The Murdaugh Family of Islandston, South Carolina: A State Attorney’s Perspective on the Trial for the Killings of a Son, a Grandparent, and a Family Member
With prosecutors nearing the end of their case, attorneys for Alex Murdaugh are strongly considering putting the disgraced former South Carolina attorney on the stand in his own defense in the trial for the killings of his wife and son, according to a source familiar with the defense’s thinking.
The defense is expected to make the decision in the next couple of days, the source said. But the decision will be made late and perhaps at the last second, the source said, after the prosecution is done presenting its case at some point this week. No final decision has been made, the source said.
Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the killings of his wife, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, and son, Paul Murdaugh, on June 7, 2021, at the family’s home in Islandton.
Murdaugh said he called for help after discovering his wife and son dead of gunshot wounds. The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office – which is prosecuting the case because of the Murdaugh family’s ties to the local solicitor’s office – has accused the 53-year-old of carrying out the killings to distract attention from a series of alleged financial crimes prosecutors say he was committing.
She once asked Murdaugh if he had any idea who could have killed her sister and nephew, she said. Alex thought about it and said he didn’t know, but “whoever did it had thought about it for a very long time,” Proctor testified.
The court was told that after the killings, Murdaugh talked about a boat crash case. Paul was accused of boating under the influence and causing the death of a teenager when he crashed his boat.
The man said his top priority was clearing Paul’s name, and I thought that was strange because I wanted to know who killed my sister and Paul.
“We never … talked about finding the person who could have done it. It was just odd. We were sort of living in fear because we thought this horrible person was out there,” Proctor said.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/us/alex-murdaugh-trial-tuesday/index.html
The Murdaugh Family, the Murdough Dog and the Hunting Dog: A Cross-Examination of Matt Davis and Ellen Riemer
He described the routine, noting that part of cleaning involved hosing the kennels down with a hose that he would then roll up in a coil and hang outside – carefully, so as to avoid kinks or breaks in the hose.
The property was visited by Davis twice on the day of the killings, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. But when shown a photo of the crime scene taken that night, Davis told the court the hose had not been properly stored.
Davis said he was very particular about how he rolled the hose up. “If you notice, there’s pressure on that hose. Somebody used that hose because it was twisted after I did.
The state says the murders took place minutes before the cell phone video was recorded by Paul, and that Alex Murdaugh made a voice recording in the middle of it.
The defense team Tuesday questioned Davis about his perception of the Murdaugh family and Alex Murdaugh in particular. Davis had earlier made comments referring to Alex and his wife as “lovey dovey,” he acknowledged, and testified under cross-examination he had never seen Alex Murdaugh raise his voice at Maggie.
Defense attorney Jim Griffin also asked Davis about an instance when one of the dogs was badly injured in the kennels. The decision was made to put the dog down, Griffin said, which Davis agreed with.
Earlier Tuesday the court heard the cross-examination of Dr. Ellen Riemer, a pathologist at the Medical University of South Carolina who testified a day earlier about the victims’ fatal injuries, during which Murdaugh appeared visibly upset.
Margaret Murdaugh was shot at least four times with an “assault rifle,” Riemer said, while Paul Murdaugh was shot twice with a shotgun: The first shot went to the side of his body that was not his chest, while the second shot went through his left shoulder, into the left side of his neck, and out the top of his head.
Paul’s hands were down when he was shot, Riemer testified, telling the court, “I don’t see anything on his hands that would indicate he had his hands up to his face in anticipation of the injury that was about to happen,” Riemer testified.
On re-direct, Riemer underscored she did not find soot on Paul’s skin as would have been expected from a shot fired from a barrel no further than 6 inches from the wound. She did find stippling on the wound to Paul’s chest, she said, indicating a weapon fired at close range with the barrel up to 3 feet away. But the stippling was not present on his other wound.
“A lot of what was in that book when they’re talking about those contact wounds, they’re exploring someone using a shotgun to commit suicide, correct?”
A Tow Truck Company Detects Collision-Induced Shell Casings and Murdaugh’s Case Turns It Into Fire
The officers with the sheriff’s office had called a tow truck company to the scene of the shell casings they had discovered. The police reports did not indicate whether or not they found any cameras from the neighboring homes and businesses.
Prosecutors say that nearly three months after Mr. Murdaugh’s wife and son were killed, an employee at his law firm — which was founded by his great-grandfather more than a century ago — discovered a check that was supposed to be addressed to the firm but was instead made out to Mr. Murdaugh. That finding led the firm to investigate further and, when they discovered evidence of financial wrongdoing, to ask for his resignation, which he gave.
The next day, Sept. 4, 2021, in another bizarre twist, Mr. Murdaugh claimed that he had been shot in the head on the side of a rural road by someone who drove by while he was changing a flat tire. He was taken to a hospital, but his story soon began to fall apart. He had lied about having been alone on the side of the road, but he was with a distant cousin, Curtis Edward Smith.
The incident ended in the arrest of both Mr. Murdaugh and his cousin. Mr. Smith was charged with aggravated assault, assisting in a suicide attempt and insurance fraud. He told The New York Times that he grabbed Mr. Murdaugh to stop him from shooting himself, and that the gun went off as he did it.
Mr. Murdaugh turned himself in to police and was arrested and charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and filing a false police report.