Murder trial of lawyer Alex Murdaugh has many twists, and it’s far from over
WALTERBORO, S.C.
Three weeks into disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh's double-murder trial, prosecutors have called dozens of witnesses offering wide-ranging — and sometimes disjointed — testimony.
Jurors have heard from the investigators who found the bodies of Murdaugh's wife and son, and technicians who found gunshot residue, cracked open cellphones to get videos and tested dozens of ammunition casings.
They've heard from betrayed law firm employees, heartbroken friends of Murdaugh and his family, and a man whose insurance settlement was stolen after his mother, the Murdaughs' housekeeper, died in a fall at their home.
But witnesses have been called in disorganized groups and tantalizing scraps of evidence have been introduced but not explained.
The defense hopes to start its case this week. It had planned a week of testimony but is rethinking that because of the trial’s length.
Here are some key takeaways from the trial
so far.
FINANCIAL CRIMES
Murdaugh, 54, is charged with murder in the deaths of 52-year-old Maggie, shot several times with a rifle, and their 22-year-old son, Paul, shot twice with a shotgun at kennels near their Colleton County home on June 7, 2021. He faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted.
The disbarred lawyer also faces about 100 other charges ranging from stealing money from clients to running a drugand money-laundering ring.
Much of last week’s testimony focused on whether Murdaugh stole money from his family’s law firm and clients.
Prosecutors contend Murdaugh thought he was about to get caught stealing and killed his wife and son to buy time to cover up the money trail.
The office manager from the family law firm said Murdaugh stole millions in fees and client settlements. A law school buddy said Murdaugh took advantage of his trust and left him to pay $192,000 to keep his client trust fund balanced. The son of the Murdaughs' housekeeper and nanny who died in a fall testified Murdaugh promised to get them a hefty insurance settlement for the death but kept more than $4 million collected for himself.
The defense objected to each witness, saying there was no evidence linking the killings to financial misdeeds.
THE ACCUSED
A courtroom camera is trained on Alex Murdaugh every moment he is in court. Several cameras wait for him as he gets in and out of a prison van each day.
At the beginning of the trial, Murdaugh cried and rocked in his chair several times as crime scene photos of his wife and son were shown and described.
Prosecutors and defense have said the aftermath of the shooting was gruesome. Agents testified Paul Murdaugh's brain was detached from his skull with a close range shotgun blast.
Murdaugh has adamantly denied killing his wife and son. His lawyers said he was visiting his ailing mother the night of the murders and police wrongly focused on him from the start.
TECH WIZARDRY
Within weeks of the killings, state agents wanted data from the SUV
Alex Murdaugh drove to visit his mother the night of the killings and from Paul Murdaugh's cellphone.
But both devices were encrypted and impossible to crack in 2021. Advancements in hacking allowed agents to get into Paul Murdaugh's iPhone data last year and they found one of the key pieces of evidence so far — a video he took of a dog at the family's kennels about five minutes before investigators said the killings took place. Several witnesses have said all three Murdaughs can be heard in the video taken near where the bodies were found.
Alex Murdaugh told police both right after the bodies were found and again a few days later he was never at the kennels.