SC jury seated in Alex Murdaugh murder trial. Now, attorneys go to work

After three days of jury selection, the final panel was whittled down Wednesday to the 12 men and women who will judge Alex Murdaugh, accused of fatally shooting his wife and son in June 2021.

Eight of the 12 jurors are women and four are men. The majority of the jurors are white, and two are Black.

Six alternate jurors also were chosen and sworn in. Of the six, two are women and four are men. The alternates are evenly split, with three Black and three white alternates. Combined, the total of 18 jurors all appeared to range in age from the 20s to the late 50s.

Over three days, Judge Clifton Newman and the attorneys on both sides reduced more than 200 potential jurors from across Colleton County to a panel of 80. Tension among the jurors seemed to grow as the pool got smaller, by noon Wednesday the sighs of relief were audible as jurors were excused before the final panel.

But there was one more juror to be excused before the final selection in one of the most hotly anticipated trials in South Carolina history. When court resumed shortly after noon, Newman dismissed a potential juror who reported having a cough after the judge had asked if anyone might have COVID..

The court then moved directly into peremptory strikes. Both the defense and prosecution huddled for a tense fifteen minutes, pouring over spreadsheets of jurors with the focus of generals reviewing battles plans.

Of the remaining 79 jurors, 27 jurors were called up, one at a time. Nine were ultimately struck from the jury.

Prosecutors exercised three of their peremptory strikes. One of the strikes was for an elderly juror who had struggled to hear the Court Clerk Becky Hill’s instructions throughout jury selection. The defense used six of its peremptory strikes. Among the jurors they removed was a disinterested man and a middle aged woman.

During one long deliberation, Murdaugh could be seen nodding vigorously before his team ultimately agreed to seat a juror.

At 1:13 p.m. the jurors raised their right hands and and took an ancient oath to “well and truly try, and true deliverance make” in arriving at a fair verdict. The jury then sat.

Jurors were to hear opening statements and testimony in the long-awaited double-murder trial. Attorneys on both side have said that they will be ready for opening statements at 3 p.m.

The trial is the latest and most climactic event in an 18-month saga of violent death, multi million-dollar financial scandals involving South Carolina’s law and banking professions and the downfall of a powerful four-generation Lowcountry political, legal and social dynasty: the Murdaugh family.

“This case is expected to go three weeks,” Newman announced earlier this week.

A case for the Murdaugh jury to decide

For 18 months, the story’s surprising twists and turns have captivated the state and nation.

Reporters from across the country descended on Walterboro, population 5,400, for the trial.

Murdaugh, 54, a disbarred lawyer, is charged with killing his wife, Maggie, 52, and son, Paul, 22, on the evening of June 7, 2021, at the family’s 1,700-acre estate in rural Colleton County. He contends he is innocent.

Murdaugh wasn’t charged until 13 months later, last July, in large part because of a lack of direct evidence in the case. There are no eyewitnesses, no confessions or video tapes showing the killings. Even the two death weapons — a shotgun and a semi-automatic rifle — have not been located.

Consequently, the crime has been labeled a “whodunit,” and evidence in the case is described as circumstantial. The jury will have to deduce what happened based on technical, scientific and other information prosecutors will put before the jury.

All potential jurors in the final selection told Newman, the team of prosecutors from the S.C. Attorney General’s office and Murdaugh’s defense team that they can hear the evidence and render an impartial and fair verdict.

Nearly 100 of the initial pool of jurors Monday and Tuesday were dismissed after they told Newman they had opinions of Murdaugh’s guilt or innocence so fixed they would not be able to render a fair and impartial verdict. Others were dismissed because of family, professional or social ties to Murdaugh, his family or law enforcement.

Most, if not all, of the jurors told the judge that they had heard of the case from local news media, podcasts, television shows, documentaries, their neighbors, family members or through “the grapevine.”

Ballistics expert can testify at murder trial, judge rules

Prosecutors scored a victory Tuesday in their disputed effort to get evidence before the jury that ties the gun believed to be used in the killings to Murdaugh.

Newman ruled Tuesday, over defense objections, that prosecutors can introduce ballistics evidence that will tie the rifle used to kill Maggie to an apparently missing rifle owned by the Murdaugh family and kept at their estate. The ballistics evidence is not 100% conclusive, a State Law Enforcement Division firearms expert said Tuesday on the witness stand.

Investigators have not located the guns used to kill Paul and Maggie.

But cartridges from an AR-style rifle recovered near Maggie were matched to other .300 cartridges found near the gun range on the property and elsewhere, the SLED ballistics expert testified Tuesday. Prosecutor Creighton Waters also told the court they believe the firearm was bought by Murdaugh, which is now “unaccounted for.”

The defense team of Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian argued against the reliability of that finding, noting that SLED testing on a gun that was recovered from the Murdaugh home was inconclusive, saying a similar weapon had previously been reported stolen. But Newman ruled that the evidence could be presented to the jury during the trial.

The judge delayed making a decision on the admissibility of a blood spatter expert who will testify to how blood from Paul and Maggie found its way onto Murdaugh’s T-shirt. Prosecutors said they would not mention that evidence during opening statements to the jury, but may seek to admit the expert’s testimony later in the trial.

Newman also declined to rule on whether arguments over Murdaugh’s alleged financial crimes could be introduced.

Prosecutors allege the potential exposure of those crimes motivated Murdaugh to commit the murders, but the defense has opposed discussions of other crimes for which Murdaugh has yet to be tried and convicted. Newman said he wouldn’t make a decision based on the two sides’ differing interpretations of the facts.

“Judges don’t rule based on attorneys’ arguments, but based on evidence,” Newman said.

Reporters John Monk and Ted Clifford were in the courtroom Wednesday.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

This story was originally published January 25, 2023 at 1:16 PM.

Bristow Marchant

The State

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Bristow Marchant covers local government, schools and community in Lexington County for The State. He graduated from the College of Charleston in 2007. He has almost 20 years of experience covering South Carolina at the Clinton Chronicle, Sumter Item and Rock Hill Herald. He joined The State in 2016. Bristow has won numerous awards, most recently the S.C. Press Association’s 2024 education reporting award.  Support my work with a digital subscription

JM

John Monk

The State

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John Monk has covered courts, crime, politics, public corruption, the environment and other issues in the Carolinas for more than 40 years. A U.S. Army veteran who covered the 1989 American invasion of Panama, Monk is a former Washington correspondent for The Charlotte Observer. He has covered numerous death penalty trials, including those of the Charleston church killer, Dylann Roof, serial killer Pee Wee Gaskins and child killer Tim Jones. Monk’s hobbies include hiking, books, languages, music and a lot of other things.