(NewsNation) — Morning testimony was cut short at the double-murder trial of Alex Murdaugh when state agents said a bomb threat was called into the Colleton County courthouse.
At 12:55 p.m., South Carolina Law Enforcement Division issued the following statement:
“A bomb threat was received by Colleton County courthouse personnel. The building has been evacuated and SLED along with the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the threat. No additional information is available from SLED at this time.“
The courthouse was evacuated for two hours following the threat.
Riley Benson, a reporter for NewsNation affiliate WCBD, was inside the courthouse when the threat was received. Benson said that the bailiffs started getting communications on their walkie-talkies, then Judge Clifton Newman sent the jury to the jury room. Shortly after, the judge told everyone else in the courthouse they had to evacuate.
According to Benson, people were ushered out using all doors, including a door that is not commonly used. Initially, people were allowed to remain on the courthouse lawn, but they were soon pushed back to across the street.
The 11th day of Murdaugh’s murder trial restarted around 3 p.m. after police searched the area.
Earlier Wednesday, Murdaugh’s paralegal testified about the betrayal she felt when she discovered he lied and manipulated to steal millions of dollars from clients.
Annette Griswold also told jurors Murdaugh was a dedicated family man so distraught after his wife and son were killed he could no longer stay at the home where the killings took place and texted a lengthy apology for his misdeeds to his paralegals while in rehab.
Murdaugh, a disbarred South Carolina attorney, is accused of killing his wife and son in June 2021 on their sprawling hunting estate roughly 70 miles west of Charleston. Prosecutors allege Murdaugh shot them to death to deflect attention from the imminent revelation of a decade of financial crimes.
His defense lawyers have sought to poke holes in the state’s forensic evidence and suggested there may have been two shooters. His wife, Maggie, was killed with a rifle, while his son Paul was killed with a shotgun.
Also Wednesday, the defense got a chance to cross-examine a state agent who examined a blue rain jacket and other items for gunshot residue.
State Law Enforcement Division forensic scientist Megan Fletcher said Tuesday she found 38 microscopic particles — which she called a significant amount — left behind when a gun is fired on the inside of the jacket which was taken from his mother’s home through a search warrant three months after the killings.
Defense attorney Jim Griffin got Fletcher to say gunshot reside doesn’t break down and can stay on an object for years unless washed off.
“You can’t tell us how it got there or when it got there,” Griffin said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
