Alex Murdaugh Murder Trial Update: Jurors Will Visit Moselle Ranch Crime Scene Where His Wife & Son Were Shot To Death
Feb. 27 2023, Published 6:00 p.m. ET
The South Carolina jury tasked with deciding if Alex Murdaugh murdered his wife and son will visit the crime scene at the family's private hunting ranch, Moselle, where Maggie and Paul were killed, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Alex, 64, is accused of fatally shooting Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, on June 7, 2021. The prosecution claimed the once-prominent lawyer's motive was to deflect from the financial crimes he was accused of and that he "manufactured an alibi."
During his testimony last week, Alex claimed his son was made a target after he was charged in a 2019 boat crash that killed Mallory Beach, 19.
Jurors will now get to walk the property and see the dog kennels where Paul and Maggie's bodies were found.
On Monday, Judge Clifton Newman ruled that the jury could take a trip to Moselle before entering deliberation.
Alex's defense lawyers requested the visit so the jurors could see the dog kennel area and the feed room where Paul was believed to be standing when the first fatal shot was discharged.
Lead defense attorney Dick Harpootlian insisted that the trip had significant meaning — and could help the disbarred attorney walk free.
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Alex and Dick Harpootlian.
Harpootlian requested the court grant the jurors' Moselle visit so that they could see firsthand "how small the feed room is" and "where the feed room is compared to Maggie’s body."
Expert witnesses called by the defense previously testified on crime scene forensics and alleged that the shooter(s) was petite in stature, compared to Alex's daunting height at 6-foot-4 inches.
"You just can't really appreciate the spatial issues without really seeing them," the defense attorney said of visiting the property.
Judge Clifton Newman
The prosecution team attempted to block the visit, arguing that a visit to Moselle was irrelevant and could confuse jurors since the crime occurred 20 months ago and now looked different from the 2021 attack.
Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters pointed to trees between the main house at Moselle and the dog kennels, which had grown taller since the double homicide.
Additionally, a visit to the changed landscape could hinder one of the prosecution team's lead arguments.
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The prosecution claimed that Alex — who walked back his initial statement to investigators and admitted that he lied about being at the property around the time the shootings took place — would have heard the fatal shots from the main house, which sat just 1,100 feet away from the crime scene.
"If anything, that would require additional testimony because the scene is different," Waters told the judge about how the visit could disrupt the prosecution's arguments. Despite Waters' apprehension, Judge Newman agreed to the trip.
Only jurors, lawyers, and the police will be prohibited to visit Moselle. A date for the field trip was not released.
