WALTERBORO, S.C. — Prosecutors in the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh showcased a video Wednesday of a dog’s wagging tail to chip away at the once-powerful lawyer’s alibi that he wasn’t at the scene of the crime in June 2021.
Murdaugh, 54, rocked back and forth and appeared to cry as video taken from the cellphone of his son Paul was played in court. Three different voices could be heard in the short clip, which was time-stamped at 8:44 p.m. and taken at the dog kennels on the family’s rural estate property where Paul, 22, and his mother Margaret, 52, were fatally shot at about 8:50 p.m., according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors first played the video during the testimony of a state witness — Lt. Britt Dove, an expert in cellphone forensics with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division — and said they believed it was Paul trying to capture video of a dog’s tail as the voices spoke about whether a dog had a chicken or guinea in its mouth.
The prosecution has previously said the voices belong to Murdaugh, his wife and son, but Dove was not asked specifically if the patriarch was among them.
The owner of the dog in the video, a close family friend, later testified that Paul Murdaugh had been watching the animal for him at the family’s estate in Colleton County and that they last spoke at about 8:40 p.m.
The friend, Rogan Gibson, testified that they spoke about whether something was wrong with the dog’s tail. He also said he could hear Margaret and a male voice that sounded like Murdaugh in the background before hanging up.
At 8:49 p.m., Gibson texted Paul to “see if you can get a good picture of” the tail, according to the evidence presented at trial. However, Gibson never got a response; he texted Paul again about an hour later, but didn’t hear back.
Gibson testified that he spoke with investigators the next day after learning about the killings, and said he was “99%” sure that it was Murdaugh in the background when he spoke to Paul over the phone.
When asked again by…
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