CNN
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The jury started to deliberate Thursday in the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced lawyer accused of fatally taking pictures his spouse and son at their South Carolina looking property in 2021.
The 12 jurors will deliberate till they arrive to a unanimous verdict on two counts of murder and two weapons costs. Murdaugh, 54, has pleaded not responsible in the deaths of his spouse Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and son Paul Murdaugh.
Earlier Thursday, Murdaugh’s protection workforce delivered closing arguments and stated legislation enforcement was too fast to pinpoint him as the primary suspect in the killings by the canine kennels on the sprawling property.
“We believe that we’ve shown conclusively that (the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) failed miserably in investigating this case,” lawyer Jim Griffin stated. “And had they done a competent job, Alex would have been excluded from that circle (of suspects) a year ago or two years ago.”
Over about two hours, Griffin additionally mocked the prosecution’s principle of motive, defined away Murdaugh’s lies, accused investigators of fabricating proof and criticized the supposed timeline as unconvincing.
In a rebuttal, prosecutor John Meadors took offense on the protection’s accusations of wrongdoing.
“I find it offensive that the defense … is claiming law enforcement didn’t do their job, while he is withholding and obstructing justice by not saying ‘I was down at the kennels.’ ”
The deliberations come after a six-week trial heavy on brutal gore, telephone forensics, a mysterious blue tarp, intensive monetary wrongdoing and the defendant’s personal lies.
Prosecutors known as 61 witnesses over three weeks of testimony to point out Murdaugh was the one one who had the motive, means and alternative to kill his spouse and son on their property known as Moselle in Islandton, South Carolina, on the night time of June 7, 2021.
With little to no direct evidence, similar to bloody clothes or eyewitnesses, prosecutors have hinged their case on consequential video placing Murdaugh on the crime scene that night time regardless of his repeated assertions in any other case.
The protection case was highlighted by Murdaugh himself, who provided dramatic testimony over two days final week in which he flatly denied killing his spouse and son. At the identical time, he admitted he had lied to investigators about his whereabouts simply previous to the killings on account of paranoia from his drug dependancy. He additional admitted to stealing millions of dollars from his former shoppers and legislation agency and mendacity to cowl his tracks.
The stranger-than-fiction case has introduced nationwide consideration – together with Netflix and HBO Max documentaries – on Alex Murdaugh, the previous private damage lawyer and member of a dynastic household in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, the place his father, grandfather and great-grandfather served because the native prosecutor consecutively from 1920 to 2006.
Murdaugh was a associate at a robust legislation agency together with his identify on it. But that prominence belied underlying points, and the killings of his wife and son were followed by accusations of misappropriated funds, his resignation, a weird alleged suicide-for-hire and insurance coverage rip-off plot, a stint in rehab for drug dependancy, dozens of economic crimes, his disbarment and, in the end, the murder costs.
He individually faces 99 costs associated to alleged monetary crimes that shall be adjudicated at a later trial.
See what occurred when Alex Murdaugh took the stand
Griffin’s closing arguments, taken collectively, sought to undercut the prosecution and lift cheap doubt concerning the case.
He stated the company failed to analyze hair discovered in Murdaugh’s spouse’s hand, take fingerprint proof, look at footwear and tire impressions, or take a look at DNA on the victims’ garments.
“They had decided, ‘Unless we find somebody else, it’s going to be Alex,’” he stated.
The prosecution has argued Murdaugh’s motive in the killings was to distract and delay investigations into his monetary wrongdoing. Griffin mocked that principle as nonsensical and famous that Murdaugh tried to kill himself in September 2021, calling {that a} “natural” response to being uncovered.
“It’s totally illogical, irrational and insane … for someone to kill their loved ones when their criminal conduct is exposed,” he argued.
Griffin acknowledged Murdaugh had lied about being on the canine kennels the place his spouse and son have been killed on the night time of the murders. He stated the lies have been to cover his drug dependancy and monetary issues – not as a result of he killed his household.
“Because that’s what addicts do. Addicts lie,” Griffin stated. “He lied because he had a closet full of skeletons, and he didn’t want any more scrutiny on him.”
Griffin stated that when Murdaugh’s years of economic fraud have been uncovered in September 2021, investigators started fabricating proof about blood spatter on Murdaugh’s garments and a blue jacket with gunshot residue.
“I hate to say this, but the evidence is crystal clear, from that moment they started fabricating evidence against Alex. That’s an awful charge,” he stated. “I don’t make that claim lightly.”
Griffin attacked the prosecution’s assertion that the weapons used in the killings have been “family weapons,” saying there was no agency proof to help that. He additionally criticized the prosecution’s proposed timeline of the killings, noting that it was primarily made up of details about whether or not Paul’s and Maggie’s telephones have been getting used.
“There’s no direct evidence of him doing anything,” he stated.
He additional famous that the prosecution’s timeline indicated Paul and Maggie have been killed at about 8:49 or 8:50 p.m. and that Murdaugh left the property for his mom’s home at 9:07 p.m., leaving solely about 17 minutes to wash up the bloody scene.
“He would have to be a magician to make all that evidence disappear,” Griffin stated.
See the place jurors walked by means of Murdaugh crime scene
In the prosecution’s telling, the motive was Murdaugh’s try and distract and delay investigations into his rising monetary issues. The means have been two family-owned weapons, prosecutors argued. And the chance was Murdaugh’s presence on the crime scene, as revealed in a pivotal video and confirmed by his own testimony, minutes earlier than the murders.
“This defendant … has fooled everyone, everyone, everyone who thought they were close to him,” prosecutor Creighton Waters informed the jury. “Everyone who thought they knew who he was, he’s fooled them all. He fooled Maggie and Paul, too, and they paid for it with their lives. Don’t let him fool you, too.”
Waters first laid out a decade-long timeline of Murdaugh’s monetary wrongdoing to point out his motive in the killings.
For one, the chief monetary officer of his legislation agency testified she had confronted Murdaugh about lacking funds on the morning of June 7, 2021.
Second, Murdaugh was dealing with a lawsuit from the household of Mallory Beach, a 19-year-old lady who was killed in February 2019 when a ship allegedly pushed by Paul, and owned by Murdaugh, crashed. A listening to in that civil case was scheduled for June 10, 2021, and had the potential to disclose his monetary issues, prosecutors argued.
Next, Waters labored to point out that Murdaugh had been on the kennels that night time and had lied about it.
Murdaugh had lengthy denied that he went to the kennels that night time, however a video taken on Paul’s phone at 8:44 p.m. contains audio of Murdaugh’s voice in the background. After a couple of dozen family and friends members recognized his voice on the video, Murdaugh took the stand and admitted he was there and that he he’d lied to police.
“Why in the world would an innocent, reasonable father and husband lie about that, and lie about it so early? He didn’t know that (video) was there.”
Further, Waters stated Murdaugh had the “means” to commit the murders, in specific the weapons in the crime. Maggie was killed by a Blackout rifle and Paul was killed by a shotgun, and Waters stated each have been household weapons.
Finally, the prosecution walked by means of Murdaugh’s sequence of lies concerning the case, significantly about his presence on the kennels. Murdaugh, he stated, “lies convincingly and easily and he can do it at a drop of a hat.”