'If there's any reasonable cause for you to hesitate to write 'guilty,' then the law requires you to write 'not guilty,'' defense attorney Jim Griffin said. 'You have to tilt the scales all the way to one side in order for the state to meet their burden.'
-A lawyer for Richard "Alex" Murdaugh on Thursday accused investigators of fabricating evidence and said their theory of why their client killed his wife and son made no sense, seeking to raise doubts with the jury in the high-profile murder trial.
Murdaugh, the 54-year-old scion of an influential legal family in an area west of Charleston, has been charged with fatally shooting his wife Maggie, 52, and youngest son, Paul, 22, at dog kennels on their estate on the night of June 7, 2021. Throughout the monthlong trial and during his final remarks on Wednesday, the state's lead prosecutor Creighton Waters sought to portray Murdaugh as a serial liar and argued that only he had the means and the opportunity to commit the murders.
Griffin repeatedly highlighted the high legal bar in criminal cases of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, underscoring the challenge for prosecutors who have built their case on circumstantial rather than direct evidence. Among the state's strongest evidence is Murdaugh's admission from the stand last week that he'd lied about his whereabouts on the night of the killings, telling investigators he was not at the dog kennels before the murders. Murdaugh changed his account after the jury listened to audio evidence placing him at the crime scene minutes before it occurred.
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