Day 23 - February 27, 2023

The court declined to poll jurors about visiting Moselle but granted the defense's request for a jury view, directing law enforcement to secure the property and exclude spectators. Forensic pathologist Jonathan Eisenstat testified about the limits of time-of-death estimates and disputed portions of the autopsy findings. He disagreed with the direction assigned to one of Maggie Murdaugh's wounds and described Paul Murdaugh's fatal injury as a contact shotgun wound to the top-back of the head that would have produced biological blowback. On cross-examination, he acknowledged that his compensation would exceed $10,000, that he had not prepared a report, and that broader crime-scene reconstruction was outside his expertise. Crime-scene expert Timothy Palmbach also described Paul's fatal injury as an overhead contact wound near the feed-room doorway. He testified that the shooter likely would have been heavily contaminated, criticized the apparent lack of enhanced footwear-impression and fingerprint processing, and said the totality of the evidence was more suggestive of two shooters. The State questioned his late site visit, the defense-supplied materials he reviewed, and his lack of a written report; he maintained his principal reconstruction opinions. John Marvin Murdaugh traced family vehicle movements, described Alex Murdaugh's condition after the killings, and gave an emotional account of trying to clean biological material from the released kennel scene. He also explained how Maggie Murdaugh's phone was located and recounted statements SLED personnel allegedly made about Alex's shirt, distinguishing those statements from his own observations. On cross-examination, he agreed that Alex had lied by failing to disclose his presence at the kennels. The defense then rested, and the court denied its renewed directed-verdict motion while scheduling the State's reply witnesses and the jury view.