Snapchat video sent by Paul Murdaugh the night he was killed considered critical part of case, prosecutors say - CNN

CNN  — 

Paul Murdaugh sent a Snapchat video to respective friends conscionable minutes earlier helium was killed, according to a question filed by the South Carolina authorities lawyer prosecuting Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced erstwhile lawyer lasting proceedings starting this week successful the sidesplitting of his woman and son.

Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, 52, and their youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, 22, were recovered changeable to decease connected the family’s spot successful June 2021.

Alex Murdaugh has denied helium was progressive successful their deaths and pleaded not guilty to the execution charges.

Jury enactment began Monday. The proceedings could past up to 3 weeks, attorneys for the defence and prosecution person said.

Three generations of the Murdaugh household had served arsenic prosecuting attorneys successful coastal South Carolina, but a bid of deaths and allegations of embezzlement and security fraud brought the household bequest crashing down, capturing the nation’s attention.

The notation to the video successful the filing, obtained by CNN affiliate WCSC, appears to beryllium the archetypal notation of the Snapchat video from prosecutors who mean to usage it arsenic grounds successful their lawsuit against Murdaugh.

Snapchat provided the signaling arsenic portion of a hunt warrant, the filing said.

“Amongst different things, captious to the lawsuit is simply a video sent retired to respective friends astatine astir 7:56 PM connected the nighttime of the murders,” said the filing.

“The contents of this video is important to proving the State’s lawsuit successful chief,” reads the document, written by authorities prosecutors.

The papers does not picture what the contents of the video are, and its value to the lawsuit is unclear.

In October, CNN reported, prosecutors successful tribunal documents said the parent and lad were killed betwixt 8:30 p.m. and 10:06 p.m. successful tribunal documents. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division antecedently reported the deaths occurred betwixt 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters asked successful the question that a typical from Snapchat, the societal media level which provided the video, “testify successful idiosyncratic that the video is simply a existent and close grounds kept successful the mean people of concern activity.”

Judge Clifton Newman ruled successful favour of the question and issued a petition to a Los Angeles, territory tribunal to compel a typical of Snapchat to be the Murdaugh proceedings starting the archetypal time of assemblage selection.