Murdaugh’s defense team to hear testimony Wednesday

COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Defense is expected to continue calling witnesses in the Alex Murdaugh murder trial Wednesday after only making it through two on Tuesday.

Murdaugh is accused of killing his wife Margaret and youngest son Paul at their family property in June of 2021.

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Murdaugh’s only surviving son, Buster, was the first to take the stand Tuesday.

Buster described his father as normal when they spoke on the phone around 9:08 p.m. the night of the murders, then distraught later that evening. He also gave the jury what the defense hopes is some clarity in an ongoing debate about what Murdaugh said in an interview after the murders. In a video, prosecution claims Murdaugh said “I did him so bad” when talking about Paul. Buster says he knows his father’s voice and his father said “they did him so bad.” He also said Murdaugh made the same statement the night of the murders.

Defense also called Mike Sutton, a forensic engineer, to the stand. Sutton offered what could be an exculpatory interpretation of data, much of which was collected by SLED.

Sutton said that he conducted a test to see if gunshots from the kennels could’ve been heard inside the main house at Moselle and found that the sound would’ve been so low it would be almost inaudible.

He also calculated the trajectory of several bullets based on evidence SLED collected from the scene and used simple trigonometry to determine the relative position and height of the shooter. In his opinion, the shot was made by someone who was around 5’2 and could not have been made by Murdaugh, who stands around 6’4.

Prosecutors mocked that theory, calling the shooter in Sutton’s renderings a 12-year-old. They also frequently called into question his credibility, pointing out that he does not have formal training in pathology or ballistics. Sutton said that his findings follow the laws of physics.

Testimony is set to resume at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. A source close to the defense tells News 2 that Alex Murdaugh is expected to take the stand himself on Thursday, but that could change.

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