Defense lawyers have laid out gory details about the murders of disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh’s wife and son as he prepares to stand trial for their murders.
Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, and their son, Paul, were found shot dead at the family’s hunting property in June of 2021. Sources close to the investigation said blood spatters were allegedly found on Murdaugh’s clothing and indicated he may have been at the murder scene, CNN reported. Murdaugh was then charged with murder.
Prosecutors allege Murdaugh committed the murders to distract from financial crimes, though Murdaugh has maintained his innocence, the outlet reported.
But Murdaugh’s defense team has laid out details of the graphic scene in a bid to get some evidence tossed.
Unraveling the mystery of money, power and murder in the Alex Murdaugh trial. pic.twitter.com/YoJHbA6PY4
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) January 20, 2023
Maggie was shot five times with a rifle, with forensics expert Kenneth Kinsey determining three of the shots occurred while she was standing. Kinsey said two of the shots — one through the back of her head and one through her left breast — were instantly fatal, according to the report.
One of the shots appeared to have been fired while Maggie was “holding herself up on her knees and … her right hand with her shoulders and head down,” according to the affidavit and preliminary expert opinions.
Paul was shot twice with a shotgun. He was initially hit in the chest “from several feet away” and tried to head for the door before a second bullet hit his neck and shoulder and instantly killed him. “Brain was severed and exited through the anatomical right side of head … Brain was completely detached from head,” Kinsey determined.
The forensic report then says since both Maggie and Paul died instantly, there would be no “expectorated blood” because their hearts immediately stopped beating, according to the report.
After I called the AG’s outside blood spatter analyst a few weeks ago, he apparently typed a memo to himself explaining why he changed his opinion about whether Alex Murdaugh’s T-shirt from the night of the slayings was speckled with spatter stains. pic.twitter.com/cyfRVvNHxR
— Avery G. Wilks (@AveryGWilks) January 19, 2023
Kinsey did note however that “the fatal shot to Paul’s shoulder, face, and head would likely produce enough back spatter, and would be within range to contaminate the shooter,” the NY Post reported. Maggie’s wounds also would have been “sufficient to produce back spatter” but likely not enough to hit the shooter, Kinsey determined.
Murdaugh’s lawyers are pointing to this gruesome evidence to prove his innocence, according to the New York Post. His defense team said the blood found on Murdaugh’s t-shirt the night of the murders is simply because he found his wife and son and told police the same. (RELATED: ‘It’s Bad’: Chilling 911 Audio Released In Murdaugh Double Murder)
The defense team is alleging prosecutors “immediately decided Alex was guilty, before anyone collected, investigated, or reviewed any evidence,” the outlet noted.
“Unable to build a solid case, [the prosecutors] instead engaged in a campaign of selective and deceptive leaks” with “perhaps the most extraordinary” example being reports about the blood found on the t-shirt. “The only possible motive for this leak was to convince the public that Murdaugh was guilty of the murders before trial, even before he was formally charged,” the filing read, the NY Post reported.
Murdaugh told authorities he was visiting his mother when Maggie and Paul were murdered, but Paul’s cell-phone data allegedly contained a time-stamped recording of Murdaugh speaking with Maggie just prior to their murders, CNN reported.
Murdaugh then allegedly tried to fake his own suicide months after the double murder. He survived a gunshot wound to the head and sustained minor injuries. Prosecutors alleged Murdaugh tried to kill himself to help his surviving son collect a $10 million life insurance policy.
