(CNN) Alex Murdaugh’s defense attorneys on Wednesday sought to advance their theory that investigators did not handle the scene of the murders of his wife and child, as one of Murdaugh’s former law partners testified about seeing the observed mistakes or missteps while at the crime scene in the hours after the death. shooting.
The Murdaughs’ Islandton, South Carolina, was not cordoned off when the partner, Mark Ball, arrived on the night of June 7, 2021, he said, after the bodies of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh were discovered. There were no barricades or police tape blocking the entrance to the property, known as the Moselle, he recalled, as people continued to arrive in cars and walk around the scene.
There was also a light rain that night, and Ball, the fifth defense witness, recalled watching water roll off the roof of the dog kennels where the bodies were found and how it fell on the body. said Paul.
“It’s a crime scene. You don’t want water dripping all over the place,” Ball said. “But more than anything, I think it’s disrespectful.
Ball’s anger grew when he returned to the property the next day — after being told investigators had released the scene, he said — and looked into the feed room where Paul died.
“There was a piece of Paul’s skull the size of a baseball that was put in there,” he said. “I’m just angry that this young man was killed and his body is still there.”
Alex Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of firearms in the murders, which the state claims Murdaugh did as a distraction from his alleged financial crimes. But the defense portrayed Murdaugh as a loving father and husband who was wrongly accused of killing his 52-year-old wife and 22-year-old son after a botched law enforcement investigation.
Ball was just a member of the law firm — once known as PMPED but since renamed Parker Law Group — that gathered in Moselle after Maggie and Paul were killed, he said.
The coroner, citing instructions from South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigators, eventually told the group to gather at the house, which was concerned about Ball. One issue, he said, was whether it was safe, while another was whether the house itself could be part of the crime scene and whether their presence there could interfere with the investigation.
“Where does a crime scene begin and end?” Ball was surprised, adding that it did not appear that investigators had searched the house.
Ball also contradicted a state investigator who testified for the state that he believed Murdaugh inadvertently confessed to the murders in an emotional interview with state investigators in the days after the murders.
The two sides sparred in footage played in court, in which the state claims Murdaugh said, “I made him bad,” in reference to Paul’s fatal injuries. But the defense continued that Murdaugh said, “They made him look bad.”
Ball testified that he agreed with the latter interpretation. Additionally, she said that at the scene the night of the murders, a “devastated” Alex told her, “Look what they did. Look what they did to them.”
The defense asked the judge to limit the state’s questioning if Murdaugh testified
On Wednesday, Judge Clifton Newman declined to issue a ruling limiting prosecutors’ ability to question Murdaugh if he chooses to testify about his alleged financial crimes, which he played a key role in the case. Murdaugh faces 99 charges stemming from alleged misconduct separate from the murders.
Newman previously ruled that the evidence be allowed after prosecutors argued that Murdaugh killed Maggie and Paul to distract attention from his alleged misconduct, which the state said was about to be revealed during the 2021 fatal shooting. . The defense, on the other hand, argued to exclude the evidence, saying it had nothing to do with the murders.
On Wednesday, defense attorney Griffin asked the judge to limit the scope of the state’s cross-examination if Murdaugh takes the stand, telling the court that lawyers want to advise Murdaugh as he considers testifying.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters argued that Murdaugh should be questioned on any issue related to the case, including the alleged financial irregularities.
Judge Newman declined to grant the defense’s request, saying, “I will not issue an order in advance limiting the scope of cross-examination.” Any objection, he added, should be resolved as the evidence is presented.
While he was willing to review the scope of Murdaugh’s privilege against self-incrimination, Newman said, “For the court to issue some blanket order limiting the scope of cross-examination — that I don’t hear. .”
Civil lawyer Murdaugh sees boat case ‘defendable’
The defense also called Wednesday attorney Morris Dawes Cooke Jr., who downplayed the threat Murdaugh faces in a civil lawsuit stemming from a February 2019 boat crash that killed a 19-year-old girl. .
Paul was charged as a criminal in the accident, and Murdaugh, who owned the boat, was sued by the woman’s family, Mallory Beach.
The state asserted that the lawsuit provided an impetus for Murdaugh to commit the murders: On June 10, 2021, three days after the murders, he faced a hearing in which prosecutors said his financial information – and his alleged crimes – may have been revealed. But that hearing was canceled after Maggie and Paul were killed.
Murdaugh’s lawyers, however, sought to downplay the importance of the case in their client’s eyes at the time of the murders. Cooke confirmed Wednesday Murdaugh’s legal team sees the case as “defensible.” For him, it came down to the lawsuit accusing Murdaugh of “negligent parenting.”
Ball and Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, who testified Tuesday, told the court that Murdaugh and his family saw the criminal case against Paul as more important than the civil case.
Cooke also denied framing the state’s June 10, 2021, hearing. Citing the judge’s order in the case, Cooke testified that he did not understand that the court ordered Murdaugh to hand over all of his financial information.
Asked by defense attorney Maggie Fox if he expected a “cataclysmic event” on June 10, 2021, Cooke said he did not.
CNN’s Alta Spells contributed to this report.
