The family estate where prosecutors claim Richard “Alex” Murdaugh shot dead his wife and youngest son will be open to the jury’s visitation, the court ordered on Monday in the murder trial of the disbarred South Carolina attorney.
Dick Harpootlian, the attorney for Murdaugh, requested that the jury be permitted to see the crime scene at the dog kennels where the killings occurred on the evening of June 7, 2021, “to obtain some knowledge of spatial linkages.”
In spite of the prosecution’s objections, Newman approved the unexpected motion as the trial entered its sixth week. After the evidence from four or five rebuttal witnesses for the prosecution scheduled for Tuesday, Newman said he would set up a “jury view” of the Moselle estate. On Monday, Murdaugh’s defence rested its case after calling its last three witnesses. After the jury returns from Moselle, it will likely begin deliberating in the second half of the week after hearing closing arguments. With the Murdaugh legal family’s political clout in South Carolina, the case has received extensive media coverage. A grand jury charged Murdaugh, the family’s scion, in July. He entered a not guilty plea to two counts of murder and two counts of drug possession.as a tool. If found guilty, he might spend the rest of his life in prison.
MURDAUGH’S DEMONSTRATION
Last week, Murdaugh admitted lying to investigators about where he was when his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, were killed, but he said he had nothing to do with their deaths. Authorities claimed that Paul and his mother were both shot to death close to the kennels in the feed room.
A visit to the Murdaughs’ 1,800-acre estate, according to Harpootlian, would enable the jury to see “how little the feed room is” and comprehend its placement in relation to Maggie’s body and other parts of the property.
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Without truly experiencing the spatial problems, Harpootlian claimed, “you just can’t really appreciate them.”
Creighton Waters, the chief state prosecutor, opposed to the jury seeing the estate, saying it didn’t appear like it did.
stated that a visit might necessitate more testimony from the state in 2021.
Murdaugh offered his own opinion of who carried out the killings during his testimony, claiming that he thought it was someone enraged over Paul’s fatal boating accident in 2019. He admitted that there was no proof for the theory.
For the prosecution, Waters has worked to paint Murdaugh as a habitual liar who committed the killings as he faced increasing attention over his plots to defraud law partners and clients of significant sums of money in order to sustain a drug habit and a luxurious lifestyle.
JURY LISTENS TO FORENSIC SPECIALISTS
After the jury heard his voice on a cellphone video placing him at the scene of the deaths, Murdaugh revised his story about where he was the night of the killings.
Two forensic experts who both testified about elements of the inquiry they thought law enforcement got wrong were among the three defence witnesses on Monday.
Crime scene analyst Tim Palmbach expressed his opinion that there was probably more than one gunman, given the usage of two different rifles in addition to other details.
According to Palmbach’s testimony, “the overall weight of the evidence is more suggestive of a two-shooter scenario.”