The 12-person jury in disgraced South Carolina legal professional Alex Murdaugh’s double homicide trial might go to the canine kennels on Murdaugh’s property the place his deceased spouse, Maggie, and son Paul have been fatally shot in June 2021.
Murdaugh is accused of gunning down Paul and Maggie utilizing a rifle and shotgun close to the canine kennels on their sprawling 1,700-acre searching property generally known as Moselle in Islandton, South Carolina.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters stated in his opening statements Wednesday that he hopes to take the jury to the kennels the place the murders befell. Murdaugh claims he was napping and due to this fact not current on the crime scene on the evening of Maggie’s and Paul’s homicide, however Waters alleges he was and has cellphone information and video proof to show it.
“He was there simply minutes earlier than, with Maggie and Paul, simply minutes earlier than their cellphones went silent eternally and ever,” Waters stated in his opening assertion.
SOUTH CAROLINA LEGAL SCION ALEX MURDAUGH’S DOUBLE-MURDER TRIAL BEGINS WITH OPENING STATEMENTS
On the evening of the murders, Paul apparently recorded a Snapchat video ship to his pal round 8:45 p.m.
“On that video … you may hear from witnesses that determine Paul’s voice, Maggie’s voice, and Alex’s voice. He informed anybody who would pay attention that he was by no means there. … The proof will present that he was there. He was on the homicide scene with the 2 victims,” Waters stated.
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Simply minutes after that Snapchat video was recorded, “Paul’s cellphone locks eternally,” Waters continued. Maggie’s cellphone then apparently locked simply earlier than 8:50, “and he or she by no means solutions one other textual content, by no means receives one other textual content, by no means solutions one other cellphone name,” Waters alleged.
Earlier in his opening statements, Waters stated that a few week after the murders, Alex Murdaugh went to his mom’s house unexpectedly and was seen going “upstairs” with a tarp-like substance. The substance was later decided to be a blue raincoat that was lined in gunshot residue, Waters stated. He added that jurors could be listening to from Murdaugh’s mom’s caretaker. Murdaugh’s mom suffers from superior Alzheimer’s, he stated.
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Cellular phone proof from Maggie’s, Paul’s and Alex’s gadgets are “key,” Waters stated.
The prosecutor concluded his opening statements by saying: “Alex murdered Maggie and Paul. He was the storm. The storm was coming for them … identical to the storms which can be headed for right here proper now.”
Prosecutors alleged Murdaugh used a shotgun to blow off his son’s head, which was “severed” from his physique, leaving obvious mind splatter on the crime scene, in response to courtroom papers.
Maggie was shot with a semiautomatic rifle 5 occasions — together with behind the top — and died about 30 yards from her son, in response to police and courtroom papers.
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Prosecutors have recommended that the household patriarch murdered Paul and Maggie over mounting money owed and concern that his decades-long schemes to embezzle cash from his purchasers could be uncovered.
Murdaugh has denied involvement. He alleges that he discovered his spouse and son’s lifeless our bodies at 10:06 p.m. when he positioned a hysterical 911 name to police. He has one surviving son, Richard “Buster” Murdaugh.
The disgraced lawyer appeared to cry and wipe his tears Wednesday as his protection legal professional, Dick Harpoolitan, described the violent nature of Maggie’s and Paul’s murders, arguing that their executions have been too violent for a loving father to hold out.
“He did not do it. He did not kill — butcher — his son and spouse. And you have to put out of your thoughts any suggestion that he did,” Harpoolitan said.
The previous legal professional faces a complete of 99 monetary legal fees stemming from 19 indictments.
Fox Information’ Rebecca Rosenberg contributed to this report.
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