Over the first three days of Alex Murdaugh’s trial, prosecutors worked to establish the essentials of the murder case by calling to the stand the law enforcement officers and forensic experts who responded to the murder scene.
The defense, in turn, focused on what it deemed was a thinly established motive and ways the crime scene might have been tainted by those who responded to the 911 call.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Dick Harpootlian raised concerns about the preservation of the crime scene. A bloody footprint was found that was not that of either of the victims and instead was created by one of the first responders, according to the defense, which the investigator confirmed.
“Should the police be walking through the scene?” Harpootlian asked Special Agent Melinda Worley of the State Law Enforcement Division.
“No,” Worley said.
Harpootlian also questioned whether the forensic team failed to find a footwear match for a print found on Maggie Murdaugh’s calf because it did not comply with agency procedures for documenting footprint impressions. Worley, in response, testified that there were some prints that she did not notice while she was on the scene.
“If I had realized that was footwear on scene, I would have documented it properly,” Worley said.
Murdaugh is accused of murdering his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and their son Paul Murdaugh, 22, on the property of their rural home in Moselle, about 65 miles west of Charleston. Police responded after Murdaugh called 911 late June 7, 2021.
Murdaugh, an attorney, is the scion of a powerful South Carolina legal family. He has maintained his innocence in the murders and a series of financial crimes in a separate case that prosecutors have alleged could be related.
As the key witnesses thus far have focused on the guns used and evidence gathered from the crime scene, the descriptions provided to the jury through the first three days have been particularly grisly. Paul and Maggie Murdaugh, witnesses noted,…
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