Trial for murder of Alex Murdaugh begins with evidence of cellphones and bullets.

After a prolonged period of speculation, the prosecution presented their evidence on Wednesday that Alex Murdaugh was responsible for the murder of his wife and son, as the trial for the double murder case involving the South Carolina attorney began.

According to prosecutor Creighton Waters, gunshot residue was found on a seatbelt, bullets retrieved from the bodies matched ammunition boxes found in the home, and cellphones were never used again just minutes after Murdaugh, his wife and son were heard in a cellphone video.

Waters stated, “It’s complicated. It’s a journey. There’s a lot of aspects to this case,” He went on to say, “But like a lot of things that are complicated, we start to put them all together, piecing together like a puzzle — all the sudden, a picture emerges.”

However, the defense lawyer argued that the prosecution had incorrectly focused on Murdaugh's guilt from the start and had been trying to fit bits of evidence, which can be explained away or leave an incomplete picture, into a story that frames the wrong man."
"The defense lawyer, Dick Harpootlian, argued that there is no direct evidence linking Alex Murdaugh to the crime. He stated, “There’s no direct evidence. There’s no eyewitnesses. There’s nothing on camera. There’s no fingerprints. There’s no forensics tying him to the crime. None.”

The prosecution began the trial with a graphic description of the crime scene, where the bodies of Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and her son, Paul, 22, were found shot with at least one bullet to the head by two different guns. The prosecutor, Creighton Waters, pointed to Paul Murdaugh’s head and called it “catastrophic damage.”

Harpootlian added more gruesome details, such as how the shotgun blast that killed Paul Murdaugh was so close to his head that his brain exploded from his skull and was found at his feet. Alex Murdaugh started crying when his lawyer discussed this detail.

The defense lawyer also stated that the relationship between Alex, Maggie and Paul was loving and that the prosecution had incorrectly locked in on Murdaugh's guilt from the start and has spent all that time trying to jam bits of evidence that can be explained away or leave an incomplete picture into a story that frames the wrong man.

The trial is expected to last for three weeks at the Colleton County Courthouse. Both sides finished picking a 12-person jury with six alternates on Wednesday.

Alex Murdaugh, 54, is standing trial on two counts of murder and if convicted, he faces 30 years to life in prison.

This trial marks the end of a dramatic downfall for Alex Murdaugh, whose family has dominated the legal system in the small neighboring Hampton County for generations, both as prosecutors and private attorneys known for getting life-changing settlements for accidents and negligence cases.
Alex Murdaugh, who is facing murder charges for the deaths of his wife and son, also faces an additional 100 charges related to other crimes including money laundering, theft of millions from clients and his family's law firm, tax evasion and an attempted murder-for-hire plot in which he tried to get a man to shoot him so his remaining son could collect a $10 million life insurance policy. He was being held without bail on these charges before being charged with murder.

Before Wednesday, prosecutors had not released much information about their case. In their opening statement, they presented a timeline of what they believe occurred on June 7, 2021, at the Murdaughs' house and near the dog kennels on their 1,300-acre hunting property.

According to the prosecutor, Murdaugh told investigators that he had never been to the kennels before finding his wife and son's bodies near them after spending an hour away from the home to check on his mother, who has dementia. The prosecution also presented evidence from a video on Paul Murdaugh's cellphone which reportedly captured the voices of Murdaugh, his wife, and son. The prosecution claims that less than five minutes after this video was recorded, Paul Murdaugh's phone was no longer in use and that Maggie Murdaugh's phone "locked forever" about 30 seconds later.

The prosecution also argued that ammunition cartridges found near Maggie Murdaugh's body matched markings on cartridges found at a range on the property and other locations. These cartridges were used in a type of automatic rifle that Alex Murdaugh had purchased but could not be accounted for, according to the prosecution. Additionally, the prosecution claimed that powder and residue left behind from a gun were found in several places where Alex Murdaugh had also been.

However, the defense attorney argued that the prosecution was cherry-picking evidence to make Murdaugh appear guilty and ignoring any evidence that did not fit their theory that he was responsible for the murders. The defense attorney argued that the residue came from when Murdaugh picked up a shotgun after checking his wife and son for signs of life and calling 911 in case their killers were still on his property.

The defense attorney also pointed to evidence from Maggie Murdaugh's cellphone, which was located the next day with the help of a code provided by Murdaugh, showing that it had been discarded on the side of the road off the property at the same time that Alex Murdaugh's phone showed he started his truck just outside his home.

The defense attorney argued that investigators had ignored all other suspects and scenarios in the case and that they did not know why the murders had occurred. "We don’t know why. He doesn’t know why," the defense attorney said, gesturing towards the prosecutor, "He’s got theories of this and theories of that."

At the end of the day, Alex Murdaugh shook hands with his attorney and then looked back at his remaining son and brother who were seated behind him. He smiled and pointed at them before walking to the side door of the courtroom where he will be taken to the Colleton County jail where he is being held during his trial.