The trial of disbarred lawyer Alex Murdaugh for the murders of his wife and son began in early January. Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty. Now, in week four, the defense has a heavy burden of proof from the prosecution.
Murdaugh pleaded not guilty in July to two counts of murder for the deaths of his wife Margaret “Maggie,” 52, and son Paul, 22. They died from gunshot wounds on June 7, 2021. Murdaugh has adamantly denied that he fatally shot his family.
ALEX MURDAUGH TRIAL: JURY SELECTION BEGINS FOR 2021 KILLINGS OF WIFE AND SON
The prosecution wrapped up its case on Feb. 17 after more than three weeks of presenting evidence and testimony from nearly 50 witnesses. The defense will then take up its case, with arguments expected to last for at least a week. Both sides hope to wrap up the trial with closing statements around Feb. 23 — 10 days past the originally estimated wrap-up date.
The trial has featured key statements from criminal forensic specialists, family, and friends of the Murdaugh family. Below are the top five takeaways from the trial so far.
Prosecutors presenting mostly circumstantial evidence
The prosecution is in a tight spot. They lack any physical evidence tying Murdaugh to the crime scene, such as a confession, surveillance footage, or a murder weapon. That led prosecutors to move to circumstantial evidence, such as crime scene photographs, guns collected from the Murdaugh house, gunshot residue on a blue raincoat, cellphone data, and several videos.
Murdaugh originally told officers early in the investigation that he was at his mother’s home the night of the murders. He called 911 that night to report that he found his wife and son shot in the head, but cellphone evidence placed him at the scene, contradicting his statement.
A video played in the courtroom became the focal point of the prosecution’s case. Just short of a minute long, the video was filmed near the family’s kennels on Paul Murdaugh’s phone starting at 8:44 p.m. the night of the murders. Both housekeeper Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson and Nathan Tuten, Paul’s childhood friend, are among the several people who have identified Alex Murdaugh’s voice in the video, despite his repeated denial that he was around the kennels.
The prosecution also pointed to evidence from the family’s call logs. Maggie Murdaugh read two text messages — one at 8:31 p.m. and another at 8:49 p.m. — in a group chat with family seconds before her phone locked for the final time. At 8:54 p.m., the phone’s camera was activated, which investigators say indicates the phone was moved and face recognition was attempted.
There were many calls to Maggie Murdaugh’s phone from Alex Murdaugh’s, but the calls appeared to be missing from Alex Murdaugh’s call log between June 4 and 10:25 p.m. on June 7. However, the evidence seems to work in the defense’s favor as well. Evidence shows that his SUV was parked at the same time his wife’s phone was thrown on the side of the road about a half-mile from the Murdaugh property.
Financial allegations allowed as evidence in murder trial
The prosecution received a large win in the case when Judge Clifton Newman allowed the state to present evidence on Alex Murdaugh’s alleged financial crimes as a motive for killing his wife and son.
Murdaugh is under 19 indictments and 99 charges ranging from tax evasion to fraud. Prosecutors allege that Murdaugh defrauded his clients and stole money from their settlements, amounting to more than $8.7 million.
On the day of the murders, prosecutors said his law office, which he has since been fired from, contacted him about misusing funds from the firm, threatening to destabilize Alex Murdaugh’s legacy as a lawyer and his family name. Jeanne Seckinger, chief financial officer for the firm, said he stole $5 million from the firm between 2011 and 2021. At one point, prosecutors say he used a fake bank account to steal $2 million from clients.
Prosecutors say evidence of his alleged financial crimes was “about to come to light” when his wife and son were killed. Alex Murdaugh was scheduled to appear in court on the financial case on June 10, but it was dropped after his son and wife were killed.
However, the defense had fought the admissibility of the financial evidence, stating that the fraud case is irrelevant and the motive claim is “illogical and implausible.”
If convicted of these crimes alone, it could amount to up to 1,000 years in jail.
Son’s boat wreck focal point of trial
At the time of his death, Paul Murdaugh had pleaded not guilty to charges of boating under the influence, causing great bodily harm, and causing death. In February 2019, a boat owned by Murdaugh and allegedly driven by Paul Murdaugh crashed, killing Mallory Beach. Her body was found about a week after the crash.
Murdaugh made odd comments surrounding the situation.
“This is a long story. My son was in a boat wreck … months back. He’s been getting threats,” Murdaugh said per a video played in court. “Most of it’s been benign stuff. We didn’t take serious, you know, he’s been getting like punched. Um, I, I know that’s what it is.”
Mark Tinsley, who was representing Beach’s family in suing Alex Murdaugh, said Alex Murdaugh’s defense attorneys said he was broke and could only get a few million dollars together.
He said if Alex Murdaugh was considered to be a “victim of some vigilante,” the civil case for Beach’s death would be dropped because “nobody would have brought a verdict back against Alex.”
Prosecutor Creighton Waters had asked Tinsley, “If the hearing takes place on June 10, 2021, what is the net effect of everything that could happen at that point?”
“The discovery,” Tinsley said, “of everything he’s done.”
Maggie Murdaugh’s sister takes the stand as first close relative to testify
The testimony of Marian Proctor, the sister of Maggie Murdaugh, was the most highly anticipated of all the witnesses. She provided the first close family testimony in the trial.
Proctor said she had accepted her brother-in-law’s theory that her sister and nephew were targeted for the boating incident. However, she recalled that he never wanted to talk about finding the person who killed his wife and son but instead was solely focused on protecting his son’s reputation.
”He said that his No. 1 goal was clearing Paul’s name in the boat case,” she said. “And I thought that was so strange because my No. 1 goal was to find out who killed my sister and Paul.”
She testified that Maggie Murdaugh was not involved in any of the family finances, so she would not likely have known about any of her husband’s allegedly illegal dealings.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
COVID-19 tests threaten trial timeline
Health concerns for the jury hover over the trial after two of the jurors were dismissed for testing positive for COVID-19 on Feb. 13. Only three of the six original alternate judges remain to replace any other jurors.
An outbreak in the jury could lead to a weekslong pause in the lengthy and highly-publicized trial, as well as potentially qualifying it for a mistrial, per multiple reports. Prosecutors had suggested delaying the trial to Feb. 15, but the judge declined to postpone the trial or impose any restrictions inside the courtroom. However, he encouraged everyone to “mask up.”
