WALTERSBORO, S.C. – Disbarred South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was hysterical but dry-eyed after his wife and son were shot to death, according to testimony Thursday at his double murder trial.
Sgt. Daniel Greene, the first responder on the scene, said Murdaugh, 54, wasn't actually crying.
"Did you ever observe any physical tears?" asked Creighton Waters, lead prosecutor for the South Carolina Attorney General's Office.
"I did not," replied Greene, who was the state's first witness in the Colleton County Courthouse in Waltersboro.
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Jurors were played Greene's body camera footage from June 7, 2021, when he responded to Moselle – the family's sprawling hunting estate, where Paul and Maggie were murdered.
As the graphic footage was played, Murdaugh, who was seated at the defense table, appeared to weep.
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Greene described the horrific scene shown in the footage, which was not visible to the gallery.
"To the left was Paul’s body, who was laying face down on the ground with a large pool of blood around him and a great deal of water around him," said Greene, adding that there was also a significant amount of brain matter.
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The shotgun blast severed Paul's brain from his body.
"On the right would be Maggie’s body also laying facedown on the ground in a large pool of blood," Green continued.
Murdaugh's son, Buster, his brother John Marvin and his sister watched from the courtroom's gallery where spectators could hear the body camera audio.
The first statement Murdaugh made to the officer referenced his son, Paul's, 2019 deadly boat crash.
"This is a long story. My son was in a boat wreck. He’s been getting threats," Murdaugh can be heard saying. "I know that’s what it is."
Greene said he didn't ask Murdaugh anything to elicit the comment.
Prosecutors have argued in court papers that Murdaugh was trying to throw off investigators by mentioning the litigation.
Paul was facing criminal charges after he drunkenly slammed his father's boat into a bridge, killing Mallory Beach and injuring four other friends.
Murdaugh was facing a wrongful death lawsuit over the tragic collision.
Prosecutors have argued that Murdaugh feared that the litigation would force him to disclose his finances and expose his decades-long corruption schemes.
On Greene's body camera footage, Murdaugh sounds hysterical as he talks to his brother, John Marvin, on the phone.
On cross-examination, Murdaugh's attorney Dick Harpootlian questioned Greene about an initial theory that Paul had shot his mother then turned the weapon on himself.
Murdaugh is accused of shooting his youngest son twice with a shotgun near the property's kennels then using a rifle to gun down Maggie. He has denied the allegations.
The fallen patriarch also faces a total of 99 financial crimes charges stemming from 19 indictments.
Murdaugh's father, grandfather and great-grandfather served as prosecutors overseeing five counties in South Carolina.
