WALTERBORO, SC — A prosecutor painted a damning portrait Wednesday of evidence against Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina attorney who has been charged with the murders of his wife and son, told the court he Murdaugh texted and called his dead wife after committing brutal murders and being sent back to his mother’s home, all in an effort to build an alibi.
But for Mr Murdaugh’s attorney, Dick Harpootlian, the cruelty of the killings is just one of many reasons why Mr Murdaugh, 54, whom he describes as a loving father and husband, does not may be responsible. “He didn’t kill – the butcher – his son and his wife,” Mr Harpootlian told the jury in his opening statement. “And you need to keep in mind any hints that he did.”
The competing arguments ushered in one of the state’s most anticipated murder trials in a generation, and each side pulled back the curtain on a mountain of evidence that jurors will have to choose from. choose when they consider whether a man has a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. all serve as prosecutors should be sent to jail. The trial is taking place at Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, SC, in a courtroom where a portrait of Mr. Murdaugh’s grandfather has been hung until it is ordered to be taken down for trial.
The case, which featured not only a grisly murder but also the fatal downfall of a local rule of law, attracted attention across the country. Virtually endless broadcasts, documentaries and online forums have listed every detail as Murdaugh’s life unraveled after the murder, which prosecutors say he did. to prevent the disclosure of one’s own financial crimes.
Creighton Waters, lead prosecutor, said in the opening statement that the state will rely heavily on forensics and other physical evidence to prove that Mr. Murdaugh carried out the killings, which took place on the property. extensive family hunting, about 65 miles west of Charleston.
Prosecutors say it was not without motive: Mr. Murdaugh stole millions of dollars from his clients and law firm over the past decade, they said, and efforts to learn more about his finances he is threatening to expose his wrongdoings. They argued that Mr Murdaugh carried out the killings in a desperate, failed attempt to win public sympathy and prevent his embezzlement from coming to light.
Mr Waters told the jury: “Listen to the gathering storm that has all hit. “The proof will come to the point where you will come to the indisputable conclusion that Alex murdered Maggie and Paul, that he was the storm, that the storm was coming for them and that the storm came on June 7th. 2021.”
According to prosecutors, Murdaugh fatally shot his young son, Paul Murdaugh, 22, in the doorway of the kennel room and then turned another gun at his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, 52. , ending the job with an execution-style shot from the back of her head.
Among the evidence, Mr. Waters said, were shell casings found elsewhere on the property that matched those found around Murdaugh’s body, suggesting she was killed “by firearms.” family atmosphere”. He said Mr Murdaugh could not explain two of the three rifles he had purchased in recent years, and that empty cartridges were found on the property of the same brand and type that had fired on the victims. core.
Understanding the ‘Murdaugh Murders’
Mr Waters also said that a police investigation discovered a bullet-riddled raincoat at Mr Murdaugh’s mother’s home, which he visited on the night of the murder.
Perhaps most important, Mr. Waters said, was the newly revealed cell phone evidence. He said that less than five minutes before prosecutors believed the murder had occurred, Paul Murdaugh shot a video of a dog to send to a friend and that his father’s voice could be heard. heard in the background – even though Mr. Murdaugh spoke during the investigation. past that he wasn’t at the kennel that night, but instead napping inside.
Five minutes later, Mr. Waters said, at 8:49 p.m., both Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s phones were locked and never answered any more texts or calls.
Prosecutors said that within minutes of the murder, Alex Murdaugh called his wife twice but received no answer, then texted her to let her know he was coming to visit. my mother, who lives about 20 minutes away. He left the family property shortly after 9 p.m. and spent about 20 minutes with his mother, who prosecutors say has terminal Alzheimer’s disease and is staying with a caregiver.
According to prosecutors, it was a callous and calculated attempt to cover his tracks, as well as five additional phone calls to various people he made while driving. car to and from his mother’s house. Mr Waters asked the jury to consider the possibility that Mr Murdaugh drove away from the home even as his wife and son lay dead on the ground, in an attempt to “create an alibi”.
Just after 10 p.m., Mr. Murdaugh returned to the home, where his attorneys say he first went to the crime scene and called 911. But prosecutors say he quickly attempted to bring in the police. The detective went the wrong way by suggesting that the perpetrator must have targeted his son because of the deadly boat collision two years earlier. At the time of his death, Paul Murdaugh was facing charges that he drunkenly crashed into a boat, killing one of his passengers.
Prosecutors allege the boat crash was related to the case, but not in the way that Alex Murdaugh suggested. They said the lawsuit over the passenger’s death threatened to force Mr Murdaugh to share details of his finances, potentially disclosing his embezzlement. On the day of the murder, he also had to confront his law firm about an outstanding payment.
Mr Waters said Mr Murdaugh gave three videotaped statements to police that will be played at trial, and he urged jurors to follow them closely.
“Watch his expression,” Mr. Waters said. “Listen to what he has to say. Listen to what he doesn’t say. Does this sound right, or does something seem a bit off?”
To Mr. Harpootlian, Mr. Murdaugh’s lead attorney, the prosecution’s theories were nothing more than speculation that omitted key facts. He said two videos that Paul Murdaugh recorded shortly before the murder showed the family having a relaxing evening, including a father and son laughing over some newly planted trees. He said Mr Murdaugh had no reason – let alone enough time – to commit the murders and drive to his mother’s house.
Mr Harpootlian said: ‘Telephone records show he would have less than 10 minutes to kill them, get into the house, get in the car and start the engine. “He’ll be covered in blood.”
Harpootlian also said that the white T-shirt Mr. Murdaugh was wearing that night had no blood stains, and he asked the jury: “Where’s the bloody clothes?”
He and prosecutors disagreed, in pre-trial proceedings, over whether tests would detect microscopic blood stains on T-shirts. Judge Clifton Newman, who is overseeing the trial, has yet to rule on whether prosecutors can summon a witness who has concluded that there are stains on his shirt, one of the issues. The importance of evidence is still looming in the trial.
The radically different descriptions of Mr. Murdaugh’s actions that night and what the evidence shows may place even more importance on how jurors interpreted the two’s contradictory physical and analytical evidence. side about it.
Among the 12 jurors – eight women and four men – were a school assistant, a project director, a mailman and a medical center employee, all of whom are kept confidential. anonymous because the trial has received attention.
The trial, expected to last three weeks, transformed the small city of Walterboro, with food carts lined up next to the courthouse to serve the influx of lawyers and journalists and with locals gawking. look at the end of the trial every day when Mr. Trump goes to court. Murdaugh was led to the back of the courthouse in handcuffs.
