Jurors returned to the Colleton County Courthouse late Monday morning as prosecutors continued their case against attorney Alex Murdaugh over the double murder 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 Friday, prosecutors neared the end of their witness list on financial crimes testimony. The defendant additionally stands accused of over 80 different financial crimes and those allegations form a key aspect of the state’s theory of motive in the murder case. Early last week, Judge Clifton Newman dealt the defense a substantial setback, ruling that evidence of those various financial crimes by the defendant is “so intimately connected” to the state’s theory of the case that proof of them “is essential to complete the story.”
Also on Friday, the defense loudly objected to a line of questioning from the state.
As Murdaugh family housekeeper Bianca Simpson took the stand, prosecutor John Meadors asked, generally, whether Maggie Murdaugh ever confided in Simpsion about money problems – prompting the first objection from defense attorney Dick Harpootlian.
Then came a more specific ask. Meadors asked Simpson if Maggie Murdaugh ever said she was worried about money. This time, Harpootlian rose, objected, slammed a stack of papers down, and asked for a mistrial.
“You can’t unring that bell,” the defense attorney said.
The judge denied both defense requests.
On Monday, proceedings began a bit later as the court dealt with – and replaced – two jurors who came down with COVID.
The state’s first witness is South Carolina Law Enforcement Division forensic scientist Rachel Nguyen, who specializes in laboratory-based DNA analysis.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
