WALTERBORO, S.C. — After 17 days of testimony from 60 different witnesses, the prosecution of Alex Murdaugh rested Friday.
Moments later, Murdaugh’s defense team called the first witnesses of their own.
The team led by attorneys Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian have sought to poke holes in the state’s case that Murdaugh murdered his wife Maggie and son Paul at the family’s rural Colleton County home on June 7, 2021, at times aggressively questioning the witnesses called by prosecutors.
On Friday afternoon, they presented the first pair of witnesses of their own, seeking to discredit the state’s case and sow doubt in the minds of the jurors.
Both of the defense’s first witnesses were Colleton County officials: Coroner Richard Harvey and Shalene Tindal, public information officer with the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office.
Harvey testified that he examined the bodies of Paul and Maggie shortly after his arrival at the home at 11:04 p.m. the night of the murders. He said he estimated the time of death as between one to three hours earlier, based on a rough estimate he reached measuring the deceased’s body temperature by sticking his fingers in their armpits.
“The only other choice is to use a rectal thermometer, and I’m not going to pull someone’s pants down with all those people around,” Harvey said.
The state has argued Murdaugh killed his wife and son sometime after 8:49 p.m., when both of their cellphones went silent, and 9:07 p.m., when Murdaugh left to visit his mother. Harvey’s estimate could push the time of death as late as 10 p.m., well after Murdaugh left the house. He called 911 to report finding their dead bodies by the home’s dog kennels at 10:06 p.m.
Prosecutors point at that Harvey’s touch method is less accurate than measuring body temperature with a thermometer.
The second witness, Tindal, was called to testify about a statement her office put out the day after the murder, saying there was “no danger to the public.” Tindal said she coordinated that statement with the S.C. Law Enforcement Division, but said subsequent statements did not revise the initial assessment of the public danger.
The defense has questioned investigators about whether they ever seriously considered suspects other than the disbarred Lowcountry attorney, and have pointed to the quick statement as proof.
Friday’s witnesses were the beginning of the defense’s last-ditch effort to convince jurors Murdaugh is innocent of the crime. Harpootlian estimated at the end of proceedings Friday that his next witness would require a lengthy questioning and potential cross-examination, and would be better delayed until next week.
Court will resume Tuesday after the Presidents Day holiday, the fifth week of the double-murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse.
