COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – The state is expected to rest its case Thursday in the Alex Murdaugh double-murder trial.
Murdaugh is accused of killing his wife Margaret and youngest son Paul at their family property in June of 2021.
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Judge Clifton Newman decided Wednesday to allow testimony about Alex Murdaugh’s botched suicide-for-hire attempt in the trial.
The decision to allow the testimony came after Judge Newman previously ruled it would not be allowed because it lacked sufficient relevance to this case. After questioning by the defense brought up Curtis Eddie Smith, Judge Newman reversed the decision, saying the door had been opened.
Wednesday’s witness testimony came mainly from SLED agent David Owen, the lead investigator on the case. Prosecution introduced a new video of an August 11, 2021 interview with Murdaugh, the third SLED interview conducted in the case.
The interview was the first time Murdaugh was told by SLED he was being seriously considered as the main suspect.
Owen recounted Murdaugh’s changing stories and inconsistencies in his timeline, which led him to believe Murdaugh was behind the murders.
Murdaugh’s defense team contends that the investigation was botched from the start and that SLED made no effort to gather evidence that would’ve excluded Murdaugh as a suspect.
In several big moments for the defense, Owen admitted that some information he gave to the Colleton County Grand Jury that indicted Murdaugh was false. In some cases he knew the information was false; in other cases, the information was true at the time but was later disproven.
Murdaugh’s team also introduced a new theory: that the murders were the result of debts Murdaugh owed to Smith and a drug gang known as the Cowboys. They say SLED failed to follow up on that theory as well.
The jury also heard testimony from a cell phone forensics expert with the Attorney General’s Office who analyzed data from Paul, Maggie, and Alex’s cell phones. The state will pick up with cross-examination of that witness on Thursday morning.
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10:14 a.m. – Court is back in session. The state calls Dr. Kenny Kinsey.
Kinsey is the Chief Deputy at the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office and crime scene investigation expert.
Kinsey reconstructed the crime scene from Maggie and Paul’s murders.
They discuss Paul’s injuries. Kinsey says the first was a shotgun wound to the chest, which was not immediately fatal, and the second was a shot to the shoulder that went up through the chin and out the top right side of his head.
Kinsey says each of the buckshots that hit Paul contained nine pellets.
At the time of the first shooting, Kinsey believes Paul was standing in the middle of the feed room. Prosecution shows a photo of the feed room taken the night of the shooting, which Kinsey photoshopped a pair of legs into to show Paul’s position.
90-degree blood drops on the ground of the feed room indicate Paul stood in the middle of the room after he was hit for some time, then began slowly moving towards the door.
Kinsey says that he can’t say for sure how away the shooter was, but he believes the ejection port was inside the doorframe of the feed room.
9:56 a.m. – Court is in recess while both sides determine what evidence from the roadside shooting will be allowed.
9:34 a.m. – Court is in session. Before the jury comes in, Defense attorney Jim Griffin explains his previous objection to allowing evidence about the roadside shooting.
Judge Clifton Newman says that while he previously agreed with the defense and thought the testimony lacked relevance to this case, the defense’s line of questioning opened the door.
Judge Newman said that he felt the topic was “a bridge too far,” but the defense “built a road over that bridge.”
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