Detectives like to say that the crime scene tells the story, even if no one else does.
In the double homicide trial of disgruntled South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, his lawyers want jurors to believe the crime scene can’t tell them much about the deaths of his wife and child because state troopers did a poor job of investigations.
Murdaugh, 54, is accused of killing his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, in a kennel near their home on 7 June 2021, while the former lawyer’s career and finances were collapsing. Murdaugh denied any role in the fatal shootings. He faces 30 years to life if convicted.
Here are some key insights from the 61 prosecution witnesses and 11 defense witnesses called so far in the five-week trial, including Murdaugh himself.
via the Associated Press
PROBLEMS AT THE SCENE OF THE CRIME
The defense called experts who said investigators did not wipe fingerprints, collect and analyze blood, or photograph the evidence with the angles or clarity needed to properly study it later.
The first officer arrived at the rural Colleton County property 20 minutes after Murdaugh called 911 when he returned home from visiting his ailing mother. Almost immediately, the local sheriff realized he was dealing with someone whose family had dominated the legal system in neighboring Hampton County for generations, and turned the investigation over to the state’s Division of Law Enforcement.
It took hours for state agents to get deep into the South Carolina Lowcountry. During that time, more than a dozen family and friends came to the stage, comforting Murdaugh. The bodies of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh were covered with a sheet, which can absorb liquids, instead of a sheet. So the sheet was not saved, meaning any hair or DNA of a criminal could have been lost. An intermittent rain fell and the runoff from the kennel roof fell on Paul Murdaugh’s covered body.
“It’s a crime scene. You don’t want water dripping everywhere. But more importantly, I thought it was pretty disrespectful,” Murdaugh’s former law partner Mark Ball testified.
via the Associated Press
When state troopers arrived, they sent Murdaugh and his entourage home. Witnesses testified that it was not searched for weapons, bloody clothing and other evidence, or even checked to see if a suspect was hiding inside.
Prosecutors have little direct evidence of Murdaugh’s guilt. The weapons used in the murders have not been found. There are no blood-stained clothes or surveillance video.
Prosecutor John Meadors told one of the experts that investigators did their best under the circumstances.
“You get paid to come in here and say they did a terrible job,” Meadors said.
He was the 72nd witness in the five-week trial. But everyone perked up Thursday when Alex Murdaugh took the witness stand.
His defensive team wasted no time. Their first questions were whether he killed his wife or his child.
“I didn’t kill Maggie and I didn’t kill Paul. I would never hurt Maggie and I would never hurt Paul, ever, under any circumstances,” Murdaugh said.
Murdaugh admitted he lied for 20 months when he told police, his family and anyone else who asked that he hadn’t been to the animal shelter before finding the bodies of his wife and son there. A video on his son’s iPhone, shot minutes before prosecutors believe the murders took place, recorded Alex Murdaugh’s voice. It took state agents more than a year to hack the phone and find it.
Under questioning, Murdaugh admitted to stealing from clients and his law firm, likely sealing his fate for many of the 100 other charges he faces, from theft to insurance fraud to tax evasion .
“I took money that wasn’t mine. And I shouldn’t have done that. I hate to do it. I am embarrassed by this. I am ashamed of my son. I’m ashamed of my family,” Murdaugh said.
Aside from Murdaugh and his family, no potential witnesses have supported the interest of trial watchers like Curtis “Eddie” Smith.
“Cousin Eddie,” as many came to call him, was the person Murdaugh said he called when he wanted someone to kill him three months after the deaths of his wife and child.
The fatal blow only shook Murdaugh’s head. Smith told reporters that the gun went off while they were struggling for the gun, and if he had shot Murdaugh on purpose, he would not have missed.
Smith and Murdaugh met about ten years ago when Smith needed a lawyer for a workers’ compensation case. Detectives said he ran a drug and money-laundering ring, with Smith cashing checks to help Murdaugh hide the money he was stealing from customers.
In the end, both prosecutors and defense attorneys seem to have decided that Smith might have hurt their cases as much as he helped them.
Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said Smith had six different explanations for shooting Murdaugh “and any other information you ask him.”
But earlier this month, as prosecutors and Harpootlian argued with the judge whether Smith would testify, the defense attorney complained that Smith might not be called.
“Mr. Smith’s call is something I look forward to,” Harpootlian said.
I’m a passionate and motivated journalist with a focus on world news. My experience spans across various media outlets, including Buna Times where I serve as an author. Over the years, I have become well-versed in researching and reporting on global topics, ranging from international politics to current events.