Alex Murdaugh, on the right, admits on the stand during his double murder trial in Colleton County, S.C., on Feb. 23, 2023 to lying about key facts of the case.
Disgraced, disbarred, and now a witness in his own defense, South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh gave Colleton County jurors much to consider on Thursday morning.
His explosive testimony began with a shocking series of questions about the brutal nature of how his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, were shot and killed at the family's hunting lodge in June 2021.
"On June 7, 2021, did you take this gun or any gun like it and shoot your son, Paul, in the chest in the feed room at your property off Moselle Road?" defense attorney Jim Griffin asked the most high-profile client of his career as he displayed the weapon, his voice booming.
"No, I did not," Alex Murdaugh replied.
"Did you take this gun or any gun like it and blow your son's brains out on June 7, or any day, or any time?" the attorney asked.
"No, I did not," the defendant replied.
Griffin then asked if he took a .300 Blackout rifle and shot his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, in the "leg, torso, or any part of part of her body?"
"No, I did not," Alex Murdaugh replied.
"Did you shoot a 300 Blackout into her head, causing her death?" Griffin pressed.
"I didn't shoot my wife or my son, any time, ever," Alex Murdaugh replied.
The defense then quickly shifted to a long-running series of dissimulations from his client immediately following the shooting death of his family members at their hunting lodge known as Moselle.
When Griffin quizzed the defendant about his appearance at the kennels on the night in question, Alex Murdaugh admitted his voice was on a video proving he was there and that he later lied about it that night. He further admitted he lied about the last time he saw his family alive – falsely saying it was at dinner – during a follow-up interview with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division on June 10, 2021.
"I did lie to them," he said.
He then admitted to lying a third time to SLED investigators on August 11, 2021 – again repeating that he was not at the kennels, when in fact he was.
"Alex, why did you lie?" Griffin asked.
"As my addiction evolved over time I would get in these situations or circumstances where I would get paranoid thinking," he testified. "That night, June seventh, after finding Mags and Paul – 'Paul-Paul' – don't talk to anybody without Danny with you. All my partners were repeatedly telling me that. I had a deputy sheriff taking gunshot tests from my hands. I'm sitting in a police car with David Owen asking me about my relationship with my wife and son. And all those things coupled together after finding them coupled with my distrust for SLED caused me to have paranoid thoughts."
The defendant said he often had paranoid thoughts about being followed by law enforcement or in other, irrational circumstances, due to his drug addiction, but was usually able to calm those thoughts.
But calm did not come on that night, he said.
"On June the seventh I wasn't thinking clearly," he went on. "I don't think I was capable of reason. And I lied about being down there. And, I'm so sorry that I did. I'm sorry to my son, Buster. I'm sorry to Grandma, Papa T. I'm sorry to both of our families. Most of all, I'm sorry to Mags and Paul-Paul."
"I would never intentionally do anything to hurt either one of them," he said through tears. "Ever. Ever."
Griffin asked about the defendant's continued lies even after that night and why he kept up the facade.
Alex Murdaugh replied with the cliché-like quote from author Walter Scott about the "tangled web we weave" and said he believed that once he told his family the lies, he "had to keep lying."
