Paul McManigal — Direct/Cross
117 linesJUDGE NEWMAN: Call your next witness.
MR. CONRAD: The State calls Paul McManigal.
The witness, PAUL MCMANIGAL, was first duly sworn and testified as follows:
COURT CLERK: Have a seat in the witness chair and state your name again, and spell your last name loudly, please.
PAUL MCMANIGAL: Paul David McManigal. M-c-M-a-n-i-g-a-l.
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. CONRAD:
MR. CONRAD: Good morning, Mr. McManigal.
PAUL MCMANIGAL: Good afternoon.
MR. CONRAD: Or good afternoon, excuse me. Where are you currently employed, sir?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I'm currently employed as a sergeant with the Charleston County Sheriff's Office.
MR. CONRAD: And what do your duties there entail?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I'm currently assigned to the United States Secret Service as a task force officer on the Cyber Fraud Task Force.
MR. CONRAD: All right, and -- all right, and generally in your work on the Cyber Crimes Task Force, what does that entail?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I'm a digital forensic examiner, so I'm responsible for gathering electronic data from computers, tablets, cell phones, DVRs, vehicle infotainment systems.
MR. CONRAD: And when you say task force officer for the State, or for the Secret Service, the Secret Service is a federal agency. Is that correct?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: That is correct.
MR. CONRAD: All right, but you're actually paid and are still an officer with the Charleston County Sheriff's Office. Is that correct?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: That's also correct.
MR. CONRAD: All right. Okay. In this case, you were provided some records in June of 2021 by an individual by the name of Dylan Hightower. Is that correct?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: That is correct.
MR. CONRAD: And what did he provide you?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: He provided me with an electronic extraction from a cell phone that was extracted as binary data and not yet processed by forensic software.
MR. CONRAD: Okay, and when he provided that to you, did he tell you which phone it was from?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I believe he said it was -- belonged to Alex Murdaugh.
MR. CONRAD: Okay, and that's the one he extracted from Alex Murdaugh on June 10th of 2021?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: That is correct.
MR. CONRAD: And what role -- what did you do with that information that he provided you with, that data?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I was asked to redact potential client/lawyer privileged information by reducing it down to a certain timeframe that was more pertinent to the case and potentially reducing any privileged communication.
MR. CONRAD: And did you make the decision of what to remove and what not to remove personally?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I did not. The decision of what to remove was made by Price Summer with the Ninth Circuit Solicitor's Office.
MR. CONRAD: And she's an attorney?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: She is an attorney.
MR. CONRAD: All right, and you then produced a redacted copy of the digital evidence. Is that correct?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: That is correct.
MR. CONRAD: You provided that back to Dylan Hightower.
PAUL MCMANIGAL: That is correct.
MR. CONRAD: Did you provide any further analysis to the data itself?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I did not.
MR. CONRAD: Did you redact any call logs from that data you were provided?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: Call logs were not redacted at all.
MR. CONRAD: All right. Let's move on. You have also been involved in one other aspect of this case.
(Break in proceedings.)
MR. CONRAD: I'm going to show you what's been marked as State's Exhibit 299. Do you recognize that, sir?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I do.
MR. CONRAD: All right, and what is that?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: This is a chain of custody form from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which we commonly refer to as SLED.
MR. CONRAD: All right, and do you see any handwriting on there that is yours?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I do.
MR. CONRAD: All right, and what date did you sign that form?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: June 9, 2021.
MR. CONRAD: Okay, and that form is related to what form exactly?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: There was a Apple IPhone 11 that was collected and brought to me by Special Agent Ryan Kelly with SLED.
MR. CONRAD: Okay, and was that phone locked when he provided it to you?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: It was.
MR. CONRAD: All right, and did you -- in your forensic investigation, did you attempt to unlock the phone?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I did.
MR. CONRAD: Were you successful?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I was not.
MR. CONRAD: And is that Paul's phone?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I believe it was, yes, sir.
MR. CONRAD: Okay.
MR. CONRAD: And at this time, the State would move to -- Exhibit 299 into evidence.
MR. BARBER: No objection, Your Honor.
JUDGE NEWMAN: It's admitted.
(CHAIN OF CUSTODY FORM MARKED AS STATE'S EXHIBIT NUMBER 299 WAS RECEIVED INTO EVIDENCE.)
MR. CONRAD: And I'm going to hand you what's been marked -- excuse me -- I'm going hand you what's been marked as State's Exhibit 274. It's going to be for ID purposes only. And let me ask if you recognize that, sir.
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I do.
MR. CONRAD: All right. What is that?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: This is the IPhone 11 that was brought to me by Special Agent Ryan Kelly with SLED.
MR. CONRAD: And that's the phone you attempted to unlock but were unsuccessful. Is that correct?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: That is correct.
MR. CONRAD: And I believe on that bag there's an orange sticker, do you see that, sir?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: Yes, sir, I do.
MR. CONRAD: What is that orange sticker?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: This is a sticker I place on devices that I have attempted to process or processed successfully.
MR. CONRAD: And at this time, the State is going to move to put this in as ID only.
MR. BARBER: No objection to ID only, Your Honor.
(CELL PHONE MARKED AS STATE'S EXHIBIT NUMBER 274 FOR IDENTIFICATION.)
MR. CONRAD: All right. At this time, I'm going to hand you State's Exhibit 298. Do you recognize that, sir?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: Yes, sir, I do.
MR. CONRAD: And what is that?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: This is also a chain of custody report from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, SLED.
MR. CONRAD: All right, and do you recognize your signature on that form, sir?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I do.
MR. CONRAD: And what date did you sign that?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: This is August 12, 2021.
MR. CONRAD: And what does that form signify?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: This is the date I returned the phone to Special Agent Kelly.
MR. CONRAD: Okay.
MR. CONRAD: And at this time, the State would move to place Exhibit 298 into evidence.
MR. BARBER: No objection, Your Honor.
JUDGE NEWMAN: It's admitted.
(CHAIN OF CUSTODY FORM MARKED AS STATE'S EXHIBIT NUMBER 298 WAS RECEIVED INTO EVIDENCE.)
MR. CONRAD: All right. So, you attempted to unlock Paul's phone, correct?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: That is correct.
MR. CONRAD: And you were not successful.
PAUL MCMANIGAL: That is also correct.
MR. CONRAD: Did you alter any other way the data that was on Paul's phone at that time?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: No, sir.
MR. CONRAD: All right. No further questions.
JUDGE NEWMAN: Cross-examination.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MR. BARBER:
MR. BARBER: Good afternoon, sir. My name is Phillip Barber. I'm one of attorneys for Mr. Murdaugh.
PAUL MCMANIGAL: Good afternoon.
MR. BARBER: I really just have one question. When you received this phone, was the battery completely dead?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: The phone was powered off when I received it.
MR. BARBER: Did you charge the phone after you received it?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I did.
MR. BARBER: But do you know whether or not it was completely dead, battery dead when you received it?
PAUL MCMANIGAL: I do not recall if the battery was completely drained.
MR. BARBER: No further questions, Your Honor.
JUDGE NEWMAN: Anything further?
MR. CONRAD: Nothing from the State of this witness.
JUDGE NEWMAN: Thank you. You may step down.
(The witness exited the stand.)