The primary officer to reach after Alex Murdaugh known as 911 to report his spouse and son had been significantly harm famous on the lawyer’s double homicide trial Thursday that the suspect was upset however that he had no tears in his eyes.
Throughout the first day of testimony, jurors watched Colleton County Sgt. Daniel Greene’s physique digicam footage and different video from Murdaugh’s South Carolina looking lodge on June 7, 2021. The footage exhibits Greene questioning Murdaugh and defending the crime scene, since Paul and Maggie Murdaugh had been clearly lifeless.
Murdaugh’s lawyer questioned Greene at size on what he did on the scene, suggesting that officers disturbed potential proof by strolling round in the dead of night with out flashlights, failing to search for shoe prints or tire tracks, and standing close to the our bodies after it was established that they’d died.
Murdaugh, 54, is standing trial on two counts of homicide. Investigators mentioned his 22-year-old son Paul was shot twice with a shotgun close to kennels exterior the household’s Colleton County looking lodge. His 52-year-old spouse Maggie was shot 4 or 5 occasions with a rifle shut by. Each victims had been shot within the head after they had been gravely wounded, authorities mentioned.
Murdaugh faces 30 years to life in jail if convicted.
It took Greene about 20 minutes after the 911 name to get to the Murdaugh house within the rural county of 38,000 folks. He testified that when he arrived, he noticed Murdaugh speaking on the cellphone, standing close to the place the our bodies had been discovered, with a shotgun resting towards his truck that Murdaugh mentioned he grabbed for cover.
“He was upset, however I didn’t see any seen tears,” Greene mentioned.
Throughout cross examination, protection lawyer Dick Harpootlian requested Greene why he didn’t point out to state crime scene brokers about doable tire tracks and footprints. Greene mentioned it wasn’t his job.
Harpootlian requested why one other officer went right into a feed room behind Paul Murdaugh’s physique. Greene mentioned he didn’t know, however that officers had been doing their greatest to guard the proof.
“Greatest? To stroll in an space the place there may be blood, the place there may be mind matter?” Harpootlian mentioned.
Later testimony from different deputies mentioned the officer solely went into the room to assist raise the sheet on Paul Murdaugh’s physique straight as much as test if there was a weapon close to or underneath his physique. Colleton County Sheriff’s Capt. Jason Chapman mentioned he didn’t wish to drag the sheet throughout the physique and probably dislodge proof.
As photos of the our bodies of Murdaugh’s son and spouse got here up on the physique digicam footage, a second protection lawyer used a field lid to cowl the display screen in entrance of Murdaugh so the viewers couldn’t see it. Murdaugh rocked forwards and backwards together with his head down and wiped his eyes because the situation of the our bodies was mentioned.
Murdaugh gave the impression to be distraught a number of different occasions throughout graphic testimony, as officers and first responders talked about how his son’s mind was ripped away by the shotgun blast and was discovered by his ft, and that his spouse had a gap in her head sufficiently big to see her cranium cavity.
Murdaugh additionally faces about 100 prices associated to different crimes, together with cash laundering, stealing tens of millions from purchasers and the household legislation agency, tax evasion and attempting to get a person to fatally shoot him so his surviving son may accumulate a $10 million life insurance coverage coverage. He was being held in jail with out bail on these counts earlier than he was charged with homicide.
For the reason that killings, Murdaugh’s life has seen a stunningly quick downfall. His household dominated the authorized system in tiny neighboring Hampton County for generations, each as prosecutors and personal attorneys identified for getting life-changing settlements for accidents and negligence circumstances.
Scrutiny into the Murdaughs began greater than two years earlier than the killings. Paul Murdaugh was charged with felony boating underneath the affect after investigators mentioned he was driving a ship that crashed and killed 19-year-old Mallory Seashore who was on board.
Alex Murdaugh got here to the emergency room and talked to others on the boat the evening of the February 2019 crash. Information accounts and the household of the teenager killed urged he was attempting to make use of his affect to stymy the investigation and deflect blame from his son.
When Greene approached the evening of the killings, Alex Murdaugh virtually instantly introduced up the crash.
“This can be a lengthy story. My son was in a ship wreck some time again. We’ve been getting threats, I do know that’s what it’s,” Murdaugh mentioned on Greene’s physique digicam.
