Three weeks into the double murder trial of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdo, prosecutors have called dozens of witnesses to give detailed — and sometimes dissident — testimony.
Jurors heard from investigators who found the bodies of Murdaugh’s wife and son, and from technicians who found gunshot residue, cracked open cellphones to obtain video, and examined dozens of ammunition casings.
He hears of unfaithful law firm employees, heartbroken friends of Murdaugh and his family, and a man whose insurance settlement was stolen after his mother, Murdaugh’s housekeeper, died in a fall at their home. Was.
But in disorganized groups witnesses have been called and tantalizing scraps of evidence have been presented but not explained. The defense hopes to open its case in the middle of next week and had planned a week of testimony but is reconsidering because of the length of the trial.
Here are some key findings from the trial so far.
financial crime
Murdaugh, 54, has been charged with murder in the deaths of Maggie, 52, who was shot multiple times with a rifle, and her 22-year-old son Paul twice with a shotgun in kennels near their Colleton County home Went. June 7, 2021. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison.
The sacked lawyer also faces nearly 100 other charges ranging from stealing money from clients to running a drug and money laundering ring.
Much of the week’s testimony focused on whether Murdaugh had stolen money from his family’s law firm and clients. Prosecutors argue that Murdaugh thought he was about to be caught stealing and killed his wife and son to buy time to hide the money trail.
The office manager of the family law firm said Murdaugh embezzled millions in fees and client settlements. A friend from law school said Murdaugh took advantage of his trust and left him paying $192,000 to keep his client trust fund balanced. The son of Murdaugh’s housekeeper and nanny, who died in testimony, Murdaugh promised to get him a hefty insurance settlement for the death but collected more than $4 million for himself.
The defense objected to each witness, saying there was no evidence linking the murders to the financial misdeeds.
“It’s piling up. It’s trying to get the jury to believe someone who somehow stole a bunch of money would commit murder,” said Murdo’s attorney, Dick Harpootlian.
unrelated matter
Prosecutors have called 47 witnesses over 12 days of testimony, but at times there has been little rhythm in the order.
This week, Murdaugh’s mother’s caregiver testified about the blue jacket, maybe when he came to visit, but then other witnesses testified about financial crimes before a state forensic scientist, who tested the jacket for blood and gunshot residue.
The long, exhausting testimony has focused on cellphone data among friends of Paul Murdaugh.
Some intriguing evidence is presented but never explained to the jurors, who do not have notebooks to keep track of the testimony.
A crime scene technician put the receipt from Gucci with the $1,021.10 item into evidence, but it has not been brought up since. An FBI technician recounted the time Murdo’s SUV was shifted in and out of the park on the night of the murders without explanation.
accused
A courtroom camera is trained on Alex Murdo every moment he is in court. Several cameras await him as he gets in and out of the prison van.
At the beginning of the trial, Murdaugh cried and rocked in his chair several times as he was shown and described crime scene photographs of his wife and son. Prosecutors and the defense have said that the aftermath of the shooting was gruesome. Agents testified that Paul Murdo’s brain was severed from his skull with a close-range shotgun blast.
Murdog has denied killing his wife and son. His lawyers said he had been visiting his ailing mother on the night of the murder and that police had unfairly focused on him from the outset.
Murdaugh wept Thursday when the defense played video of a family birthday party weeks before the murders.
But during financial crimes testimony, Murdog has been more stoic, listening to his lawyers and sometimes speaking up.
technical wizardry
Within weeks of the murders, state agents wanted data from the SUV Alex Murdaugh drove to visit his mother on the night of the murders, and from Paul Murdaugh’s cellphone.
But both devices were encrypted and impossible to crack in 2021.
Advances in hacking allowed agents to enter Paul Murdo’s iPhone data last year and they found one of the key pieces of evidence so far – investigators say he found a dog in the family’s kennels about five minutes before the murders took place. Took video of Several eyewitnesses have said that all three corpses can be heard in a video taken near where the bodies were found.
Alex Murdaugh told the police right after the body was found and then a few days later he was never at the kennel again.
An FBI agent testified that he worked for a year cracking encrypted data from the computer entertainment and information console on an SUV provided by the family law firm.
Along with other information, he deduced the time the vehicle was shifted into and out of park, although he could not tell whether the vehicle was moving or whether someone’s foot was on the brake. The agent said he could also tell when the windows were raised or lowered, but never said what happened during Murdaugh’s 20-minute ride to his mother’s house on the night of the murders.
Maggie Murdaugh’s cellphone was recovered from the side of a road the day after the murders.