Alex Murdaugh trial: Jury to visit the scene of the murders

Jurors in the murder trial of South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh will visit the site where his wife and youngest son were killed, the judge ruled on Monday.

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Judge Clifton Newman granted the request from Murdaugh’s lawyer Dick Harpootlian after the defense rested its case on Monday.

The prosecution objected to the request.

Newman said he would arrange a “jury view” of Murdaugh’s Moselle estate, the site of the June 2021 murders, after the prosecution calls several rebuttal witnesses on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Harpootlian asked that the jury be allowed to visit the estate to see “how small the feed room is.” Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, were shot to death in the feed room on June 7, 2021.

“You just can’t really appreciate the spatial issues without actually seeing them,” Harpootlian said.

According to Newman, closing arguments in the trial will be heard following the jury’s visit.

Murdaugh took the stand last week and testified that he lied about where he was on the night of the murders, but that he did not gun down his wife and son.

Murdaugh was the one who called 911 on June 7 to report that he had found his wife and one of the couple’s two sons shot to death.

He was indicted by a grand jury in July 2022 on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon. Jurors began hearing the case against Murdaugh on Jan. 25.

If found guilty, Murdaugh faces 30 years to life in prison.