The jury in Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial will soon begin weighing the accused killer’s innocence or guilt of the brutal 7 June 2021 murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul.
On Thursday morning, the defence will deliver closing arguments in the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro where the disgraced attorney’s legal team hopes to plant reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors.
Then, following the state’s rebuttal argument, jury deliberations will begin – bringing the 54-year-old one step closer to learning his fate.
This comes after prosecutor Creighton Waters delivered the state’s three-hour closing argument on Wednesday.
He laid out the case against Mr Murdaugh beginning with the “gathering storm” of financial problems that led up to the murders and concluding with a plea to jurors to give a voice to the victims whom he said were fooled by the defendant like everyone else.
“Don’t let him fool you too,” Waters urged the jury.
Earlier on Wednesday, jurors also toured the crime scene where Maggie and Paul were brutally gunned down by the dog kennels on the grounds of the family’s Moselle estate.
Alex Murdaugh murder trial
Moselle: The jury visit in pictures
14:00 , Rachel Sharp
On Wednesday, jurors were taken on a tour of the Moselle property where Maggie and Paul were brutally shot dead on 7 June 2021.
After, a media pool visited the site capturing the scene.
Here’s what they saw.
Day 27 in a nutshell:
13:40 , Rachel Sharp
Moselle visit – The jury was escorted to Moselle to see for themselves the dog kennels and grounds of the Murdaugh’s family home where Maggie and Paul were shot dead.
Prosecutor’s closing argument – Creighton Waters delivered his closing argument for the state urging jurors “don’t be fooled” by Alex Murdaugh’s lies.
“Gathering storm” – Mr Waters said that the disgraced attorney’s “gathering storm” of financial crimes, opioid addiction and years of “living a lie” culminated with him becoming a “family annihilator”.
Means, motive, opportunity – The prosecutor told jurors how “family guns” were used in the attack and how Paul’s cellphone video placed Mr Murdaugh at the scene of the murders.
Lying about his alibi – Mr Waters said the kennel video “changed everything” by not only placing Mr Murdaugh at the scene but also showing that he lied to investigators trying to catch his family’s killer. “Why would he even think to lie about that if he was an innocent man?”
Lying on the stand – Mr Waters went on to accuse Mr Murdaugh of continuing his web of lies on the witness stand, including the very reasons he gave for lying to investigators about his alibi for the night of the murders.
RECAP Day 27: Prosecutor’s closing argument describes Murdaugh’s ‘gathering storm’ into ‘family annihilator’
13:20 , Rachel Sharp
Alex Murdaugh’s “gathering storm” of financial crimes, opioid addiction and years of “living a lie” culminated with the moment that he murdered his wife Maggie and son Paul, according to the prosecution’s dramatic closing statement.
In Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Wednesday, prosecutor Creighton Waters described how the once-powerful attorney had spent years “on the hamster wheel” avoiding accountabilty as he stole millions of dollars from his law firm and its clients.
While keeping up the pretence of a respected attorney and carrying on his prominent family’s legacy, he had actually been “living a lie” for the last decade and the “pressure became overwhelming”.
The storm then “crescendoed” to that “day of reckoning” on 7 June 2021 when Mr Murdaugh turned into a “family annihilator”, shooting his wife and son dead on the grounds of the wealthy family’s sprawling 1,700-acre Moselle estate.
“After an exhaustive investigation, there is only one person that had the motive, that had the means, that had the opportunity to commit these crimes,” he said.
“And whose guilty conduct after these crimes betrays him.
“The defendant is the one person who was living a lie. The one person who a storm was descending on. And the one person whose own storm would mean consequences for Maggie and Paul. And that person is the defendant Richard Alexander Murdaugh.”
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Alex Murdaugh prosecutor says storm of crimes made him a killer in closing argument
RECAP Day 27: Jury visits Moselle estate where murders took place
13:00 , Rachel Sharp
The jury in Alex Murdaugh’s high-profile murder trial is visiting the scene where his wife Maggie and son Paul were brutally murdered, before they decide the disgraced legal scion’s fate.
The panel – of 12 jurors and two remaining alternates – were taken to the family’s sprawling 1,700-acre Moselle estate on Wednesday morning to see for themselves the dog kennels and feed room where Mr Murdaugh allegedly gunned down his loved ones on 7 June 2021.
Paul was shot twice with a shotgun as he stood in the feed room of the kennels, with the second bullet blowing his brain from its skull.
Maggie was shot four to five times with an AR-15-style rifle a few yards from her son, as she backed into an ATV parked under a hangar.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:
Alex Murdaugh jury visits Moselle estate where wife and son were murdered
Minute-by-minute timeline maps out the night of Murdaugh murders
12:40 , Rachel Sharp
What happened at Moselle on the night of 7 June 2021?
Minute-by-minute timeline maps out the night Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were murdered
When will there be a verdict?
12:20 , Rachel Sharp
After five and half weeks of testimony, the jury in the double-murder trial of Alex Murdaugh is expected to begin deliberations on Thursday.
Before they begin to consider a verdict, the 12 jurors and two alternates visited the scene of the crime — the dog kennels and feed room at the Murdaugh family’s 1,700-acre Moselle estate.
It was there that Mr Murdaugh is accused of brutally murdering his wife Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, were brutally murdered on 7 June 2021.
Mr Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty.
The Independent’s Oliver O’Connell reports on when we can expect a verdict in the case:
When will there be a verdict in the Alex Murdaugh murder trial?
WATCH: Prosecutor delivers dramatic closing argument
12:00 , Rachel Sharp
Lying on the stand
11:40 , Rachel Sharp
Creighton Waters closed out his statement by accusing Alex Murdaugh of continuing his lies while on the stand in front of jurors.
He pointed out that Mr Murdaugh contradicted testimony from multiple witnesses.
“Everyone is lying or the master liar?” said Mr Waters.
The prosecutor also picked holes in testimony saying that he lied when he was confronted with other issues on the stand.
Former Hampton County Sheriff T. C. Smalls contradicted Mr Murdaugh’s testimony that he had given him permission to fit blue police lights in his vehicle.
When he was questioned about why he lied about his alibi, Mr Waters told jurors he also lied.
Mr Murdaugh had testified that he had lied for the past 20 months because he was “paranoid” over his suspicions of SLED, warnings from his law firm partners about always have a lawyer present when speaking to the police and investigators having swabbed his hands for gunshot residue.
He claimed that he decided during his first police interview in the early hours of 8 June 2021.
But, Mr Waters hammered home that Mr Murdaugh began lying before that – in bodycam footage from the first officer to respond to the scene.
“All those reasons he gave… he was lying to you ladees and gentlement when he made those up. And he’s good at it,” he said.
“There is nothing more important to someone who is innocent than telling law enforcement when you last saw someone alive,” said Mr Waters.
“People lie because they knew they did something wrong,” he said.
He then used Mr Murdaugh’s own words against him.
“‘Oh what a tangled web we weave when we first deceive’,” he read out.
“How appropriate coming from that man.”
He concluded: “He fooled them all. And he fooled Maggie and Paul and they paid for it with their lives,” he said.
“Don’t let him fool you too.”
‘Manufacturing an alibi’
11:15 , Oliver O’Connell
After the murders, prosecutor Creighton Waters said that Alex Murdaugh stripped and washed himself off, before getting back in the golf cart and heading back to the house.
There, he said Mr Murdaugh was “manufacturing an alibi” as he knew that he had “got to compress those timelines”.
“He was thinking like a prosecutor,” he said.
Mr Waters described how Mr Murdaugh called several people and sped to his parents’ home – trying to get his mother’s carer to match his story of how long he stayed – and sped back as he knew he needed to compress the timeline.
When he arrived back at the property and drove to the kennels, just 19 seconds passed between the moment he arrived at the kennels and claimed he found his wife and son’s bodies – and the 911 call.
Mr Murdaugh previously told law enforcement multiple times that he had touched his wife and son’s bodies to check for signs of life before calling 911. He changed this account on the stand saying that he had actually touched them while on the phone to the 911 dispatcher.
“19 seconds. Is that enough time for a surprised human being to get out of the car go over and see… the reason why it’s so quick is because he knew exactly what scene he was going to find.”
Mr Waters said that Mr Murdaugh called Paul’s friend Rogan Gibson before he called any of his family members.
Paul was looking after Mr Gibson’s dog at the kennels and they had spoken on the phone, with Mr Gibson saying he heard Mr Murdaugh in the background.
The video Paul took – of the dog – he was supposed to send to Mr Gibson and when he didn’t receive it, he had text his friend.
Mr Murdaugh may have seen those texts come up on Paul’s phone and might have been worried about what Mr Gibson knew, Mr Waters said.
The prosecutor laid out what he said was malice – as he pointed to several aspects of the night which suggested Mr Murdaugh planned the attack.
There was the use of two guns which he said was Mr Murdaugh “manufacturing” the scene.
There was also testimony that Maggie did not want to go to Moselle that night but that Mr Murdaugh had asked both her and Paul to come home.
Mr Murdaugh also left his phone at the house when he went to the kennels something witnesses testified was “unusual” for him to do.
“This is Alex the prosecutor and the lawyer,” said Mr Waters. “He’s thought through this.”
In the aftermath of the murders, Mr Waters also showed “consciousness of guilt” – lying about his alibi and trying to get his story straight with witnesses.
Jurors were reminded about the testimony from housekeeper Blanca Simpson who said she saw Mr Murdaugh in a different outfit earlier that day – an outfit she never saw again.
Ms Simpson said he tried to get his story straight with her about the clothes.
The prosecutor once again played footage from three police interviews with Mr Murdaugh – on 8 June, 10 June, 11 August 2021 – all of which he lied about the last time he saw Maggie and Paul.
“Look how easily he did. About such a crucial thing,” said Mr Waters.
Opportunity: The kennel video – part two
10:15 , Oliver O’Connell
Mr Waters said that the accused killer was “forced” to create a “new story” because “all of those witnesses on the stand said he was there”.
But even with his new story – that he took a golf cart to the kennels briefly and returned to the house almost as soon as Paul’s 50-second video was taken – Mr Waters said “it doesn’t make sense.”
“Even if he could take care of the chicken in the fastest time”, he said it would “put you right at 8.49pm” when the victims were killed.
Returning to the house and having “perhaps the quickest nap ever” he then was up on his phone at 9.02pm.
“Not a single person close to him knew who he really was… And I submit to you that this was the most blatant lie yet,” he said.
Mr Waters told jurors that Mr Murdaugh first shot Paul with the shotgun.
He suggested that the father shot his son and thought he had killed him, bent down to pick up the rifle and was “startled” by his son still moving.
He then shot upwards at Paul, striking the fatal shot and causing the upward angle, he said.
Maggie then ran over toward her son and was shot.
“[Maggie] was running toward her baby while he picked up the Blackout and opened fire again at close range,” said Mr Waters.
“She heard that shot and was mowed down by the only person that we have conclusive proof was at that the scene minutes before,” he said.
Opportunity: The kennel video – part one
09:15 , Oliver O’Connell
Moving onto Mr Murdaugh’s opportunity to carry out the murders, the prosecutor turned to the timeline of the accused killer’s movements on 7 June 2021 – based on cellphone data and car data.
The cellphone data shows Mr Murdaugh and his son moving around the Moselle estate together on the evening.
At 7.39pm, Paul captured a Snapchat video of his father playing with a tree on the Moselle grounds.
After they returned to the family home and had dinner, Paul’s cellphone shows him arriving back at the kennels at 8.38pm.
Key to the state’s case is a damning cellphone video taken by Paul at the kennels minutes later – just moments before he was murdered.
The video, taken at 8.44pm, captures three voices off-camera – Paul, Maggie and Mr Murdaugh.
Multiple witnesses told the court that the voice was “100 per cent” that of Mr Murdaugh’s.
Less than five minutes later – at around 8.50pm – prosecutors say that Maggie and Paul were dead. Both victims last used their cell phones at 8.49pm, the data shows.
Mr Waters said that getting access to Paul’s phone had “changed everything” in the case.
“Getting access to the phone changed everything,” he said.
“It showed opportunity… but more importantly it exposed the defendant’s lies. Why in the world would an innocent reasonable father and husband lie about that?”
“He didn’t know that was there,” he said of the video.
For the 20 months between the murders and the trial, Mr Murdaugh denied ever being at the dog kennels with his wife and son that night. He claimed he stayed at the family home, fell asleep on the couch and then drove to his mother’s home when he woke.
When he returned, he claimed he drove to the kennels to find Maggie and Paul and discovered their bodies.
Jurors heard multiple witnesses identify Mr Murdaugh’s voice in the footage.
Then, last week, Mr Murdaugh confessed for the first time that he was there at the kennels – and that he had lied for 20 months to investigators, his family and friends about his alibi.
Means: ‘Family guns’
08:15 , Oliver O’Connell
Turning to the means, Mr Murdaugh had to commit the crime, Mr Waters told jurors that “family guns” were used to kill Maggie and Paul.
He reminded jurors how the family had three Blackout semiautomatic rifles – and “the defendant can only account for one of them”.
The court has previously heard how Mr Murdaugh bought his sons Paul and Buster a Blackout one Christmas.
When Paul lost his, it was replaced by a third – with Paul’s friend testifying that he recalled shooting that replacement gun with him just a few months before the murders.
Ammunition found on the grounds of Moselle which were fired from that gun on matched the ammo that killed Maggie.
“A family weapon the defendant cannot account for killed Maggie,” said Mr Waters.
The Blackout and a 12-gauge shotgun were Paul’s two favourite guns and were guns that he carried. The shotgun has never been found on the property.
Motive: ‘A gathering storm’ – part three
07:15 , Oliver O’Connell
Another aspect of this “gathering storm” was Mr Murdaugh’s opioid addiction, which Mr Waters said the defendant had admitted makes him “paranoid, agitated, and gives him energy”.
“The withdrawals would make him do anything to get rid of them,” he reminded jurors Mr Murdaugh had said.
However, Mr Waters urged jurors to question the extent Mr Murdaugh claims he was consuming drugs – sowing doubts that the accused killer repeatedly lied on the stand.
He questioned whether 1,000mg a day “sounds survivable” let alone whether someone consuming that much could have been a successful lawyer, carried out a complex fraud scheme and lived his life without those around him noticing.
“How many times on the fly did he look you in the eye and didn’t tell the truth?” he asked jurors.
Mr Waters also urged jurors to consider how – as an attorney from a long line of attorneys – Mr Murdaugh understands how the justice system works.
“This is an individual who is trained to understand how to put a case together. Think about whether or not this individual is constructing defences and constructing alibis,” he said.
Motive: ‘A gathering storm’ – part two
06:15 , Oliver O’Connell
Mr Waters said the scheme continued for years but reached a head after the 2019 fatal boat crash.
“This slow burn was continuing and continuing and continuing until the boat crash happened in February 2019,” said Mr Waters.
“That changed everything. That set in motion everything.”
In February 2019, Paul was allegedly drunk driving the family boat when it crashed, killing 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
Paul was facing criminal charges over the incident, while Mr Murdaugh was being sued by the Beach family.
The Beach family attorney Mark Tinsley had testified how in the run-up to the murders he had filed a motion to compel to gain access to Mr Murdaugh’s finances.
The next hearing in the case had been set for 10 June 2021 – three days after the murders.
After the boat crash, Mr Waters said that “the pace of his stealing increased” and he stole every dime of a $4m settlement for the family of his housekeeper Gloria Satterfield (who died in a mystery trip and fall at Moselle in 2018).
But also by the day of the murders, the prosecutor said that Mr Murdaugh’s financial crimes were on the brink of being exposed.
On 7 June 2021, jurors have heard how he was confronted by his law firm CFO Jeanne Seckinger about a payment that he had stolen from the firm and its clients. He was also three days away – 10 June 2021 – from the boat crash lawsuit hearing.
Mr Murdaugh’s father Randolph was also “very, very sick”, said Mr Waters.
The prosecutor said that the Murdaugh’s family legacy – and his place within it – was also under threat by the boat crash case and his financial crimes being exposed.
He was willing to “do anything to keep that hamster wheel going to avoid accountability” saying he had done so for 10 years.
Mr Waters added: “If he can just stay one step ahead one day longer… then he will never have to face that accountability that he never has to face.
“All of these factors are converging on one week and one day. And that day arrives, his father is in the hospital… There is a confrontation with Jeanne… He’s working on the boat case and then the tragedy happens. It’s not the only reason but it’s part of the reason.
“The pressures on this man were unbearable and they were all reaching a crescendo the day his wife and son were murdered by him. All on that day.”
Mr Waters told the jury how the murders of his Maggie and Paul made “all those things go away” with the lawsuit hearing postponed and his law firm putting any probe into missing payments to one side in order to rally around him.
When the financial fraud scheme was finally exposed on 3 September 2021, Mr Murdaugh then orchestrated the botched hitman plot to make himself “a victim” once again, said Mr Waters.
“When accountability was at his door he was a victim. And he told a detailed lie and went as far as to draw a composite sketch with law enforcement,” he said.
“And it worked for a bit… But this time it fell apart even quicker as his own brother figured out he was trying to buy drugs and it fell apart.”
Motive: ‘A gathering storm’ – part one
05:15 , Oliver O’Connell
First, Mr Waters walked jurors through the timeline of the events leading up to the murders, charting a line from Mr Murdaugh’s prominence in the community and his escalating multi-million-dollar fraud scheme to the killings of Maggie and Paul.
“He was a person of singular prominence and respect in his community,” he said.
“But he has also been a person who’s been able to avoid accountability in his life.”
Mr Waters described the “outside illusion” of Mr Murdaugh as a successful attorney but who, in reality, made some “bad deals” during the recession and ended up in financial trouble.
Mr Waters told jurors how Mr Murdaugh became “so addicted to money that he started to steal” from his law firm, he said.
This marked the start of the accused killer’s multi-million-dollar fraud scheme – a scheme which he has confessed to in the courtroom.
Throughout the trial, jurors have heard testimony from his law firm and law firm clients as to how he represented clients in lawsuits and then pocketed the settlement money for himself. The vast scheme even involved launching a fake account posing as the legitimate company Forge to siphon off money to. In total, he stole millions of dollars from his law firm PMPED and its clients and is now charged separately with more than 100 counts in that case.
Means, motive, opportunity
04:15 , Oliver O’Connell
During the state’s dramatic closing statement, prosecutor Creighton Waters said that Alex Murdaugh had “the means, motive and opportunity” to kill his wife and son.
Mr Waters “set the stage” of what he said led up to the moment Mr Murdaugh allegedly took two “family guns” and shot his wife and son dead.
He detailed how the disgraced attorney had long been a prominent figure in the community but was in fact “living a lie”.
A “gathering storm” was building at the time of the murders, said Mr Waters, with Mr Murdaugh’s financial crimes on the brink of being exposed due to both the boat crash lawsuit and his law firm closing in on missing payments.
Mr Waters also went through to the timeline on the day of the murders and how Mr Murdaugh’s actions in the aftermath of the killings – and even on the witness stand – further pointed to his guilt.
“The timeline puts him there. The forensic timeline puts him there. The use of his family weapons supports that,” he said.
Alex Murdaugh prosecutor says storm of crimes made him a killer in closing argument
Is Alex Murdaugh guilty of murder?
03:15 , Oliver O’Connell
Here’s what the defence and prosecution argued over six weeks of trial:
Alex Murdaugh: What the defence and prosecution argued over six weeks of trial
Three bodies, 1,700 acres and a whole lot of hogs: Inside Moselle
02:15 , Oliver O’Connell
Bordering the banks of the Salkehatchie River, 4147 Moselle Road consists of over 1,700 acres of land including a 5,275-square-foot house, a farm, a two-mile stretch of river – and of course the dog kennels.
Explore Moselle and its history:
Three bodies, 1,700 acres and a whole lot of hogs: Alex Murdaugh’s $4m Moselle estate
A minute-by-minute timeline of the night Maggie and Paul were murdered
01:15 , Oliver O’Connell
What happened on 7 June 2021 at Moselle?
Minute-by-minute timeline maps out the night Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were murdered
Murdaugh jury visits Moselle estate where wife and son were murdered
00:15 , Oliver O’Connell
The jury in Alex Murdaugh’s high-profile murder trial has visited the scene where his wife Maggie and son Paul were brutally murdered, before they decide the disgraced legal scion’s fate.
The panel – of 12 jurors and two remaining alternates – were taken to the family’s sprawling 1,700-acre Moselle estate on Wednesday morning to see for themselves the dog kennels and feed room where Mr Murdaugh allegedly gunned down his loved ones on 7 June 2021.
Rachel Sharp has the details of the case.
Alex Murdaugh jury visits Moselle estate where wife and son were murdered
Murdaugh’s ‘gathering storm’ of crimes turned him into a ‘family annihilator’ says prosecution
Wednesday 1 March 2023 23:15 , Oliver O’Connell
Alex Murdaugh’s “gathering storm” of financial crimes, opioid addiction and years of “living a lie” culminated with the moment that he murdered his wife Maggie and son Paul, according to the prosecution’s dramatic closing statement.
In Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Wednesday, prosecutor Creighton Waters described how the once-powerful attorney had spent years “on the hamster wheel” avoiding accountabilty as he stole millions of dollars from his law firm and its clients.
While keeping up the pretence of a respected attorney and carrying on his prominent family’s legacy, he had actually been “living a lie” for the last decade and the “pressure became overwhelming”.
Rachel Sharp reports on a thorough and dramatic closing argument from the state.
Alex Murdaugh prosecutor says storm of crimes made him a killer in closing argument
Wednesday 1 March 2023 22:15 , Oliver O’Connell
Once the defence has presented their closing argument on Thursday, the prosecution will be given the right to respond.
The jury will then be given its instructions and any alternates will be excused.
Deliberations will then begin in what has been an extraordinarily complex case.
During his closing argument, Waters referred to Murdaugh as a “master liar”.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 21:52 , Oliver O’Connell
Judge Newman excuses the jury for the day.
They will be back at 9.30am tomorrow to hear the closing argument from Murdaugh’s defence team presented by attorney Jim Griffin.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 21:51 , Oliver O’Connell
In closing, he says to the jury that Murdaugh fooled everyone in his life including Maggie and Paul and they paid for it with their lives.
“Don’t let him fool you too.”
He asks the jury to find Murdaugh guilty.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 21:49 , Oliver O’Connell
Addressing the jury, Waters says that Murdaugh lied to them, just like he lied to everyone in his life.
“And he was good at it.”
He adds that Murdaugh had the “motive, the means, the opportunity, and ample evidence of guilty conduct and a guilty conscience. All four factors are present.”
Waters reiterates that Maggie and Paul need a voice because they can no longer speak.
“This has been a tough job. But the system depends on people who take that oath as jurors, and they’re willing to honor that oath and make the tough decision to vindicate these victims, to vindicate Maggie and Paul, who were cut down in the prime of their lives.”
He shows a sealed exhibit to the jury.
“This is what he did. This is what he did right here.”
Wednesday 1 March 2023 21:45 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters brings it back to the new lie and the old lie as captured on Deputy Daniel Greene’s body camera.
Moment Alex Murdaugh is accused of lying on the stand
Wednesday 1 March 2023 21:43 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters accuses Murdaugh of doing everything he could to frustrate forensics by deleting phone logs, moving Maggie’s phone, changing clothes etc.
Murdaugh “controlled these crime scenes issues”, says Waters.
He says he agrees with Murdaugh that whoever did this had “anger in their heart” and had “planned this for a long time”.
Waters also agreed with Murdaugh when he said “he hurt the ones he loved”.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 21:41 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters says there are no eye witnesses as they are dead.
No one can speak for Maggie and Paul.
But common sense and human nature can speak on behalf of them.
“They deserve a voice.”
Wednesday 1 March 2023 21:39 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters comes full circle to the motives for Murdaugh’s descent into becoming a family annihilator.
“No one knew who he was. No one knew who this man was. He avoided accountability his whole life. He relied on his family name. He carried a badge and authority. He lived a wealthy life.”
He knew he was about to be exposed for all of his lies and schemes.
“His ego couldn’t stand that, and he became a family annihilator.”
Wednesday 1 March 2023 21:37 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters moves on to incredulously describe the circumstances the jury would have to accept to believe Murdaugh’s version of events.
This involved 5’2” boat crash vigilantes arriving between 8.49pm and 9.02pm to ambush Maggie and Paul with family weapons they found on the property while locking up the dogs and rolling up the hose at the dog kennels.
“That’s if you believe every bit of AM’s new story, which was sprinkled in with lies as well.”
Wednesday 1 March 2023 21:35 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters lists more of Murdaugh’s lies and rhetorically asks the jury why people lie — because they know they did something wrong.
He notes that Murdaugh also accused others of lying when he was caught out.
Waters hammers home that Murdaugh is a liar.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 21:27 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters reminds the jury of some of the strange things that Murdaugh said.
That he “got outta there” when describing leaving the kennels that night.
“He didn’t say, ‘if only I had been there. If only I had gone to the kennels. If only I could have stopped it. If only I could have been there a little longer.’ He says, ‘I got out of there.’”
Court resumes after break
Wednesday 1 March 2023 21:21 , Oliver O’Connell
The jury is brought back in after the 15-minute recess.
As the prosecution’s closing argument creeps toward three hours in length, reports from the courtroom suggest that some of the jurors are now struggling to stay attentive to Waters’ arguments.
Water promises Judge Newman he will be done in approximately 30 minutes.
It looks like the defence closing argument will now take place tomorrow.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 21:01 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters says the difference between Dr Kinsey and the defence’s experts is: “Dr Kinsey isn’t going to get out over his skis and try to make assertions to you … that simply cannot be supported by the evidence.”
Waters is working his way through the defence theories regarding two shooters of a specific height, standing upright with low-slung weapons.
Before moving on to the gun shot residue, Judge Newman calls a 15-minute break.
Watch LIVE: Alex Murdaugh trial closing arguments
Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:57 , Oliver O’Connell
Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:52 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters now turns to the crime scene, which the jury visited earlier today, and the testimony of Dr Riemer that Paul’s face was intact and the biological material was concentrated at the top of the feed room door.
He begins to recount the autopsy evidence showing how Paul was attacked.
Waters pairs Dr Riemer’s testimony with that of Dr Kinsey whose examination of the scene and study of the autopsy notes reached largely the same conclusions.
Paul, Water says, could only have been shot the way in which the two doctors describe. He calls the defence theory a “red herring”.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:43 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters plays more clips of Murdaugh in interviews as examples of him lying that he has now admitted to under oath during his defence testimony.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:39 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters shows footage of the first interviews with Murdaugh under a slide that reads: “Consciousness of guilt.”
“Look how easily he did it,” says Waters as Murdaugh lies to investigators.
Murdaugh had claimed he was paranoid and distrustful of SLED.
Waters asks the jury about the footage he is showing: “Is that an aggressive interview? Is that something that would make somebody paranoid?”
Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:35 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters returns to the line of questioning he had with Murdaugh during cross-examination when he explained when and why he decided to lie to investigators on the night of the murders.
The why was so important as it was so crucial in establishing that he was lying about not just his whereabouts on the night, but he was also lying about the new story and when and why he did so.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:31 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters suggests that Murdaugh sometimes lets things slip in what he says.
“Whoever did this, thought about it for a really long time,” Waters reminds the jury Murdaugh told Maggie’s sister, Marian Procter.
“Why would he say that?” he asks.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:28 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters says the jury must also ask why after calling his brothers he then repeatedly tried to call Rogan Gibson, even before calling his elder son Buster.
Murdaugh posits that this may have been because he was “worried about what Rogan may have known, may have heard”.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:25 , Oliver O’Connell
Back at Moselle, Waters questions the 19 second gap between Murdaugh’s arrival at the kennels and the 911 call.
“19 seconds. Is that enough time for a surprised human being to come across that scene, process what they were seeing, get out of the car get over there, check both those bodies, and call 911?” says Waters.
“The reason why it was so quick is because he knew exactly what scene he was going to find.”
Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:20 , Oliver O’Connell
“He’s manufacturing an alibi. He’s smart. He’s a good lawyer. His family has a history of prosecution. He understands these issues.” That’s why this case played out this way. “He knows what to do to try to prevent evidence from being gathered.”
Waters has repeated the phrase “he’s manufacturing an alibi” multiple times during this segment of the closing argument.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:18 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters compares the testimony of caretaker Shelly Smith and housekeeper Blanca as to their conversations with Murdaugh after the murders as he continues to manufacture his alibi.
Waters also notes it is odd how Murdaugh cannot recall the last conversation with his wife and child or what he did between 9.02pm and 9.06pm but goes into detail about other incidents, including how he dropped his phone between the seats of his car. Why?
“Those are questions he doesn’t want to answer. But would a reasonable person remember those things?”
Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:15 , Oliver O’Connell
Just a few moments later Maggie’s phone was thrown from the car as Murdaugh drove the road to Almeda, Waters says.
The phone did not light up or recognise an orientation change because that’s how iPhones work, says Creighton, acknowledging the extensive testimony the jury has heard about the technology surrounding the devices.
All along the way to Almeda, he makes calls and drives at speed (as he also does on the way back).
“What’s he in a hurry about?” Waters asked. “Why’s he in a hurry? Because he knows he has to compress that timeline.”
He is at Almeda for only a short period of time (21 minutes).
Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:08 , Oliver O’Connell
After the murders — which occurred sometime between 8.49pm and 8.53pm — Waters says that Murdaugh stripped off, washed himself down with the hose, and then headed back to the house on the golf cart.
At 9.02pm, Murdaugh’s phone is suddenly moved for the first time in an hour, and between then and 9.06pm “he is as busy as he’s ever been”, moving more than 250 steps or approximately 200m.
During this period he is also making calls to Maggie and others and her phone registers an orientation change. Waters posits that this was Murdaugh manufacturing his alibi and checking the call was coming through.
Waters also asks why, if he was so concerned with contacting Maggie in those four minutes, did he not drive down the driveway next to the kennels on his way out to Almeda to say he was going to his parents’ house?
Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:01 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters takes the jury through the harrowing details of Paul and Maggie’s murders. His volume increases as he proceeds through the prosecution’s version of events.
He says the neither Paul nor Maggie has defensive wounds as there was no indication that there was a threat.
“Why? Because it’s him,” says Waters referring to Murdaugh.
Explaining how Paul was shot in the chest once and then in the shoulder and head the second time “blowing his brains out”, Waters then says that Maggie ran toward “her baby” only for to be gunned down by her husband, shot five times, including a kill shot to the head.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 19:54 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters says that when confronted with the video was the moment when Murdaugh had to come up with a new story that he told them from the witness stand.
He had otherwise told the story about not being at the kennels for the entire period after the murders.
“Why would he lie about that, ladies and gentlemen? Why would he even think to lie about that if he was an innocent man?”
Of the new story, he says: “It doesn’t make sense, ladies and gentlemen. It’s a new story to fit facts he can no longer deny.”
Wednesday 1 March 2023 19:51 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters hammers home that the video on Paul’s phone that proved Murdaugh was at the kennels that night changed everything.
The defendant did not know the video was shot. Only Paul’s friend Rogan Gibson had placed him at the crime scene that night after hearing him in the background of their call. He was expecting to be sent the video of Cash the puppy’s tail. Phone activity ceases in the middle of their text conversation.
When Paul’s phone was unlocked long after the murders, the video showed the defendant was at the scene of the crime with the victims, minutes before they were shot.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 19:42 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters says it’s normal for people to misremember times of when they did things but Murdaugh’s inconsistencies went beyond that.
“He almost never was right,” says Waters.
Wednesday 1 March 2023 19:41 , Oliver O’Connell
Having covered motive (finance/opioids) and means (the guns), Waters moves on to opportunity, noting the extensive cell phone and GPS data presented to the jury.
Here’s the full timeline of that night as collated by Agent Rudofski:
Minute-by-minute timeline maps out the night Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were murdered
Wednesday 1 March 2023 19:39 , Oliver O’Connell
Moving on to the shotgun that killed Paul, Waters explains that the defendant’s favourite shotgun was a Benelli Super Black Eagle 12-gauge shotgun.
It has never been found.
He says again: “Family weapons killed these victims.”
And adds: “The defendant had the means to commit these crimes.”
Wednesday 1 March 2023 19:34 , Oliver O’Connell
Waters begins by reminding the jury that forensic evidence shows that the murders were committed with family-owned weapons.
He begins with the three Blackout rifles that the defendant purchased and how only one is accounted for now.
Waters notes that Murdaugh’s testimony has been uneven about the Blackout rifle — about whether he and Paul had it with them when riding the property and when one of the original pair went missing.
Forensic evidence shows that Paul’s friend Will Loving had shot the replacement Blackout from the steps of the gunroom in the months before the murders.
SLED found Blackout casings by the house that matched the casings found by Maggie’s body.
“A family Blackout killed Maggie. It was present just a couple of months prior to the murders, and it’s gone now. A family weapon the defendant cannot account for killed Maggie.”