Alex Murdaugh Trial: Jurors Visit Crime Scene Ahead Of Closing Statements

Ashe SchowMarch 1, 2023

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Jurors deciding the fate of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh are visiting the scene where Murdaugh’s wife and son were murdered.

Murdaugh has been charged with their murders but has maintained his innocence since the night they were killed in June 2021. The panel of 12 jurors and two alternates on Wednesday traveled to the Murdaugh’s Moselle estate to tour the crime scene, CNN reported.

Judge Clifton Newman agreed this week to allow jurors to tour the property over objection from the prosecution, who said the property had changed since Maggie Murdaugh and her youngest son Paul were murdered on June 7, 2021. Newman joined jurors on the tour along with the defense and prosecutors but said jurors can’t ask any questions or discuss the case with each other while visiting the property, Fox News reported.

When the jurors return from the crime scene, the prosecution and defense will make their closing arguments.

The prosecution has argued throughout the case that Murdaugh killed his wife and son at the dog kennels on their expansive estate using two different weapons to distract from his financial crimes, which were about to be exposed as his law firm forced him to resign for allegedly stealing money from clients.

Murdaugh’s defense has argued that he was visiting his ailing mother at the time of the crime and returned home to find his wife and son dead. But when Murdaugh took the stand Thursday and Friday, he immediately admitted to lying for years about his whereabouts on the day his wife and son were murdered.

The prosecution had already argued that Murdaugh lied about not going to the dog kennels. Prosecutor Creighton Waters previously pointed to cell phone evidence taken from Paul’s phone less than five minutes before he was killed. Paul had filmed one of the dogs to send to a friend, and prosecutors allege Murdaugh’s voice can be heard in the background of the recording. Murdaugh has said he wasn’t at the kennels that night. Prosecutors allege that Murdaugh murdered his wife and son around 8:49 p.m., just a few minutes after the video was taken.

On Thursday, when Murdaugh took the stand, his defense attorneys asked him if he had lied to police about his whereabouts on the night his family was murdered, and Murdaugh admitted to lying.

“I lied about being down there, and I’m so sorry that I did,” Murdaugh said, according to People Magazine.

Murdaugh maintained that he did not murder his wife and son, whom he referred to by nicknames “Mags” and “Paul Paul.” He claimed during his testimony that his alleged drug addiction made him “paranoid,” which caused him to lie.

“As my addiction evolved over time I would get in these situations or circumstances where I would get paranoid,” Murdaugh testified. “I’m sorry I lied.”

Murdaugh also testified that his son Paul was receiving threats over his involvement in a 2019 boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach. Paul was indicted on one count of boating under the influence causing death and two counts of causing significant bodily injury.

“Paul got the most vile threats — the stuff that was on social media — you couldn’t believe it,” Murdaugh testified, according to People. “You couldn’t believe it. It was so over the top, truthfully we didn’t think anything about it, it was so crazy. People talking about what he was going to get. … We disregarded it. It was so over the top.”