The 26 year old son of Aex Murdaugh was the leadoff witness as the defense began its case in the double murder trial at Walterboro. Buster Murdaugh, older brother of murder victim Paul Murdaugh, was questioned closely.
Defense Attorney Jim Griffin asked him about two rifles that he had been given for Christmas. He was also asked about disappearance of Paul's rifle which had been left in an unlocked truck months before the killings at the family's hunting estate.
The defense seemed to be closing in on that missing gun as one of the murder weapons, neither have turned up. Lead defender Dick Harpootlian's pre-trial comments had indicated a possible line of defense suggesting two killers, each targeting Murdaugh's wife and younger son separately.
Before Tuesday's session, a juror who had become ill over the weekend was replaced from among the alternates. Judge Clifton Newman admonished co-defender Jim Griffin for posting a Tweet, criticizing some glaring omissions in SLED's crime scene investigation.
Griffin told the judge he had merely re-tweeted the article form the Washington Post, but apologized and promised not to post or retweet anything else about the trial.
