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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.
SEE ALSO: Defense’s witness in Alex Murdaugh case tries to sow reasonable doubt with ‘2-shooter’ theory
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 six rebuttal witnesses beginning Tuesday morning.
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