Day 27 live updates: Murdaugh ‘family weapons killed’ victims, SC prosecutor says in closing
READ MORE
Alex Murdaugh Coverage
The Murdaugh family saga has dominated the news after another shooting, a resignation and criminal accusations — with Alex Murdaugh at the center of it all. Here are the latest updates on Alex Murdaugh.
Expand All
Alex Murdaugh, a once prominent Hampton-based attorney from a well-known politically connected family, is on trial in the deaths of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.
Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty. He faces life in prison without parole if found guilty. The trial started Jan. 23 with jury selection, opening arguments and the initial round of witness testimony.
4:50 p.m. — Waters concludes closing arguments
In the last few minutes of his closing arugments, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters grew quiet and somber.
“Maggie and Paul deserve a voice,” he implored the jury. “They need a voice because they can no longer speak.”
He asked the jury to be that voice and return a guilty verdict against Murdaugh for the murder of his wife and son, and for the possession of a weapon during the course of the killings.
Waters’ closing argument lasted for three hours and 10 minutes.
Judge Clifton Newman sent the jurors back to the jury room, where they will then be dismissed. They have been told to return at 9:30 a.m. Thursday for the defense’s closing arguments.
Newman then retired to his chambers with prosecution and defense attorneys to discuss a “matter” that has been alluded to throughout the afternoon. No details have been provided.
4:37 p.m. — Waters: ‘It’s a red herring’
Believing Murdaugh’s story would require you to believe that “tiny 5-foot-2 vigilantes,” without ammunition or guns arrived in the narrow window between when Murdaugh left the kennels and left for his mother’s house and killed Maggie and Paul without setting off the family’s dogs,” lead prosecutor Creighton Waters said.
“Those are the circumstances you would have to accept,” Waters told the jury.
Waters also previously dismissed the theories from forensic engineer Michel Sutton and forensic scientist Tim Palmbach that the shot that killed Paul came from behind his head and that Maggie had to have been shot by someone between 5-foot-2 and 5-foot-4 due to the angle of bullet shots found at the scene.
“Defense experts are coming to you with absolutes. That’s just not how it works,” Waters said. “It’s a red herring ladies and gentlemen.”
4:20 p.m. — Closing arguments resume
After a 15-minute break, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters has resumed his closing argument.
Judge Clifton Newman told defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin that they would be allowed to present their closing arguments when the jury’s attention was not “frayed.”
The jury started their day visiting the Moselle property before Waters started his closing argument.
Griffin has said that his closing is expected to take two hours. Waters is expected to finish after 5 p.m., meaning that it is likely that Griffin’s closing will begin or continue into Thursday.
4 p.m. — Judge Newman orders 15-minute break
Judge Clifton Newman has sent the jurors to the jury room and ordered a fifteen minute recess.
Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters is almost three hours into his closing arguments.
3:39 p.m. — Murdaugh’s lies were easy and deliberate, Waters says
Murdaugh’s lies are “so easy for him to do,” lead prosecutor Creighton Waters told the jury.
Waters’ closing argument has stretch longer than two hours.
Playing Murdaugh’s admitted lies from his taped law enforcement interview, Waters returned again and again to the theme that Murdaugh is a natural and gifted liar.
He questioned exactly when Murdaugh decided to lie and pointed to moments where he said Murdaugh decided to add to his lies. It was an effort to dismiss Murdaugh’s testimony that he was driven to deceive law enforcement due to a fit of paranoia, caused by his belief that SLED investigator David Owen was a different agent, also named David, who Murdaugh thought unfairly prosecuted his friend.
“He lies easily and convincingly at the drop of a hat,” Waters said.
In particular, Waters drew the jury’s contradiction between Murdaugh’s specific lies to law enforcement and vague memory about his movements at Moselle the night of the murders became “photographic” recollections on the stand.
His deception was particularly insidious, Waters said, because Murdaugh was a volunteer prosecutor from a family of prosecutors who knew how to impede an investigation, hide his actions and prevent evidence from being gathered.
“He’s a prosecutor trying to manufacture his alibi,” Waters said.
3:24 p.m. — Waters sees guilt in Murdaugh’s memory of murders
Murdaugh had “motive, means and opportunity,” lead prosecutor Creighton Waters said. But crucially, he also had a “guilty conscience,” Waters added.
As he walked the jury through the timeline of the night, he drew particular attention to “new photographic details,” that Murdaugh seemed to remember. Among them, Waters said, was what time Murdaugh went to the kennels and how quickly he left, as well as how he fished for his phone that he dropped in his car’s center console.
Despite this, Murdaugh said he didn’t remember what he talked about with his family at dinner or down at the kennels, Waters told the jury.
“He can’t remember more important things like what was the last conversation you had with your wife and child?” Waters asked.
Waters also said that the short period of time that Murdaugh spent at the kennels before he called 911 was suspicious.
“The reason it was so quick was because he knew exactly what scene he was going to find,” Waters said.
3:19 p.m. — Phone timeline at center of closing
Repeating his promise that the jury would hear lots about phones in the case, prosecutor Creighton Waters turned to cellphone evidence that has been among the most compelling evidence the state has presented.
Throughout the evening, the movement recorded on Murdaugh and Paul’s phones were largely symmetrical, Waters said.
But Murdaugh’s phone recorded no activity between 8:09 p.m. and 9:02 p.m.
“You heard testimony that it would be unusual for him not to take phone down to kennels,” Waters said.
At 9:02 p.m., suddenly Murdaugh’s phone is suddenly “as busy as it’s ever been,” according to Waters.
On the drive to Moselle, he would have had to pass the point where Maggie’s phone was found the next day, Waters said. While Maggie’s phone showed no activity during this period, her phone’s back light would not necessarily been activated by being tossed, Waters said.
“All of these circumstances would have to go the other way to the reasonable inferences in this case,” Waters said.
On the drive to his mom’s house at Almeda, Waters argued that Murdaugh was manufacturing an alibi by making short, pointless calls to friends and family.
Waters said that Murdaugh immediately told law enforcement about these calls. These call logs were later deleted prior to the extraction on June 10, 2021.
“What’s up with that?” Waters asked.
3:01 p.m. — Waters: ‘Malicious’ Murdaugh hosed himself down
After shooting Paul inside of the “kill zone” at the feed room, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters said Murdaugh opened fire on Maggie with the .300 Blackout rifle.
“She heard that shot and was running to her baby, and she got mowed down by the only person who was conclusively at the scene,” Waters said.
Murdaugh then stripped off and washed himself off with the hose near the kennels, Waters said. The kennel keeper at Moselle testified that someone else had used the hose the night of the murders after he put it away earlier that day.
“If you’re going to wash off real quick what better place to do it?” Waters asked.
“Is that malicious, ladies and gentlemen?” Waters asked the jury.
Malice is one of the factors that the state must prove in order to prove murder.
“Clearly it’s malicious,” he said.
2:49 p.m. — Waters: Murdaugh’s timeline doesn’t make sense
Murdaugh’s confession to being at the kennels just minutes before the murders is damning evidence of his guilt, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters told the jury.
“Why in the world would an innocent reasonable father and husband lie about that?” Waters asked, pointing to how Murdaugh repeatedly lied about his whereabouts the night of the killings. Last week, Murdaugh admitted for the first time that he was at the kennels the night of the murders.
His confession came after several close friends and family members identified his voice in the background of a video Paul filmed on his cellphone of his friend’s dog, Cash, at the kennels.
But this new story is equally improbable and mysteriously specific, Waters argued. It would require Murdaugh to go down to the kennels, wrestle a chicken out of a dog’s mouth and drive home to take a nap within minutes.
“It’s a new story to fit facts he can no longer deny,” Waters said.
2:36 p.m. — Waters says the murder weapons were family guns
Picking his closing argument back up after lunch, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters declared, “Family weapons killed these victims.”
Waters said that it was the third .300 Blackout AR-15-style rifle, the one bought for Paul as a replacement after his first gun was stolen, that was used to kill Maggie. The gun, with a red dot scope, was linked by shell casings found near Maggie’s body to other shell casings found on the property.
The rounds that killed Maggie were “loaded into extracted and ejected through the same firearm,” Waters said.
The family shotguns shared class characteristics with the gun that killed Paul, Waters said. But investigators were unable to obtain clear identifying marks.
2:26 p.m. — Court back in session
Judge Clifton Newman has called the jury back in from a lunch recess.
Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters will continue his closing argument in the double-murder trial.
1:06 p.m. — Judge Newman breaks for lunch
Judge Clifton Newman interrupted prosecutor Creighton Waters’ closing argument for a lunch recess.
The closing arguments will resume in one hour and fifteen minutes, about 2:15 p.m.
Waters started his closing argument at about 12:14 p.m.
12:52 p.m. — Murdaugh’s situation like collapsing Ponzi scheme, Waters said
Murdaugh’s situation was akin to a Ponzi scheme on the verge of collapse, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters said in this closing arguments.
“The second that you’re out of options it crashes and burns,” Waters said.
Talking quickly and passionately, Waters repeated over and over again the lengths that Murdaugh went in order to say ahead of his financial problems.
“He has to steal money form the Badger case to pay off the Plyler girls before they turn 18,” Waters said, referring to clients that Murdaugh admitted to stealing from. Waters described how by June 2021 Murdaugh had maxed out a $1 million line of credit and an additional $600,000.
“It’s not enough to keep that hamster wheel going,” Waters said. “The only way to stay afloat is to beg borrow and steal.”
12:42 p.m. — Moselle visit behind-the-scenes Part 6
Pool reporter Valerie Bauerlein, with the Wall Street Journal, continued her report from the Moselle property.
Bauerlein reported the shed and the kennels were very close to one another.
“Maggie’s body was found at a corner of the shed closest to the feed room; at that spot, the shed is not enclosed but is an overhang supported by posts, making visibility clear to the kennels from your pooler’s vantage point,” Bauerlein said.
Standing where Maggie’s body fell, Bauerlein said she could “turn her back to the shed and barely make out the tin roof of the main house over the top of the treeline.”
“There is a stand of pine trees obscuring the view that have grown an estimated 2 feet or so since the night of the homicide, among the changes to the property that lead prosecutor Creighton Waters cited as a concern should the jury visit.”
From the same spot, Bauerlein said she did not have a clear view of Moselle Road, a short distance away but around a curved driveway lined by woods. Parked on the side of Mosell Road, Bauerlein reported that she had a partial view of the backside of the kennels, but not the walkway or where Maggie and Paul would have been near the shed.
The pool van returned at 10:48 a.m. to make their way to the main house.
The drive took a little less than two minutes — “admittedly, we were moving pretty slowly,” Bauerlein reported.
“Your pooler saw what appeared to be fairly young fruit trees supported by the same type of PVC-like pipe that the jury saw in the Snapchat video of Alex checking on his fruit trees,” Bauerlein said.
The main house did not come into clear view until our van turned onto the main driveway, which is lined by stately trees that appeared to be poplars but again, your pooler pleads city mouse,” Bauerlein added.
It was very quiet at Moselle, and Bauerlein reported she did not hear traffic noises or any planes overhead.
“The house sits at the head of the drive, off-white in color with a silver tin roof and a wide front porch that lines the length of the front house. There are brick steps leading up to the porch and a small brick pad at the bottom of the steps. Gloria Satterfield fell going up those steps in February 2018, according to the 911 call placed by Maggie Murdaugh,” Bauerlein said.
She continued, “There were no vehicles visible other than the pool van and patrol vehicles belonging to our sheriff’s office escorts. There was a green bicycle with a deteriorating wicker basket parked to the side of the steps. Alex Murdaugh and other witnesses testified that Maggie Murdaugh would commonly ride a bike to the kennels when she checked on the dogs. There were planters on both sides of the doors, as well as what appeared to be small dog beds on decorative wicker frames. On a table tucked between two darkly painted rocking chairs was a small pot painted with the name Buster.’”
Bauerlein and the rest of the pool were not allowed to walk around the back of the house or enter the hour.
The jury did not enter the house either, Bauerlein reported.
After leaving Moselle, the pool traveled about a quarter-mile before they passed the spot where Maggie’s cellphone was found on June 8, 2021, near a field where cows were grazing.
The pool returned to the courthouse at 11:40 a.m.
12:35 p.m. — Waters instructs jury on reasonable doubt
Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters instructed the jury that a reasonable doubt was one that would cause a “reasonable honest, sincere juror hesitate to act.”
But Waters emphasized that a reasonable doubt was different from a regular doubt. Holding up a printed out picture of the Mona Lisa, Waters slowly tore a corner off in front of the jury to indicate doubt.
“You still know what it is,” Waters said showing them the picture.
Waters also emphasized that voluntary intoxication was not a defense. On the stand, Murdaugh admitted to a decade-long opiate addiction that saw him take as 60 pills of oxycodone pills a day.
“If one voluntarily intoxicates themselves they are just as responsible for their actions,” Waters said.
12:30 p.m. — Pressure of lies drove Murdaugh to kill, Waters said
A decade of crushing debt and hidden financial crimes created unbearable pressure that led Murdaugh to kill his wife and son on June 7, 2021, Waters told the jury.
Beginning with a series of bad land deals around the financial crisis in 2008, Murdaugh had taken on debts and had begun stealing from his clients — so began a series of lies lies that threatened to come crashing down on June 7, 2021, Waters said.
“A middle-aged man who is outwardly successful, who has a strong family legacy, who has a prominence in the community and has a reputation, but who is living a lie,” Waters said. “It leads to pressures that can be overwhelming.”
Throughout the trial, the prosecution has argued that the murders won Murdaugh a reprieve from his financial pressures, the boat case and discovery of his financial crimes.
“When accountability is at his door, he is a victim,” Waters said.
12:14 p.m. — Creighton Waters delivers state’s closing argument
Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters is delivering the state’s closing argument.
“I know this has been a long trial but this is a complicated case,” Waters said. “I’m not going to talk forever.”
The closing arguments follow nearly six weeks of testimony.
“After an exhaustive investigation, there is only one person who had the motive, who had the means, and who had the opportunity to commit these crimes and whose guilty conducts after these crimes betrayed him,” Waters said.
Waters has begun tying together the many threads of evidence presented in the case that he says points conclusively back to Murdaugh. He is beginning with an explanation of how Murdaugh’s financial crimes unraveled following the 2019 boat case that killed Mallory Beach.
“That changed everything,” Waters said.
12:11 p.m. — Judge resumes court
Judge Clifton Newman has resumed the trial, asking for the jury to be brought back into the courtroom.
For roughly 10 minutes, Newman was seen speaking to lawyers for the state and for the defense.
The jury has heard the testimony, seen the evidence and visited the scene of the alleged crimes, “now is time for closing arguments,” Newman said.
12:01 p.m. — Moselle visit behind-the-scenes Part 5
The pool that followed the jury to Moselle arrived back at the Colleton County courthouse at 11:40 a.m.
The van carrying Murdaugh arrived shortly after.
Judge Clifton Newman has not resumed court just yet, though the prosecution and defense are currently talking to the judge.
Murdaugh is seen sitting at the defense table in the courtroom.
11:47 a.m. — Moselle visit behind-the-scenes Part 4
Per pool reporter, Valerie Bauerlein, S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson left the Moselle property in an SUV, driven by Sgt. Daniel Greene. At about 10:32 a.m., a dozen vehicles also left the property, with the jury van in the middle of the group.
At 10:34 a.m., pool reporters were driven to the kennel area of the Moselle property.
John Marvin Murdaugh, Murdaugh’s brother and the personal representative of Maggie, requested of the sheriff’s office and of Jay Bender (who is handling media communication with the court) that the media not be granted access to the scene, or only abbreviated access, Bauerlein said. The visit was short, and the pool only had roughly 14 minutes to view the kennels and shed.
“It is a heavy place to visit. The property has stood vacant for 20 months and the grass is high. Some items seem to be left where they fell, including a deflated football behind the kennels and a tube of sanitizing wipes in the shed. There is a yellow hose wrapped haphazardly in the spot described by Roger Dale Davis, the caretaker for the dogs. There are no animals in the kennels. There was no ATV visible and no significant remaining farming equipment that your pooler could see,” Bauerlein said.
Bauerlein described the feed rooms “like a haunted place.”
“There was no visible sign that two people had died in a violent manner in such close proximity, no blood stain or anything similar to it, either in the feed room, on the concrete pad or at the corner of the shed,” Bauerlein said. “The interior of the feed room appeared to be redone with newer plywood and parts had been painted. The back window remains and the bullet holes are large and cracked around the edges.”
The bullet hole in the quail house was still visible and is in cardboard that appeared to be stapled to the side of the structure, Bauerlein reported.
11:11 a.m. — Deliberation, verdict questions for the court
Court TV reached out to the Colleton County court about jury deliberations and the verdict. Here are questions and answers:
▪ How long will they deliberate? It’s up to the jury.
▪ Sequestration? There is no decision at this time.
▪ Jury Questions and Request? Yes, on the record.
▪ Will the jury have technology to view exhibits? Yes.
▪ Attorneys presence? They will be somewhere close, but not required to be in the courtroom.
▪ Time of notice of verdict? The longer the deliberations, the more notice will probably be given because the attorneys and staff will be dispersed
▪ Weekends? Yes, they will deliberate through the weekend if necessary.
10:24 a.m. — Moselle visit behind-the-scenes Part 3
Per pool reporter Valerie Bauerlein, at 10:07 a.m. Murdaugh’s defense attorney Dick Harpootlian and his co-counsel Margaret Fox came down a short driveway in Harpootlian’s black Mercedes.
Harpootlian told Bauerlein the jury is at the house and wrapping up their tour.
Defense attorney Jim Griffin will deliver the closing argument as soon as this afternoon. He was not at Moselle.
Bauerlein said the pool was informed that S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson also was at Moselle, escorted by Sgt. Daniel Greene.
“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,” Bauerlein reported.
10 a.m. — Moselle visit behind-the-scenes Part 2
Pool reporter Valerie Bauerlein described Colleton County as one of the largest counties by square miles in the state — roughly the size of sprawling Horry County in square mileage with a fraction of the population.
“At 9:41 a.m., your pool turned into the kennel entrance at Moselle. There were at least six vehicles on the far side of Moselle Road with journalists taking pictures and videos. So the road is not blocked in the manner we had been told to expect though there are deputies guarding the entrance.
“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. The jury preceded us by several minutes. 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 Clifton Newman, wearing street clothes, was with them.
Some of the key deputies involved in the case who testified were at the scene, including Detective Laura Rutland.
9:43 a.m. — Moselle visit behind-the-scenes Part 1
The 12 jurors and two alternates loaded intro three transport vans Wednesday morning, with the van windows blocked from anyone looking in. The vans left the Colleton County Courthouse at 9:10 a.m., according to pool reports.
Behind them included security and Judge Clifton Newman, who rode in a pickup truck driven by Colleton County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jason Chapman, who was the lead officer the night of June 7, 2021, and testified early for the state at the trial.
Rebecca Hill, the Colleton County clerk of court, and court reporter Elizabeth Harris also drove to the site, driven by Mike Atwood, who has led courthouse security throughout the trial and was the person who told Newman about the bomb threat.
Pool reporter Valerie Bauerlein reports it’s a beautiful morning, warm and sunny.
Bauerlein reported they were told the ground will be wet when they arrive to Moselle, and the warm weather is prone to bringing out snakes, which she says are typical at night.
Here are the logistics for the day, per Bauerlein.
“The jury will be taken through the kennel entrance and have a total of 30 minutes to view the property. 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.“
9:30 a.m. — Jury heads to Murdaugh crime scene
The jury of 12 women and men and two alternates will travel the some 20 to 30 minutes Wednesday morning to visit the dog kennels on the Moselle estate, the location where Maggie and Paul were brutally murdered the night of June 7, 2021.
Judge Clifton Newman will accompany the jury. On Tuesday, he instructed them and the security that will tag along no juror can discuss the case or ask questions on the visit.
A pool contingent of Wall Street Journal reporter Valerie Bauerlein (who formerly worked for The State), Post and Courier photographer Andrew Whitaker and Steven Gresham, photojournalist for Court TV, will document the scene after the jury visits, then detail their report and release photos to other reporters.
Newman said he intends to start court back at 11 a.m., when defense attorneys and prosecutors will deliver their closing arguments.
After, Newman will charge the jury, followed by deliberations.
This story was originally published March 1, 2023 at 9:16 AM with the headline "Day 27 live updates: Murdaugh ‘family weapons killed’ victims, SC prosecutor says in closing."
_fitted.png)
