In our top story today,
back into the courtroom for Alex
Murdoch for the murder trial.
Now this morning in Colleton
County in the courthouse,
prosecution began their case.
And we want to take you back to something
that happened just moments ago.
Sergeant Daniel Green from the Clinton
County Sheriff's Department was called
to the stand as the first witness.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters played
the jurors the entire body Cam footage
from the moment that he arrived at
the crime scene at Mozelle where
Maggie and Paul were found for
the first time in the courtroom.
Alec Murdoch showed emotion as
waters kept pausing that video,
asking green step-by-step what
he was doing on the scene.
Waters began questioning a portion
of the video where law enforcement
wanted to look under Paul's body
to see if there was a gun.
During this part, Alec began agitated,
rubbing his head.
He was visibly crying in the courtroom.
What was that discussion
about right there? So
the whole purpose for even
trying to look up under him was
to determine if there was an
additional firearm on scene already.
Possibly under Paul.
There was 300 blackout casings
found near Maggie.
They were trying to determine
if there was possibly a 300
blackout rifle under Paul
while while we're. Were y'all concerned
that there may be one under Paul,
we just trying to rule
it out as a possibility.
And what was that possibility though,
that he could have shot Maggie
and then did what? Shot himself.
So you're looking to see if there's a
gun underneath he had shot himself and
then falling on top of. That's correct.
Well, no gun was in fact
found under Paul's body.
Now that was again just a moment ago
from what was a long time on the
stand for Sergeant Daniel Green from
Colington County Sheriff's Department.
But News 19 has a team of reporters at
the courthouse today are Caitlin Hagwood
has stepped out of the courtroom just
to speak with us now for more kayland,
what did you see today?
Inside today,
prosecutors began laying out their case
against Alec Murdoch in the alleged
double murders of his wife and son first.
Testify was caught in County
Detective Daniel Green,
who was the 1st to arrive at the crime scene.
Body camera video showed graphic
images of the two shot to death
at what was described as a dog
kennel on the family property.
Murdoch called 911 and can be
heard asking the investigator
if Paul and Maggie are alive,
bringing up a deadly 2019 boat
crash where his son Paul was
alleged to have been involved.
Is the firearm you brought
from inside the house, Sir.
Yes, Sir. I wanna get.
This is a long story.
My son was in a boat rack of months back.
He's been getting threats.
Most of us been benign stuff.
We didn't take serious.
You know, he he's been getting like punched.
No, that's somebody I know.
That's what it is.
The defense has described Murdoch
as a loving father with no desire
to kill his wife and son and say.
Prosecutors have little direct evidence
to prove it as the trial continues.
We could hear from Murdoch's ex law
colleagues and business associates
in the days ahead reporting at
the Collin County Courthouse.
Kalen Hagwood News 19 WLTX.
Alright, thank you so much Karen,
we're going to get you
back in the courtroom now.
Now the defense has just started
just now a few moments ago,
the cross examination of Sergeant Green.
We'll get to that sound today
when you join us for friends at 5.
But now let's move on to some
of the things that the defense
talked about yesterday.
They said it was.
Hard to believe that Alec
committed these crimes.
Here's what Murdoch attorneys said
during their opening statements.
To find out Murdoch's guilty
of murdering his son,
you're going to have to accept
that within an hour of having a.
Extraordinarily bonding.
You can see it in the Snapchat
that he executes him in a
brutal fashion. Not believable.
Not believable.
Well again that's a defense attorney
**** Harpootlian who is now as
we speak cross examining Sergeant
Green again from Colleton County.
But legal experts from around the
country are weighing in on the case
and to what we're seeing in the
courtroom and with the prosecution
underway we had a chance to speak
with a lawyer about what they saw
in the courtroom and what they
think so far of the proceedings.
News 19 Sam Perez is live from
just outside of the courthouse in
Walterboro with a legal experts.
Opinions on the proceedings, Sam?
Yes, Andrea, I'm here in Colleton County
and Sergeant Green is currently on the
stand being cross examined by the defense.
Now, I spoke to an Orangeburg attorney,
Sarah Ford, about what the order of
witnesses might mean in this case and
what the strategy could be. Sometimes
you want to set that scene,
which it looks like the state is doing
here that here's an here's the beginning
of of what happened at the incident.
And then of course later in the
trial we'd anticipate that you know
additional witnesses would speak
about things prior to that incident
but really setting the scene from
from the incident date on June 7th.
So there's really no hard and fast rule.
You have to evaluate your
strongest witnesses,
your strongest evidence and how you
want the the jury to to perceive that.
Four tells me that sometimes the
prosecution may choose their strongest
witness to take the stand first.
Other times they might try a
chronological approach to walk
the jury through what happened
in the order that it occurred.
Now, Green is the first with witness
on the list of about 255 people that
could potentially be called to testify.
Reporting live in Walterboro.
Sam Perez News 19 WLTX.
Very interesting.
All right, thank you, Sam.
And I think they are going for chronological
in this case because Sergeant.
Green was in fact the first person on
the scene in Mozelle that day where
Maggie and Paul's bodies were found,
but this is obviously a developing story.
We have got you covered though.
News 19 has got a team of reporters
down in Walterboro and you can
continue to watch on WLTX plus as
well as our YouTube channel as well
as our website and make sure you
sign up for news 19 text alerts.
We'll be pushing out the very latest.