Alex Murdaugh trial – live: Judge makes u-turn allowing jurors to hear evidence of botched hitman plot

Hotly-anticipated testimony from a key witness in Alex Murdaugh’s double-murder trial could now take place on Thursday, after the judge made a dramatic u-turn on a previous ruling.

On Wednesday, Judge Clifton Newman ruled that jurors cannot hear testimony about the bizarre September 2021 roadside shooting – which later turned out to be a botched hitman plot.

Three months on from the June 2021 murders of wife Maggie and son Paul, the disgraced attorney was ambushed in what he claimed was a drive-by shooting. He later confessed to orchestrating the plot with Curtis “Cousin Eddie” Smith so his surviving son Buster would inherit a $10m life insurance windfall.

Hours after the ruling, Judge Newman then reversed course, saying the defence opened the door to testimony about the plot through their questioning of lead investigator David Owen.

Now, the question remains whether the prosecution will call Mr Smith – Murdaugh’s alleged co-conspirator, drug dealer and distant cousin – to testify as it wraps up its case.

Also on Wednesday, the court was gripped by video of Murdaugh’s interview with Agent Owen where he contradicted witness evidence heard at trial. The trial resumes on Thursday at 9.30am ET.

Alex Murdaugh murder trial

• Murdaugh police interview exposes wild inconsistencies between his alibi and witness accounts

• Murdaugh’s bizarre botched hitman plot can be presented at murder trial, judge rules

• Moment Murdaugh is asked by police if he killed wife and son

• Alex Murdaugh was spending $50,000 a week on drug habit

• Alex Murdaugh told sister killer had planned murders

• Murdaugh had ‘affair’ years before allegedly killing wife, says sister-in-law

New Witness: Dr Kenny Kinsey

15:21 , Oliver O'Connell

The jury is brought in and court is back in session.

The first witness of the day is Dr Kenny Kinsey, an Orangeburg County sheriff’s deputy and crime scene expert.

14:58 , Oliver O'Connell

Harpootlian doesn’t want statements Murdaugh made at the hospital after being shot in the head in September 2021 admitted into evidence.

Waters counters that the need to be able to relate to the jury the defendant’s claim that he was attacked by an unknown assailant at the side of the road when in fact he had arranged the ambush.

He adds that he intends to streamline the testimony and the two sides are now convening to discuss how to do this.

Court is on a 10-minute break. The jury is yet to be brought in.

14:49 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Newman says the defence introduced the relationship between Murdaugh and Cousin Eddie.

In pretrial motions it was established that the roadside shooting was not to be included in the trial it was “a bridge too far”, but the defence has since “built a road over that bridge” as if “they could dance through fire without getting burned”.

He adds that in the introduction of the relationship between Murdaugh and Cousin Eddie they sought to infer that the latter might have been or should have been a suspect in the murder case.

Judge Newman rules: “The state is entitled to explore this relationship between the defendant and Eddie Smith.”

The judge appears to be annoyed by the defence team’s objections as Dick Harpootlian stands to make another point after he has ruled.

14:43 , Oliver O'Connell

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters argues that Griffin’s questions have to be put in context and that opens the door to testimony regarding the roadside shooting.

14:43 , Oliver O'Connell

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters argues that Griffin’s questions have to be put in context and that opens the door to testimony regarding the roadside shooting.

Court resumes

14:42 , Oliver O'Connell

Court resumes with Judge Clifton Newman presiding.

Before the jury is brought in, defence attorney Jim Griffin disputes the court’s perception that he opened the door to the roadside shooting evidence.

He reads out a transcript of yesterday’s testimony from SLED Agent David Owen.

Griffin asked Mr Owen about Murdaugh’s financial crimes and whether he stole to fuel a drig habit, and whether he was buying the drugs from Curtis Smith (Cousin Eddie). He does not mention the roadside shooting incident of Labor Day weekend 2021.

Watch the Alex Murdaugh murder trial - LIVE

14:19 , Oliver O'Connell

What to expect in court today:

14:00 , Rachel Sharp

The trial will resume at 9.30am ET on Thursday.

Prosecutors are likely to wrap up – or be close to wrapping up – their case in court today.

However, after a last-minute aboutface from the judge, it’s possible more witnesses will be called.

On Wednesday morning, Judge Clifton Newman first ruled that jurors could not hear testimony about the bizarre September 2021 roadside shooting – which later turned out to be a botched hitman plot.

Then, at the end of the day’s proceedings, the judge reversed course, saying the defence had opened the door to testimony about the plot itself.

Now, prosecutors may seek to call witnesses about the roadside shooting, which they argue shows a pattern of Mr Murdaugh creating violence in order to make himself a victim.

One of the main witnesses in this line of evidence is Curtis Eddie Smith – his alleged co-conspirator in the plot.

Will Curtis ‘Cousin Eddie’ Smith testify today?

13:45 , Rachel Sharp

Yet again... that’s the question on everyone’s lips.

Curtis “Eddie” Smith is a former law firm client, distant cousin and allegedly drug dealer of Alex Murdaugh – and the man he allegedly conspired with in the bizarre botched hitman plot.

On 4 September 2021 – three months on from the 7 June 2021 murders of Maggie and Paul – the disgraced attorney was ambushed in what he initially claimed was a drive-by shooting along a road in Hampton County.

His story soon unravelled and he confessed to law enforcement that he had orchestrated the saga, paying Mr Smith to shoot and kill him in an assisted suicide plot so that his surviving son Buster could get a $10m life insurance windfall.

On Wednesday morning, Judge Clifton Newman heard arguments from both the prosecution and the defence about whether evidence on the roadside shooting is admissible at trial.

He ruled in favour of the defence, deciding that jurors cannot hear testimony about the plot.

But then at the close of the day’s proceedings, Judge Newman reversed course, saying the defence opened the door to testimony about the plot as they brought it up in their questioning of SLED lead investigator David Owen.

Now, the question remains whether the prosecution will call Mr Smith to testify as it wraps up its case.

Mr Smith is listed as a state witness but it is unclear if they will put him on the stand.

On Tuesday, prosecutor Creighton Waters said that while he is on the witness list “I didn’t say we would be calling him.”

Defence attorney Dick Harpootlian laughed and said “the cross-examination of Mr Smith is something I’m looking forward to”.

New Alex Murdaugh police interview exposes wild inconsistencies in his alibi and witness accounts

13:30 , Rachel Sharp

Dramatic footage has revealed Alex Murdaugh being confronted by law enforcement about wild inconsistencies in his alibi in a police interview two months on from the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul.

Footage of the 11 August 2021 interview with Mr Murdaugh was played in court on Wednesday as the prosecution nears the end of its case in the disgraced legal scion’s double murder trial in Colleton County, South Carolina.

In the interview, which has never been seen before, the discrepancies between Mr Murdaugh’s version of events on the night of 7 June 2021 and the trove of evidence and witness testimony revealed at his murder trial was laid bare.

Among the inconsistencies were: how long Mr Murdaugh spent at his mother’s home that night; whether or not he went to the dog kennels; the different clothes he was wearing; the timeline of when he was at his law firm; and the reason Maggie had gone to the family estate that day.

“It wasn’t one inconsistency. It was several inconsistencies within a period of time that were repeated,” SLED Special Agent David Owen testified, adding that Mr Murdaugh was “the only known suspect at that time”.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp delves into the many inconsistencies:

Alex Murdaugh police interview exposes wild inconsistencies in alibi

Moment Alex Murdaugh is asked: ‘Did you kill your wife and son?'

13:15 , Rachel Sharp

Dramatic footage has revealed the moment Alex Murdaugh was asked by law enforcement for the first time if he had murdered his wife Maggie and son Paul two months after they were found shot dead on the family estate.

Footage of the 11 August 2021 interview with Mr Murdaugh was played in court on Wednesday as the prosecution nears the end of its case in the disgraced legal scion’s double murder trial in Colleton County, South Carolina.

Near the end of the interview, SLED special agent David Owen told Mr Murdaugh he had “a few more questions”.

He then confronted him about the murders.

“Did you kill Maggie?” he asked.

Mr Murdaugh replied: “No. Did I kill my wife? No, David.”

When the agent asked “do you know who did?”, Mr Murdaugh said: “No, I do not know who did.”

“Did you kill Paul?” Agent Owen continued.

“No, I did not kill Paul,” Mr Murdaugh said.

He again said that he did not know who had killed his son, before asking the officer: “Do you think I killed Maggie?”

“I have to go where the evidence and the facts take me,” Agent Owen said.

Mr Murdaugh replied: “I understand that. And you think I killed Paul?”

Agent Owen reiterated that he has to go where the evidence and the facts take him as he told him “I don’t have anything that points to anybody else at this time”.

“So does that mean that I am a suspect?” Mr Murdaugh asked.

Alex Murdaugh was spending $50,000 a week on drug habit

13:00 , Rachel Sharp

Alex Murdaugh was spending a staggering $50,000 a week on drugs he was buying from the man accused of being his co-conspirator in a botched hitman plot, jurors heard in court on Wednesday.

Defence attorney Jim Griffin brought up Mr Murdaugh’s pricey drug habit while cross-examining SLED Special Agent David Owen, the lead investigator in the murders of Mr Murdaugh’s wife Maggie and son Paul.

Mr Griffin claimed that the disgraced attorney was buying $50,000 worth of drugs each week from Curtis Edward Smith, who in turn owed money to a local “cowboys gang”.

He grilled Agent Owen about why the members of this unidentified gang were never treated as suspects in the 7 June 2021 murders of Maggie and Paul.

The special agent previously testified that by August 2021, Mr Murdaugh was the one and only suspect in the brutal slayings.

Mr Murdaugh has previously confessed to being addicted to opioids for the last 20 years, prompting him to check into rehab in the fall of 2021.

Mr Smith, also known as “Cousin Eddie”, is Mr Murdaugh’s distant cousin, former law firm client, alleged drug dealer, and accused co-conspirator in the September 2021 botched hitman plot.

Alex Murdaugh’s bizarre botched hitman plot can be presented at murder trial, judge rules in reversal

12:45 , Rachel Sharp

Testimony about Alex Murdaugh’s bizarre botched hitman plot will be admitted as evidence in his double murder trial, the judge ruled in a reversal of his own decision hours earlier.

The move clears the way for the man accused of being Mr Murdaugh’s co-conspirator and drug dealer to take the stand.

Judge Clifton Newman made his final ruling on the matter at the end of proceedings on Wednesday afternoon in the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Alex Murdaugh’s botched hitman plot can be presented at trial, judge says in reversal

Murdaugh cries as trial hears gruesome details of wife and son’s deaths

12:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Disgraced legal scion Alex Murdaugh broke down in tears as an expert testifying in his murder trial described how his son and wife were brutalised by bullets.

On the sixteenth day of Mr Murdaugh’s double murder trial on Monday, prosecutors called forensic pathologist Dr Ellen Riemer to take the stand and explain the degree of the injuries suffered by Paul and Maggie Murdaugh when they were shot to death on the night of 7 June 2021.

Read on:

Alex Murdaugh cries as trial hears horrifying autopsy details

Will Alex Murdaugh testify at his trial?

12:15 , Oliver O'Connell

According to some reports, Alex Murdaugh will testify at his trial when the defence calls its witnesses.

Legal experts have decried the idea and called the move “a tactic of last resort”.

Andrea Blanco has the details.

Alex Murdaugh expected to testify at murder trial, reports say

Maggie Murdaugh’s sister says Alex told her wife and son didn’t suffer in horrific murders

11:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Maggie Murdaugh’s sister has revealed how Alex Murdaugh reassured her that his wife and son did not suffer when they were brutally murdered.

Taking the stand in Mr Murdaugh’s double murder trial on Tuesday, his sister-in-law Marian Proctor described comments the disgraced legal scion made following the brutal shootings of Paul and Maggie on 7 June 2021.

Andrea Blanco reports for The Independent.

Maggie Murdaugh’s sister says Alex told her wife and son didn’t suffer during murders

The story of Alex Murdaugh’s spectacular fall from grace

09:15 , Oliver O'Connell

On the surface, Alex Murdaugh had it all.

He was a high-powered attorney who ran both his own law firm and worked in the local prosecutor’s office.

He was the son of a powerful legal dynasty that dominated the local South Carolina community for almost a century.

And he was a family man who lived with his wife and two adult sons on their sprawling country estate.

But over the last 19 months, Mr Murdaugh has experienced a spectacular fall from grace, culminating in what has been described as the “trial of the century” now taking place in a courtroom in Walterboro, South Carolina.

Alex Murdaugh trial: Story of the legal scion’s spectacular fall from grace

A timeline of murders, financial fraud, unexplained deaths and arrest

07:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Disgraced legal dynasty heir Alex Murdaugh is currently on trial in a South Carolina courthouse for the murders of his wife and son.

Mr Murdaugh, 54, is accused of shooting Paul, 22, twice with a shotgun and Maggie, 52, five times with a rifle on the family’s sprawling hunting lodge in Islandton on 7 June 2021.

He was arrested more than a year later in July 2022 and charged with their murders.

In the 19 months since the brutal double murders propelled the Murdaughs onto national headlines, a series of other scandals, allegations and alleged crimes have also come to light.

Here’s a timeline of the key moments in the case:

Alex Murdaugh: A timeline of murders, financial fraud, unexplained deaths and arrest

Key revelations from the Alex Murdaugh murder trial... so far

05:15 , Oliver O'Connell

It’s a dramatic saga that now includes murder, a botched hitman plot, multi-million-dollar fraud schemes and a series of unexplained deaths.

The now-disbarred attorney denies the allegations and has pleaded not guilty.

Mr Murdaugh’s trial got underway at Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro on 23 January.

The prosecution is expected to wrap up its case this week (week of 13 February) before the defence begins its own case, where Mr Murdaugh is expected to take the stand.

Here are the key revelations from the trial so far:

‘Confession’, bloody scene and ‘clean’ shirt: Key moments from Alex Murdaugh trial

ICYMI: Maggie Murdaugh kicked Alex out of home after suspecting he had an affair

03:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Murdaugh’s past alleged extramarital affair emerged on the seventeenth day of the trial for the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul.

The prosecution sought to have new testimony from Maggie Murdaugh’s sister Marian Proctor — including details about Mr Murdaugh’s affair more than a decade ago and his opioid use — admitted in court on Tuesday. The murder trial is now in its fourth week at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.

Andrew Blanco has the details.

Maggie Murdaugh suspected Alex had an affair 15 years ago, sister tells trial

Watch: Video of Murdaugh’s interrogation played in courtroom

02:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Murdaugh’s bizarre botched hitman plot can be presented at murder trial, judge rules

01:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Testimony about Alex Murdaugh’s bizarre botched hitman plot will be admitted as evidence in his double murder trial, the judge ruled in a reversal of his own decision hours earlier.

The move clears the way for the man accused of being Mr Murdaugh’s co-conspirator and drug dealer to possibly take the stand.

Rachel Sharp has the details.

Alex Murdaugh’s bizarre botched hitman plot barred from double murder trial

New Murdaugh police interview exposes wild inconsistencies between his alibi and witness accounts

00:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Dramatic footage has revealed Alex Murdaugh being confronted by law enforcement about wild inconsistencies in his alibi in a police interview two months on from the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul.

Footage of the 11 August 2021 interview with Mr Murdaugh was played in court on Wednesday as the prosecution nears the end of its case in the disgraced legal scion’s double murder trial in Colleton County, South Carolina.

In the interview, which has never been seen before, the discrepancies between Mr Murdaugh’s version of events on the night of 7 June 2021 and the trove of evidence and witness testimony revealed at his murder trial was laid bare.

Rachel Sharp has the story.

Alex Murdaugh police interview exposes wild inconsistencies in alibi

Watch: Murdaugh asked if he killed his wife and son

Wednesday 15 February 2023 23:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Murdaugh trial shown new crime scene photos as dog caretaker describes strange state of kennels

Wednesday 15 February 2023 23:15 , Oliver O'Connell

A man who took care of the dogs at Alex Murdaugh’s property has testified about strange details in crime scene photos at the disgraced legal scion’s murder trial.

Roger Dale Davis, who handled Mr Murdaughs’ dog kennels in the sprawling property of Moselle in Islandton, South Carolina, was called by the state to testify on Tuesday at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro.

Andrea Blanco reports.

Alex Murdaugh trial shown new crime scene photos as dog caretaker testifies

Watch: Judge rules ‘roadside incident’ testimony allowed

Wednesday 15 February 2023 22:41 , Oliver O'Connell

Wednesday 15 February 2023 22:15 , Oliver O'Connell

The jury is excused for the day.

Judge Newman reverses his earlier decision and says that the defence has opened the door for all the testimony relating to the roadside shooting and Cousin Eddie.

Court is now in recess until 9.30am on Thursday.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 22:13 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Grubbs also looked at Maggie’s phone.

The phone interacted with its internal camera at 8.54pm. Minutes after the murders are thought to have taken place.

The phone recorded a “snapshot” of Facebook for the dock so people can scroll through the apps they have open in the background.

We learn again there was no orientation change of the phone.

Not entirely sure what we learned from this witness.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 22:04 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Grubbs also looked at when the phone’s backlight came on or off — i.e. when the screen came on. There are many ways in which the phone could go on and off. Touch, rotation, an app alert etc.

The screen was off between 8.49pm and 10.18pm. It comes back on again for 12 seconds, then off, and then back on at 10.20pm, again for a few seconds. The phone then died at 10.34pm.

He testified that the last text Paul received was from Rogan and went unread.

This is similar to the evidence we have heard before regarding cell phones.

Depending on the settings, a person may have seen the text from Rogan displayed on the screen. It is even possible they picked up the phone and put it back down without registering an orientation change.

New Witness: Steve Grubbs, South Carolina AG’s office

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:57 , Oliver O'Connell

The next witness is Steve Grubbs of the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office. He is an expert in internet crimes against children and deals with computer forensics.

He is asked about Paul’s phone and his battery use and charging patterns. We learn that in the week before the murders, his phone died four times — on 3 June, twice on 5 June, and once on 7 June at 10.34pm, just over 90 minutes after he was murdered.

On the first three occasions the phone was plugged in to charge minutes after it died.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:54 , Oliver O'Connell

On recross-examination, Griffin asks if suspects are supposed to help them solve crimes and Mr Owen says it helps to have information from them.

Griffin asks if he could have searched Murdaugh’s parents’ home at Almeda that night.

He said it’s a large property and wasn’t searched for a while. There was also no indication that Murdaugh was a chief suspect that night.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:51 , Oliver O'Connell

There was a bit of a confrontation between legal teams during the redirect:

Mr Owen says Murdaugh never offered Curtis Eddie Smith as someone who might hurt Paul and Maggie.

Questioning closes with pounding of the table and Mr Owen being asked if Alex ever mentioned anybody else who could have killed his wife and my son on 7 June 2021?

He replies “No.”

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:41 , Oliver O'Connell

Pushing back on what was an aggressive cross by the defence team, the prosecution focuses on the possibility that Murdaugh transported his bloodied clothes and the guns to his parents’ house in a cooler and wrapped up the blue raincoat.

Asked how long it would take to hide these things at the parents’ property, Mr Owen says it would take five minutes, but the car would still be in the drive and the data would match that.

Mr Owen says he saw a cooler by the skin shed and that the raincoat was seen by Shelly Smith 7 days after the murder, bundled up.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:33 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owen testifies that before the 4 September 2021 roadside shooting, Murdaugh never mentioned any other specific suspects for the murders of his wife and son.

He also never mentioned the drug gang or Cousin Eddie — Curtis Edward Smith.

Mr Smith was only brought up after the September roadside shooting.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:30 , Oliver O'Connell

In redirect, the prosecution is taking advantage of the defence team opening the door to the Cousin Eddie, roadside shooting incident.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:26 , Oliver O'Connell

There is a quick conclusion to cross-examination covering the muddy mark on the back of Maggie’s leg; the timing of when Mr Owen knew of the negative blood test; whether Cousin Eddie was skimming money from the drug payments; and why SLED never asked for the clothes Murdaugh was wearing earlier in the evening.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:21 , Oliver O'Connell

As court resumes, the prosecution states that they believe the questioning about how much Murdaugh was spending on drugs opened the door to the roadside shooting.

Judge Newman says that they are in the middle of cross-examination and so now is not the time. The jury is brought back in.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:07 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Newman calls an afternoon recess.

The jury is taken out.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:07 , Oliver O'Connell

Griffin brings up Murdaugh’s drug problem and informs Mr Owen that he was spending $50K per week (!!!) on drugs bought by Curtis Smith, who owed money to the gang supplying them.

SLED didn’t collect DNA from gang members and didn’t put them into the investigative “circle” as Murdaugh had been.

The defence team has brought up both a two-shooter theory and a drug gang several times during the trial in an effort to open up the possibility of other perpetrators to shed doubt on the investigation.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 21:04 , Oliver O'Connell

Griffin and Mr Owen go back and forth about the importance of establishing a timeline with Griffin arguing it didn’t matter how long Murdaugh was at his mother’s house that night as the murders had already taken place.

Mr Owen pushes back saying it was an important part of building a timeline of who was where and when.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 20:55 , Oliver O'Connell

Griffin says Mr Owen then told the grand jury the same thing.

“Were you mistaken then, or were you trying to trick the state grand jury?”

Mr Owen says he did not mislead the grand jury.

Griffin read his own testimony from the grand jury back to him in which he tells the grand jury there were shotguns at Moselle loaded with buckshot and birdshot.

Griffin states: “And that was not accurate, right.”

Owen concedes it was not.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 20:51 , Oliver O'Connell

In the video of the interview with Murdaugh, Mr Owen told him that there were other weapons found with both buckshot and birdshot in them. This, it transpires, was an investigative tool to get a response from Murdaugh.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 20:42 , Oliver O'Connell

Griffin may have established that the Colleton County grand jury may have been misled about blood spatter evidence before Murdaugh was indicted.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 20:41 , Oliver O'Connell

Griffin asks about what Mr Owen told a grand jury about the blood spatter.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 20:34 , Oliver O'Connell

Turning to the missing clothes that Murdaugh was seen wearing in the Snapchat video, Griffin aggressively asks why Mr Owen never asked for the location of those clothes.

He accuses the investigation of being too focused on the clothes Murdaugh was wearing when the first officers responded to the scene.

Griffin is arguing that the white t-shirt and other clothes would have had blood spatter on them from the murders if he had been wearing them.

Murdaugh has also claimed he checked pulses on the bodies and tried to turn over his dead son. There was no blood on the clothes from that either.

The clothes Murdaugh was wearing earlier in the evening have never been produced.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 20:26 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owen agrees that the rifle and shotgun would have gunshot residue and blood on them and would have left traces of that in any vehicle used to transport them.

He says the Suburban and the Mercedes were tested and only one particle of GSR was found on the seatbelt.

Mr Owen contends that the weapons may have been wrapped in the blue raincoat which did have GSR on the inside of it.

Shelly Smith was shown a photo of the raincoat spread out and appeared to recognise the material but could not identify it directly as she had seen it balled up.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 20:13 , Oliver O'Connell

Defence attorney Jim Griffin is questioning Mr Owen.

He says that Murdaugh was within the investigative circle from the moment he dialled 911, to which Mr Owen agrees.

Griffin states that he has not been able to get out of that circle and that is why he is on trial today.

Mr Owen states that he is sitting there because there is credible evidence keeping him in the circle.

Griffin contends that whoever killed Maggie and Paul would have two weapons they would have to get rid of and would have biological on them from the murders.

He pushes that there was no search of the Moselle property, the Almeda property, nor the route between the two, and no weapons had been found.

Griffin is pushing that the investigation was in some way incompetent. The defence has argued this before.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 20:02 , Oliver O'Connell

Asked if the investigation had found any other credible leads that led them to anyone other than Murdaugh, Mr Ownen replies that there were no credible leads.

No more questions from the state.

Cross-examination begins.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 20:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owen testifies he received the data extracted from Paul’s cell phone on 8 April 2021, and it was then that he found the 8.44pm 7 June 2021 dog kennel video that placed Murdaugh att the scene minutes before the murders.

He is asked if anyone in the world knew the video was on there except Paul who filmed it immediately before his death (before he could send it to his friend Rogan).

Mr Owen replies: “Nobody, to my knowledge.”

Wednesday 15 February 2023 19:58 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owen helps make the prosecution’s point that the financial crimes investigation into Murdaugh was intertwined with the murder investigation in that some of the same witnesses were being interviewed in both cases.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 19:54 , Oliver O'Connell

The video is stopped and Mr Owen is asked if Murdaugh was a suspect at that point (11 August 2021 — two months after the murders).

“He was the only known suspect at that time, yes.”

Mr Owen is asked whether the investigation revealed inconsistencies in what Murdaugh had told them.

He replies, yes and is asked whether that was significant to the investigation.

Mr Owen says it was.

“It wasn’t one inconsistency. It was several inconsistencies within a period of time that were repeated.”

Wednesday 15 February 2023 19:51 , Oliver O'Connell

Murdaugh is shown the Snapchat video that Paul took that evening in which he wearing different clothes and explains what he was doing trying to get the tree upright and that was why Paul was laughing at him.

He is then asked if he killed Maggie and Paul.

Court resumes after lunch

Wednesday 15 February 2023 19:28 , Oliver O'Connell

The court is back in session and the jury is seated.

Direct examination of Special Agent David Owen of SLED continues with the playing of the video of Murdaugh’s third interview with SLED in August of 2021.

Murdaugh police interview exposes wild inconsistencies between his alibi and witness accounts

Wednesday 15 February 2023 19:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Dramatic footage has revealed Alex Murdaugh being confronted by law enforcement about wild inconsistencies in his alibi in a police interview two months on from the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul.

Footage of the 11 August 2021 interview with Mr Murdaugh was played in court on Wednesday as the prosecution nears the end of its case in the disgraced legal scion’s double murder trial.

In the interview, which has never been seen before, the discrepancies between Mr Murdaugh’s version of events on the night of 7 June 2021 and the trove of evidence and witness testimony revealed at his murder trial was laid bare.

Rachel Sharp reports for The Independent.

Alex Murdaugh police interview exposes wild inconsistencies in alibi

Watch: Murdaugh asked why he changed his clothes

Wednesday 15 February 2023 18:50 , Oliver O'Connell

Murdaugh’s bizarre botched hitman plot barred from double murder trial

Wednesday 15 February 2023 18:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Testimony about Alex Murdaugh’s bizarre botched hitman plot has been excluded from his double murder trial – in a move that raises doubts that the man accused of being his co-conspirator and drug dealer will now take the stand.

Judge Clifton Newman ruled in Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, that jurors cannot hear evidence of the September 2021 roadside shooting because it is a “bridge too far” to the state’s attempt to establish motive for the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul.

Rachel Sharp reports on this morning’s decision.

Alex Murdaugh’s bizarre botched hitman plot barred from double murder trial

Court breaks for lunch

Wednesday 15 February 2023 18:08 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Newman calls the lunch break.

Testimony, and the remainder of the video interview, will resume at 2.20pm.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 18:07 , Oliver O'Connell

Again, Murdaugh returns to the idea that one of Paul or Maggie would’ve known the other had been shot.

Mr Owen says it’s impossible to know and that it would depend on how many shooters there were.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:55 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owen dismisses the “wackos on the internet” (as Mr Fleming calls it).

Mr Fleming does praise SLED for there being limited leaks about the case.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:54 , Oliver O'Connell

Murdaugh asks if there are any substantial leads.

Mr Owen says no, as the only DNA they have is from family and close friends.

There are no shoe or tire prints because of the rain, and so they are looking at the SUV and cell tower data.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:52 , Oliver O'Connell

Murdaugh looks emotionless as the video of the interview plays.

He is staring directly at the screen and is barely blinking.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:49 , Oliver O'Connell

Murdaugh sobs and asks if either of them lived after being shot and is told not long and that the shooting happened very quickly.

He then asks whether it was one, two, or three people.

The prosecution checks with Mr Owen if that was the first time Murdaugh had asked about there being multiple shooters.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:47 , Oliver O'Connell

In an especially notable moment, Mr Owen says to Murdaugh: “We’ve already established that family guns were used. And if they came from Paul’s truck, Paul’s truck was at the house. So where were they?”

Murdaugh does not push back at family guns being used, instead asking: “And how did they get down there?”

Mr Owen echoes the question.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Murdaugh says he would like to know exactly what happened.

Mr Owen says he believes Paul was shot first.

Murdaugh says he thought Maggie was shot first as she was hit in the back of the head.

Mr Owen says: “We may honestly never know who was first. But I think that it was Paul for the simple fact that if he saw his mother getting shot, he wouldn’t have run to that feed room.”

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:43 , Oliver O'Connell

Murdaugh is asked why he told the 911 dispatcher he hadn’t seen Maggie and Paul in an hour and a half to two hours.

He asks if Mr Owen thinks he is being inconsistent.

Mr Owen says he is trying to straighten out the timeline. He also queries what time Murdaugh left his office that night. That — as with many of the other answers — is inconsistent with evidence collected by SLED, much of which we have heard.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:33 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owen’s questioning jumps around.

He asks if Paul ever got physical with him. He concedes one time when he had too much to drink and that he did not get physical back.

Murdaugh is also asked what he intended to do with Paul’s cellphone when it popped out of his back pocket. He said he had picked it up and put it down.

He says he cannot recall.

Murdaugh says they had dinner for 15-20 minutes.

He says that while he didn’t see any rifles or long guns at the murder scene, Paul always had guns around everywhere of every type.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:27 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owen tells Murdaugh he is heard on the 911 tape saying: “I should have known.”

He asks what he meant by that.

“I don’t remember saying that. But I guess all of the threats. I had been convinced that it was something to do with the boat wreck and all of that.”

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:26 , Oliver O'Connell

Murdaugh is asked how he loads his shotguns and is unsure how to answer.

Mr Owen asks what kind of ammo he uses, to which he replies that he uses all kinds.

Pushed as to whether he uses birdshot and buckshot at the same time, he says “not normally”.

Mr Owen says there was consistency between how several guns were loaded in that way including the one he had with him with police arrived.

“That night I grabbed the shells I could get my hands on,” he says.

In further questions about ammunition, he is told that 300 Blackout cartridges were found all over the property and were confirmed matches to the ones found by Maggie.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:16 , Oliver O'Connell

Murdaugh is asked whether the dogs were running free when he returned home that night.

In the video, we know that at least one of the dogs was out because it caught a chicken as we can hear Maggie exclaiming.

On the 911 call, Murdaugh at one point says “here” as if he is calling a dog that is running around.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:10 , Oliver O'Connell

When asked about the video that Paul filmed of the dog he is told that Rogan identified his voice. Murdaugh maintains that he was not at the kennels that night when the video was filmed.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:05 , Oliver O'Connell

Murdaugh is asked about the dog with an injured tail (Cash) that Paul was looking after for his friend.

He says that he had a conversation with Rogan about the dog, not Paul.

Murdaugh says Maggie may have walked down to the kennel that night, but it would have been highly unlikely Paul would have.

He says he hoped that SLED would be able to tell him how they got down to the kennels.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 17:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Murdaugh is then asked how long he stayed at his mother’s house.

He claims he was there for 45 minutes to an hour.

We know from Shelley Smith, his mother’s carer, and the data extracted from his car that he was there for 21 minutes.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 16:58 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owens asks Murdaugh about the Snapchat video on Paul’s phone showing him with the tree and how he was wearing different clothes to what he was wearing when officers arrived on the scene of the murders.

Murdaugh is asked when he changed his clothes. He gives an evasive answer saying he would’ve thought he changed early but then says he guesses he changed when he got back to the house.

He is then asked why if Maggie was supposed to go with him to his mother’s house he had not gone to find her when she didn’t answer his message.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 16:51 , Oliver O'Connell

In describing his day, Murdaugh says he and Paul got to Moselle around the same time. He cries as he tells Mr Owen about riding around with Paul that day.

Murdaugh says they rode around the farm for a couple of hours and Paul was worried about the sunflowers.

When asked, he doesn’t remember any rifles being in the trucks they used, but there were pistols.

When he talked about Maggie coming to the house, Murdaugh says she wasn’t supposed to be there but had come because she was worried about him being worried about his father, who was gravely ill.

He says she was supposed to be staying at the beach house at Edisto as they had work going on there.

Murdaugh says she had told him earlier that she was coming but he only recently found out the reason why.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 16:44 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Fleming appears confrontational at the beginning of the interview trying to establish whether SLED considers Murdaugh a suspect or whether they will be updating him on progress in the investigation.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 16:36 , Oliver O'Connell

The jury returns and Mr Owen confirms that Murdaugh was interviewed voluntarily.

He confirms that Cory Fleming, a lawyer and friend of Murdaugh’s, was also present for the interview.

The video is played for the court.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 16:20 , Oliver O'Connell

A third interview with Murdaugh was conducted on 11 August 2021 at the SLED office in Walterboro.

Before the recording of the interview is played, the just is excused for a short break.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 16:19 , Oliver O'Connell

In late July, Murdaugh asked if could get his SUV back and was told no.

He was allowed to retrieve belongings from vehicle. They arranged to meet for another interview after Murdaugh had been away on vacation with Maggie’s family.

Mr Own says multiple DNA swabs were taken from anyone at the house on the night of the murders and anyone connected to the boat case.

The boat case was brought up by Murdaugh on three separate occasions on the night of the murders (on the 911 call, to the responding officer, in his first interview) and so it was deemed relevant.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 16:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owen recalls the extraction of Murdaugh’s phone on 10 June (as we heard in earlier testimony) and then he verified that Maggie had been to the doctor in Charleston on the day of the murders and was wearing the same clothes when she was killed. There was nothing unusual about the visit.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 16:05 , Oliver O'Connell

A second interview with Murdaugh was arranged for 10 June, while his memories of the night were still fresh.

Murdaugh was clear that he had not gone to the kennels on the night of the murders. He was also clear about visiting his mother in Almeda and coming back that night.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 16:03 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owen testifies about how they had interviewed Paul’s friend Rogan Gibson early on 8 June and learned that Mr Gibson was 99 per cent certain he had heard Murdaugh n the background of his call with Paul that evening.

This was an early sign of an inconsistency in Murdaugh’s account of the night.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 16:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owen interviewed CB Rowe who worked at the property when he arrived there.

Murdaugh had told Mr Owen the wild story of Mr Rowe being a killer for the FBI and it had piqued his interest.

Mr Rowe had an alibi in that he had taken his father to the doctor at Mt Pleasant and had not been to Moselle Road that day.

Here’s what Murdaugh told officers about Mr Rowe:

Alex Murdaugh told police story of farmhand claiming to kill Black Panthers

Wednesday 15 February 2023 15:55 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owen took custody of Paul’s phone which we are reminded was resting on his rear end, having popped out of his back pocket allegedly when Murdaugh tried to turn him over.

He stayed until about 9am the next morning.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 15:53 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owen testifies that there was no sign of forced entry, a fight, or any altercation at the Moselle Road house.

Among the eight to ten people present at the house were some of Paul’s friends, including Nolan Tuten, whose borther Nathan testified earlier.

Mr Owen interviewed him.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 15:48 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owen unpacks Murdaugh’s clothes from the night and shows them to the court.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 15:47 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Owen says he arrived at the Murdaughs’ Moselle Road property around midnight on the night of the murders. He was told Murdaugh was with a group of family and work associates.

He was made the lead on the case about half an hour after arriving.

Mr Owen says it was paramount that he speak with Murdaugh to try to determine what he knew and saw, and what was going on in their lives before the murders.

He described Murdaugh as distraught and not under the influence of any intoxicants. Murdaugh cooperated when asked for his clothes and went up to the primary bedroom and disrobed so they could be taken into evidence.

New Witness: Special Agent David Owen, SLED

Wednesday 15 February 2023 15:29 , Oliver O'Connell

The jury is in place and the next witness is called: Special Agent David Owen of SLED.

He has been with SLED since 2015 covering the low-country region of 12 counties.

He was the lead agent in the murders of Maggie and Paul.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 15:20 , Oliver O'Connell

The jury will be brought into court soon and testimony will recommence. We are in the final stages of the prosecution’s case.

Following the earlier dismissal of two jurors who contracted Covid, the entire panel has been tested this morning and come back with negative results for all.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 14:54 , Oliver O'Connell

Judge Clifton Newman rules the roadside shooting evidence is not admissible.

“The financial evidence was allowed on the issue of motive. This evidence, I find, goes beyond motive or is not evidence of motive, but more toward common scheme or plan.”

He added: “It does not survive the logical relevancy test. And it goes more toward showing propensity to commit violent acts, which would cause it not to survive (Rule) 403 analysis. I believe that to allow this evidence is a bridge too far.”

Judge Newman concedes that this could change as the trial progresses.

This is a rare win for the defence.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 14:51 , Oliver O'Connell

Waters counters that the state’s focus is not the shooting itself. It’s about how Murdaugh lied about it and made it seem like he was the victim of a drive-by shooting by an unknown assailant.

Their case is that it is part of a pattern of self-victimising.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 14:48 , Oliver O'Connell

Defence attorney Dick Harpootlian argues that the roadside shooting does not show evidence of any guilt regarding the murders of Maggie and Paul but is instead directly linked to his financial crimes.

Harpootlian reminds the judge that we are here to try a murder.

Wednesday 15 February 2023 14:46 , Oliver O'Connell

Prosecution attorney Creighton Waters says that if the judge allows the roadside hit to be entered as evidence they will limit themselves to what the defendant has said about the events of that day.

Waters says it shows Murdaugh’s “consciousness of guilt” and is relevant as it mirrors the reaction to the murders of Maggie and Paul and caused many to believe that the real killers were back and now targeting Alex — as Marian Proctor testified.

“We’re not here to try to litigate what happened on the side of the road in its entirety,” Waters said. "It would be a very focused presentation just to get from Point A to Point B."

He says it would take an hour for a law enforcement officer to explain what Murdaugh said.