BRUTAL QUESTIONS
Prosecutor hammers accused killer Murdaugh
Disgraced lawyer and accused double-murderer Alex Murdaugh took the witness stand for a second day of grueling cross-examination by prosecutor Creighton Waters, who accused him of crafting an alibi before allegedly shooting his wife and son in June 2021.
Waters focused sharply on a four-minute period shortly after the murders are thought to have taken place, where phone data indicates Murdaugh made several calls and walked nearly 300 steps after an hour of apparent inactivity.
He found it puzzling that Murdaugh, who said he may have taken a nap, phoned his wife — while they were both on the family property — but got no answer. Prosecutors believe she was already dead.
“I never manufactured any alibi in any way, shape or form because I did not, and would not, hurt my wife and my child,” Murdaugh answered.
Murdaugh also struggled to account for the footsteps. Waters mockingly asked the defendant if he’d perhaps gotten on a treadmill or done “jumping jacks.”
Murdaugh testified he called to tell his wife he was taking a short drive to check on his mother and would be back shortly.
He told the court it wasn’t unusual for his wife and son not to answer their phones. The pair had gone to a dog kennel on the property, which is where their bodies were found.
For months, Murdaugh told police he had not been to the kennel on June 7, 2021, prior to discovering the bloody bodies of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh there. He changed that story in court Thursday after an associate testified he recognized the 54-year-old former attorney’s voice on a Snapchat video the suspect’s 22-year-old son recorded at the kennel before he died.
Murdaugh testified he lied to investigators because an addiction to painkillers, which he said he’s kicked, rendered him paranoid. His drug use was discussed at great length Thursday and Friday.
Prosecutors played a 2021 video of police interviewing Murdaugh after the killings, where he does not disclose that he’d been to the kennel with his wife and son.
“At what point did you decide to lie?” Waters asked the defendant.
The prosecution spent Thursday afternoon hammering Murdaugh as a liar who stole from his clients, including a teenage girl and a quadriplegic. He is also accused of ripping off the law firm started by his family more than a century ago, which no longer exists because of Murdaugh’s “activities,” Waters charged.
Murdaugh confessed he stole from people he’d looked “in the eye,” but denies he committed murder.
He said whoever shot his son from close range with a shotgun, “hated” him and had “anger in their heart.”
Murdaugh suggested that murder was connected to a 2019 boat crash, where a woman was killed in a boat Paul was driving, allegedly while intoxicated. Waters scoffed at that theory, for which Murdaugh presented no evidence.
Waters accused the defendant of being a person of lifelong privilege who sees himself as a “victim” when held accountable for his actions. During the defense’s redirect, Murdaugh said, “I would hurt myself before I’d hurt (Maggie or Paul) without a doubt.”
Prominent New York defense attorney Duncan Levin doesn’t think things are going well for the defendant.
“A defendant’s decision to testify is a deeply personal one and, almost always, a highly risky one,” he told the Daily News by email. “His testimony has been a disaster for him.”
Levin, who has worked with high-profile clients including Harvey Weinstein and Anne Delvey, believes Murdaugh’s cross-examination revealed him as a man who should not be believed.
“The prosecution has done a very good job so far at showing the jury who Alex Murdaugh really is,” Levin said. “The question is whether the jury will accept his excuses, and it seems pretty incredible to believe that anyone on the jury was swayed in his direction during his testimony so far.”
Court was adjourned around 4:45 p.m. Friday. The trial resumes Monday at 9:30 a.m.