Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial descended into carnage on Tuesday morning when his defence attorney began shouting at his former friend of 25 years in the courtroom.
The disgraced legal dynasty heir’s attorney Dick Harpootlian lost his temper and grew increasingly firey during his cross-examination of the state’s first rebuttal witness Ronnie Crosby.
Mr Crosby, Mr Murdaugh’s friend of 25 years and his law firm partner at PMPED, testified earlier in the trial about how his friend lied to him about his alibi on the night that his wife Maggie and son Paul were murdered.
He had also testified about learning that his close friend and colleague had stolen millions of dollars from their law firm and law firm clients.
During a heated cross-examination when he returned to the witness stand on Tuesday, Mr Harpootlian grilled Mr Crosby about how much of his personal money he has had to pay out to victims of Mr Murdaugh’s schemes and whether he was angry with his friends over the stolen money.
Tensions bubbled over when Mr Harpootlian went as far as to suggest that Mr Crosby was testifying against Mr Murdaugh because he is angry with him about the stolen money.
“I couldn’t tell you exactly how much has been paid back as we sit here today,” responded Mr Crosby.
“And if you’re implying that I would come in here and somehow shade truth in any way because of that, I would take high offense with that, Mr Harpootlian.”
This prompted Mr Harpootlian to launch into shouting at the state’s witness and scoffing at the notion that he does not feel anger towards Mr Murdaugh.
“You’re angry at him for stealing your money,” Mr Harpootlian shouted.
Mr Crosby insisted that he has “no feeling one way or another” to Mr Murdaugh anymore.
Prosecutors began calling more witnesses to the stand in Colleton County Courthouse on Tuesday morning, as part of its rebuttal case.
Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters told the court the state plans to call up to seven witnesses and expects to wrap up its case by the end of the day.
Jurors will be taken on a field trip to the Moselle property to see the crime scene where the brutal murders took place for themselves.
At the property, jurors will tour the dog kennels and feed room on the estate where Maggie and Paul were shot dead back on 7 June 2021.
After that, closing arguments will get under way before the jury begins deliberations in the case.
It is possible that, by the end of the week, the disgraced attorney and accused killer will know his fate.
The defence rested its case on Monday after calling 14 witnesses over the course of one week as the legal team seeks to try to convince jurors of Mr Murdaugh’s innocence.
Mr Murdaugh’s younger brother John Marvin Murdaugh was the final witness called to the stand for the defence, breaking down in tears as he described how he “cleaned up” the crime scene – and “what was left” of his nephew Paul.
In emotional testimony, John Marvin said he had gone down to the dog kennels on the family’s sprawling Moselle estate on 8 June 2021 – the morning after the murders – and saw that law enforcement had not cleaned up Paul’s blood, brains and skull matter before handing the site back to the family mere hours after the murders.
“It had not been cleaned up. I saw blood, I saw brains, I saw pieces of skull... I don’t know what I was seeing,” he said.
Sobbing, he said he set to work cleaning up “what was left of Paul” while he cried “uncontrollably”.
“I promise you no mother, father, aunt or uncle should ever have to see and do what I did that day. I’m not blaming anybody. But I was just so overwhelmed,” he said.
John Marvin also gave testimony critical of the investigation including what he described as a “baffling” statement released by law enforcement saying the community was in no danger and an apparent lack of urgency to locate Maggie’s cellphone.
He also said a SLED agent told him that they knew his brother was responsible for the murders because of blood spatter evidence found on the white t-shirt he was wearing the night of the murders. This later turned out to be false, with forensic tests finding no human blood on the shirt.
He also claimed that his brother had a “great relationship” with bith his wife and son, as the defence seeks to paint Mr Murdaugh as a loving father and husband who could never have killed his family members.
The defence’s case has also sought to pick holes in the prosecution’s case and cast doubts on the validity of the investigation, while pushing a theory that two shooters may have carried out the attack.
In a dramatic two days in court last week, Mr Murdaugh took the witness stand in his own case and confessed to lying about his alibi on the night of the murders.
For the past 20 months, the 54-year-old has denied ever being at the dog kennels with his wife and son on the night of 7 June 2021, lying to law enforcement, his family and friends about the last time he ever saw them alive.
In a bombshell moment, he admitted to lying saying he was “paranoid” in part because of a distrust of SLED and because he was encouraged by his lawyer friends not to speak without an attorney present.
But, during a dramatic cross-examination, prosecutor Creighton Waters appeared to catch Mr Murdaugh in another lie.
He revealed evidence that Mr Murdaugh had lied about his alibi from the moment that the first officer arrived on the scene, appearing to pour cold water on the reason the accused killer gave for lying.
The defence case came after jurors heard four weeks of dramatic testimony from the prosecution, covering a trove of circumstantial evidence, including cellphone and car data and numerous apparent holes in his alibi for the time for the murders.
Prosecutors claim Mr Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his string of alleged financial crimes – at a time when his multi-million-dollar fraud scheme was on the brink of being exposed.
Mr Murdaugh is facing life in prison for the murders of Maggie and Paul and has pleaded not guilty.
Beyond the murders, the brutal double murders brought to light a series of scandals surrounding Mr Murdaugh including unexplained deaths, a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme and a botched hitman plot.
