Who is David Owen? Alex Murdaugh's attorney grills SLED Special Agent for not treating local 'cowboys gang' members as prime suspects
WALTERBORO, SOUTH CAROLINA: The defense attorney for Alex Murdaugh testified before the jury in his double murder case that the disgraced lawyer purchased $50,000 worth of drugs a week from a supplier who owed a local "cowboys gang" money. During cross-examination, Wednesday, February 15, 2023, defense attorney Jim Griffin questioned State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) Special Agent David Owen about why these gang members weren't designated as the prime suspects.
Murdaugh was already part of the investigation the minute he called 911 after discovering the dead bodies of his wife Maggie and son Paul on the family's Moselle farm in South Carolina in June 2021, said Owen. Griffin claimed that while Alex was part of the investigation circle, SLED did not obtain DNA from gang members, reports Daily Mail.
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If found guilty of the murders of his wife Maggie, 52, and their son Paul, 22, whose bodies were discovered on June 7, 2021, next to the kennels on the family's estate, Murdaugh, 54, might spend the rest of his life behind bars. The disgraced lawyer has denied the two killings.
Who is David Owen?
The lead investigator in the double murder case SLED Special Agent David Owen testified on the witness stand during his murder trial on Wednesday. He said that the disgraced lawyer had remained as a main suspect in the investigation because of solid evidence. Murdaugh is from a well-known legal family that has been around for four generations in Hampton County, South Carolina. However, after the killings, his professional life started to fall apart, and it was later discovered that he had a terrible opioid addiction.
According to the prosecution, Murdaugh killed his wife and children to divert attention away from his financial crimes. In addition, he was facing a financially disastrous civil lawsuit related to his son's reckless boating accident that killed Mallory Beach, 19, in February 2019.
'I did the most damage to the ones I love the most'
It appears that the defense brought up the cowboys gang earlier in the trial to suggest that Murdaugh might have been a target. The jury has also heard damning evidence regarding Murdaugh's drug use, including the fact that one of his coworkers received a text from him when he was in treatment in which he apologized for stealing millions of dollars from his former law firm.
Four months after his wife and son were killed, the alleged killer wrote to his secretary Annette Griswold, "The worst part is, I did the most damage to the ones I love the most."
'A bridge too far'
Murdaugh's sister-in-law Marian Proctor also stated during her testimony on Tuesday that her sister Maggie referred to Paul as "her little detective" because he would look into his father's medication use. She admitted that she was unsure of his exact length of opioid abuse but noted that "it had been going on for some time."
The state contended that Griffin's line of inquiry regarding Murdaugh purchasing drugs "opened the door" to testimony on the roadside shooting, which judge Clifton had just determined inadmissible earlier that day because it was "a bridge too far."
'No mention of Cousin Eddie's drug gang until after the September incident'
The event concerns a September shooting that Murdaugh reportedly recruited his cousin Curtis "Eddie" Smith to carry out in order to secure a $10 million compensation for his living son Buster. However, the story soon fell apart, and Murdaugh told the police that he had hired Smith to shoot him. The roadside shooting was brought up again when Owen claimed that Alex had not named Cousin Eddie's drug gang until after the September incident. As a result, the court reversed his decision. "The defense opened the door to the roadside shooting testimony by questioning the witness on Mr Murdaugh's relationship to Eddie Smith, payment of money to buy drugs, and indebtedness," he stated. Owen said in court that Murdaugh never mentioned Cousin Eddie as someone who would harm Maggie or Paul.