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WALTERBORO, S.C. — After 5 weeks of trial, the homicide case towards Alex Murdaugh narrowed on Friday to the query of what occurred in a vital jiffy after the distinguished South Carolina lawyer went all the way down to his household’s canine kennels the place his spouse and son have been discovered shot to loss of life later that evening.
On the second and remaining day of Mr. Murdaugh’s essential testimony in his personal protection, prosecutors aggressively challenged him about these key minutes, exhibiting that his new account of his actions that evening — provided this week after greater than 20 months of denying he was on the kennels in any respect — is troublesome to reconcile with the timeline of the murders.
Armed with phone calls, texts, movies, automobile navigation information and cellphone step counts, the lead prosecutor, Creighton Waters, confirmed that Mr. Murdaugh would have needed to have left the kennels and returned to the home a brief distance away solely minutes earlier than the killings — regardless of his claims that he had heard no gunshots.
Mr. Murdaugh had initially advised the police that he had been napping in the home, however he advised a distinct story on the witness stand this week after a video emerged exhibiting that he had certainly been current sooner or later when his spouse and son have been out checking on the canines.
In his personal account, Mr. Murdaugh stated he drove a golf cart all the way down to the kennels and spoke briefly together with his spouse, however headed again to the home alone a couple of minutes later. About two minutes after he stated he left, the telephones of each victims — Paul Murdaugh, 22, and Maggie Murdaugh, 52 — have been locked and have been by no means unlocked once more, suggesting that they have been killed round then.
“Does that sound like actual life to you, that you just jet there and jet again?” Mr. Waters requested, one among many questions that tried to color Mr. Murdaugh’s chronology as absurd.
He emphasised that Mr. Murdaugh had not admitted to being on the kennels till the essential video, shot by his son Paul that evening, emerged in court docket.
“You needed to sit on this courtroom and listen to your loved ones and your mates, one after the opposite, are available and testify that you just have been on that kennel video, so that you — such as you’ve performed so many instances over the course of your life — needed to again up and make a brand new story that form of match with the details that may’t be denied,” he stated. “Isn’t that true, sir?”
“No, sir, that’s not true,” Mr. Murdaugh replied.
Mr. Waters used cellphone and different information to counsel that Mr. Murdaugh had set about creating an alibi after fatally capturing his spouse and son — driving to go to his ailing mom, who lived about quarter-hour away, and making a collection of cellphone calls to associates and relations on the way in which there and again.
Perceive the ‘Murdaugh Murders’
Mr. Murdaugh maintained his personal concept of the crimes, saying on Friday that he has at all times believed that his son was focused on account of his involvement in a deadly boat wreck in 2019. Paul Murdaugh had been accused of crashing the boat whereas drunk, killing one of many passengers. Alex Murdaugh stated he believed that somebody might have dedicated the assaults in response to vitriolic articles and on-line feedback that villainized his son.
“I believed then and I consider at this time that the fallacious individual noticed and skim that,” he stated. “As a result of I can inform you for a undeniable fact that the individual or individuals who did what I noticed on June 7, they hated Paul Murdaugh they usually had anger of their coronary heart.”
He added, utilizing a nickname for his son: “And that’s the solely, solely motive that any individual could possibly be mad at PawPaw like that and hate him like that.”
Prosecutors have argued that Mr. Murdaugh killed his son with two shotgun blasts earlier than turning a rifle on his spouse, capturing her a number of instances. They are saying investigations into his funds have been about to show that he had embezzled thousands and thousands of {dollars} over a few years, partly to pay for his dependancy to painkillers, and that he murdered his household in an effort to achieve sympathy and halt the inquiries into his funds.
Mr. Murdaugh stated that the monetary issues he was having would by no means lead him to hurt his household. He tearfully apologized for his preliminary lie about being on the kennels, saying he had held again the reality as a result of he was paranoid about being thought of a suspect, a worry he stated was fueled by the painkiller dependancy.
He additionally admitted on the stand that he had stolen thousands and thousands of {dollars} from settlements meant for his shoppers, in addition to from his legislation agency, stealing $3.7 million in 2019 alone. On the similar time, he was making a whole lot of 1000’s of {dollars} annually in real revenue from his legislation agency, the place he labored as a private damage lawyer.
A key theme in Friday’s cross-examination was that Mr. Murdaugh’s personal intensive expertise as a lawyer — who had additionally volunteered with the native prosecutor’s workplace — enabled him to assist cover his crime.
He was intimately acquainted, Mr. Waters stated, with the form of name logs, automobile information and different proof that prosecutors have been now utilizing to attempt to convict him.
Authorized observers stated that it was at all times dangerous for a defendant to testify, and that Mr. Murdaugh’s testimony might simply have backfired with the jury. Tyler D. Bailey, a lawyer in Columbia, S.C., stated Mr. Murdaugh had seemingly made a “calculated guess” in testifying concerning the occasions.
“Alex wanted to get on the stand to inform his story to the jury,” Mr. Bailey stated. He stated Mr. Murdaugh had been making an attempt to “redeem his credibility and inform the jury himself that simply because he’s stolen from numerous individuals doesn’t imply he killed his son and spouse.”
A homicide conviction carries a minimal of 30 years in jail in South Carolina, and prosecutors have stated they are going to search to have him imprisoned for all times with out the potential of parole. The trial was anticipated to wrap up by the center of subsequent week after a month of testimony and greater than 70 witnesses.
In concluding Mr. Murdaugh’s testimony Friday afternoon, his lawyer, Jim Griffin, returned to his central protection, asking him instantly whether or not he had killed both his spouse or son. Mr. Murdaugh stated that even when he had feared, in 2021, that his embezzlement was about to come back to gentle — one thing he says will not be true — he would have somewhat harm himself than his household.
“I can promise you I’d harm myself earlier than I’d harm one among them,” he stated. “Indisputably.”
Reporting was contributed by Jesus Jiménez and Ben Shpigel.
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