Day 21: Murdaugh’s defense revives two-shooter theory as forensic expert takes the stand

Alex Murdaugh, a once prominent Hampton-based attorney from a well-known politically connected family, is on trial in the deaths of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.

Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty. He faces life in prison without parole if found guilty. The trial started Jan. 23 with jury selection, opening arguments and the initial round of witness testimony.

5:30 p.m. — Court adjourned

Judge Clifton Newman sent court into recess until 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Before forensic engineer Mike Sutton left the stand, he reiterated his opinion that Alex Murdaugh could not have fired the shots that produced bullet holes in a quail cage and dog house near the scene of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s murders.

The opinion is based on the path the bullets would take to leave the defects, which he theorized would come from a 5-foot-2 person firing their gun from the hip, he testified.

Prosecutor David Fernandez countered that as long as a larger person were kneeling and holding a weapon low, they could also make the shots.

The defense will call their fifth witness Wednesday.

5:20 p.m. — State didn’t indicate bullets ricocheted

Forensic engineer Mike Sutton remains on the stand, with defense attorney Dick Harpootlian leading redirect questioning.

Responding to a criticism prosecutor David Fernandez levied against Sutton’s measurements of bullet trajectory at the crime scene, Harpootlian asked where Sutton’s initial data on the crime scene came from.

Sutton testified SLED collected crime scene data he used in his own investigations. In that information, Sutton said, SLED didn’t indicate any of the projectiles recovered had traveled through a body or ricocheted in any way.

SLED also didn’t conduct any trajectory calculations, Sutton testified.

Fernandez criticized Sutton’s method during cross-examination, noting he didn’t consider how traveling through a person or other obstruction could alter the bullet’s path.

4:55 p.m. — Prosecution hits back at 5’4 shooter estimate

During cross-examination of forensic engineer Mike Sutton, prosecutor David Fernandez tried to debunk Sutton’s estimate that Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s killer was between 5-foot-2 and 5-foot-4 and firing their weapon from the hip.

The estimate is based on the supposed trajectories Sutton measured based on bullet holes found in a dog house and bird cage near the crime scene.

Fernandez critically referred to a computer render of the suspect at the height Sutton theorized as a “little 11-year-old” multiple times during cross-examination.

“You didn’t provide any renders of any other adult-sized human beings, perhaps kneeling, did you?” Fernandez asked.

Sutton responded that he had considered the possibility.

“The first thing you look at is that (Alex Murdaugh) is 76 inches tall. I measured to his knee as 25 inches, so that means that if he went down on one knee, his shoulder’s still 51 inches off the ground,” Sutton said. “If he shouldered his rifle in a kneeling position he still can’t make that quail (cage) shot.”

Fernandez spent the next several minutes using a tape measure and kneeling, demonstrating for jurors where a taller individual might be able to hold their weapon while in a kneeling stance.

Fernandez later demanded to know if Sutton had considered the bullets potentially moving through a human body and how that might have altered their path. Sutton said his measurement did not account for that.

4:20 p.m. — Trees may have affected gunshot sound tests

Forensic engineer Mike Sutton said trees that grew at Moselle between the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh and testing he did on the property would have changed how the sounds of gunshots traveled across the property.

Earlier, Sutton testified he tested if Alex Murdaugh, from the main house, could have heard the gunshots that killed Maggie and Paul at the kennels. In his test, Sutton said, the gunshots were barely audible from inside the house with the windows and doors closed and the TV off.

“I could barely hear it, and I was listening for it,” Sutton testified.

But Sutton’s tests were performed about 18 months after the murders, he said. Prosecutor David Fernandez pointed out a treeline at Moselle between the house and kennels had grown taller in that time, which could have skewed the results.

“I did make correction for the trees,” Sutton said, “It was around 1.7 (decibels).”

Sutton’s test also didn’t use the same model firearms and ammunition, he testified.

4 p.m. — Prosecutors move to undercut witness expertise

During cross-examination of forensic engineer Mike Sutton, prosecutor David Fernandez has repeatedly raised questions about Sutton’s expertise on crime scene reconstruction and firearms.

Sutton testified that most of his background is in civil litigation. Sutton specializes in accident reconstruction and failure analysis, he said, primarily in cases that involve vehicle collisions or other machine failures resulting in injury.

He has expertise in exterior ballistics as well. Sutton said his ballistics expertise relates to how bullets travel, calculating areas such as drop distance and how bullets move after penetrating objects.

His previous testimony was used to suggest the potential height of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s killer or killers based on the trajectory of the bullets that killed them.

Fernandez pointedly questioned Sutton’s qualification to give such opinions.

Fernandez hit Sutton with back-to-back questions about his background in forensic pathology, firearms expertise, shooting incident reconstructions and gunshot wounds. Sutton responded to each question, confirming he is not an expert in those fields.

However, he defended his ability to opine on the path of the bullets.

“So is it fair to say any opinion you’ve rendered on firearms, we shouldn’t rely on that, then?” Fernandez asked.

“That’s not what I said,” Sutton responded. “If it’s related to exterior ballistics or terminal ballistics, then you can certainly rely on it. But I’m not going to testify on wounds or pathology or anything like that, and I haven’t.”

3 p.m. — Forensic engineer says Alex wouldn’t have heard shots

Alex Murdaugh may not have heard gunshots at the kennels from the main Moselle home, according to testing done by forensic engineer Mike Sutton.

Sutton testified that the .300 Blackout’s gunfire measured at 165 decibels and the shotgun was 155 decibels. Sutton and his team test fired the guns at the Moselle kennels “in the loudest direction,” with Sutton listening from the Moselle house.

In an audio recording played for jurors, Sutton gave a count down to his assistant at the kennels, who fired the gun on Sutton’s cue. The doors and windows were closed and the TV was off during the test, Sutton said.

The gunfire was almost inaudible in Sutton’s test recording.

“Even if you were walking around you wouldn’t hear that,” Sutton testified. “I could barely hear it, and I was listening for it.”

2:40 p.m. — Defense floats two-shooter theory

During his questioning of forensic engineer Mike Sutton, defense attorney Dick Harpootlian once again suggested two killers could be responsible for the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.

Earlier in his testimony, Sutton said the trajectories of two of the .300 Blackout shots used to kill Maggie were consistent with a 5-foot-2 to 5-foot-4 shooter firing their weapon from the hip. Alex Murdaugh is 6-foot-4.

Sutton did not testify to the possibility of a taller shooter crouching.

The path of shotgun pellets from the weapon used to kill Paul were consistent with a shooter also firing from the hip, Sutton said, but taller than the earlier measurements.

Harpootlian suggested the measurements were more consistent with someone around 5-foot-10.

“Or (someone) moving the gun up or down (to fire),” Sutton said. “Again, there’s a variable here, of course.”

2:15 p.m. — Court returns to session

Court is back in sessoin with forensic engineer Mike Sutton still on the stand.

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian is continuing his examination. So far, Sutton has said based on the bullet trajectories at the crime scene, he expects the shooter would have to be around 5-foot-2 to 5-foot-4 and firing from the hip while upright.

1:05 p.m. — Court breaks for lunch

Judge Clifton Newman has sent court into lunch recess until 2:15 p.m.

Forensic engineer Mike Sutton remains on the stand. Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said he expects his questioning to take roughly another hour.

12:54 p.m. — Forensic engineer theorizes shooter height

Based on the angle of bullet holes found at the crime scene, forensic engineer Mike Sutton said the shooter may have been around 5-foot-2 to 5-foot-4.

Sutton made the estimation based on the trajectory the bullets that killed Maggie Murdaugh traveled into bullet holes found in a nearby dog house and bird pen. The angles likely meant someone was standing upright and “firing from the hip,” Sutton said, as opposed to aiming from their shoulder.

“It makes it very unlikely that a tall person made that shot,” Sutton said.

Alex Murdaugh is roughly 6-foot-4. The defense did not address whether a taller shooter could have made the shots while crouching.

12:17 p.m. — Bullet trajectory evidence introduced

The defense called Mike Sutton, a forensic engineer, to testify on his analysis of bullet trajectory evidence at the scene of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh’s deaths.

Sutton is currently explaining a slideshow created from photos of a bullet hole in the side of a bird pen found in Moselle’s kennel feed room, where Paul and Maggie were killed. The bullet hole Sutton is analyzing came from a .300 Blackout rifle, the caliber used to kill Maggie.

The bullet traveled into the bird pen from outside the kennels, Sutton said. It was traveling on a three-degree upward slope, Sutton said, though later measurements also considered a one-and-a-half-degree slope.

“Pretty flat,” Sutton said, “but the bullet was traveling upwards.”

A bullet hole found in an outdoor dog house was traveling downward at a 14-degree angle, Sutton said.

The defense has previously disputed bullet trajectory evidence prosecutors introduced during their case. The different angles of the shots, defense attorneys argued, could mean there was more than one shooter.

Prosecutors pointed out the angles could also mean the killer moved between shots.

11:55 a.m. — Defense calls forensic engineer, Buster leaves stand

Buster Murdaugh, Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son, left the stand after brief cross-examination from prosecutor John Meadors.

The defense has called Mike Sutton, a forensic engineer from North Carolina, to testify.

Sutton said forensic engineers specialize in using engineering principles to examine “accidents and failures” of vehicles and other machines when related to legal cases.

11:15 a.m. — Alex said ‘they did them so bad,’ son testifies

Alex Murdaugh’s defense team revisited a video prosecutors showed early in their case, which they suggested could have been a confession of guilt.

Debate began after the audio was shown. Some say the video shows Murdaugh telling SLED investigators, “I did them (Paul and Maggie Murdaugh) so bad,” while others believed the quote was, “They did them so bad.”

Buster, Murdaugh’s surviving son, said he heard his father say, “They did them so bad,” not only in the video, but several times in the murders’ aftermath.

The court entered a 15-minute break. Buster will be cross-examined when court resumes.

10:38 a.m. — Alex ‘didn’t always’ have phone at Moselle

Alex Murdaugh would frequently misplace his phone, his surviving son, Buster, testified Monday.

In the state’s case, which ended last Friday, prosecutors described the Murdaugh family as “prolific” cellphone users. They argued that it would be strange for Murdaugh to go anywhere without his phone, casting suspicion on a period of roughly three hours on June 7, 2021, that showed no phone activity.

That span, from about 6 to 9 p.m., coincided with the state’s theorized time of death for Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. Both of their phone activity ended around 8:50 p.m. on June 7,

To undercut suspicions prosecutors raised, defense attorney Jim Griffin asked Buster if his father had his phone with him everywhere at Moselle, or if he would misplace it.

Buster testified his father would “frequently” lose his phone, and sometimes wouldn’t bring it around Moselle if working.

He also said Murdaugh would often shower in the summer time if he had been working on the property.

That question was part of defense’s effort to suggest it was normal for Murdaugh to frequently change clothes. Murdaugh was seen in several different outfits the day Maggie and Paul were killed.

The family’s housekeeper testified after Maggie and Paul were killed, she never saw one of the shirts Murdaugh wore that day again.

10:20 a.m. — Parking near back of Almeda home not unusual, Buster says

Early in his testimony, Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, said visitors to his grandmother’s Almeda home would regularly park on the grass.

Libby is Murdaugh’s mother, who has Alzheimer’s. Murdaugh said on June 7, 2021, the night his wife and son were killed, he was visiting his mom. Last week, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters presented GPS data from Murdaugh’s car the night of the murders. That data showed Murdaugh’s car drive around into the back yard of Libby’s home.

Waters highlighted the path, suggesting it was unusual.

During Buster’s testimony, he said it wasn’t uncommon for visitors to park in that area. It was closer to a back entrance to the home, he said, and the walk from the back yard to that door was “about a quarter” as long as the walk from the car port to the front door.

9:50 a.m. — Buster Murdaugh takes the stand

The defense has called Alex Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, 26, to the stand.

Buster lives on Hilton Head Island.

Prior to the trial, Buster told Daily Mail reporters they shouldn’t “presume” he was at court in support of Murdaugh.

“I don’t want to see it written anywhere that I’m supporting my father,” Buster said then.

9:46 a.m. — Judge scolds Griffin for sharing story critical of state

Judge Clifton Newman turned his attention to defense attorney Jim Griffin after announcing another juror would be replaced due to illness.

A social media post Griffin made over the weekend came to his attention in emails, Newman said. The post in question was Griffin’s tweet of a Washington Post article that criticized the “sloppy” SLED investigation of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s murders.

“Mr. Griffin, is this part of your defense strategy, or?” Newman asked.

Griffin defended himself, noting he did not add any comments and only shared the article.

Newman cautioned Griffin to be careful with his social media activity, referencing a recent NBA suspension handed down after a player, Kyrie Irving, shared the link to an antisemtic film.

“We have an NBA player who retweeted an article … that resulted in him being suspended from the NBA for about 10 days and cost him about $10 million in salary,” Newman said. “So retweeting is the same as, to some, as if (it’s) your tweet.”

Newman continued, “The jurors were instructed not to discuss the case, and obviously that did not extend to the lawyers, but it is not a good practice, and it could easily lead to modification of our rules that might specifically address something like that.”

9:40 a.m. — Jury attrition continues

Right before the trial started Monday, without the jury present, Judge Clifton Newman announced another juror has fallen ill and must be replaced for at least the day.

Juror No. 441, who was an alternate juror who earlier replaced Juror No. 220, is out today, Newman said. The court drew Juror No. 530 as the replacement. The court is now down to two alternates.

Defense attorney Jim Griffin indicated the defense expects to rest “mid to late day Friday,” with deliberations expected to finish early next week with a verdict.

9:30 a.m. — 2 witnesses down, defense continues case

Alex Murdaugh’s defense attorneys will call its third witness in the double-murder trial, now in Week 5 in Colleton County.

On Friday, the state rested its case after dozens of witnesses who testified about DNA, cellphone and car forensic data and the former Hampton-based attorneys alleged financial crimes — an effort by prosecutors to show motive in the murders of Murdaugh’s wife and son, Maggie and Paul.

The defense first called Colleton County Coroner Richard Harvey, who estimated the time of death for both to be 9 p.m.

Prosecutors have argued Maggie and Paul were likely killed around 8:50 p.m., pinpointing the death to the cellphone activity on Murdaugh and Paul’s phone, which included a cellphone video taken by the dog kennels.

The second witness called by the defense was Shalene Tindal, the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office public information officer.

Tindal was questioned about a joint statement released June 8, 2021 — the day after the murders — by the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office and the S.C. Law Enforcement Division, known as SLED.

At the time, the release said there was “no danger to the public” after the murders; a second press release was issued that removed that line but never addressed the line’s addition in the first release.

Defense attorneys have raised issues with the release, claiming SLED had zeroed in on Murdaugh at the start and eliminated any other suspects from its investigation.

Sources told The State court reporter John Monk that Buster Murdaugh may be the first witness on the stand Monday.

On Friday afternoon, defense attorney Dick Harpootlian indicated he was prepared to call one witness to give lengthy testimony, but preferred to have them begin at the start of this week.

This story was originally published February 21, 2023 at 9:04 AM.

Blake Douglas

The Island Packet

Blake is the Hilton Head Island reporter for the Island Packet. A Tulsa, Oklahoma native, Blake has written for his hometown Tulsa World, as well as the Charlotte Observer. He graduated in May 2022 from the University of Oklahoma with a journalism degree.