When asked to visit, one of Mr Murdaugh’s attorneys, Dick Harpootlian, said he wanted jurors to be able to see the distance between the various geographic points discussed in the case and the size of the case. a petty room where Paul Murdaugh was found dead.
“You can’t really appreciate space problems without actually seeing them,” he told the court.
Creighton Waters, the lead prosecutor, countered the request, noting that the property had changed in the 20 months since the crime, including that the trees between the crib and the main house were “clearly taller and thicker” markedly” than before.
Judge Clifton Newman authorized the visit and said he would attend along with attorneys. In the face of objections from reporters, he banned the visit from journalists and the public, instead allowing three journalists to see the scene shortly after the jurors left.
Although much of the property is hidden from the road, it is clear that this week it has changed since the crime, while no one lives there. Apart from the overgrown trees, the dilapidated driveway was now almost obscured by overgrown grass. Mr Harpootlian asked the judge to ensure that police secured the scene for the visit, saying dozens of people attempted to trespass on property during the trial, with some attempting to take pictures near the crime scene.
Stew Mathews, a defense attorney based in Cincinnatti, requires grand jury visits in most of the serious cases he takes on, he said. He did so last year when he successfully represented Brett Hankison, the former police officer who was found not guilty endanger Breonna Taylor’s neighbors during a deadly police raid on her apartment.
Mr. Mathews said that while he could not be certain, he thought the grand jury visit helped the jurors in that case understand the scene and perhaps understand the defense that Mr. another apartment attached to Mrs. Taylor’s.
