Alex Murdaugh, 54, denied harming Maggie or Paul Murdaugh, who was tragically shot in June 2021 at the family’s remote hunting estate.
In a murder trial that has gripped the United States, the heir to a legal dynasty in South Carolina has acknowledged lying about his whereabouts the night his wife and son were murdered.
The former attorney testified on Thursday, during the fifth week of the trial. If convicted, Mr. Murdaugh risks 30 years to life in jail without parole.
The Walterboro trial has shaken the southern corner of South Carolina, where the defendant’s family has dominated the legal scene for more than a century.
Authorities contend that Mr. Murdaugh murdered Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, in an attempt to gain sympathy and cover a decade of financial misdeeds.
Mr. Murdaugh, who has acknowledged stealing from clients and coworkers, is facing roughly one hundred individual financial crimes, with prosecutors charging he took approximately $8.8 million (£7.3 million).
The defense team refuted this idea in court, asserting that Mr. Murdaugh would never have “mutilated” his family.
Mr. Murdaugh wept in court on Thursday as he described the night he discovered Maggie and Paul dead.
“I saw what you’ve seen in photographs,” he told the jury, referring to the horrific images of the crime scene. “So terrible.”
And he addressed what was arguably the most damning aspect of the prosecution’s case: that he had lied about being with Maggie and Paul in the dog kennels on the family’s farm just before their murders.
A cell phone video made at the kennels by Paul around five minutes before prosecutors believes the murders occurred and featuring both Alex Murdaugh and Maggie’s voices in the background contradicted the defendant’s statements that he had been napping inside the family house.
“After I lied, I continued to lie,” he stated. He attributed his prior denials to delusion brought on by his years-long use of medicines.
His testimony also strongly emphasized his addiction. Mr. Murdaugh told the jury that a knee ailment he sustained in college led to a severe dependence on oxycodone, which depleted his bank account.
Mr. Murdaugh remarked,
“I’m not entirely sure how I ended up where I am.”
He also mentioned one of the most peculiar aspects of his saga: an attempted murder hoax.
In September 2021, some three months after his wife and son were murdered, he reported to authorities that he had been shot in the head on the side of a remote road.
Afterward, he acknowledged that he had bribed a distant cousin to kill him so that his surviving son, Buster, could collect his life insurance.
The jury also heard an audio tape of Mr. Murdaugh’s 911 call after his wife and kid were murdered. In the recording, he can be heard saying,
“I should have known.”
Mr. Murdaugh clarified his statement by stating that his son Paul had received social media death threats that his family did not take seriously.
He stated,
“We overlooked it because it was so excessive.”
Even during Creighton Waters’s cross-examination, Mr. Murdaugh’s demeanor remained essentially apologetic throughout hours of questioning.
Mr. Waters, who strode around the courtroom while interrogating Mr. Murdaugh, pressed him with increasing intensity on a laundry list of alleged financial offenses.
Mr. Murdaugh repeated numerous times, “I was incorrect.” “I recall stealing from individuals, lying to individuals, and deceiving them.”
Mr. Murdaugh, though, refuted Mr. Waters’ claims that he was worried about his “financial house of cards” falling.
Mr. Murdaugh stated,
“You have charged me with the murder of my wife and son, and I have sat here for weeks listening to all this embarrassing financial information that I did wrong.”
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