Thirteen witnesses and two weeks later, disgraced legal scion Alex Murdaugh’s defense rested its case within the shocking South Carolina double murder trial being watched all over the world.
Murdaugh is accused of murdering wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, because the grueling trial has played out during the last six weeks, with the prosecution arguing he killed his relations as a strategy to distract from his mounting financial crimes and drug abuse problems.
Defense lawyer Dick Harpootlian worked to color the once powerful legal titan as a flawed man who admitted he didn’t all the time tell the reality, but would never hurt his family.
Murdaugh found Maggie and Paul dead on the property of the family’s hunting lodge in June 2021 and admitted he was near the scene on the time of the killing, but insists he isn’t responsible.
During his lengthy testimony and cross-examination at Colleton County Court he claimed a deranged social media user likely killed his kin.
On the time, Paul was embroiled in local scandal after he drunkely crashed a ship, killing passenger Mallory Beach in 2019.
“The social media response that got here from that was vile,” Murdaugh said. “So excessive.”
“I feel today the fallacious person saw and browse that,” the disbarred lawyer said. “The person or individuals who [killed him], they hated Paul Murdaugh and so they had anger of their heart.”
Forensics indicate Maggie, 52, was discovered face down after being shot five times with a rifle, and Paul was killed with a shotgun, likely shot at close range at the back of the top.
The defense called a witness who argued the scenario likely included two killers, not one, of their try and exculpate Murdaugh, who broke down in deep sobs multiple times throughout the trial.
After the defense rested, Judge Clifton Newman dismissed the jury for the day. Witnesses can now be called back for final questions after which the case might be within the jury’s hands.
