Alex Murdaugh case: Jury selection begins in double murder trial of ex-lawyer who killed wife and son
COLLETON COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA: Disgraced South Carolina Lawyer Alex Murdaugh's trial is set to begin soon with over nine hundred prospective jurors will report to the Colleton County Courthouse in South Carolina on Monday morning, January 23. The 52-year-old accused is facing charges of killing his wife Maggie Murdaugh, and son Paul Murdaugh at the family’s hunting estate on June 7, 2021. In a small county with a population of 38, 462, it is going to be quite a task to pick a jury, since the Murdaugh family is revered by locals. Alex’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather have contributed to society as a solicitor, or prosecutor, for - South Carolina’s 14th judicial circuit.
Alex served as an attorney, before being barred by the South Carolina Supreme Court, and now will face murder charges in the court where he had practiced for decades. As per the indictment, Maggie, 52, was killed with a rifle and Paul with a shotgun. A diagram presented as per defense motion portrays that Paul was shot inside a dog kennel on the family’s extensive estate. The mother’s body was found outside of the kennel. Alex, earlier called 911 the same evening and claimed that he discovered the body of his wife and son shot to death after returning home.
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“It’s going to be a challenge. Jurors, everybody for that matter, are not necessarily good at knowing how biased they are," observes Alan Turkheimer, a jury consultant. “Beyond a reasonable doubt is a high standard. … There are going to be some potential jurors that are going to put it even higher because of what they’ve seen on CSI or in any of the shows. A lot of the DNA and forensic and technological evidence that is seen on TV is not realistic and doesn’t apply to most cases,” added Turkheimer. “So some jurors, the defense is hoping, might say, well, the state didn’t show this and there’s a reason they didn’t show it is because that type of technology doesn’t exist.”
The potential jurors were given a four-page questionnaire and typical questions were used to narrow the selection process. The questions included whether they watch a certain television show, and where they get their news from. Alex has a long history of criminal cases against him that counts to nearly 100 charges. These are related to fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion, reports Law&Crime.
“We are fully prepared to challenge the State’s allegations and to demonstrate the weaknesses in the State’s case before a Colleton County jury. Alex looks forward to this opportunity to clear his name of these heinous charges so that the Attorney General can finally begin looking for the actual killer or killers of Alex’s beloved wife and son,” said Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, Murdaugh’s attorneys, on the eve of jury selection.