Walterboro, South Carolina
CNN
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Alex Murdaugh took the stand to testify in his double homicide trial Thursday morning, admitting he lied to investigators when he stated he was not on the scene of the killings of his spouse and son minutes earlier than the state says the deadly shootings happened in June 2021.
Nearly instantly, Murdaugh acknowledged his voice is heard in a video that gave the impression to be filmed on the canine kennels the place the our bodies of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh had been discovered, saying he lied about being on the kennels earlier that night due to “paranoid pondering” stemming from his drug dependancy.
The state has used the video to place Murdaugh on the scene of the killings, contradicting his repeated statements to legislation enforcement that he had not been there that evening, and quite a few witnesses have recognized his voice within the background of the video recorded by Paul at 8:44 p.m. the evening of June 7, 2021.
“Mr. Murdaugh, is that you simply on the kennel video at 8:44 p.m. on June 7,” protection legal professional Jim Griffin requested, “the evening Maggie and Paul had been murdered?”
“It’s,” Murdaugh stated, later including, “I wasn’t pondering clearly. I don’t assume I used to be able to motive, and I lied about being down there, and I’m so sorry that I did.”
Nonetheless, Murdaugh was emphatic in his denial that he shot and killed his spouse and son, insisting in response to Griffin’s questions, “I didn’t shoot my spouse or my son, anytime, ever.”
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Murdaugh has pleaded not responsible to 2 counts of homicide and two weapons expenses within the killings of his spouse and son on the household’s property – a property often called Moselle – in Islandton, South Carolina.
Previous to Thursday, Murdaugh had repeatedly denied being on the scene of the deadly shootings. He advised investigators he had gone to go to his mom that night and located the our bodies by the kennels when he returned house later that evening.
Prosecutors accuse Murdaugh of killing his spouse and son to distract from an array of alleged monetary crimes, for which the now-disbarred legal professional faces 99 expenses separate from the homicide case. However the protection maintains Murdaugh – the scion of a strong South Carolina household who held the native solicitor’s workplace for 3 generations – is a caring father who has been wrongly accused after a mishandled investigation.
Murdaugh was sworn in Thursday morning, promising to inform “the entire fact and nothing however the fact,” quickly after telling Decide Clifton Newman he wished to testify, prompting an audible, collective gasp from the gallery within the Colleton County courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.
Murdaugh opted to take the stand regardless of Newman’s determination to disclaim a protection request to restrict the scope of questioning Murdaugh would face beneath cross-examination, particularly in regard to his alleged monetary crimes, which the state has pointed to as a potential motive for the killings.
Newman denied the request, echoing his determination from a day prior when he dominated to not subject a blanket order limiting the state’s questions, saying it was “unprecedented to me.”
The decide beforehand dominated to permit prosecutors to current proof associated to Murdaugh’s alleged monetary crimes, which the protection has argued are irrelevant to the homicide case. The state, nonetheless, contends the purported misconduct was about to be revealed on the time of the killings and that he fatally shot his spouse and son with a view to stave off these looming revelations.
Prosecutors rested their case final week after calling greater than 60 witnesses to the stand. Within the absence of direct DNA or eyewitness proof connecting Murdaugh to the killings, they’ve tried to point out Murdaugh lied to investigators and was on the scene simply minutes earlier than the deadly shootings.
Murdaugh testified he went to the Moselle kennels at Maggie’s request the evening of the killings, however that he didn’t need to go. He had already showered, he stated, and adjusted his garments after sweating throughout a experience with Paul across the property earlier that night – undercutting questions raised by the state about what he was sporting that evening.
A Snapchat video filmed by Paul whereas they surveyed the property confirmed Murdaugh sporting lengthy khaki pants and a blue, short-sleeved button down shirt. However when legislation enforcement responded to the scene after the our bodies had been discovered, he was sporting shorts and a white T-shirt.
“It was scorching, and I had simply had a bathe. I knew that I’d find yourself doing extra work and sweating extra. And the canine is at all times a chaotic scene,” Murdaugh stated Thursday. “I simply didn’t need to go proper then.”
Maggie and Paul went earlier than he did, Murdaugh stated, however he in the end determined to go. He testified he took a golf cart to the kennels, the place Maggie had let loose the canine whereas Paul was “fooling” with the tail of 1 canine that belonged to his good friend.
Quickly after, Murdaugh returned to the home, he stated, the place he lay down on the sofa.
“I’m not optimistic, I dozed off for a minute, or didn’t nod off for a minute,” he stated. However when he bought up, he’d made up his thoughts he was going to go to his mom, who was affected by Alzheimer’s at her house in close by Almeda.
Murdaugh testified he spoke earlier that day to one in every of his mom’s caregivers, Barbara Mixson, who testified Wednesday she referred to as Murdaugh and advised him to go to as a result of his mom was “agitated.”
Murdaugh knocked on the door when he arrived, he stated, however the different caregiver, Mushell Smith, didn’t hear it so he referred to as Smith to be let in. Smith beforehand testified for the state that the timing of the nighttime go to was uncommon and that Murdaugh had referred to as her when he bought to the home.
Griffin requested Murdaugh about GPS knowledge from his automobile that confirmed the automotive stopped for a few minute whereas in his mom’s driveway. Requested if he was disposing of homicide weapons or bloody garments, Murdaugh stated, “No.”
Murdaugh went again to Moselle, the place he stated he first went to the home. Maggie and Paul weren’t there, he stated, and Murdaugh assumed they had been nonetheless on the kennels, so he went there.
“What’d you see?” Griffin requested.
“I noticed what y’all have seen footage of,” Murdaugh advised the jury, referring to his spouse and son’s our bodies, rising emotional and wiping away tears. “So unhealthy.”
“I’m not precisely positive what I did. I do know I bought out of my automotive, I do know I ran again to my automotive and referred to as 911,” Murdaugh stated. “I used to be on the cellphone with 911 and I used to be attempting to are likely to Paul Paul,” he stated, utilizing his nickname for his youngest son, “and I used to be attempting to are likely to Maggie, and I simply went forwards and backwards between them.
Paul’s accidents had been notably unhealthy, Murdaugh stated, and he recalled attempting to examine his son’s physique for a pulse after which attempting to show him over.
“I don’t know why I attempted to show him over,” an emotional Murdaugh stated. “I imply, my boy’s laying face down. He’s executed the best way he’s executed. His head was the best way his head was. I may see his mind laying on the sidewalk. I didn’t know what to do.”
Griffin performed an audio recording of the 911 name, wherein Murdaugh was heard saying, “I ought to’ve recognized” – a reference, Murdaugh testified, to the purported threats his son was receiving after a February 2019 boating accident that killed 19-year-old Mallory Seashore.
Paul had pleaded not responsible to prison expenses within the accident, although courtroom data confirmed the costs had been dropped after his demise. Murdaugh, who owned the boat, was going through a civil lawsuit from Seashore’s household.
“He bought probably the most vile threats,” Murdaugh stated Thursday, describing social media messages he stated had been “so excessive, honestly, we didn’t assume something about it.”
Physique digital camera footage performed through the first day of the prosecution’s case confirmed Murdaugh telling a Colleton County Sheriff’s Workplace sergeant in regards to the accident and the threats, unprompted, inside moments of the deputy arriving on the scene. Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, equally described the threats when he testified earlier this week.
Murdaugh rebutted earlier testimony about knowledge collected from his cellphone that evening, which confirmed he searched Google for a restaurant in Edisto Seashore, learn a gaggle textual content message quickly after discovering the our bodies and referred to as a videographer.
Any of these actions had been inadvertent, he stated, telling the jury he was attempting to name his brothers and a household good friend.
“Clearly, they’re unintentional,” he stated. “I imply, I’m doing one thing with my cellphone attempting to name individuals however I’m not attempting to name these individuals. I’m not doing a Google seek for any Whaley’s restaurant and I’m actually not studying any textual content.”
Murdaugh additionally rejected the suggestion he had blood on his shirt the evening of the murders, saying, “There’s no approach that I had excessive velocity blood splatter on me.”
“I used to be nowhere close to Paul and Maggie once they bought shot.”
Correction: An earlier model of this story misspelled Alex Murdaugh’s final identify.