Alex Murdaugh murder trial: Recapping Week 1. What happened in court and what's to come.
WALTERBORO – The opening week of the double-murder trial of disbarred Hampton attorney Richard “Alex” Murdaugh featured graphic and often gory testimony, images, and videos, as well as revealing witness statements that contradicted information Murdaugh previously gave authorities, and Week Two is expected to be just as riveting and revealing.
Throughout the week, witness testimony introduced the state’s claim that a family weapon was used in at least one of the June 7, 2021, murders of Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, at their Colleton County home, while sparking thought-provoking questions of the timeline that Murdaugh gave police and contradicted his statements that he checked both of the bodies for a pulse when he reportedly found them.
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During the opening week, testimony centered on the 911 call that Murdaugh made and the questioning of the first responders, local police, and SLED agents who responded to the crime scene and began the early investigation.
Once the jury was selected and seated on Wednesday, the S.C. Attorney General’s Office began calling witnesses, hearing from Colleton County Sheriff’s Office officers Sgt. Daniel Greene, Corp. Chad McDowell, Detective Laura Rutland, and Capt. Jason Chapman; 911 Dispatchers Tinish Bryson-Smith and Angela Stallings; SLED agents Paul Greer, Dalila Cirencione, and Melinda Worley, and Colleton County Fire-Rescue Chief Barry McRoy.
This widely followed and highly publicized murder trial – a media “mini-city” has been established around the courthouse square that includes a media overflow room, food trucks and luxury porta potties – is set to resume at 9:30 a.m. Monday before Judge Clifton Newman.
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Monday’s session will begin as one of Murdaugh’s defense attorneys, either Richard Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, begins the cross examination of SLED agent Worley, which is expected to be a grueling affair lasting “several hours,” say attorneys.
While the AG’s Office would not comment on what witnesses are next to appear next week, the state has published a list of 255 possible witnesses in this trial, which is expected to last until roughly Feb. 10.
Thursday's recap: 911 calls played. First witnesses called for testimony.
Day four continued with an examination of the 911 call from Alex Murdaugh, and rounds of questioning from the prosecution and defense for the first officers to arrive at the scene that night.
The lines of questioning and exhibits of evidence indicated that water near Paul Murdaugh's body, as well as tire tracks and footprint impressions, may hold important clues as to who killed the Murdaughs.
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The first witnesses of the day were Tinish Bryson-Smith of Hampton County 911 Dispatch and Angela Stallings of Colleton County Dispatch/Colleton County Sheriff's Office. Both witnesses testified about receiving the 911 call from Murdaugh on the night of June 7, 2021, and prosecutors played the unredacted 911 tape publicly for the first time.
During the playing of the 911 audio, Murdaugh sat and rocked in his seat, head down, and appeared to be getting emotional.
Later, without being asked again, he tells the dispatcher a second time that they didn't shoot themselves.
Perhaps the most telling information on the 911 call was when Murdaugh told the dispatcher that the last time he had talked to his wife was roughly two hours before and that he wasn't at the crime scene at the time of the killings. Prosecutors said at the beginning of the trial that they had cell phone video evidence that puts Murdaugh at the scene with the victims much closer than the two-hour period he told dispatchers.
Prosecutors also called witnesses Barry McRoy of Colleton County Fire Rescue and Colleton County Sheriff's Office Captain Jason Chapman, who were among the local officers securing the scene until SLED could arrive to assume command of the investigation.
While Murdaugh had told dispatchers that he had touched the bodies to see if there was a pulse, Chapman testified that the two most common pulse checkpoints were the wrists and the neck. Paul Murdaugh's hands were underneath his blood-covered body, and his neck was covered in blood, yet Murdaugh had no visible blood on his hands or clothing, testified Chapman.
Chapman also testified that Murdaugh exhibited behavior that night that he thought was "odd," and at times his reactions and facial expressions changed when they searched different areas of the crime scene, or asked him specific questions.
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Wednesday's recap: Trial gets underway. State presents evidence
One of the most highly publicized trials in modern South Carolina Lowcountry history got underway Wednesday in Colleton County with strong, but graphicly descriptive opening statements from both the S.C. Attorney General's Office and Richard "Alex" Murdaugh defense attorney Richard Harpootlian.
Chief prosecutor Creighton Waters told the court that the state has a variety of strong evidence that will prove that Murdaugh murdered his wife and son on the night of June 7, 2021, while Harpootlian questioned the reliability of that "circumstantial" evidence and insisted that Murdaugh was a "loving father" who is "innocent" of the murder charges.
Waters gave the jury a glimpse of the evidence they could expect to see and hear.
That evidence will include:
⊳The 911 call from Murdaugh on the night of the murders.
⊳Statements and video body cam footage from responding officers.
⊳Three recorded statements Murdaugh gave to law enforcement Ballistics evidence that shows matches from ammo at the crime scene to other ammo on the property, suggesting it was a "family gun" that killed them GPS location data from Murdaugh's vehicle Cell phone data from Murduagh's phone, as well as both of the victims' phones.
⊳A rain coat covered with gunshot residue found at Murdaugh's parents' home, and a witness who saw him put it there.
⊳Gunshot residue on Murdaugh's clothing and the seatbelt of his vehicle.
Harpootlian opened Murdaugh's defense with even more graphic and shocking language than Waters used, while disputing the reliability of the state's evidence and calling its facts "theories."
Harpootlian described how the buckshot from the shotgun struck Paul and "entered his skull cavity, and the gases from the shot literally exploded his brain, like a watermelon."
He also described how the killer "put one in the back of the head" and "executed" Maggie.
Murdaugh's lead defense attorney then countered those graphic images by describing Murdaugh as a "loving father" and a "loving husband" who would never kill "the apple of his eye."
He also told the jury that no murder weapons have been found, there were no witnesses to the killings, and Murdaugh was not covered in blood despite the point-blank, explosive nature of the bullet impacts, while questioning why it took law enforcement more than a year to charge Murdaugh with the murders.
"They (police) decided that night that he did it ... they have been pounding that same square peg into a round hole for quite some time .... It's much more likely two people did it," Harpootlian said.
Harpootlian stressed Murdaugh's innocence until proven guilty over and over to the jury, adding, "He didn't do it. He didn't kill - butcher - his son and his wife, and you need to put out of your mind any speculation that he did.
Also Wednesday, a jury of 12, and six alternates, were selected and sworn in for the Murdaugh trial. The jury consists of four white men, six white women and two Black women. Alternates are two white men, one white woman, one Black man and two Black women.
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Tuesday's recap: Pretrial hearings, jury selection continues
Judge Newman began setting the rules of engagement and establishing the playing field during pretrial motions hearings on Tuesday afternoon.
During the hearings, Waters said the state has "substantial evidence" and expert witness testimony to prove that mechanical "ejector" and "extractor" markings from 300 Blackout rifle cartridges found at the crime scene, near Maggie Murdaugh's body, body rifle cartridges found at a shooting range on the Murdaugh family property, Moselle, and elsewhere on the property.
On Tuesday morning, the court completed the opening rounds of jury selection, whittling down a whopping 900 prospective citizens to a potential jury pool of roughly 150 in open court, with further eliminations taking place one-on-one in judge's chambers.
The jury selection process revealed just how connected the Murdaugh family and its law firm were around the Lowcountry, and how highly publicized this case has become, with a many potential jurors being excused for a potential conflict of interest.
Monday recap: Jury selection begins, witnesses announced
The double murder trial got underway with the first rounds of jury selection.
At the start of each jury selection group, Judge Newman asked Murdaugh to stand and face the potential jurors. "Good afternoon," greeted Murdaugh, dressed in a blue sports coat, a while shirt with no tie, grey slacks and black sneakers.
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At times, Murdaugh looked like the attorney he used to be, entering the courtroom carrying a large folder of files, reviewing documents, chatting and smiling with a young blond female on the legal team. At one point, he shook his head no as the judge read the charges against him.
Judge Newman read a list of 254 potential witnesses that may be called to testify.
Several members of Maggie Murdaugh's family may be called, as well as Buster Murdaugh and John Marvin Murdaugh. At least one boat crash survivor, Morgan Doughty, may testify.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Alex Murdaugh trial: What happened this week, what's up next
