COVID could create crisis in Alex Murdaugh murder trial
Two jurors in the double murder trial of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh have COVID-19, leaving the future of the proceedings in some doubt as they entered their fourth week on Monday.
Judge Clifton Newman decided keep the trial going in the packed Colleton County courtroom after the remaining 10 jurors and five alternates tested negative. They will be tested again on Wednesday. The clerk of court also tested positive for the virus.
Judge Newman said jurors agreed to wear masks.
He rejected suggestions from both the defense and prosecutors to delay the trial until that second round of tests Wednesday, reduce the over 200 people allowed to attend the trial each day or order everyone in the courtroom to wear masks other than testifying witnesses and questioning attorneys.
Mr. Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted of murdering his wife, 52-year-old Maggie, and their 22-year-old son Paul at the family’s Colleton County home on June 7, 2021.
Monday marked the 13th day of testimony with prosecutors still presenting their case.
State Law Enforcement Division agent Sara Zapata testified that DNA from all three Murdaughs were found on the shirt and shorts Alex Murdaugh was wearing when he found the bodies.
A preliminary test also detected blood on Alex Murdaugh’s shirt, but a later test couldn’t confirm it was human blood. Ms. Zapata said it appears other crime scene technicians performed a test that can damage a blood sample.
DNA tests didn’t find genetic material from anyone tested on a blue raincoat found at the house of Alex Murdaugh’s mother, Ms. Zapata said. Earlier testimony said the inside lining of the coat had a large amount of gunshot residue inside.
DNA from a number of people who volunteered samples — other workers on the Murdaugh property, the family of a teen killed in a crash by a boat driven by Paul Murdaugh and other family members of Alex Murdaugh — was not found on items from the crime scene, Ms. Zapata said.
Defense attorneys said the DNA findings were not unusual considering the Murdaughs lived together and it was Alex who found the bodies of his wife and Paul.