Judge rules Murdaugh trial jurors will visit crime scene

Jurors in Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial in the shooting deaths of his wife and son will get to visit the South Carolina home where the killings took place before they begin deliberating, the judge ruled Monday.

Lawyers for the disgraced South Carolina attorney asked for the trip to the Colleton County property called Moselle so that the jury can see the dog kennels near where the body of 52year-old Maggie Murdaugh was found and the storage room where 22-yearold Paul Murdaugh was killed on June 7, 2021.

Alex Murdaugh, 54, is charged with murder in the deaths of his wife and son. He faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted. Before the jury visit issue came up, both sides suggested that closing statements and deliberations could begin this week.

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said Monday that it’s important for jurors to visit the Murdaugh home to see “how small the feed room is” and “where the feed room is compared to Maggie’s body.” “You just can’t really appreciate the spatial issues without really seeing them,” he said.

Prosecutors told the judge that they didn’t want the jury to visit because it has been 20 months since the killings and it looks different.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters said trees planted between the Murdaugh home and the kennels shortly before the killings have grown taller and thicker, and one of the state’s key arguments is that Murdaugh, who testified that he was inside the house 1,100 feet away when investigators think the killings happened, should have been able to hear the rifle shots or shotgun blasts. He said he didn’t.