhibit 266 into evidence.

MR. CONRAD: And the last one, this is State's Exhibit 267. I'm going to hand this to you. Do you recognize that, sir?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and do you recognize that?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and what is that?

MR. CONRAD: And there's a number and a Verizon account associated with Buster's phone records?

MR. CONRAD: And we're not going to read that number into the record, but have you had an opportunity to review the contents of that CD?

MR. CONRAD: And what is the contents of that CD?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and is that an accurate copy of the records originally provided to Verizon to law enforcement in response to a search warrant?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and what number do you have with you? What number is that again?

MR. CONRAD: All right. At this time the State would move to enter Exhibit 267 into evidence.

MR. CONRAD: Okay. I'm going to hand you -- this is marked as -- on the back as State's Exhibit 270. Do you recognize that, sir?

MR. CONRAD: And what is that?

MR. CONRAD: And does that originally come from a PDF provided with each of these search warrant returns?

MR. CONRAD: And so that document would be found on each of those CDs, correct?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and this is just a printed out version.

MR. CONRAD: But is it exactly similar to the explainer contained on those CDs, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And at this time, the State would move Exhibit 270 into evidence.

MR. CONRAD: All right, sir. So, let's talk about that document you have in your hands. I think you told us kind of what it is, but can you give us a little more detail? What does that do, and how does that help someone looking at these records?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. All right. I'll take this to --

MR. CONRAD: And I think the ELMO is still up. We need the ELMO up, please.

MR. CONRAD: Okay. So, looking at Exhibit 270, State's Exhibit 270, we see several columns of information across that. Is that correct?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. Can you read from your screen there, sir? Can you read some of that information?

MR. CONRAD: Well, let's lay a little more foundation. The records that are provided on those CDs -- and what -- they're in digital format, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And what program are they sent in?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. Excel form, and that's a spreadsheet, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And so when we look at these records, they're all provided in columns in an Excel spreadsheet, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And each column, going left to right, is a different sort of information that is on the records, correct?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and so we'll look at an example in a few minutes, but this is the key to look at to understand what each column is in reference to, correct?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. So, let's look at the far left column, and I believe that says record open date time. What does that mean, sir?

MR. CONRAD: In local time. Okay, and what's the second column from the left?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and Greenwich Mean Time, is that also known as universal time?

MR. CONRAD: And on June 7th of 2021, do you know what the approximate offset for local time and Eastern time with Greenwich Mean Time? Would it surprise you if I said it was 4 hours' difference?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. Going to the third from the left column, what is that?

MR. CONRAD: And what does that mean?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and what is the column next to that? I believe it's labeled NIU.

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and what is a switch, generally speaking?

MR. CONRAD: So, multiple cell towers would be connected with one switch.

MR. CONRAD: And then going next cell ID, what is that called?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and that's the actual tower that a particular call was routed to, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And the next column says cell face. What is that?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and next we see market ID. What is that?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and then next column it says END. What is that?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. Next column says DIR. What does that show for, and what does it mean?

MR. CONRAD: And when you say direction, you mean incoming call or outgoing call, that sort of direction, not north, south, east, or west, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And the next column says MSISDN. What does that mean, sir?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and it says this is your target number, and that's in reference to the search warrant, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And so when a search warrant asks for records for a certain number, that's the target number, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And that's what that column identifies, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And next column says called number. What does that mean?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. So simplifying it, it's simply the number that was called when someone placed the phone call, correct?

MR. CONRAD: Next column is CBN. What is that, sir?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and the next column says SOU. What is that, sir?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and that's how long the call lasted, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And the next column says RAT. What does that mean, sir?

MR. CONRAD: And so we see several different categories underneath that. I see a 3G voice, 4G voice, and some others. What does that stuff mean?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. So, 3G and 4G are different types of technology Verizon uses?

MR. CONRAD: And depending on which tower and where the phone is located a call could be routed over 3G or 4G. Is that correct?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. Getting pretty close to the end here. The next column says VICE, v-i-c-e, end points. What does had a mean, sir?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. The VO -- you call it a VoLTE. What is that?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and that's a voice call that's routed over the digital network, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And finally we see VZWNE network extender, excuse me. What is that column, sir?

MR. CONRAD: So, Verizon provides to certain customers network extenders for them to use in buildings to help them connect calls in buildings. Is that correct?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and if a call were routed through such a connector, it would be listed in that column.

MR. CONRAD: Okay.

MR. CONRAD: I would like to switch over to the laptop, please.

MR. CONRAD: And I'm going to hand you back Exhibit 270 in case you need to look at it here. And I'm going to pull up some of the records that were provided that we just talked about on the CDs. And the first one I'll pull up is one associated with Maggie Murdaugh. Her number ends in 9041. I believe that comes from exhibit -- that's State's Exhibit 265. Okay. So, we're going to scroll down and we're going to talk about a couple of these calls just so the jury understands, or can understand some of these records.

MR. CONRAD: Okay. I've highlighted column 1846 on this spreadsheet. Can you see that, sir?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. So, let's walk through this particular call. All right. The far left column, Column A, we see a number there. What is that number, sir?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and that's the 9041 number, correct?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and call Column B, I see a date that says May 1st of '21. What is that date, sir?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. So, when law enforcement sent a search warrant to Verizon, it requested date of records starting on May 1st. Is that correct?

MR. CONRAD: May 1st of 2021. And then the next column says June 10th of 2021. What is that date, sir?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. All right. So, in this case June 10th was the last date from that search warrant.

MR. CONRAD: All right. Okay. So, let's look at Column D. And what is Column D in this record?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and what time is that?

MR. CONRAD: All right. Can you convert military to civilian time? Are you good at it?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. Generally you subtract 12. Is that correct?

MR. CONRAD: So, would that be 7:50 p.m.

MR. CONRAD: Okay. All right, and then the next column we see, it says June 7th of 2021 at 23:50. What is that column?

MR. CONRAD: And so that's in the universal time, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And I'm -- can you convert that to local time? Subtracting 12, would it be --

MR. CONRAD: -- 50 p.m.?

MR. CONRAD: Next column there's a digit that says 13. What is that digit, sir?

MR. CONRAD: Sure, and we're looking at Column I.

MR. CONRAD: All right, and so that is the direction off of -- based off of what you previously testified to, that is the direction the call is in, the sector from the tower, correct?

MR. CONRAD: I'm going to scroll back down. Bear with me, please.

MR. CONRAD: Okay. We're back on June 7th, and we're back at Column 1846. So, we just said the 13 was the direction from the tower, correct?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and so we see a number next to that that says 459. What is that number, sir?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and market ID, again, what does that mean?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and then next to that is Column K, and that says -- there's a digit that says 459240. What is that, sir?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and so that identifies the actual tower that that call was routed through, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And then next to that in Column L we see MO. What does that mean, sir?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and what does that mean?

MR. CONRAD: So, this means this call was placed with Maggie's phone, correct?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and then next to that we see a phone number in Column M, and it ends in 9041. Is that the target, a phone number?

MR. CONRAD: And next to that we see a number that ends in 0853. What is that in Column M?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and then Column O, and we see that 9041 number again. And remind us what that -- why that number is there again?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and then next, Column P, we see a 165, a digit of 165. What does that mean?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. So, that's how long the call lasted?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and then Column Q, it says LTE. What does that mean?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. So, this call was routed over LTE, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And that's a 4G technology?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. So, let's look at the column below that, and that's Column 1847. And let's just go ahead and look directly at Column D, and that's a date where it says 202168010424. Remind us again what that column means.

MR. CONRAD: Column D. We see the date of June 8th of 2021, and it's a time that says 01:04:24.

MR. CONRAD: Okay. Now, you previously testified that in Column D, that time is normally provided in local time. Is that correct?

MR. CONRAD: But in this particular record, we see a time in Greenwich Mean Time, correct?

MR. CONRAD: Why is this -- in this particular call, why is it in Greenwich Mean Time?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. So, because the -- this call was not picked up, the call was routed to a Verizon server, right?

MR. CONRAD: And because of that, Verizon reports the record in Greenwich Mean Time.

MR. CONRAD: But -- I hate to do this, but let's convert that back into local time. So, subtract four from 01:04:24, and would that yield a time of 9:04:24 in Eastern time, sir?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. P.m., correct?

MR. CONRAD: All right. All right, and let's skip over Column I, Column J, and Column K. I believe you said previously Column K was the digit associated with the particular tower a call is routed through, correct?

MR. CONRAD: Well, here we see in this one NA. Is that what that says?

MR. CONRAD: What does that mean? Why does it say NA?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. So, a call was placed to the 9041 number, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And the 901 (sic) phone most likely rang, correct?

MR. CONRAD: But no one answered.

MR. CONRAD: And so Verizon did not record a particular cell tower associated with that call. Is that correct?

MR. CONRAD: All right. Let's finish up with this record. Column M, again, that's the target number, correct, the 9041?

MR. CONRAD: And then we see in calling Column N, as in November, 9041, again the same number, and what does that mean?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. All right, and no one answered, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And I skipped over a column, Column L, that says MT. And what does that mean?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and so that call was not, in fact, completed, correct?

MR. CONRAD: Okay. All right, and after that 9:04 p.m. phone call, we see multiple more calls to Maggie's phone, correct, or multiple, correct?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and are any of those calls answered, according to records that Verizon keeps?

MR. CONRAD: All right. I'm going to shift to pulling up the call records for the number ending in 1227, and that is State's Exhibit 268. And that's the number associated with Alex Murdaugh's phone, correct?

MR. CONRAD: All right. Bear with me.

MR. CONRAD: Let's look at Column 2371. All right, do you see that on your screen, sir.

MR. CONRAD: All right, and we see a time and Column D, and that says June 7, 2021, of 21:04:24. Is that correct?

MR. CONRAD: And this time is in local time. Is that correct?

MR. CONRAD: And a quick conversion on that -- or excuse, me, so no conversion is necessary on that. So, that's 9:04 p.m. and 24 seconds, correct?

MR. CONRAD: And that is, in fact, the same time that we just saw in Maggie's records that we just reviewed, correct?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and so we see if we look over in Column I, J, and K, we do have cell tower information for the outgoing call from Alex's phone, correct?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and then we see the -- this is code MO, and what does MO mean again?

MR. CONRAD: Okay, and so that means this account was placing the call, correct?

MR. CONRAD: The account ending in 1227. All right, and it was placed to the number ending in 9041, correct?

MR. CONRAD: All right, and then looking below that, we're not going to review this line by line, but we see a number of other calls starting at about 9:04 p.m. and onward over the next hour or two of calls made from the 1227 account, correct?

MR. CONRAD: Okay.

MR. CONRAD: No further questions from the State for this witness.