Final witnesses to take stand in Murdaugh South Carolina murder trial

[February 27, 2023]  By Nathan Layne

(Reuters) - Four final defense witnesses are set to take the stand on Monday in the double murder trial of disbarred South Carolina lawyer Richard "Alex" Murdaugh before his attorneys rest their case, with jury deliberations on track to begin later in the week.

After four weeks of testimony, the high-profile trial reached a crescendo on Thursday and Friday when Murdaugh, 54, took the witnesses stand in his own defense, testifying that he lied about his whereabouts on the night his wife and son were murdered but that he was not involved in their deaths.

His wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, were gunned down at close range at dog kennels on the family's estate on the evening of June 7, 2021.

Prosecutors have called 61 witnesses, compared to 11 for the defense. Murdaugh's lawyers said they planned to question four additional witnesses before resting their case in the early afternoon on Monday. State prosecutor Creighton Waters said he then planned to call "a couple" of reply witnesses intended to rebut defense evidence, indicating their testimony would not take a long time.

That would be followed by closing arguments and the judge instructing the jury, which could happen on Tuesday or Wednesday, Murdaugh defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said in court on Friday. The judge did not set a strict schedule.

Murdaugh during the trial has floated his own theory of who committed the murders, testifying on Friday that he believed someone angry over a deadly boating accident involving Paul had done so. He acknowledged that he lacked evidence to support that theory.

Alex Murdaugh gives testimony in his murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, U.S., February 23, 2023. Grace Beahm Alford/Pool via USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERS

During his testimony, he also said he had deceived law partners and clients out of huge sums of money to feed his drug habit, potentially undercutting his credibility with the jury. During seven hours of cross examination, Waters sought to portray Murdaugh as a serial liar who was under pressure due to mounting financial troubles in the months leading up to the killings.

Murdaugh admitted to lying to investigators in the aftermath of the murders by telling them he was not at the kennels on the night of the murders. He changed his account after the jury saw cellphone video that contained audio of Murdaugh's voice that placed him at the scene minutes before investigators have said his wife and son were killed.

Murdaugh, the scion of an influential South Carolina legal family, was indicted by a grand jury in July and pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon. The case has drawn intense media coverage given the political influence of the Murdaugh family in South Carolina.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Will Dunham)

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