On Wednesday, the jury visited the Murdaugh family’s hunting property where Maggie and Paul were found dead.
Jeffrey Collins/AP
Jurors spent about an hour walking around the property and were not allowed to talk to lawyers for the prosecution or the defense, The New York Times reported.
A single pool reporter accompanied the jury around the property, saying the jurors spent much of their time at the kennels and shed where Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were found dead, according to the NBC and CW Plus affiliate WCBD.
“One juror was standing in the feed-room door, glancing up at the doorway that has been the subject of so much wrenching testimony,” the pool reporter wrote.
It is somewhat uncommon for jurors to visit crime scenes in the course of a trial, but they have in other high-profile cases, like the O.J. Simpson trial and the trial of the Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz, according to The Associated Press.
Alex Murdaugh’s attorney Harpootlian proposed the idea, according to WCBD, asking the judge to ask the jury whether they wanted to visit the crime scene.
Harpootlian said he wanted the jury to get a better idea of where the bodies were found relative to the kennels, the BBC reported.
“You just can’t really appreciate the spatial issues without really seeing them,” Harpootlian said Monday.
The prosecution was against the idea, saying the look of the property had changed since 2021, with trees growing taller and thicker, CNN reported. But the judge allowed the visit.
