According to a petition filed by the state attorney prosecuting Alex Murdaugh, the discredited ex-lawyer on trial this week for the murders of his wife and son, Paul Murdaugh sent a Snapchat video to numerous acquaintances minutes before he was slain.
A mother, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and her son, Paul Murdaugh were both found dead from gunshot wounds on the family’s property in June of 2021. Alex Murdaugh has been charged with their murders however he has pleaded not guilty. Jurors were selected last Monday. Defense and prosecution counsel has estimated that the trial might go as long as three weeks.
In coastal South Carolina, the Murdaugh family had been prosecuting cases for three generations. However, a string of murders and accusations of embezzlement and insurance fraud brought the family’s legacy crashing down, grabbing the attention of the entire country.
An official filing acquired by CNN affiliate WCSC appears to be the first time prosecutors have used the Snapchat footage as evidence in their case against Murdaugh.
Snapchat provided the recording as part of a search warrant, the filing said
“Amongst other things, critical to the case is a video sent out to several friends at approximately 7:56 PM on the night of the murders,” said the filing.
“The contents of this video is important to proving the State’s case in chief,” reads the document, written by state prosecutors.
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This paper does not elaborate on the nature of the video or explain why it is relevant to the case.
According to a CNN article from October, authorities said in court documents that the mother and boy were killed between 8:30 and 10:06 p.m. Previous reports indicated the killings occurred between 9 and 9:30 p.m., according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters urged in the motion that a representative from Snapchat, the social media platform which provided the video, “testify in person that the video is a truthful and accurate record made in the normal course of business activity.”
In granting the motion, Judge Clifton Newman has asked a district court in Los Angeles to order a Snapchat representative to appear at the Murdaugh trial beginning on the day jurors are selected.
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