Defense to resume witness testimony in Alex Murdaugh murder trial Tuesday

COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Witness testimony will resume Tuesday in the Alex Murdaugh murder trial after a three-day weekend due to President’s Day.

Murdaugh is accused of killing his wife Margaret and youngest son Paul at their family property in June of 2021.

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On Friday, the state rested its case after their final witness, SLED agent Peter Rudofski, presented a detailed timeline recounting the movements of Alex, Maggie, and Paul Murdaugh the night of June 7, 2021. It is comprised of over 4,000 data points aggregating and cross-referencing information gathered from cell phones, cell phone towers, and car GPS systems.

Prosecutors hoped the timeline would place Murdaugh at the scene just minutes before Maggie and Paul are believed to have been killed. Several witnesses have identified the voices of Murdaugh, Maggie, and Paul on a video taken in the kennels at 8:44 p.m. Maggie and Paul’s phones lock for the final time at 8:49 p.m.

Murdaugh’s defense team aimed to poke holes in that theory, noting Maggie’s phone showed her walking around 8:53 p.m., and Murdaugh’s car showed him getting in at 9:06 p.m., giving him less than 10 minutes to slaughter his family, dispose of the evidence, get back to the house, clean up, and leave to visit his sick mother.

Throughout the testimony, defense worked to provide what they claim are reasonable explanations for points in the timeline that prosecutors claim are incriminating, hoping the jury will take them into consideration when analyzing the data for themselves.

After the state rested its case, defense called its first two witnesses to the stand. They began with Colleton County Coroner Richard Harvey, who confirmed that the time of death listed on the death certificates — 9:00 p.m. — could really be anywhere within between around 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. The second witness, CCSO public information officer Shalane Tindal, confirmed that her agency and SLED sent a joint press release the morning after the murders saying there was no threat to the public.

Defense is expected to pick up with a “lengthy witness” Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.

ALEX MURDAUGH MURDER TRIAL LIVE BLOG:

9:43 a.m. – Buster Murdaugh, the only surviving Murdaugh son, is called to the stand.

He describes his childhood as normal. He says he played sports and his parents came to almost every game. His dad often coached. His brother, Paul, favored outdoor activities, which their dad also enjoyed.

Buster describes Moselle. He says its thousands of acres, much of which isn’t even accessible by road. There is a lot of swampland, a lot of rural land for hunting all kinds of animals, etc.

He says they had a lot of guns and many types of guns. They also had different kinds of ammo for hunting different animals and using different guns. The guns were mostly kept in the gun room, but Buster says they were often left all over the property, especially by Paul.

Buster says that the 300-Blackout that has been shown as evidence in the courtroom is his gun. Paul’s was black and tan, but it was apparently stolen out of Paul’s car at a party. Paul then started using Buster’s 300-Blackout, which caused some issues because Paul was not good at putting things back where he found them.

Buster says he learned during the trial that Paul got a replacement, but he never saw Paul use it.

The 12-gauge Benelli with a “Mojo” sticker on it is also Buster’s gun. He says that he frequently put it away loaded, but kept the safety on.

Griffin asks about how Buster would load guns. Buster says he has never loaded a shotgun with a buckshot then a birdshot (the ammunition combination used in Paul’s murder), he has never known anyone to do that, he has never seen any guns on his property loaded that way, and he can’t think of any reason anyone would ever do that.

Buster says that the family would normally use the main gate to come and go, but there were sometimes reasons to use the other entrance, like picking up mail and packages.

Maggie preferred to stay at Edisto during the summer months, according to Buster. In the spring of 2021, Buster says that he was living in Columbia and he split the time between Columbia and Moselle. In June of 2021, he was living between Columbia and Rock Hill with his girlfriend’s family. Paul was living in Columbia in the spring of 2021 because he was going to USC. He started working for their uncle, John Marvin Murdaugh, when school got out and lived with him during the summer.

Griffin asks about time spent with Margaret’s family. He says they would get together for holidays and do family trips frequently. Griffin pulls up the last known family photo taken of Buster, Paul, Maggie, and Alex Murdaugh. It was taken by Maggie’s sister, Marian Proctor, in May. Buster says that Murdaugh was close with Maggie’s father, “Papa T.” They would go camping, go to sporting events, play golf, etc.

Buster says that they also spent a lot of time with his father’s side of the family. They lived closer than Maggie’s family, they would spend holidays together, they would take trips together, etc.

Griffin asks about Murdaugh’s father’s health in the summer of 2021. He says it was bad. He says the family would go over and check on him often. Murdaugh and Paul went most often. Buster says that his dad would go any time of day. He asks where they would park. Buster says it depends, but often around the back of the house because they would enter through the back door to the sunroom. Griffin shows data from the OnStar GPS system showing Murdaugh’s car at Alameda. Buster identifies the location as the spot they would normally park.

9:35 a.m. – Court is in session. One juror is at the doctor’s office and the prosecution and defense agree that they would rather replace that juror with an alternate than wait and see what the juror’s condition is.

Defense says that they hope to rest their case by the end of the week and would rather not delay the trial even more.

Juror 530 is selected as an alternate. This leaves only two alternates.

Judge Newman also brings up social media posts by attorney Jim Griffin about the trial. Griffin says he retweeted an article by the Washington Post, he didn’t make any comments.

Judge Newman reminds Griffin that Kyrie Irving was suspended by the NBA for retweeting an article. He suggests Griffin reconsider doing something like that in the future. Griffin says he will not do it again.

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