Prosecutors in Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial rest their case after 4 weeks
Alex Murdaugh's defense case is expected to last one week
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Prosecutors in Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial rested their case Friday after calling 61 witness over four weeks in Walterboro, South Carolina.
The trial in the Colleton County Courthouse began with opening statements Jan. 25.
Lead assistant attorney general Creighton Waters told Judge Clifton Newman Friday that the prosecution had finished their presentation and would turn the floor over to the defense.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Murdaugh’s lawyers, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, said they expect their case to take approximately one week.
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Alex Murdaugh is led out of Colleton County Court in Walterboro, South Carolina, Tuesday, February 7, 2023. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)
Prosecutors can then put on a rebuttal case.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The disbarred attorney is accused of gunning down his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and his 22-year-old son, Paul Murdaugh, June 7, 2021.
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The defense called two brief witnesses before the trial adjourned for the long weekend.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Prosecutors have argued that Murdaugh blew off his son’s head and executed his wife to prevent his financial misdeeds from coming to light.
The day of the slayings, the chief financial officer of Murdaugh’s law firm confronted him about $792,000 in missing fees.
Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian and prosector Creighton Waters talk in Alex Murdaugh’s trial for murder at the Colleton County Courthouse on Thursday, February 9, 2023. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool)
The family was also facing a multimillion dollar wrongful death lawsuit over a 2019 boat wreck that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach and injured four others.
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Three days after the killings, a hearing was scheduled in the case that would have forced him to open his books, and his alleged financial crimes would have been exposed, prosecutors have argued.
After the murders, the firm temporarily halted its inquiry into the missing funds and the boat wreck hearing was canceled.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Buster Murdaugh listens to his father Alex Murdaugh's recorded interview, where he describes a suicide attempt he planned, during Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, in Walterboro, South Carolina. (Joshua Boucher/The State via AP, Pool)
But the string that would eventually unravel the Murdaugh dynasty had already been pulled.
Murdaugh was fired from his firm Sept. 3, 2021, for allegedly embezzling millions from the firm and his clients.
The next day, he had his drug dealer, Curtis "Cousin Eddie" Smith, shoot him, so his living son, Buster Murdaugh, could collect a $10 million life insurance payout, according to trial testimony.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But Smith only grazed Murdaugh's head.
(L-R) Lynn Murdaugh, Buster Murdaugh, John Murdaugh and Brooklynn White arrive at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina on Monday, January 30, 2023. Alex Murdaugh is on trial for the double slaying of his son, Paul, and wife, Maggie, in June 2021. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital )
The defense has argued that Murdaugh was a devoted husband and father who stole from his firm to fuel a raging opioid addiction that cost him upwards of $50,000 a week.
They told jurors that Murdaugh would never murder his wife and son, especially in such a brutal fashion, and implied that the killings could have been a hit for drug debts.
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His lawyers have highlighted what they have called the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s shoddy investigation and accused agents of immediately zeroing in on Murdaugh without considering other suspects.