- By Holly Honderich
- in Washington
Watch: Four significant minutes from Alex Murdaugh trial
In a murder trial that has actually grasped the United States, the successor of a South Carolina legal dynasty has actually confessed to lying about his location on the night his spouse and kid were killed.
But Alex Murdaugh, 54, rejected ever harming Maggie or Paul Murdaugh, who were fatally contended the family’s remote hunting estate in June 2021.
The previous attorney took the stand on Thursday in week 5 of the trial.
Mr Murdaugh deals with thirty years to life in jail without parole if founded guilty.
The trial in Walterboro has actually rocked the southern corner of South Carolina, where the offender’s family has actually controlled the legal landscape for more than a century.
Prosecutors have actually argued that Mr Murdaugh killed Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, in a desperate effort to acquire compassion and hide a years of monetary criminal activities.
Mr Murdaugh, who has actually confessed to taking from customers and associates, is dealing with almost 100 different monetary charges, with district attorneys declaring he took about $8.8m (£7.3m).
The defence group has actually dismissed this theory at trial, stating Mr Murdaugh would never ever have actually “butchered” his family.
In court on Thursday, Mr Murdaugh wept as he remembered the night he discovered Maggie and Paul dead.
“I saw what y’all have actually seen images of,” he informed jurors, describing graphic pictures of the criminal offense scene. “So bad.”
And he resolved possibly the most incriminating aspect of the prosecution’s case: that he had actually lied about being with Maggie and Paul at the dog kennels on the family property quickly prior to they were killed.
Image source, Facebook/Maggie Murdaugh
Alex Murdaugh is implicated of killing his spouse, Maggie, and his youngest kid Paul
A smart phone video taken at the kennels by Paul about 5 minutes prior to district attorneys state the killings happened, which included both Alex Murdaugh and Maggie’s voices in the background, opposed the offender’s claims that he had actually been snoozing inside the family home.
“Once I lied,” he said, “I continued to lie.” He blamed the earlier rejections on fear from his years-long dependency to pain relievers.
That dependency likewise included plainly in his testament. Mr Murdaugh informed jurors a knee injury in college resulted in a deep reliance on oxycodone, one that he drained his checking account to sate.
“I’m not rather sure how I let myself get where I got,” Mr Murdaugh said.
He likewise described among the more unusual aspects of his legend: a scam effort on his life.
He called authorities in September 2021 – almost 3 months after the murders of his spouse and kid – stating he had actually been shot in the head on the side of a rural roadway.
But he later on confessed he had actually paid a remote cousin to shoot him, hoping his making it through kid, Buster, might gather on his life insurance coverage policy.
The jury likewise heard a recording of the 911 call Mr Murdaugh made after his spouse and kid were killed. In it, he is heard stating: “I ought to have understood.”
Image source, Grace Beahm Alford/The Post and Courier/Pool
Family and buddies of Alex Murdaugh listen to his psychological testament on Thursday
Mr Murdaugh explained his declaration by stating his kid Paul had actually been the topic of death risks on social networks that the family did not take seriously.
“We ignored it due to the fact that it was so over the top,” he said.
Through hours of questioning, Mr Murdaugh preserved a mainly contrite manner, even under interrogation by lead district attorney Creighton Waters.
An animated Mr Waters, who paced around the court throughout questioning, pressed Mr Murdaugh with increasing strength on a list of supposed monetary criminal activities.
“I was incorrect,” Mr Murdaugh said, over and over once again. “I keep in mind taking from individuals, I keep in mind lying to individuals and I keep in mind deceptive individuals.”
But Mr Murdaugh declined assertions by Mr Waters that he was worried about his “monetary house of cards” collapsing.
“You have actually charged me with the murder of my spouse and kid and I have actually sat here for all these weeks listening to all this monetary things that I did incorrect, that I’m humiliated by,” Mr Murdaugh said.
But he rejected turning to violence.
Cross-evaluation will resume tomorrow.
