Alex Murdaugh’s defense today claimed two shooters killed Maggie and Paul because his son’s killer would have been ‘stunned’ by an explosion of blood and brains.
Timothy Palmbach, a crime scene expert hired by the defense, told jurors that the 22-year-old suffered a ‘contact wound’ meaning the muzzle of the 12-gauge shotgun was touching the back of his head.
Maggie, 52, who was just yards away from her son, was then shot five times with an assault rifle at the kennels of the family’s estate in Moselle, South Carolina.
Palmbach explained that ‘the explosive release of the gas trapped in [Paul’s] cranium’ would have forced blood, tissue, brain matter, fragments of skull and shot pellets back out through the entry wound, covering the shooter.
He said this would have at the very least blinded the killer and possibly even caused injury, making the prosecution claim that Murdaugh recovered moments later to shoot Maggie with a different weapon implausible.
Murdaugh hunches over and cries as the court hears graphic evidence of how Maggie and Paul were brutally murdered on Monday
Timothy Palmbach, a crime scene expert hired by the defense, told jurors that the 22-year-old suffered a ‘contact wound’ to the back of the head, meaning the muzzle of the 12-gauge shotgun was touching him
Paul, Maggie and Buster Murdaugh on a family holiday. Buster was staying with his girlfriend outside Charlotte at the time of the murders
‘I think minimally that shooter is getting covered with this material and getting the shockwave of that and more than likely getting hit with at least something that is causing injury, a bone fragment or pellet fragment,’ Palmbach said.
‘Therefore, I think the shooter is, at least for some brief period of time, kind of out of it. It’s not as if they can instantly suffer that, run to where the rifle is, pick that up and within any reasonable time period engage in an effective assault, shoot straight and make hits.’
He added: ‘I believe the individual who shot first, probably with blood in his eyes and maybe even injured, would have taken some degree of time to recover.’
Palmbach said that had there been only one shooter, this would have given Maggie time to run. But she was found just a few yards away from her son.
The expert said there was also no logical argument for one killer using two firearms.
‘Why would one shooter bring two long weapons to the event?’ Palmbach questioned. ‘You can’t handle and shoot two of them. So you’ve either got to put one down, use one, and then swap out the other one.’
In addition, he stated that the .300 Blackout would more than likely have come with a high capacity magazine of upwards of 20 bullets, making two firearms unnecessary for one shooter.
The State alleges Murdaugh first blasted Paul twice in the feed room of the kennels with 12-gauge buckshot before turning the Blackout rifle on his wife, shooting her five times, on the night of June 7, 2021.
The prosecution dispute Palmbach’s claim that Paul was shot in the back of the head and instead claim he was facing the shooter.
When cops arrived around 10pm, about an hour after Maggie and Paul were killed, Murdaugh was clean from head to toe in a white t-shirt, shorts and sneakers.
Murdaugh claims he went to visit his mother in Almeda, around 15 minutes away, and when he got back his wife and son were dead.
The State suggests at some point that evening he changed clothes. Murdaugh appeared in a video earlier that night taken by Paul wearing long pants, a dress shirt and loafers.
Maggie’s body was found a few yards to the right of a doghouse, while Paul’s was by the doorway at the end of the kennels
Maggie’s blood-soaked body lies under a sheet at the crime scene on the night of June 7, 2021. She was shot five times with an assault rifle, while Paul was blasted twice with a shotgun a few yards away at the kennels on the estate
Paul’s body was found lying in the doorway of the feed room at the end of the row of dog cages at the kennels
MURDER SCENE: Paul’s body lies outside the storage room, while Maggie lies just outside the kennels by the doghouse
Earlier, Murdaugh’s defense attorney Dick Harpootlian asked the judge to allow jurors to visit the kennels to give them a better ‘spatial’ understanding of the murder scene.
But Harpootlian warned the judge that cops need to close the road and secure the gates beforehand to stop the jury being influenced by the ‘carnival attitude’ of true crimes fans at the property.
Harpootlian said Alex’s brother John Marvin Murdaugh was forced to call the sheriff last weekend because ‘literally dozens’ of trespassers were taking photos in the feed room at the kennels where Paul was blasted twice with a shotgun.
Judge Clifton Newman said that a visit to the estate could be arranged – overruling the prosecution objection. He assured Harpootlian the scene would be secured.
The request comes as the defense is set to call three final witnesses before resting their case later today.
The defense first called Dr Jonathan Eisenstat, a pathologist and the former chief medical examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Harpootlian began by asking how much he had been paid, preempting the constant question from prosecutors to the defense experts.
He told told jurors he had already received $3,000 to review the evidence and would be paid another $5,500 for testifying today.
During his testimony he called one of Maggie’s wounds ‘beautiful’ before quickly withdrawing the inappropriate remark and apologizing to the court.
Eisenstat said what he meant was that it was a ‘textbook’ bullet hole.
He disputed a number of the findings from the State’s pathologist Dr Ellen Riemer, including the direction of shots.
Eisenstat agreed with Riemer on the direction of the first shot to Paul’s chest but disagreed with her finding that he was shot in the front of the head.
Murdaugh arrives surrounded by sheriffs at the courthouse Monday
Buster Murdaugh, center, arrives with his girlfriend Brooklynn White, Alex’s sister Lynn (left) and brother John Marvin (right)
Buster, Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh on a family vacation in Lake Keowee in May 2021 – a month before the killings
The pathologist said the shotgun would have been pressed directly against the top of the back of Paul’s head.
Murdaugh wept during the testimony and a piece of cardboard was placed over the TV screen in front of him so he did not have to see any graphic images.
Regarding Maggie’s five gunshot wounds, Eisenstat said he agreed with Riemer on the directions of the rounds that hit her torso, wrist and the back of her head.
But he believed that the first fatal shot, which Riemer said passed through her left breast and into her brain, was actually fired from the opposite direction.
He said he believes Maggie was leaning over on all fours towards the shooter, whereas Riemer said the killer would have been standing behind her.
Murdaugh took the witness stand last Thursday in the latest dramatic turn in the saga to admit he lied to cops about his alibi the night his wife and son were murdered.
But the disgraced legal scion said he was telling the truth when he claimed vigilantes killed Maggie and Paul.
Prosecutors have called 61 witnesses, compared to 11 for the defense. Murdaugh’s lawyers said they planned to question three additional witnesses before resting their case in the early afternoon on Monday.
Murdaugh wept during the testimony from the pathologist and a piece of cardboard was placed on the TV screen in front of him so he did not have to see any graphic images
The defense first called Dr Jonathan Eisenstat, a pathologist and the former chief medical examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation
Alex Murdaugh arriving the Colleton County Court, South Carolina, Monday
Dozens of people lined up outside the courthouse from the early hours of the morning
Rev Raymond Johnson from Mt Pisgah Baptist Church holding a sign that reads ‘Justice Coming Soon’ outside the court Monday
Alex Murdaugh arriving the Colleton County Court, South Carolina, on Monday
Prosecutor Creighton Waters said he then planned to call ‘a couple’ of reply witnesses intended to rebut defense evidence, indicating their testimony would not take a long time.
That will be followed by closing arguments and the judge instructing the jury, which could happen on Tuesday or Wednesday, Murdaugh defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said in court on Friday. The judge did not set a strict schedule.
Murdaugh on Friday floated his own theory for who killed his wife and son, testifying that someone was out for revenge after his younger son Paul’s fatal boat accident.
At the time of Maggie and Paul’s deaths, Murdaugh was being sued over his son’s drunken smash which killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
But prosecutors argue it was the ruinous financial aspect of this case which helped drive the legal heir to murder.
As well as up to $30m he stood to lose in the boat case, Murdaugh was confronted on the day of the killings over $792,000 in ‘missing’ fees from his firm.
In the months after the murders it would be discovered that he had stolen more than $10m from clients and partners at his firm over the last decade.
Under cross examination, Murdaugh admitted that he routinely lied to the victims of horrific accident who he was supposed to represent, as well as his colleagues.
Prosecutor Waters sought to paint him as an unscrupulous liar who when faced with calamity chose to act violently in a bid to cover-up the litany of financial crimes.
Murdaugh admitted to lying to investigators in the aftermath of the murders by telling them he was not at the kennels on the night of the murders.
At the time of Paul’s death, Murdaugh was facing a lawsuit over allowing his son to drive his boat under the influence of alcohol when 19-year-old Mallory (left and right) was killed in February 2019. Murdaugh told cops Paul and Maggie had been killed in revenge for the accident
Alex Murdaugh’s boat the Sea Hunt after it was crashed by his son Paul in a fatal accident that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach
Buster Murdaugh, Alex’s sole surviving son, buries his face in his hand as he sits beside his girlfriend Brooklynn White at the courthouse last Friday
He changed his account after the jury saw cellphone video that contained audio of Murdaugh’s voice that placed him at the scene minutes before investigators have said his wife and son were killed.
Waters asked: ‘And you want this jury to believe a story manufactured to fit the evidence that you brought forth just yesterday after hearing this trial’s whole testimony?’
Murdaugh replied: ‘No sir, that’s not correct.’
He said Paul had been threatened and attacked after the drunken boat wreck in February 2019.
Murdaugh told jurors: ‘The social media response that came from that was vile. The things that were said about what they would do to PawPaw, they were so over the top.
‘I believed then and I believe today that the wrong person saw and read that because I can tell you for a fact that the person or people who did what I saw on June 7, they hated Paul Murdaugh, and they had anger in their heart.’
Murdaugh, the scion of an influential South Carolina legal family, was indicted by a grand jury in July and pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon.
The case has drawn intense media coverage given the political influence of the Murdaugh family in South Carolina.
Murdaugh’s sole surviving son Buster, 26, has attended court everyday and testified last week. He was staying with his girlfriend near Charlotte at the time of the killings.
The disbarred attorney’s brothers John Marvin and Randy and sister Lynn have also attended the Colleton County courthouse in Walterboro most days.
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