Savanna Goude, a prosecutor’s facial expression went viral on Thursday, during Alex Murdaugh’s trial, as she sat behind the defense attorney Jim Griffin when he delivered the closing arguments in the case.

Prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh has been indicted on double murder charges in connection with the deaths of his wife and son. The murders occurred in June 2021 and had remained a mystery until now.

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A grand jury in South Carolina indicted Murdaugh, who is a personal injury lawyer, for the murder of his wife Margaret and their son Paul. The Murdaugh family is well-known in the Lowcountry region of the state, where Alex’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all been top prosecutors for a combined 90 years.

Here are some of the reactions to the camera capturing her expressions on Thursday.

The investigation into the murders set off a series of strange events, including Murdaugh hiring a man to kill him in a fake car breakdown so his older son could collect on a life insurance policy. Murdaugh also faced charges of financial crimes.

Who is Savanna Goude?

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Not much is known about Goude except that during the trial, she cross-examined defense witness and forensic scientist Timothy Palmbach, as well as Dr. Jonathan Eisenstat, a forensic pathologist. 

Palmbach testified that the killer was likely inside the feed room for both shots that killed Paul Murdaugh, firing downward through the top of Murdaugh’s skull and subsequently being covered in blood.

Goude questioned how it would be possible for the shooter to not leave their own bloody footprints inside the feed room. SLED investigators had only identified Paul Murdaugh’s footprints in the room. Palmbach testified that he had never seen the SLED reports that identified the footprints as Paul’s in his study of the case. He confirmed that he had only received the reports that were supplied to him by the defense.

After Palmbach’s testimony, the defense rested their case, and the prosecution brought their response witnesses before closing arguments later that week. Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters stated that the state had around four witnesses they planned to bring to the stand.

Eisenstat testified that the manner of death for Paul Murdaugh was a homicide. He determined that the pellets from the gunshot did not come back out when they exited the back of his head. The range of fire would have been approximately six inches, starting to spread from the top of his head to his chin, showing a slight pattern spread within one foot. Soot or stippling was not noted on Paul’s shoulder and head. The top of his skull was missing, and his brain was left on the floor.

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The indictment and trial have, at last, brought closure to the year-long mystery surrounding the murders of Margaret and Paul Murdaugh.