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A photo from Paul and Maggie Murdaugh’s autopsy recently made the rounds on social media and left several people horrified.
On Friday, Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial judge Clifton Newman addressed the courtroom and claimed that the photo was published from within the court:
“There’s a complaint now regarding the posting of autopsy photos that came from within the courtroom. Based on the direction of the photographs, it did not come from the audience it came from within the well of the court.”
The judge said that the court often seals such photos to maintain the privacy rights of the parties involved in the case:
“Of course one of the reasons that we've sought to seal graphic photos is because the parties have the right to privacy and a right to those matters not being publicly disclosed.”
He also compared the situation to that of Kobe Bryant’s wife Vanessa Bryant. Vanessa recently sued Los Angeles officials for revealing photos from the scene of the helicopter crash that killed her husband and daughter:
“If anyone has heard about the recent settlement that Kobe Bryant's wife just made with the Los Angeles County and others out there over certain disclosures, involving the death of Kobe Bryant, liability can be substantial and it's a risk, for the most part, that's not worth taking.”
Judge Newman concluded:
“We'll let everyone judge themselves accordingly.”
The autopsy photos of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh were accidentally displayed on one of the prosecutor’s screens during a live stream of the trial when Medical University of South Carolina pathologist Dr. Ellen Reimer was being questioned on the stand.
However, The New York Post reported that the photo was shown on a live stream by WGN News on Tuesday. Several trolls reportedly took screenshots of the photo and spread the same across the internet.
A spokesperson for WGN addressed the situation and said that the pool camera that captured the photos was not operated by the network:
“During Tuesday’s hearing the pool camera reacted slowly during the presentation of certain photographic evidence, which was visible at a distance on-air for a few seconds. The pool camera was not operated by WGN-TV, and we have since removed the video from our streaming platforms.”
In addition to the judge, several social media users also slammed the circulation of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh’s autopsy photos, with some dubbing it as “disgusting and horrific”:
As per The New York Post, the disturbing photo shows a slain Maggie Murdaugh with an entry wound below her left ear.
Netizens condemn circulation of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh autopsy photos
In the wake of Alex Murdaugh’s sentencing in the murder trial, a series of gruesome photos of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh’s autopsy results circulated on social media.
While Judge Newman officially addressed the situation and condemned the circulation, netizens also took to Twitter to call out people who were spreading the photos online:
On June 7, 2021, Maggie Murdaugh and her son Paul were shot to death at the Murdaugh family's hunting lodge in Islandton, South Carolina. Officials later declared Alex Murdaugh as a person of interest in the murders of his wife and son.
The former lawyer was found guilty of the murders following a six-week trial and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after three hours of deliberations by the jury.
