February 27- The judge ruled on Monday that jurors in the murder trial of disbarred South Carolina lawyer Richard “Alex” Murdaugh will visit the family estate where prosecutors claim he gunned down his wife and youngest son.
Dick Harpootlian, Murdaugh’s lawyer, asked Judge Clifton Newman to allow jurors to visit the crime scene “to get some understanding of spatial relationships” at the dog kennels where the murders occurred on the evening of June 7, 2021.
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As the trial entered its sixth week, Newman granted the surprise request over the prosecution’s objection. Following the testimony of four or five rebuttal witnesses for the prosecution scheduled for Tuesday, Newman said he would arrange a “jury view” of the Moselle estate.
On Monday, Murdaugh’s defense team called its final three witnesses, effectively closing the case. When the jury arrives in Moselle, it will hear closing arguments and begin deliberations, which is expected in the second half of the week.
Given the Murdaugh legal family’s political clout in South Carolina, the case has received extensive media coverage. Murdaugh, the family’s scion, was indicted by a grand jury in July and pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of weapon possession. If convicted, he faces 30 years to life in prison.
Murdaugh’s Testimony
Murdaugh testified last week on the witness stand that he lied about his whereabouts on the night his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, were murdered, but that he had nothing to do with their deaths. According to investigators, Paul was gunned down in the feed room near the kennels, and his mother was murdered nearby.
A visit to the Murdaughs’ 1,800-acre estate, according to Harpootlian, would allow jurors to see “how small the feed room is” and understand its location in relation to Maggie’s body, as well as other components of the property.
“You just can’t really appreciate the spatial issues unless you see them,” Harpootlian explained.
Creighton Waters, the state’s lead prosecutor, objected to the jury visiting, claiming that the estate looked different than it did in 2021 and that a visit might necessitate additional testimony from the state.
During his testimony, Murdaugh advanced his own theory about who committed the murders, claiming that someone enraged by a fatal boating accident involving Paul in 2019 was responsible. He admitted that he lacked evidence to back up his theory.
Waters has sought to portray Murdaugh as a serial liar who committed the murders while facing mounting financial difficulties and growing scrutiny over schemes to defraud law partners and clients out of large sums of money to feed a drug habit and support a wealthy lifestyle.
Jury Listens To Forensic Experts
Murdaugh changed his story about where he was on the night of the murders after the jury saw cellphone video with audio of his voice placing him at the scene.
Among the three defense witnesses on Monday were two forensic experts who both testified about aspects of the investigation that they believed law enforcement missed.
Crime scene analyst Tim Palmbach, for example, believes there was more than one shooter, citing the use of two different firearms and other factors.
“In my opinion, the totality of the evidence points to a two-shooter scenario,” Palmbach testified.
