Alex Murdaugh jurors to visit Moselle estate in murder trial

Jurors in Alex Murdaugh's murder trial will get to visit the family's South Carolina estate as part of their deliberations.

Lawyers for Mr Murdaugh requested that the jury be able to visit the property to assess the space where Mr Murdaugh's wife and son were found dead in 2021.

Mr Murdaugh, 54, has been charged with murder in the shooting deaths of his wife and son.

The former lawyer has insisted he was not involved in the deaths.

Mr Murdaugh reported finding the bodies of his wife, Maggie, 52, and son, Paul, 22, near the dog kennels on the family's sprawling hunting estate in South Carolina's Colleton County.

His defense lawyer, Dick Harpootlian, asked the presiding judge to grant jurors time to visit the 1,700-acre estate, known as Moselle, to get a better idea of where the bodies were found relative to the dog kennels and the Murdaugh home, where Mr Murdaugh said he had been napping at the time of the killings.

"You just can't really appreciate the spatial issues without really seeing them," Mr Harpootlian told the court on Monday.

Prosecutors, however, have argued against granting jurors access to the estate, saying that the property has changed in the 20 months since the killings.

They said that some of the trees between the kennels and the Murdaugh home have grown taller and thicker.

Moselle is where the family has lived for several years. It includes their home, as well as dog kennels, a cabin and sprawling lands, fields and forests, where Mr Murdaugh would hunt with his two sons.

Mr Murdaugh's surviving son, Buster, testified that much of the estate is "really not even accessible" because it is filled with swamps and there are no built roadways in many parts.

After the deaths, the property had been listed for sale for $3.9m (£3.2m).

The judge presiding over the case, Clifton Newman, agreed to allow jurors to view the estate. Only members of the jury, the judge, lawyers, police and security personnel will be present.

If convicted, Mr Murdaugh faces 30 years in jail, though prosecutors have argued for a life sentence.