Feb 28 (Reuters) - Jurors in the murder trial of disbarred South Carolina lawyer Richard "Alex" Murdaugh will visit the family estate where prosecutors said he gunned down his wife and youngest son, the judge ruled on Monday.
Murdaugh's lawyer Dick Harpootlian asked Judge Clifton Newman to allow the jurors to visit the crime scene "to get some understanding of spatial relationships" at the dog kennels where the murders took place on the evening of June 7, 2021.Newman granted the surprise request, over an objection from the prosecution, as the trial entered its sixth week. Newman said he would arrange a "jury view" of the Moselle estate following the testimony from four or five rebuttal witnesses for the prosecution scheduled for Tuesday.The case has drawn intense media coverage, given the political influence of the Murdaugh legal family in South Carolina. Murdaugh, the scion of the family, was indicted by a grand jury in July and pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon. He faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted.
MURDAUGH'S TESTIMONY
Murdaugh on the witness stand last week testified that he had lied about his whereabouts on the night his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, were killed but said he had nothing to do with their deaths. Investigators said Paul was gunned down in the feed room near the kennels, and his mother killed nearby.
