An assemblage of Alex Murdaugh‘s peers, the jurors in charge of his fate, went to visit the property where his wife and youngest son were brutally murdered, before closing statements are set to be delivered in the nearly 6-week long murder trial on Wednesday morning.
The Moselle estate is so named for its location at 4147 Moselle Road in Colleton County, South Carolina–which itself is named after a river that flows through France, Germany, and Luxembourg. The jury view of 1,700-acre estate was sanctioned by Judge Clifton Newman. The court signed off on the unusual but not unheard of field trip in response to a request from defense attorney Dick Harpootlian–and over an objection from the state’s lead prosecutor Creighton Waters.
A few members of the media had access to Moselle on Wednesday morning, too–making up the official pool of reporters; they reportedly arrived “several” minutes after jurors and, in expansive notes, provided detailed and colorful descriptions of the county, the weather, some of the local flora and fauna, as well as the scene of the crime.
“Colleton County is vast, one of the largest counties by square miles in the state,” the pool wrote. “It is roughly the size of sprawling Horry County in square mileage with a fraction of the population.”
Security for jurors was provided by local law enforcement, some of whom were witnesses for the state in the trial, according to the pool report. Late Tuesday, after sending the jury away for the day, Judge Newman charged and swore in several members of law enforcement who will provide for jurors’ safety during the outing.
One member of law enforcement, who was a witness in the case, working as a security guard for the jury view was Colleton County Sheriff’s Office Detective Laura Rutland, who sat in on the defendant’s interview with South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigator David Owen in the hours after the slayings on June 8, 2021.
Though the proceedings started out in late January with 12 jurors and six alternates, a series of illnesses and other issues has dwindled that number down to 12 and two, respectively.
SEE ALSO: Jurors deciding Alex Murdaugh’s fate will take ‘jury view’ field trip to the hunting lodge where his wife and son were murdered
“The vans left the courthouse at 9:10 a.m.” wrote Valerie Bauerlein of The Wall Street Journal, the pool print reporter. “Behind the jury was a phalanx of security vehicles and court personnel. Newman rode in a pickup truck driven by Colleton County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jason Chapman. You may remember Capt. Chapman from the first full day of testimony; he was the lead local officer the night of June 7, 2021, at Moselle. He testified about Alex Murdaugh’s demeanor and the challenges of securing a scene in rainy conditions.”
Jurors were meant to spend 30 minutes on the property but their time there quickly eclipsed over an hour.
The pool explained the initial plan:
They will spend the bulk of their time at the kennels and the shed where Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed. Towards the end of the visit, the jury will be taken to the main house for a view of the exterior. They will not go inside. During the jury view, your pool will be staged on Moselle Road. The sheriff’s office will have the road blocked for security. It is not clear how much we will be able to see of the jury as they tour. Once the jury leaves Moselle, we will have 30 minutes to tour the property and like them, be taken up for a quick view of the exterior of the main house.
“Your pool van pulled briefly up the short drive to the kennels and did a quick circle around the kennel area and shed before coming back to wait at the foot of the driveway on Moselle Road,” Bauerlein went on. “We had a few seconds to view them as they walked the narrow path between the kennels and the shed. One juror was standing in the feed room door, glancing up at the doorway that has been the subject of so much wrenching testimony. Judge Newman was with them, standing still, looking down. He was in street clothes.”
Jurors arrived at Moselle around 9:40 a.m. EST.
Notably, lead attorney Dick Harpootlian was on site for the defense along with co-counsel Margaret Fox. He arrived a few minutes after 10:00 a.m. Meanwhile, defense attorney Jim Griffin was somewhere else entirely, preparing the defendant’s closing arguments.
“The birdsong is constant and beautiful; the sky is still overcast,” Bauerlein wrote in a final pool dispatch. “The grass on the property is tall and the shrubs outside the caretaker’s cabin are bushy and overgrown. The black mailbox at the entrance to the kennels is covered in pollen and spiderwebs. There is a ‘no trespassing’ sign tied to a post at the top of the mailbox.”
Jurors left Moselle just after 11:00 a.m. and arrived back at the Colleton County Courthouse just before 11:30 a.m.
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