Jury in Murdaugh South Carolina murder trial to visit scene of crime

[February 28, 2023]  By Nathan Layne

(Reuters) -Jurors in the murder trial of disbarred South Carolina lawyer Richard "Alex" Murdaugh will visit the family estate where prosecutors said he gunned down his wife and youngest son, the judge ruled on Monday.

Murdaugh's lawyer Dick Harpootlian asked Judge Clifton Newman to allow the jurors to visit the crime scene "to get some understanding of spatial relationships" at the dog kennels where the murders took place on the evening of June 7, 2021.

Newman granted the surprise request, over an objection from the prosecution, as the trial entered its sixth week. Newman said he would arrange a "jury view" of the Moselle estate following the testimony from four or five rebuttal witnesses for the prosecution scheduled for Tuesday.

Murdaugh's defense team called its final three witnesses on Monday, resting its case. Once the jury visits Moselle, it will hear closing arguments and start deliberations, likely in the second half of the week.

The case has drawn intense media coverage, given the political influence of the Murdaugh legal family in South Carolina. Murdaugh, the scion of the 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. He faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted.

MURDAUGH'S TESTIMONY

Murdaugh on the witness stand last week testified that he had lied about his whereabouts on the night his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, were killed but said he had nothing to do with their deaths. Investigators said Paul was gunned down in the feed room near the kennels, and his mother killed nearby.

Harpootlian said a visit to the Murdaugh's 1,800-acre estate would allow jurors to see "how small the feed room is" and understand its location in relation to Maggie's body, as well as to other components of the property.

"You just can't really appreciate the spatial issues without actually seeing them," Harpootlian said.

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

Lead state prosecutor Creighton Waters objected to the jury visiting, arguing the estate looked different than it did in 2021 and said a visit might require additional testimony from the state.

During his testimony, Murdaugh floated his own theory of who committed the murders, saying he believed someone angry over a deadly boating accident involving Paul in 2019 had done so. He acknowledged that he lacked evidence to support that theory.

For the prosecution, Waters has sought to portray Murdaugh as a serial liar who committed the murders amid mounting financial troubles, and as he faced growing scrutiny over schemes to deceive law partners and clients out of huge sums of money to feed a drug habit and support a wealthy lifestyle.

JURY HEARS FORENSIC EXPERTS

Murdaugh changed his account of his whereabouts on the night of the killings after the jury saw cellphone video containing audio of his voice placing him at the scene.

Monday's three defense witnesses included two forensic experts who both testified to aspects of the investigation they believed that law enforcement got wrong.

One expert, crime scene analyst Tim Palmbach, said he believed there was likely more than one shooter, citing the use of two separate firearms and other factors.

"My opinion is the totality of the evidence is more suggestive of a two-shooter scenario," Palmbach testified.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Will Dunham, Bernadette Baum and Grant McCool)

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