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The jury begin deliberating Thursday in the double murder trial of former South Carolina attorney Richard “Alex” Murdaugh.
The case went to the jury after the judge gave detailed instructions on the law and attorneys for the defense and prosecution delivered their final remarks.
Before defense attorney Jim Griffin began his closing argument, South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman removed one of the jurors for talking about the case with other people, violating his daily instructions to the jury. The juror was replaced with an alternate.
“I’m not suggesting that you intentionally did anything wrong, but in order to preserve the integrity of the process and in fairness to all the parties involved we’re going to replace you with one of the other jurors,” Newman said.
Five jurors have had to be replaced during the six-week trial, leaving the jury with just one alternate.
The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office is seeking life in prison if Murdaugh, 54, is convicted in the killings of his wife, 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh, and son Paul Murdaugh. Regardless of the outcome, Murdaugh remains jailed on $7 million bond on theothercharges he faces.
Murdaugh’s defense:Here are some potential strategies for Alex Murdaugh’s defense team in double murder trial Prosecution urges jury to evaluate ‘credibility’ and ‘believability,’ emphasizes Murdaugh’s lies
Attorney John Meadors urged jurors to use their life experiences to evaluate “credibility” and “believability” in this case.
Meadors told the jury that the state does not have to prove motive but reiterated that Murdaugh’s world was «collapsing» before the killings.
Meadors rehashed testimony about a blue, poncho-like raincoat found at Murdaugh’s parent’s home which had gunshot residue on it and Murdaugh changing clothes day the of the killings. He argued Murdaugh went to visit his mother to hide the guns used in the killings and used the raincoat to do so.
“That’s great circumstantial evidence that kind of morphs into direct evidence,” he said.
Meadors said that although Murdaugh claimed he checked the bodies of his wife and son, those who saw Murdaugh in the minutes and hours after the killings said «he was clean,» indicating that he «washed up.»
He said it’s “offensive” that the defense would claim law enforcement didn’t do a sufficient job when Murdaugh repeatedly lied to investigators about his whereabouts the night of the killings. Meadors argued Murdaugh would not have admitted to lying unless the video placing him at the scene was found.
