Double murder suspect challenged on ‘new story’
Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh faced intense questioning about his movements the night his wife and son were killed as the prosecutor challenged inconsistencies in his memory Friday at his double murder trial.
A day after revealing for the first time that he was at the kennels where his wife and son were shot shortly before they died, Murdaugh returned to the stand in his own defense. During cross-examination, prosecutor Creighton Waters grilled Murdaugh about what he repeatedly called the once-prominent lawyer’s “new story” about what happened at the kennels on the evening of June 7, 2021.
Waters asked Murdaugh if he meant what he told the jury Thursday — that he tried to help police find the killers.
“Other than lying to them about going to the kennels, I was cooperative in every aspect of this investigation,” Murdaugh said.
“Very cooperative except maybe the most important fact of all, that you were at the murder scene with the victims just minutes before they died,” Waters replied.
For 20 months, Murdaugh insisted that he was never at the kennels. But after more than a year, state agents hacked his son’s iphone and found a video with Alex Murdaugh’s voice less than five minutes before the victims stopped using their cellphones and prosecutors think they were shot.
Murdaugh, 54, is charged with murder in the deaths of his wife, Maggie, 52, and their 22-year-old son, Paul, but has steadfastly denied any involvement. He faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted.
Waters ended his cross-examination by rattling off the names of about four dozen people — starting with Maggie and Paul Murdaugh and running through his family, friends, law partners, clients and police. He asked Alex Murdaugh if he lied to them and Murdaugh agreed on most.