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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Oliver O'Connell,Rachel Sharp and Maroosha Muzaffar

Alex Murdaugh trial – live: Defence begins double murder case with disgraced attorney expected to take stand

AP

Alex Murdaugh’s wife and son discovered ‘bags of pills’ one month before murders

The defence has begun its case in Alex Murdaugh’s double-murder trial, with the disgraced legal scion expected to take the witness stand sometime this week.

After a day’s break for President’s Day on Monday, Mr Murdaugh’s legal team will resume its fight to prove his innocence of the brutal shooting deaths of his wife Maggie and son Paul.

Jurors have so far heard four weeks of dramatic testimony from 61 witnesses for the prosecution, culminating on Friday with a detailed timeline piecing together the final movements of the two victims – and the movements of their accused killer.

Among the revelations in the 88-page timeline was an internet search on Murdaugh’s phone for restaurant minutes after he called 911 about finding his wife and son’s bodies.

Other revelations included Murdaugh’s plea for money from his bank manager days before the murders; that victims Maggie and Paul had discovered his stash of opioids; and that he called 911 only 20 seconds after allegedly discovering their bodies — having previously claimed he checked their pulses and tried turning Paul over.

The jury also heard about the “roadside shooting” in which Murdaugh confessed to orchestrating a purported botched assassination plot targeting himself.

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