Lawyer: I didn’t kill son
Weepy Murdaugh takes stand at his S.C. murder trial
Accused killer Alex Murdaugh took the stand Thursday morning to defend himself against prosecutors’ claims he shot his wife and son on the family’s South Carolina property in June 2021.
The 54-year-old former attorney admitted he wasn’t truthful with police when they asked if he’d been to the family’s kennels on the day Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s bodies were found there. According to Murdaugh, his addiction to painkillers made him paranoid, which put him on a slippery slope where he “had to keep lying.”
Asked about his relationship with Paul, 22, Murdaugh said they “couldn’t be any closer.”
Prior to Murdaugh’s taking the stand shortly before 11 a.m., prosecutors asked his close friend Nolen Tuten if he could identify the voice heard on video shot by Paul before his death as that of the suspect. Tuten confirmed the voice was Murdaugh’s.
When his attorney asked if he killed his wife and son, Murdaugh insisted, “No, I did not.”
At the time of his death, Paul Murdaugh was facing legal trouble tied to a 2019 boat crash that left a teenage girl dead. Alex Murdaugh claimed the incident left his son with enemies who may have wished him harm.
Prosecutors dropped charges against Paul
Murdaugh — who’d been accused of driving the boat while drinking — after he was fatally shot. He’d pleaded not guilty.
Alex Murdaugh wept when asked to recall the moment he discovered his wife and son’s bodies. He described the condition of his son — who prosecutors said was shot twice with a shotgun at close range — as “so bad.”
“Done the way he was done, head was the way his head was,” he testified. “I could see his brain lying on the sidewalk.”
Murdaugh, part of a renowned legal family in the Palmetto State, listened quietly as defense attorneys played a recording of the 911 call he made to emergency workers in which he seemed to be upset.
Prosecutors disagree with Murdaugh’s team on how long the victims had been dead when the call was made.
The defendant told a 911 operator he had a gun and was instructed to put it away before cops arrived. Murdaugh testified he retrieved the weapon after realizing his family members had been shot.
His attorneys asked how blood might have gotten onto the gun and his car. According to Murdaugh, he touched his wife and son’s bodies after finding them and could have had their blood on his hands.
“I was nowhere near Paul and Maggie when they got shot,” he insisted.
He said there was no “high-velocity” blood splatter on him that could prove he shot the victims from close range. Photos indicate Murdaugh changed shirts at some point on June 7, 2021, when the killings occurred.
Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, testified in his father’s defense Tuesday.
After a long break Thursday, Murdaugh’s attorneys — anticipating what prosecutors will likely bring up during cross-examination — asked their client if he’d committed financial improprieties that could have complicated his family life.
Murdaugh admitted to financial wrongdoing.
“My addiction was extremely bad,” he said. He also faces multiple charges including insurance fraud.
Murdaugh claimed Thursday he asked a man to shoot him once he learned his troubles were coming to a head. He survived that September 2021 gunshot.
Murdaugh told jurors he had life insurance his wife would have collected, but he had not taken out policies on her or his dead son.
“I would never hurt Maggie,” he said. “Ever.”
He tearfully described his son “Pau Pau” as “a man’s man” who was looking for a sense of direction but would have figured things out had his life not been cut short.
“I did not kill Maggie, I did not kill Paul,” he sobbingly said before the court called another recess.