Jurors in Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial will go on a field trip to Moselle, South Carolina, the sprawling hunting estate where Paul and Maggie Murdaugh were shot to death, a judge ruled Monday.
The visit to the 1,700-acre property in Islandton, South Carolina, came at the request of the defense team at the tail end of the trial.
"We believe it would be useful for the jury to visit Moselle, both the area of the kennels and the house, just to get some understanding of the spatial relationships," attorney Dick Harpootlian told Judge Clifton Newman before the jury entered the Colleton County courtroom.
Newman granted the request but did not specify when the approximately 20-minute drive there would take place.
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Harpootlian also complained that dozens of trespassers went to the property over the weekend "to take selfies in front of the feed room," and the sheriff had to be called to chase the gawkers away. He asked that the scene be secured for the visit.
Murdaugh is accused of fatally shooting his son Paul, 22, with a shotgun and his wife Maggie, 52, with a rifle near the dog kennels at the family's hunting estate.
After the jury returned to the courtroom Monday, the defense called Dr. Jonathan Eisenstat, a forensic pathologist, as their 12th witness.
Eisenstat testified that Paul was shot at close-range in the back of the head, disagreeing with the state's pathologist, Dr. Ellen Riemer.
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She testified that Paul was shot at a dramatic upward trajectory with pellets grazing his left shoulder before entering his neck and blowing his brain from his skull, which landed near his feet.
Eisenstat, however, called Paul's injury a "textbook" case of a contact shotgun wound to the skull – but Riemer, who conducted the autopsy, didn't shave his head, which could have shown stippling to prove this.
"The person holding that gun, would they be subject to being covered in [biological] material?" asked Harpootlian of back spatter.
"Yes, in a very forceful way, yes," Eisenstat replied. Investigators did not find evidence that Murdaugh had back spatter on him after the shootings.
During the graphic testimony that included gruesome autopsy photos, Murdaugh sobbed and dabbed his eyes with a tissue.
Murdaugh's team is expected to call two more witnesses Monday then rest their case.
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Assistant Attorney General Creighton Waters said he expected to have at least four rebuttal witnesses and wrap up their case by Tuesday afternoon. Closing arguments could be as early as Wednesday.
Monday marked the sixth week of the live-streamed trial that has mapped out the spectacular downfall of the powerful scion of a legal dynasty that was once seen as untouchable in South Carolina's Lowcountry.
Murdaugh repeatedly told jurors that he had nothing to do with the slayings of his wife and son when he took the stand in his own defense on Thursday.
"Mr. Murdaugh, are you a family annihilator?" Waters asked Friday during a brutal nine-hour cross-examination that spanned two days.
"No, I would never hurt Maggie. I would never hurt Paul," he responded.
Waters portrayed Murdaugh as a pill-addled, serial liar who was on the verge of a devastating financial reckoning.
He hammered the disbarred attorney about his ever-changing account of the night of the murders – including initially claiming he was not with his wife and son in the minutes before they were fatally shot until investigators found a video that contradicted his alibi.
A video found on Paul's phone placed Murdaugh at the scene at 8:45 p.m. Prosecutors say both victims were shot to death with family weapons at about 8:50 p.m.
"The second that you're confronted with facts that you can't deny, you immediately come up with a new lie?" Waters challenged Murdaugh. "Isn't that correct?"
"Mr. Waters, as we have established, I have lied many times," Murdaugh replied.
