Sara Azari, is a criminal defense attorney and media personality.
Sara was kind enough to spend an episode with us discussing what it is like to be a defense attorney.
Sara gives some great insight into what the defense might do in the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial.
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105: Criminal Defense Attorney, Sara Azari, Gives Her Take

The Murdaugh family was one of South Carolina's most powerful legal families. Three generations of Murdaughs held the position of solicitor in the lowcountry for almost one hundred years.
In February of 2019 a boat crash killed 19 year old Mallory Beach. Paul Murdaugh, the son of prominent SC attorney, Alex Murdaugh, was charged with three felony counts of boating under the influence, including causing the death of Mallory Beach.
June 7, 2021 Alex Murdaugh found his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, brutally murdered, shot to death on their property known as Moselle.
On March 2, 2023 Alex was convicted of murdering Maggie and Paul.
Between the murders and the convictions many other crimes came to light.
No one could have expected the twists and turns the story has taken and it is not finished.
Seton Tucker and Matt Harris started the Impact of Influence podcast soon after the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
You may have seen them talking about the Murdaugh saga on CourtTV, Murdaugh documentaries on Oxygen and Fox Nation and episodes on American Greed and Nancy Grace.
Seton and Matt continue updating the Murdaugh story and are now covering other crimes that have occurred throughout the Southeast.
Impact of Influence is now a Youtube channel
You can find them on their Impact of Influence FB page or Mattharrispodcast@gmail.com

True crime

The most famous man in South Carolina lives in prison. He stands convicted of a staggering amount of wrongdoing—more than 100 crimes and counting. Once a high-flying, smooth-talking, pedigreed Southern lawyer, Alex Murdaugh is now disbarred and disgraced. For more than a decade, prosecutors asserted that Alex was secretly a fraud, a thief, a drug trafficker, and an all-around phony. On the night of June 7, 2021, they claimed, he also became a killer, shooting dead his wife and son in a desperate bid to escape accountability.

The many crimes of Alex Murdaugh, exposed piecemeal over the last two years, have appalled the general public. Yet his implosion—the spectacular manner in which he has turned his vaunted family name to mud—has also proved mesmerizing. With every revelation, Alex Murdaugh has been shown to be a man without bottom, though he insists he never harmed his family.

Remarkably, all of his misdeeds have precedent. In Swamp Kings, Jason Ryan reveals Alex’s evil actions are only the tip of the iceberg. When it comes to the Murdaugh family of Hampton County, history has a way of repeating itself. For every alleged, headline-grabbing crime associated with Alex Murdaugh, mirror-image incidents have played out within his family’s past, including parallel instances of fraud, theft, illicit trafficking of babies and booze, calamitous boat crashes, and even alleged murder. There were some crimes committed by Alex’s kin that even he would not dare mimic.

Covering a century of depravity in an impoverished and isolated stretch of the Deep South, Swamp Kings weaves together the jaw-dropping narratives of generations of Murdaughs before culminating in the telling of a murder trial for the ages. Page after page the family’s legacy is laid bare as a spotlight is finally trained on the Murdaugh men who have long lorded over the South Carolina Lowcountry.
Jason Ryan is an author and journalist based in Charleston, South Carolina. He is a former reporter for The State and The Beaufort Gazette and has written for The Daily Beast and Agence-France Presse, including coverage of the massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston and the ensuing trial of killer Dylann Roof. He is the author of Jackpot: High Times, High Seas and the Sting that Launched the War on Drugs; Hell-Bent: One Man's Crusade to Crush the Hawaiian Mob(currently under option to HBOMax), and Race to Hawaii: The 1927 Dole Derby and the Thrilling First Flights that Opened the Pacific. 
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Jason Ryan on his book, Swamp Kings: The Murdaugh Family of South Carolina and a Century of Backwoods Power

In this episode, we want to warn you that we will be talking about suicide and mental health. If you or a loved one are struggling with mental health, please seek help. There is a National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. All you have to do is call or text 988 and a trained counselor is there to help. In the last week we’ve received many messages asking us to cover the tragic death of 30 year old Mica Miller of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on April 27 of 2024. She was married to John-Paul (JP) Miller who is a pastor of the Solid Rock at the Common Church in Myrtle Beach, SC.Social Media has erupted with commentary, accusations, and rumor as to what was happening in the Miller’s relationship.We are covering what we know to be fact. Sourcing police reports and publications like Fits News and the Post and Courier.In the second part of the episode we are joined by Dr. Julie Cerel who shares her extensive research into death by suicide.Dr. Cerel is a licensed clinical psychologist and Professor in the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky. She is the director of the Suicide Prevention & Exposure Lab at the University of Kentucky and the Wilson Profession of Mental Health. Her research has focused on suicide exposure and bereavement, suicide attempt survivors and suicide prevention. She is a Past-President of the American Association of Suicidology. She completed her PhD from The Ohio State University, an internship and post-doctoral fellowship from West Virginia University in child clinical psychology and a post-doctoral fellowship specifically in suicide prevention from University of Rochester. She received an honorary PhD from her alma mater, Kenyon College. In 2023 she was elected a fellow of the American Psychology Association. She is the author of over 114 academic publications and co-author of Seeking Hope: Stories of the Suicide Bereaved. Her work has been funded by the Military Suicide Research Consortium from the U.S. Department of Defense, the Patient Centered Research Initiative (PCORI), NIHM, the CDC, SAMHSA, SPAN-USA and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Impact of Influence is part of the Evergreen Podcasting Network
Seton Tucker and Matt Harris began the Impact of Influence podcast shortly after the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. Now they cover true crime past and present from the southeast region of the U.S.
Look for Impact of Influence on Facebook
and please subscribe to the Impact Youtube Channel
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Mica Miller Tragedy & A Dr Explains Death By Suicide Research

More Puzzling Questions Surrounding the death of Kadie Major
This is a follow up episode to a March 20th episode we did on the death of Kadie Major.
On January 17, 2008, the bodies of pregnant 26 years-old Kadie Majors and her ten month old daughter, River, were found near railroad tracks in Moncks Corner, SC.
A coroner ruled Kadie's death a suicide but the pathologist at MUSC in Charleston ruled her death "pending.”
The case was closed until 2018.
In this episode we take a look at the proposed narrative that Kadie suffered from postpartum depression; the odd internet searches found on the Major's home computer; where Kadie's truck was found; how Aaron Major knew to send Kadie's mom to the place where Kadie's body was found; and other questions.
Impact of Influence is part of the Evergreen Podcasting Network
Seton Tucker and Matt Harris began the Impact of Influence podcast shortly after the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. Now they cover true crime past and present from the southeast region of the U.S.
Look for Impact of Influence on Facebook
and please subscribe to the Impact Youtube Channel
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clerk Hill's Co-Author's Tell All

The book, Tremors in the Blood: Murder, Obsession, and the Birth of The Lie Detector explores the history of the polygraph. We discuss that history with the author, Amit Katwala.
Are the machines "truth serum" or "junk science"?
Did the inventors stand by the reliability? How has the polygraph failed law enforcement and people accused of heinous crimes?
Support our sponsor Regal Cinemas and Regal Unlimited. Sign up now in the Regal app or www.regmovies.com/unlimited and use our code IMPACTREG
Impact of Influence is part of the Evergreen Podcasting Network
Seton Tucker and Matt Harris began the Impact of Influence podcast shortly after the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. Now they cover true crime past and present from the southeast region of the U.S.
Look for Impact of Influence on Facebook
and please subscribe to the Impact Youtube Channel
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

105: Criminal Defense Attorney, Sara Azari, Gives Her Take

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