The photo was visible on one of the prosecution’s computer screens during the state’s closing arguments.
The judge in Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial blasted the courtroom gallery on Friday after a spectator allegedly leaked gruesome autopsy photos not meant for public viewing. Judge Clifford Newman issued a warning against sharing them after the grisly autopsy images of Maggie and Paul’s bodies were mistakenly shown during the trial.
The photos mistakenly appeared on one of the many trial livestreams when a member of the prosecution’s team flashed the images up on his computer while questioning pathologist Dr. Ellen Riemer. This came as Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of the 2021 grisly double murder of his wife Maggie and Paul Murdaugh and was sentenced to life on Friday.
Blasting the courtroom, Newman also compared the situation to that of Vanessa Bryant, the widow of Kobe Bryant, who filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles authorities for allegedly releasing photos of the helicopter crash that claimed the lives of her husband and daughter.
After handing down Alex Murdaugh with two consecutive life terms in 2021 for the deaths of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, Newman addressed the images.
« There is a complaint now regarding the posting of autopsy photographs, they came from within the courtroom, based on the direction of the photographs, » Newman said.
The graphic photo shows Maggie Murdaugh dead and with an entrance wound just below her left ear.
« It did not come from the audience, it came somehow from within the well of the court, » Newman said.
« Of course one of the reasons that we’ve sought to seal graphic photos is because the parties have the right to privacy and a right to those matters not being publicly disclosed.
