Closing arguments begin in trial of Alex Murdaugh, South Carolina attorney accused in double murder

Alex Murdaugh’s theft of thousands and thousands of {dollars} was about to be revealed so he killed his spouse and son to purchase time to determine a approach out, a prosecutor mentioned Wednesday throughout closing arguments within the disgraced former South Carolina lawyer’s homicide trial.

Murdaugh’s concern that his decade-long theft could be uncovered and his want to keep up his lofty standing in the neighborhood led him to ensure his spouse and youthful son have been on the household’s Colleton County dwelling on June 7, 2021, in order that he may kill them as a part of a intelligent plan aided by his data of how prison circumstances are constructed, prosecutor Creighton Waters informed jurors.

“The pressures on this man have been insufferable. And so they have been all reaching a crescendo the day his spouse and son have been murdered by him,” Waters mentioned. 

Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in jail if he’s convicted of both homicide rely. Investigators mentioned his 22-year-old son, Paul, was shot twice with a shotgun and his 52-year-old spouse, Maggie, was shot 4 or 5 occasions with a rifle outdoors of the kennels on their property.

Jurors started the day with a go to to the crime scene, the agricultural Colleton County dwelling referred to as Moselle, the place a pool reporter mentioned at the very least certainly one of them rigorously inspected the door body of a storage closet the place Paul Murdaugh was standing when he was killed.

The important thing piece of proof connecting Alex Murdaugh to the killings is a video Paul Murdaugh shot from the kennels about 5 minutes earlier than he final used his cellphone. It took greater than a 12 months for federal brokers to hack into the younger man’s locked iPhone and discover it.

Earlier than the trial, Alex Murdaugh repeatedly informed investigators that he hadn’t been on the kennels on the evening of the killings, however whereas testifying in his personal protection, he admitted that he lied and that he had been there.

Though the weapons used to kill the victims have not been discovered, an knowledgeable testified that the markings on the bullet casings discovered close to Maggie Murdaugh’s physique matched these discovered on casings at a capturing vary on the household’s property.

However there was no blood spatter or DNA linking the killings to Alex Murdaugh or anybody else, and prosecutors by no means laid out how they suppose Murdaugh may have killed his household, cleaned himself up, disposed of the garments and weapons, and composed himself within the 15-minute window earlier than GPS information exhibits he left the property to go to his ailing mom.

The prosecution’s star crime scene knowledgeable mentioned there is not sufficient proof to undoubtedly say whether or not there have been one or two shooters on the kennels.

Nonetheless, Waters mentioned there may be sufficient proof to hyperlink the killings to the monetary crimes and to Alex Murdaugh being the one particular person with the means and alternative to kill his spouse and son.

“As all of those pressures have been mounting, the defendant killed Maggie and Paul,’ Waters mentioned, pulling out his cellphone and waving it. “The forensic timeline places him there. The usage of the household weapons collaborates it. And his lies and his responsible actions afterward verify that.”

Waters mentioned Alex Murdaugh has been mendacity for years to cowl up his opioid dependancy and theft of cash from his regulation agency and purchasers, so it could be straightforward to lie about being on the kennels and killing his household, and to lie whereas testifying in his personal protection final week.

“All the time having to remain one step forward of the sport. All the time need to actually beg, borrow and steal for over a decade to have the reality from being uncovered,” Waters mentioned.

The protection has mentioned state brokers carried out a poor investigation that centered too shortly on Alex Murdaugh and missed proof resembling fingerprints and shoe prints that might have led to the actual killers.

They requested for jurors to be allowed to go to the property with the intention to assist them perceive how small the storage room is the place Paul Murdaugh was killed and the space between the 2 our bodies.

Prosecutors opposed the go to, saying the scene seems to be totally different than it did in June 2021, as bushes and vegetation have grown and nobody has lived on the property because the killings.

Decide Clifton Newman allowed the go to however cautioned jurors concerning the variations in how the property seems to be now. They have been additionally cautioned to look at for snakes.

As soon as closing arguments are completed, the jurors will get their directions and start deliberating what they discovered throughout a trial that has included greater than 75 witnesses and lasted greater than six weeks. They may have the ability to assessment about 800 paperwork, images, movies of police interviews of Alex Murdaugh and different displays whereas deciding on a verdict.

Murdaugh can also be accused of stealing thousands and thousands and faces greater than 100 different prices for alleged monetary and different crimes. He was disbarred final 12 months for what the state Supreme Court docket referred to as “admitted reprehensible conduct.”