As Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial reached its conclusion, state prosecutors rested their rebuttal case Tuesday after introducing six witnesses to dispute sections of his argument.
The last rebuttal witness, Kenneth Kinsey, a crime scene forensics specialist, questioned the technique of a defense expert who concluded the gunman had to be between 5-foot-2 and 5-foot-4 in height. (Alex Murdaugh stands 6 feet 4 inches tall.) Kinsey called the research “unscientific” since there were too many factors to calculate the shooter’s height with confidence.
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Kinsey also slammed another defense expert’s hypothesis of two shooters, calling the study that led to that conclusion “preposterous.” South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson questioned him, which was his first time interviewing a witness in the case.
Additional rebuttal witnesses included two of Murdaugh’s lawyers, a local sheriff, and the pathologist who performed the autopsies.
The jury will visit Murdaugh’s huge Islandton property known as Moselle on Wednesday morning, where the remains of Murdaugh’s wife, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, and son Paul Murdaugh were discovered on June 7, 2021.
After that, closing arguments will be presented.
The rebuttal comes more than a month into Murdaugh’s murder trial. He is a 54-year-old disbarred personal injury attorney from South Carolina’s Lowcountry, where his father, grandpa, and great-grandfather all served as county prosecutors from 1920 to 2006.
The prosecution rested its case two weeks ago after calling 61 witnesses, while the defense rested its case Monday after 14 witnesses testified.
Murdaugh was the most crucial witness. He testified under testimony that he lied to authorities about his locations on the night of the murders and that he had been at the dog kennels, near where his wife and kid were discovered dead, soon before the crimes. He blamed his falsehoods on “paranoid thinking” caused by his painkiller addiction.
“I don’t believe I was rational, and I lied about being down there, and I’m very sorry,” Murdaugh added.
Prosecutors claim he murdered his wife and kid to seek sympathy and divert attention away from financial malfeasance accusations, which the state claims were due to surface before the tragic killings.
Murdaugh admitted to cheating his legal colleagues and customers for a decade, but he denied murdering his family.
“I can assure you that if I was under the circumstances that they’re talking about here, I would injure myself before I hurt one of them, without a question,” Murdaugh said on the stand Friday.
He has pled not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of using a weapon in the deaths. Separately, he is facing 99 accusations connected to suspected financial offenses, which will be decided later.
A pathologist has rejected the defense theory.
On Tuesday, six persons testified as rebuttal witnesses to challenge several defense witnesses.
Ronnie Crosby, an attorney who worked with Murdaugh and testified for the prosecution three weeks ago, described Murdaugh in court.
“He had a dramatic presence in the courtroom, and he could become extremely passionate during closing arguments in front of a jury,” Crosby said Tuesday.
Dr. Ellen Riemer, the pathologist who performed the autopsies on Paul and Maggie Murdaugh, testified again to refute a defense expert’s claim that Paul died from a shotgun contact wound to the head.
She said again that Paul died as a result of a blast to his left shoulder that entered his neck and exited his skull.
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The manner of death bears on the defense’s two-shooter argument. A defense crime scene specialist said Monday that a shotgun contact wound to the head causes the skull to rapidly burst, momentarily stunning or injuring the shooter.
According to the expert, it is impossible that the same gunman could have recovered and killed Maggie in such a short period of time.
Thomas C. Smalls, the former sheriff of Hampton County, said Tuesday that he never discussed placing blue police lights in Murdaugh’s personal car with him.
The evidence contradicted Murdaugh’s claim last week that Smalls gave him permission to put blue lights in his car. The prosecution utilized the blue lights to attempt to prove Murdaugh took advantage of his police contacts.
Under cross-examination, Smalls said that he had no idea whether someone else in his department had authorized the lights and that he had no idea Murdaugh had blue lights in his car.
Smalls also said that Murdaugh had not reported any threats in connection with the boat case, in which a 19-year-old lady was murdered when Paul Murdaugh’s boat crashed. Murdaugh has stated that he thinks his wife and son were murdered in response to threats the family received in that case.
The timeline of the deaths and Murdaugh’s location are being investigated.
Prosecutors used cell phone data, video, and other evidence to imply Murdaugh attempted to fabricate an alibi on the night of the murders in their case.
In the lack of clear evidence linking Murdaugh to the crimes – no murder weapon, bloodied clothes, or eyewitnesses – significant arguments in his trial have focused on the timing of events and Murdaugh’s movements on June 7, 2021.
Prosecutors utilized footage taken at the dog kennels just before the alleged deaths to indicate Murdaugh was at the area only minutes before the deadly gunfire. Numerous witnesses testified that Murdaugh’s voice can be heard in the background of the video, which was taken on Paul’s phone beginning at 8:44 p.m. Murdaugh confessed in his testimony that he was present but had lied about it.
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Prosecutors used cell phone data, video, and other evidence to imply Murdaugh attempted to fabricate an alibi on the night of the murders in their case.
In the lack of clear evidence linking Murdaugh to the crimes – no murder weapon, bloodied clothes, or eyewitnesses – significant arguments in his trial have focused on the timing of events and Murdaugh’s movements on June 7, 2021.
Prosecutors utilized footage taken at the dog kennels just before the alleged deaths to indicate Murdaugh was at the area only minutes before the deadly gunfire.
Numerous witnesses testified that Murdaugh’s voice can be heard in the background of the video, which was taken on Paul’s phone beginning at 8:44 p.m. Murdaugh confessed in his testimony that he was present but had lied about it.
