A South Carolina judge on Wednesday declined a request to limit questions prosecutors can ask Alex Murdaugh, a once-wealthy and powerful attorney on trial for the murders of his wife and son.
"I am not going to issue an order in advance limiting the scope of cross-examination," Judge Clifton Newman said, adding that objections would be addressed as they come up.
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Specifically, Murdaugh's defense team wanted to prohibit prosecutors from asking about Murdaugh's financial status at the time of the killings should he choose to testify in his own defense. The state argued that the questions are fair game because it goes toward motive in what is shaping up to be a gripping trial that has captured much of the nation's attention.
Prosecutors said Murdaugh, who belongs to a powerful Southern family that has dominated the legal landscape for more than a century, killed his wife, Maggie, and his son, Paul, in a desperate attempt to hide his financial crimes, which included swindling clients out of millions of dollars.
The two were killed on June 7, 2021, near the kennels on the family's sprawling 1,772-acre Colleton County hunting estate. The mother and son were found in a pool of their own blood, the latter dying from two shotgun blasts and Murdaugh's wife being killed by multiple rifle shots.
Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty, and his team of attorneys has said the 54-year-old looked forward to clearing his name.
They have argued that Murdaugh had neither the motive, prowess, or time to execute his wife and son. They have also pointed to videos shot on Paul Murdaugh's cellphone that showed the family bonding.
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The prosecution, which rested its case on Friday, also pointed to footage found on Paul Murdaugh's phone that was taken minutes before he died in which multiple witnesses testified hearing the elder Murdaugh's voice despite Alex Murdaugh claiming he was nowhere near the scene. A Snapchat video also taken by Paul Murdaugh showed his father wearing a different set of clothing than the clothes he was found in by authorities on the night of the murders. The first set of clothing has never been found, and the second set was "freshly laundered" with no blood on them, according to witness testimony. That's problematic because Alex Murdaugh claimed he checked his wife's and his son's bodies for signs of life and would have likely gotten blood on his clothing.
The defense called Alex Murdaugh's other son, Buster, to testify on his father's behalf. The 26-year-old took the stand on Tuesday and said his father was "heartbroken," adding that he had been crying and could hardly form sentences when he saw him.
"He was destroyed," he said.
On Wednesday, Alex Murdaugh's law partner testified that more than 24 people who weren't tied to law enforcement or first responders had trampled through the crime scene before South Carolina investigators arrived.
Mark Ball also claimed that Alex Murdaugh, other lawyers, and friends who had gathered on the grounds were all sent back to the family home before authorities had done a sweep of it, possibly contaminating evidence and risking their safety.
"This is a pretty big farm, and I don't know who is over there," he said. "Two people have been gunned down. Safety is one concern. Is the house part of what has gone on here? Where does the crime scene start and stop?"
During cross-examination, Ball admitted that Alex Murdaugh had lied to authorities about where he was before the killings and about lack of concern for his wife and his other son's safety following the double homicide. Ball also testified about Alex Murdaugh stealing millions from the family law firm but added he didn't think that the financial free fall he was in had anything to do with the double murders because Alex Murdaugh had resigned from the firm the day before.
If Alex Murdaugh is found guilty of murder, South Carolina law mandates he is sentenced to at least 30 years in prison. Prosecutors have passed on seeking the death penalty and are instead pushing for a life sentence.
The investigation into the Murdaugh murders has shed light on three previous deaths linked to the family, though no one has been charged in those cases. Alex Murdaugh has been accused in a separate case of creating an elaborate scheme that included staging his own suicide to look like murder after leaving the law firm his great-grandfather had established 100 years ago.
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Alex Murdaugh's trial attorney, Dick Harpootlian, a Democratic state senator, has generated his own headlines for antics in the courtroom. He has asked a journalist if she was the "alter sexual ego" of her blog's founder and on Tuesday aimed a rife at prosecutors and joked that it was "tempting."