What to know about Alex Murdaugh's trial
- Murdaugh is on trial in the murders of his wife, Margaret, and their younger son, Paul. He testified today: "I didn't shoot my wife or son."
- Murdaugh admitted he lied to law enforcement officers about his location before the murders because of his addiction to prescription pain pills and general paranoia.
- Murdaugh broke down multiple times on the stand as his attorney asked him to describe the murder scene.
- Prosecutors claim Murdaugh killed his wife and son to gain sympathy and "escape the accountability" for a string of financial crimes.
- Murdaugh's surviving son, Buster, took the stand Tuesday to defend his father.
Court recesses for the day
The state spent the afternoon walking the jury through Murdaugh's extensive law background, how he may have misrepresented himself as law enforcement to gain advantages and his alleged financial crimes.
Throughout the trial, the prosecution has argued that Murdaugh is a deeply dishonest and deceptive person. Still, the examination of his previous misconduct, particularly the focus on his alleged financial fraud, has not been connected yet to the double murder charges he is on trial for.
"This is a murder case. For two hours now, we haven't heard the word 'murder' once," one of his defense attorneys told Judge Newman after the recess.
Court will resume at 9:30 a.m. ET Friday.
Prosecutor grows frustrated with Murdaugh's responses
Prosecutor Creighton Waters grew increasingly frustrated as his questioning about Murdaugh's financial crimes continued. He alleged that Murdaugh could never quite recall specifics about how he misled or stole money from his clients.
Murdaugh continued to fall back on lines that were similar to one another and that tended to include the sentence, "I don't dispute it." The former attorney would never admit exactly what he did, however.
"You have said that 100 times," Waters said in response to Murdaugh's again saying he didn't dispute his allegations. "But you can't recall for this jury one of these people, looking them in the eye while you lied to them? You can't recall a single one? I've asked you this three times now."
Murdaugh's attorney quickly rebutted with "Your honor, asked and answered three times" to laughter from the courtroom.
Nevertheless, Murdaugh continued to say that he didn't dispute that he took money that wasn't his or that he misled clients, but he never quite provided any details.
Murdaugh gives a testy rebuttal to prosecutor's question about his finances
Prosecutor Creighton Waters pushed Murdaugh fairly hard about his financial crimes, even getting the former lawyer to say he couldn't remember the first time he stole money from a client. (Murdaugh acknowledges that he stole from them.)
After a period, however, Murdaugh appeared to lose his patience as he was asked to recall particular details.
“You have charged me with murdering my wife and my son, and I’ve sat here all these weeks listening to all this financial stuff that I did wrong that I’m embarrassed by," Murdaugh said. "I’m happy to talk about as much of that as you want to talk about. I’m required to talk about it as much as you want to talk about it. But the fact is I cannot specifically remember the details that you’re asking me for.”
Prosecution grills Murdaugh about previous fraud
Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters made it clear that the state would go into minute detail about Murdaugh's alleged financial crimes.
"Mr. Waters, just try to get through this quicker," Murdaugh said.
"I know you want to get there quicker, but we’re not," Waters replied.
The state brought up the Pinckney case, in which Murdaugh was recruited to seek financial damages on behalf of Pamela Pinckney and her son, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a car crash and died two years later. Pinckney blamed the crash on a malfunctioning tire. The family represented by Murdaugh sued the car tires' manufactures. Murdaugh pocketed $1 million owed to the Pinckney family.
He would have received $4 million in legal fees from the settlement by the books.
"In the end, that wasn't enough for you?" Waters said.
Murdaugh has repeatedly said he does not deny stealing money from clients and misleading them.
Prosecutors attempt to make Murdaugh sound manipulative of law enforcement
Prosecutors questioned Murdaugh about his ties to law enforcement, focusing on a badge he was given by the local solicitor and blue lights typically used by police that he installed on his own car.
Under questioning, he said he prosecuted only five cases in about 20 years as a volunteer assistant solicitor, an unpaid position. His father, a grandfather and a great-grandfather served as the local solicitor general, which is an official law enforcement position.
Creighton Waters, the state’s lead prosecutor in the case, appeared to make a point that Murdaugh held no official office in law enforcement but that he used his connections, badge and lights to manipulate authorities. Murdaugh admitted he would put his badge in a visible place when he was speaking to police.
Waters used an image that showed Murdaugh carrying the badge hanging out of his pocket when he was speaking to officers to emphasize the point, asking, "What advantage did you want?"
"A badge has a warming effect with other law enforcement," Murdaugh said, "and so if I was seeking any advantage, as you say, then I guess that would be what it was."
Prosecution questions Murdaugh's use of 'Paul Paul' and other nicknames
Murdaugh has repeatedly used nicknames during Thursday's testimony, calling his son "Paul Paul" (or "Paw Paw" to some ears), his wife "Mags" and family friend Rogan Gibson "RoRo."
Prosecutors questioned him about the nicknames during cross-examination, asking him whether he'd ever called his son "Paul Paul" during the course of the investigation.
Murdaugh said he didn't know. He said he used names like "Paul Paul" and "RoRo" all the time.
Prosecutors begin cross-examination with questions about Murdaugh's attorney ancestors
The judge called a brief recess around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday in Alex Murdaugh's murder trial. Upon return, the prosecutors began their cross-examination.
Creighton Waters, the state’s lead prosecutor, began his questioning focused on Murdaugh's family history as attorneys in the county. For nearly 100 years, a member of the Murdaugh family served as the local solicitor general. That includes Murdaugh's father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
"I actually worked a case with him about a guy who killed a trooper," Waters said about Murdaugh's father. "A fine, fine man."
Inquisitive, bright and masculine: Murdaugh describes dead son
When asked by the defense to describe his deceased son, Murdaugh said Paul was "bright," "the most inquisitive young man" and "100% country boy tough."
Murdaugh testified that Paul, 22, was also sad and sweet, and he began to sniffle when he recalled how Paul would take care of his grandparents or go watch a sunset with his friends. He then charged that Paul had often been misrepresented in the media.
"I would challenge everybody in this room to go find somebody — somebody that knew Paul Paul, really knew him, that did not have an ulterior motive — that would say something negative about him," Murdaugh said.
Paul faced a wrongful death lawsuit for the death of a friend on a boating trip. Murdaugh noted that his son also struggled with ADHD.
"Did I love him?" Murdaugh responded when asked how he felt about his son. "Like no other — him and Buster."
Murdaugh said he paid someone to shoot him to contend with money issues and family embarrassment
After beginning withdrawals from his opioid addiction, Murdaugh said, he made plans for someone to shoot him. He believed it was "a better thing to do."
His plan came together after the murders, he said, because he "knew all this was coming to a head. I knew how humiliating this was going to be for my son," referring to his surviving son, Buster.
He said he had two life insurance policies on himself: one $4 million policy and an $8 million policy. His wife, Margaret, was the beneficiary. He did not have policies for Margaret or their younger son, Paul.
'I would never hurt Maggie,' Murdaugh says
"She was just as beautiful inside as she was outside," Murdaugh said as he described his wife in glowing terms.
He choked up on the stand as he shared stories about Margaret. She was playful, adventurous and devoted to their family, he said.
"I would never hurt Maggie," Murdaugh testified.
