The longtime personal injury lawyer has maintained. His innocence and pleaded not guilty to murder. And weapons possession.
Prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdoff killed his wife. And young son in cold blood with a shotgun and an AR-style rifle. Prosecutors alleged in their opening statements in his murder trial Wednesday.
Creighton Waters, the state’s lead prosecutor in the case, highlighted. That neither Murdough’s wife, Margaret, 52, nor the couple’s youngest son Paul, 22. Had any defensive wounds – “as if they saw no threat from their attacker.”
Paul Murdoff was shot in the chest, shoulder and eventually. The head with a 12-gauge shotgun, causing “devastating damage,” Waters said. Margaret Murdoff was shot in the stomach and legs with a rifle before being shot in the head.
The details of the injuries are gruesome. Waters said, and it will be difficult to hear their descriptions.
“It’s going to be horrible,” he told the jury.
It became horrifying as Murdoff’s lawyer, Dick Harputlian. detailed the gruesome condition of Paul. And Margaret’s bodies after they were shot in his opening argument. Alex Murdoff wept as Harputlian recounted how the family scion. Who said he enjoyed a loving relationship with his wife and son, discovered Paul “lying at his feet in his own blood.” , a man hysterical and grieving,” said Harputlian, who stressed. That there are many holes in the prosecution’s case. Which is built on the attorney general’s “theories, his assumptions.”
Harputlian said police and prosecutors concluded. On the spot that Murdoff was guilty “without forensics. Without cellphones — without any of that,” adding that they tried to fit. “A square peg into a round hole” to build their case.
“He didn’t do it, and you need to remember what he did from the back of your mind.” He told jurors, adding that despite the prosecution’s tests. There was no blood on Murdoff’s shirt or pants.
Waters, who spent about 30 minutes laying out a detailed timeline of the crime. Maintained that prosecutors built a case based. On a large amount of forensic evidence. That evidence includes cellphone data that Waters claims Murdoff had. At the scene of the crime minutes before his family members’ cellphones. “Went silent forever.”
The state’s case will also include a video that Paul Murdoff sent to a friend. Just before the shooting, which features his and his parents’ voices. Even though Murdoff “told anyone who would listen that he wasn’t there.”
Of the family’s rural home about 65 miles west of Charleston. The longtime personal injury lawyer has maintained his innocence. And pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon.
After just two and a half days of jury selection at a courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina. Lawyers for both sides whittled the number of jurors from more. Than a hundred to 12 – six white women, two black women and four white men. The six options included two black women, three white men and one black man.
Members of Murdoff’s family, including his eldest son, Buster, 26. And his brothers John Marvin. And Randy Murdoff were in attendance for Wednesday’s opening remarks. They sat behind Murdaugh and entered shortly before the lawyers gave. Their comments, and he thanked them for coming after his opening statement.
Murdoff used a suit jacket Wednesday to cover his handcuffs.
The patriarch of a South Carolina legal family is facing. Yet another lawsuit involving many alleged fraud schemes. Which prosecutors claim he pursued to stay financially afloat.
Prosecutors in South Carolina alleged at a December hearing. That Murdoch killed his wife. And son to cover up a decade of financial crimes in a desperate attempt to “avoid accountability.” He faces more than 80 financially related charges. For stealing nearly $8.5 million from more than a dozen victims.
Resulting in the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach. Her family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the family.
The problems appeared to have escalated when Murduff was arrested. Last year over millions of dollars missing from a settlement. Involving the death of the family’s housekeeper.
Due to technical issues playing body camera footage. From first responders arriving at the scene. Both sides agreed to wait until Thursday morning to proceed with the case.
