Jurors returned to the Colleton County Courthouse on Tuesday morning as Alex Murdaugh's defense team rested their case the day before during the final week of his trial on double murder charges for the brutal death of his wife and son at the family's hunting lodge in June 2021.
The 54-year-old disgraced legal scion – disbarred soon after murder allegations and various alleged financial improprieties came to light – is accused of shooting and killing his wife, Margaret "Maggie" Murdaugh, 52, and their youngest son Paul Murdaugh, 22.
On Monday, the final handful of witnesses presented by attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin came on the heels of the defendant's own rare decision to take the stand in his own defense – a performance that elicited mixed reviews from legal experts.
The defense closed with John Marvin Murdaugh, the defendant's younger brother, as their final witness. Earlier in the day, jurors heard testimony from a forensic scientist who, during often graphic testimony, endorsed the idea that Maggie and Paul Murdaugh likely had been killed by two shooters with their own separate long guns.
The defense scored at least one procedural victory as well, with Judge Clifton Newman signing off on Harpootlian's request that jurors be escorted by the court to Moselle, the family's hunting lodge, so they can inspect the area of and around the dog kennels where the victims were killed. The motion for a so-called "jury view" was won over an objection by the state.
Similar requests have been granted in other high-profile cases, such as: The burning death of Jessica Chambers–for which Quinton Tellis was acquitted; the Pike County massacre–for which George Wagner IV was convicted on eight counts of murder; and the cascade of police gunfire during the no-knock raid that left Breonna Taylor dead in her Louisville apartment–for which Brett Hankison was acquitted.
Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters is expected to call upwards of seven rebuttal witnesses beginning Tuesday morning.
A tense moment occurred during the defense's cross-examination of the state's firs reply witness, Ronnie Crosby, a former law partner of the defendant. Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian quizzed the witness about his anger over Alex Murdaugh's admitted thefts from the law firm over the years.
Things are getting heated in #MurdaughTrial!
Watch: pic.twitter.com/cpgALyOWok
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) February 28, 2023
After lunch, the state called their last rebuttal witness, Dr. Kenneth Kinsey, who previously testified in the case.
Back from lunch in the #MurdaughTrial. For the first time South Carolina's Attorney General, Alan Wilson, is doing the questioning of rebuttal witness. Dr. Kenny Kinsey. pic.twitter.com/yhK6ggzI0Y
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) February 28, 2023
Prosecutors called their last expert witness back up to the stand Tuesday afternoon in #AlexMurdaugh's trial. Dr. Kenneth Kinsey, a crime scene investigator, testified about the defense's two shooters theory presented during their case. pic.twitter.com/4II5g3GVL6
— Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) February 28, 2023
During his testimony, Kinsey dismissed several ideas raised by defense expert witnesses – saying that there was no reason to exclude a shooter who is the defendant's height – 6-foot-4 – and refusing to definitively say that either one or two shooters was responsible for the carnage.
"I know I've got a moving victim, I know I've got a moving suspect," the state's witness testified. "It gives me the idea that this is a fluid and dynamic crime scene."
The defense did not call a rebuttal witness after Jim Griffin cross-examined Kinsey – eliciting an admission that the honorific before his name is the result of a humanities degree, and that he is not a medical doctor. The witness did note, however, that he was trained in pathology.
A brief scheduling hearing occurred after testimony ended.
The court will take jurors on a jury view of the Moselle estate tomorrow morning prior to the beginning of proceedings. Judge Clifton Newman charged several members of law enforcement with providing jurors' safety during the murder trial's equivalent of a field trip.
