The Voices of the Murdaughs in a Video That WAs filmed on Paul’s Phone at 8:44 P.M.

Multiple witnesses – including now Murdaugh himself – have testified that Murdaugh’s voice can be heard in the background of the video, which was filmed on Paul’s phone starting at 8:44 p.m.

A short video that was filmed on Paul’s phone began at 8:44 pm and shows one of the family dogs. David Britton Dove, a supervisor in the computer crimes center at the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, testified.

Three different voices could be heard in the footage, Dove testified Wednesday. And while Dove did not personally know the voices, he said, “You can tell that they’re different voices.”

Rogan Gibson, who described himself as a close friend of Paul’s and the Murdaughs as being like a second family, told investigators shortly after the killings that along with the voices of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, he was “99% sure” the third person heard was Alex Murdaugh. He told investigators last November that he was absolutely certain.

Murdaugh admitted his voice can be heard in a video he said was filmed at the dog kennel, and testified that he lied about being there due to his addiction to painkillers.

Murdaugh called for help after he found his wife and son shot at the Moselle property in Islandton, South Carolina. The defense has portrayed Murdaugh as a loving father and husband being prosecuted after a poorly handled investigation while the real killers are at large.

In his own opening statement, Harpootlian said the audio simply showed Murdaugh and his wife having a “normal discussion” with “no animosity.” Paul is “very happy,” Harpootlian said. Nobody is threatening him. Daddy is not pulling out a shotgun and killing him.”

The trial for the murders ofMaggie and Paul Murdaugh began three weeks ago. Alex Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two weapons charges.

Murdaugh called 911 the night of the killings to report he’d found his wife and son shot dead at the family’s home in Islandton, South Carolina – a property known as Moselle.

Dove testified that she saw evidence that the phone had switched to portrait mode, along with repeated missed calls from her husband. That, the expert said, was another indication the phone was likely held in someone’s hand. The last call from Murdaugh was not received until after 10 p.m.

In his opening statement last week, Waters told the jury Murdaugh repeatedly called his wife that evening before texting her that he was going to visit his mother and driving to Almeda, South Carolina.

Murdaugh’s murder trial began in September 2021 when he and his lawyer sued against his insurance company to recover money for his housekeeper’s sons

Around 8:49 p.m., Paul and Maggie’s phones, which location data showed to be at the kennels, were locked for the last time. Then, from 8:53:15 to 8:55:32, data shows that Maggie’s phone moved 59 steps. The phone’s orientation also changed, going from portrait to landscape and back several times, prosecutors said.

Dove said it would seem that way, noting there was no way of knowing when or who deleted the calls.

Dove said that a gap like that would signify that calls had been removed from the log.

According to Dove, Murdaugh had a tendency to check his texts within 5 minutes or sometimes 30 to 40 minutes.

The attorney testified that Murdaugh admitted to stealing money from his firm and clients, and that he had a drug addiction.

The conversation occurred in September 2021, three months after the deaths of Murdaugh’s wife and son and after Murdaugh’s law firm said it had discovered extensive financial wrongdoing.

Prosecutors claim that Murdaugh killed the two people to focus attention on a series of illegal schemes he was running to avoid legal and financial ruin.

The evidence of guilt in a murder case isn’t as strong as it is in the financial misconduct case. And that’s what this is all about,” defense lawyer Jim Griffin said last week.

Murdaugh offered to file a claim against his insurance company to get money for his housekeeper’s sons, Michael Satterfield testified. Satterfield didn’t know that Murdaugh had collected millions of dollars in settlements.

The financial issues of Murdaugh have been the focus of most testimony this week. Proof of it is essential to complete the story and the judge ruled on Monday to allow such evidence in the case.

Also in court Thursday, Michael “Tony” Satterfield, the son of Murdaugh’s former housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, testified about being defrauded by Murdaugh.

Satterfield testified that he and his family heard about the settlement from media reports. He said Murdaugh told him that they were going to be ready to settle in the end of the year.

Murdaugh in Palmetto, Colleton County, After a Boat Accident: Witnesses and Victims in a Civil Case

Further, the CEO of a local bank testified for the jury that Murdaugh’s account was overdrafted by about $350,000. As of August 2021, Murdaugh had a total debt to the bank of $4.2 million, according to Palmetto State Bank CEO Jan Malinowski.

Second, Murdaugh was facing a lawsuit from the family of Mallory Beach, a 19-year-old who was killed in February 2019 when a boat, owned by Murdaugh and allegedly driven by his son Paul, crashed. A hearing in that civil case was scheduled for June 10, 2021, and had the potential to reveal his financial problems, prosecutors argued, but it was delayed after the killings.

Colleton County Coroner Richard Harvey, the defense’s first witness on Friday, said he estimated Paul and Maggie’s times of death to be around 9 p.m. on June 7, 2021, based on body temperature checks.

On Thursday, the prosecution asked Tinsley about how that lawsuit was proceeding. He testified that he was seeking $10 million from Murdaugh, but that he could only get $1 million. Tinsley is expected to resume his testimony on Friday.

“We weren’t going to go in there and harass him about money when we were worried about his mental state and the fact that his family had been killed,” the CFO, Jeanne Seckinger, testified.

Indeed, that “day of reckoning” didn’t come for another three months, when his law firm again confronted him about misappropriated funds, leading to his resignation, a bizarre murder-for-hire and insurance scam plot, a stint in rehab, dozens of financial crimes, his disbarment and, ultimately, the murder charges.

Then, in a dramatic finaleFriday, prosecutors showed body cam footage of the officer who responded immediately to the scene after Murdaugh called.

In one video, Colleton County sheriff’s Sgt. Murdaugh, dressed in cargo shorts and a white T-shirt, is posing for a picture outside the property’s kennels. When Green arrives, Murdaugh is near the bodies and tells him to bring a gun because of the scene.

Murdaugh tells the deputy that his gun was leaning against his vehicle as he asked where it was. The deputy checks Murdaugh’s shirt before talking further.

This is a lengthy story. My son was in a boat wreck. Murdaugh says that he has been getting threats. “Most of it’s been benign stuff. He has been getting punched and we didn’t think that was serious. I know what it is.

When he was asked when he was last with them, Murdaugh said he left earlier tonight to visit his mother, who was about 15 minutes away.

Murdaugh’s Mother, Maggie, and Paul, was shot four times with an assault rifle, testifying in the testimony of Ellen Riemer

Ellen Riemer, a Pathologist at the Medical University of South Carolina gave testimony about the injuries suffered by Maggie and Paul under questioning from the prosecution.

Alex Murdaugh stared blankly at Riemer’s detailed account of the wounds to his son and wife. He shook his head as he listened.

Riemer said that Murdaugh was shot four times with an assault rifle. Riemer said the first two shots were fired from the front while she was standing, one went through her stomach and the other through her left thigh.

“I don’t see anything on his hands that would indicate he had his hands up to his face in anticipation of the injury that was about to happen,” Riemer testified. I don’t see evidence of injury to his hands from the second shot as he had his arm down.

The next shot went through the left side of her face, starting at her chest. Riemer said that she believed it was because of the first two shots. This wound would have been immediately fatal, she said. The last gunshot, Riemer testified, was to the back of the head.

A jury trial for the murder of Alex Murdaugh convicted of murdering his wife and son in South Carolina on May 26, 2021, after he was shot dead

The remaining jurors were tested Monday and will be tested again Wednesday. Prosecutors and defense attorneys were talking to the judge about postponing the proceedings but he said the jurors would wear masks and have a positive attitude.

Editor’s Note: The HBO docuseries “Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty” chronicles the family’s influence in South Carolina. It airs on CNN Sunday, February 19, at 8 p.m. ET.

Before prosecutors rested their case on Friday, they presented evidence in court showing Paul Murdaugh – son of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh – confronted his father about pills about one month before both he and his mother were found fatally shot.

Later that month, on May 26, Maggie searched on Google “green gel pill p30,” which matches the description of a nonprescription nighttime cold and flu medication.

Phillip Barber, the defense attorney, showed a text that Alex Murdaugh sent to his wife on May 7, 2021, apologizing for what he had done. I love you.”

The trial of the man accused of killing his wife and son will be held while the real killers remain at large, even though the defense has portrayed him as a loving father and husband who called for help after he found them.

More than a week ago, Colleton County Coroner Richard Harvey testified that he estimated the time of death to be around 9 p.m. – just minutes after Murdaugh’s voice was captured on the video – based in part on armpit checks he conducted to feel how warm the bodies were.

The court heard on Friday from an investigator who showed that Alex Murdaugh drove by the spot where his wife’s phone was later found while he was in his car, and called police seconds after he spotted the vehicle.

During his testimony on Friday, Peter Rudofski, an investigator with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, said he was able to plot Murdaugh’s movements on the night of the killings through latitude, longitude and speed data provided by General Motors.

Rudofski said that Murdaugh drove by the place on the side of the road where the cell phone was recovered and that he was going to his mom’s house.

Lies to investigators: Prosecutor Creighton Waters continued to press Murdaugh about why he lied to police about where he was on the night of the murders. He confirmed he was at the kennels on Thursday night after he previously said he was not at the scene of the killings.

He told investigators that when he arrived at the scene of the murders, he tried to get Paul’s phone number, but failed, then tried to call the police, and then tried to revive him.

Murdaugh’s confessions in the SLED investigation into the murders of a 14th Circuit solicitor whose father was a sapling

The case was moved to the Attorney General’s Office due to the fact that the Murdaugh family had been the 14th Circuit solicitor for 87 years.

Owen testified Wednesday that Murdaugh’s statements were voluntary. Murdaugh wanted to ask SLED agents questions about the investigation, Owen said, and the agent told him he wanted to ask Murdaugh some questions, too. Murdaugh indicated he was comfortable answering the agents’ questions.

Owen said that Rogan had been around the family for a long time. You have a distinct voice, because he recognizes it. Can you think of anyone else who has the same voice as yours?

The footage played Wednesday also showed the agents confront Murdaugh about another piece of footage filmed by Paul the night of the killings: A Snapchat video showing Murdaugh looking at a sapling on the family’s property. Murdaugh is wearing pants and a shirt. But later, he was wearing shorts and a white T-shirt.

“There’s a video on Paul’s phone of you and him on the farm that night. Owen said that you were in shorts and a T-shirt when he met you. Is it when you change clothes in the evening?

According to testimony from the past several days, Murdaugh made a false statement when he said that he and his father went to Moselle because he worried about them.

Last week, Blanca Simpson testified that she had heard that both Paul and Maggie were asked to come to Moselle by Alex on the day of the murders.

Alex Murdaugh and the Double Killing of his Son, Curtis Edward Smith, and his wife, Maggie, were neither armed nor financially armed

You didn’t worry about those clothes because you didn’t. Your investigation had been focused since early June on the T-shirt he was wearing, the shorts he was wearing and shoes he was wearing at the time he called 911,” Griffin said.

Owen told a grand jury that he had told them that an expert had found blood spatter on a T-shirt, and that it was sent to a lab for testing. There was no blood on the shirt that was tested.

“Y’all completely overlooked the fact that when you did a HemaTrace test to confirm whether there’s blood, it came up negative. Wasn’t that overlooked?” asked Griffin.

Owen wondered if the blasts that killed the two victims had biological material on them.

Before Murdaugh testified Thursday, a motion from the defense to limit the scope of questioning he would face was denied by Judge Clifton Newman – in particular, allegations of financial wrongdoing.

Griffin said Smith owed a lot of money to a drug gang, and Owen testified that he was told the gang was not worried about the money because it knew it was going to get paid.

“Prior to that day, had Alex Murdaugh ever mentioned to you Curtis Edward Smith or anyone else that might have been involved in his son’s or his wife’s murder?” prosecutor John Meadors asked.

Asked if a cell phone analysis had been performed to see if any of the drug gang members were in the area the night of the killings, Owen said drug gang members typically use burner phones, and he didn’t have their phone numbers. Owen said that state investigators identified only first responders at the scene around Moselle.

The defense attorney also asked Owen if any DNA analysis had been done to match a small amount of unknown male DNA found under Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernail. Owen said no.

The case in the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh was put to rest on Monday, and prosecutors are going to call rebuttal witnesses on Tuesday.

The defense attorneys claim that because of a mishandled police investigation and other misdeeds, Murdaugh is a troubled father and husband who still don’t fit into the definition of a murderer.

Legal experts who have followed the trial say the lack of direct evidence makes it more difficult to convict.

The case is more difficult because of it. If there is enough evidence that the prosecutors can show that the case is worth pursuing and that there is reason to suspect, it can definitely rise to the level needed to get a conviction.

“Jurors want science, jurors want DNA, jurors want something that’s persuasive,” Azari said. They focus on the tenuous motive and the lying after the fact, but neither of those things substitute the evidence that they need.

Discovery of Shell Casings and a Tow Truck at the Collider Detector: A Murdaugh Family Man Sustained by Two Shots to Death

The video focuses on one of their dogs and appears to have been recorded at the kennels at their family home in Islandton. In the background, three different voices can be heard in the footage, and family friends identified those voices as that of Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh.

The prosecution was able to cut into his claims regarding how long he had been with his mother by using that video and other testimony.

Finally, state prosecutors have tried to put forth an adequate explanation of why Murdaugh – described as a loving and devoted family man – would slaughter his wife and son.

After weeks of testimony, a South Carolina court finally heard Thursday from Alex Murdaugh, who is facing two counts of murder in the deaths of his wife and son.

Buster Murdaugh was called as the defense’s first witness of the day. A person familiar with the case previously told CNN that the accident reconstructionist would likely focus on the findings of the investigators at the scene and what conclusions they came up with.

Officers with the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office wrote in reports that they had discovered several shell casings and had called a tow truck company to the scene. They said they looked for cameras from neighboring homes and businesses, but the police reports did not indicate whether they found any.

Mr. Murdaugh said he had asked Mr. Smith to shoot him. Mr. Murdaugh’s lawyers said he had come up with a plan to make his suicide look like a murder because he believed it would help his older son, Buster Murdaugh, collect on his life insurance policy.

During his testimony, Murdaugh offered multiple explanations for his decision to lie to investigators: He was paranoid due to his drug use, he said. Questions about his family relationships made him feel like a suspect, he said. He didn’t trust the law enforcement agency leading the investigation due to previous encounters.

“I admit, candidly, in all of these cases, Mr. Waters, that I took money that was not mine, and I shouldn’t have done it,” Murdaugh said in response to prosecutor Creighton Waters during the prosecution’s cross-examination.

Murdaugh recalled talking to his two-year-old son about the tragedy of his wife, Paul, and Margaret in Islandton, Florida,

He went back to the house in Islandton because Margaret and Paul weren’t there, and he thought they were still at the kennels.

Murdaugh recalled calling 911 and “trying to tend” to Paul and Maggie, going back and forth between them while on the phone. Paul’s injuries were particularly bad, Murdaugh said, and he recalled trying to check his son’s body for a pulse and trying to turn him over.

Murdaugh, who is emotional, said that he doesn’t know why he tried to turn him over. My boy is laying face down. He’s done the way he’s done. His head was the way his head was. I could see his brain laying on the sidewalk. I did not know what to do.

Murdaugh rebutted earlier testimony about data collected from his cell phone, which showed he searched Google for a restaurant in Edisto Beach , and read a group text message soon after finding the bodies.

On Friday, Murdaugh admitted sometimes taking more than 2,000 milligrams of oxycodone per day in the months leading up to the deaths of his wife and son. Opioids, he testified, gave him energy and made “whatever I was doing … more interesting.”

When asked if that drug transaction actually happened, Murdaugh said he didn’t know because after withdrawal symptoms started, Murdaugh said he changed his plan.

Murdaugh testified against the alleged murderer of a boat wreck in South Carolina and denied lying about the killings of his wife and son

After about six hours of testimony Friday – which included a prosecutor grilling the former disgraced South Carolina attorney over lies, drug use and details in the grisly case – the court adjourned for the weekend and is set to resume Monday morning.

“And you disagree to my characterization that you’ve got a photographic memory about the details that have to fit now that you know … these facts but you’re fuzzy on the other stuff that complicates that? You disagree with that?”

At one point on Friday, Waters asked Murdaugh whether the dogs at the kennels on his property were making any noise when he was there with his family.

“I know what I wasn’t doing, Mr. Waters, and what I wasn’t doing is doing anything, as I believe you’ve implied, that I was cleaning off or … washing off guns or putting guns in a raincoat. And I can promise you that I wasn’t doing any of that,” Murdaugh said.

He said that he never made an alibi because he did not hurt his wife or child. I know for a fact that I’ve never, ever, created an alibi.

He testified that the person or people who did what he saw hated Paul Murdaugh. “And they had anger in their heart.”

There is a connection to the boat crash. Waters questioned if a “random vigilante” could have been involved in the murders of his wife and son. Paul Murdaugh said he thought that a fatal boat wreck he was involved in was the reason for the killings. He then clarified that he did not believe anyone involved in the 2019 boat wreck had anything to do with the murders — but suspected it was someone who had heard about what happened.

Waters accused Murdaugh of habitually refusing to tell the truth, saying he “had to back up and make a new story” to cover his actions when new facts emerged.

After Waters concluded his cross examination, the defense attorney for Murdaugh started questioning him again after a brief break. The court took a break for the day after the questioning was over.

Murdaugh, 54, of Dog Kennels, a South Carolina resident, lied to police about his addiction and the killings of Maggie and Paul

“They are real people. They are good people. They’re all people that I care about … And a lot of them people that I love and I did wrong by them,” Murdaugh said.

“Whether that came from me looking them in the eye or not, I can’t answer that. But I will agree with you that every single client I looked them in the eye and I believe that the people that I stole money from for all those years trusted me.”

“I did lie to them,” he said of his comments to investigators that he had not been that day to the estate’s dog kennels, where the bodies of Maggie and Paul were found, until he found them dead. He said he lied because of his addiction.

After the killings, Murdaugh reported that he was shot beside a road and was taken to the hospital for a gunshot wound to the head.

He said various factors contributed to his “paranoid thinking” which led to his decision to lie to police, including his “distrust of SLED,” (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division), questions about his relationship with his wife and son, and “the fact that I have a pocket full of pills in my pocket,” he said. The prosecution played clips of the police interview.

He is accused of two counts ofmurder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, and is at the Colleton County Courthouse. If convicted, he faces a potential sentence of life in prison.

The Last Time that We Saw With My Mom: Murdaugh’s Cell Phone When We Were Out Of Our Own House, Waters reportedly confessed

Choosing to lie to investigators so soon after the deaths beggared belief about his other explanations, Waters argued. “You tell the same lie and all the other reasons you give about the most important part of your testimony is a lie too,” the prosecutor said.

Shortly after, Murdaugh testified that he would have killed himself rather than his family. “I can promise you I would hurt myself before I would hurt one of them, without a doubt,” he said.

“You told this jury how cooperative you’ve been and how much information you wanted to provide, but you left out the most important parts, didn’t you?” Waters asked if he could speak.

Exchanges between Waters and Murdaugh were testy at times. Waters faulted Murdaugh for being fuzzy on details, as they argued about the last moments with his wife and son.

David Owen, lead investigator of South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, held Waters in a car hours after the killings.

Then, in a June 10 interview with Owen and other investigators, Murdaugh was asked to confirm that “the last time that you saw Maggie and Paul was when y’all were eating supper.”

Murdaugh said he spent most of the night sitting in a golf cart. He briefly left the golf cart to take a chicken from his dog Bubba’s mouth, he said.

Cell phone location data shows that Murdaugh did not bring his phone down to the kennels, Waters said. Murdaugh acknowledged that he “must not have” had his phone, adding that it was not unusual for him to leave his phone in the house.

Alex’s phone was stuck at the main house. But starting at 9:02 p.m., data from Murdaugh’s phone showed that it moved 283 steps in four minutes.

Murdaugh was asked about those movements but did not give any details on how he was going to go to mom’s house in spite of constant prodding by Waters.

Waters asked why Murdaugh did not just swing by the kennel and speak with her after leaving that she had failed to get on the phone. “She’s so close, and there’s a driveway right there,” Waters said.

Alex Murdaugh, the prosecutor, and the jury: Come clean about your misdeeds and be careful when you’re on the stand

Murdaugh said he took more than 60 pills daily in the months prior to the killings. He said he was buying different kinds of pills of the drug.

Murdaugh declined to argue against the prosecutor’s accounts of the misdeeds, even after repeatedly saying on the stand that he couldn’t remember details.

The elder generation of the Murdaugh family were the originators of the solicitor’s badge, and Waters questioned Murdaugh about his long service at the circuit solicitor’s office.

Waters displayed a photo of Murdaugh wearing the Badge as he spoke to people on the night of his son Paul’s boating accident which left one woman dead. That event thrust the family into an unwelcome spotlight, and Murdaugh has said he believes it is linked to the execution-style slayings.

After hearing from dozens of witnesses in Alex Murdaugh’s trial, a South Carolina jury heard from him last week, but legal experts say it may have helped his case.

Mark Eiglarsh, a former prosecutor, said that someone who is smart, has been in the courtroom, and has lied for 20 years is good to have on the stand. It takes only one juror to connect with him.

While defendants can often find themselves at a disadvantage when taking the stand, in this case, several attorneys told CNN Murdaugh practically had no choice but to testify.

Why did you lie about not being at the kennels, was that a million dollar question? He had to explain it, said Bernarda Villalona, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor. That is the reason the criminal defense attorney in this case made a calculated decision to put him on the stand.

According to legal experts, putting it all out on the line and coming clean may be an attempt by Murdaugh’s defense to get sympathy from jurors.

“They’re trying to use it for a very positive effect, to show that he had a problem (with addiction), he is sympathetic for trying to wrestle with it and that that may have made him paranoid and caused him to distrust the police and telling them this lie about not being there,” defense attorney Shan Wu said.

“But if he was that addled by the addiction, he might have been acting very irrationally at the time and the jury might believe that this very opioid-addicted person went off into this paranoid frenzy and did slaughter his own family,” Wu noted. I think it is a double-edged sword.

“What they’re doing, the prosecutors, is saying he’s a liar, he’s a cheat, he can’t be trusted and you should not at all take whatever he says at face value,” criminal defense attorney and CNN Legal Analyst Joey Jackson said.

“I think it actually went very well for the defendant and rather poorly for the prosecutor,” Wu said. “Murdaugh (was) a tough witness, I mean he’s a skilled lawyer himself. He really changed the whole tempo of this from a cross (examination), where the person doing the cross should be controlling him, into one where he was able to control the pace.”

“That’s one of the biggest sticking points for the prosecution in this trial: it’s would he really do this?” said Jessica Roth, a law professor at the Cardozo School of Law. “Despite all the other crimes he’s admitted to, would he actually kill his wife and son?

Among the witnesses called by Murdaugh’s attorneys were his former legal partner who testified the scene was not properly secured, and a forensics expert who said his analysis suggests two shooters carried out the killings.

Timothy Palmbach, a former professor of forensic science at the University of New Haven, was hired by Alex Murdaugh’s defense to review the case and analyze the crime scene.

“It’s structurally difficult for the shooter to have two long (weapons) and no practical reason for that to happen,” he testified. It seems that the shooter who fired first with the shotgun might have had a better chance of killing two other people.

He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the fatal shootings at the dog kennels of their family estate in Islandton, South Carolina, on June 7, 2021. 99 charges for alleged financial crimes will be decided at a future date.

The Murdaugh Family’s Case Against A Young Man Who Was Morphologically Trained on the June 7, 2021, Shooting

The prosecution, which featured 61 witnesses over three weeks of testimony, said they plan to seek testimony from four or five rebuttal witnesses on Tuesday. Judge Clifton Newman also ruled jurors will be allowed to visit the family’s sprawling estate after the rebuttal witnesses but prior to closing arguments.

The 14th and final witness was John Marvin Murdaugh, who cried as he told how law enforcement released the crime scene to the family without cleaning up their brother’s remains.

“There was a piece of Paul’s skull about the size of a baseball laying there,” he said. “It just infuriated me that this young man had been murdered and there was still his remains there.”

The defense wanted to prove that investigators did not do a good job in securing the crime scene. There were no police tape or barricades at the entrance to the property and Mark Ball said Paul’s remains had remained there after investigators left.

They’ve tried a number of methods to prove he was at the scene that night, including lying to investigators and making a fake picture of the man who killed his wife and son.

He was charged with murder after a shooting, followed by a stint in rehabilitation for drug addiction, dozens of allegations of financial crimes and a disbarment.

The state plans to call four or five witnesses to testify on issues raised by the defense, and hopes to finish with all of them by the end of the Tuesday, prosecutor Creighton Waters said.

The defense rested its case Monday after calling 14 witnesses, including Murdaugh, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the June 7, 2021, killings.

Prosecutors have used a video filmed at the dog kennels shortly before authorities say the killings took place to argue Murdaugh was at the scene just minutes before the fatal shootings.

The timing of the rigor mortis in a coroner report was not determined by Harvey’s arrival temperature at 11:04 p.m.

Harvey, who said he arrived on scene at 11:04 p.m., also testified that rigor mortis – the stiffening of a body’s joints and muscles following death – had not yet set in, and that it typically starts developing one to three hours following death.

A forensic pathologist, Jonathan Eisenstat, testified Monday that armpit temperature checks are “just not a valid method to try to make a determination of time of death,” calling the technique “just a guess.”

To get as close to the core body temperature as possible, a person arriving on the scene should first check the ambient temperature of the area where the body is found and then take a rectal temperature.

Harvey testified that he didn’t take rectal temperatures that night. During cross examination, prosecutors asked if the coroner had an idea of when the killings occurred since he did not take exact temperatures.