Alex Murdaugh, a disgraced South Carolina lawyer accused of killing his spouse and youngest son, started testifying in his personal protection in his double homicide trial on Thursday -- admitting to jurors that he lied to investigators however denying that he dedicated the brutal murders.The our bodies of Margaret Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, …
Alex Murdaugh, a disgraced South Carolina lawyer accused of killing his spouse and youngest son, started testifying in his personal protection in his double homicide trial on Thursday — admitting to jurors that he lied to investigators however denying that he dedicated the brutal murders.
The our bodies of Margaret Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, had been discovered useless from a number of gunshot wounds close to the canine kennels on the household’s dwelling close to Islandton, South Carolina, in June 2021, authorities mentioned.
Alex Murdaugh, 54, who known as 911 to report the invention, was charged with their murders 13 months later.
Watch Alex Murdaugh’s testimony streaming above on ABC Information Stay.
Alex Murdaugh speaks throughout his trial, Feb. 23, 2023, in Walterboro, S.C.
Pool through ABC Information
Weeks into the trial, Alex Murdaugh was known as to take the stand by his protection group. His lawyer, Jim Griffin, requested instantly if he shot his spouse and son within the head.
“No, I didn’t,” Alex Murdaugh mentioned. “I didn’t shoot my spouse or my son any time, ever.”
He grew emotional when requested by his lawyer what he noticed on the scene of their murders.
“I noticed what y’all have seen footage of,” he advised the jurors, crying. “So dangerous.”
Prosecutors have centered on footage taken from Paul Murdaugh’s cellphone the night time of the murders, together with a video taken on the kennels a number of minutes earlier than the victims had been believed to be killed that investigators mentioned has Alex Murdaugh speaking within the background. Alex Murdaugh advised investigators early within the case that he was not down by the kennels that night time and had final seen his spouse and son at dinner.
When requested by his lawyer about these prior statements, Alex Murdaugh admitted to mendacity to investigators.
“I did misinform them,” he mentioned, and confirmed he was within the video the night time of their murders on June 7, 2021.
When requested why he lied in regards to the final time he noticed his spouse and son, Murdaugh blamed his dependancy to painkillers, which he mentioned brought on “paranoid pondering.”
“On June the seventh, I wasn’t pondering clearly,” he mentioned. “I do not assume I used to be able to cause and I lied about being on the market and I am so sorry that I did.”
Alex Murdaugh, proper, speaks with protection lawyer Jim Griffin throughout a break in his trial for homicide on the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., Feb. 15, 2023.
Joshua Boucher/The State through AP, Pool
He faces 30 years to life in jail with out parole if convicted of the killings, for which he has pleaded not responsible and adamantly denied.
Throughout the trial, which started final month, prosecutors have introduced greater than 60 witnesses and proof, together with physique digital camera footage of police arriving at dwelling following the murders and an interview Alex Murdaugh gave to police two months later, wherein he denied killing his spouse and son.
Within the physique digital camera footage from that night time, a distraught Alex Murdaugh advised officers, “It is dangerous, it is dangerous,” and talked about that his son had been getting threats following a ship wreck he was concerned in.
Crime scene specialist Kenneth Kinsey, proper, reveals the place he believes a shotgun spherical entered Paul Murdaugh throughout Alex Murdaugh’s double homicide trial on the Colleton County Courthouse, Feb. 16, 2023, in Walterboro, S.C.
Joshua Boucher/The State through AP, Pool
On the time, Paul Murdaugh was awaiting trial on a cost of allegedly boating underneath the affect after a crash in February 2019 that killed a 19-year-old lady, Mallory Seaside of South Carolina.
Within the months following his spouse’s and son’s murders, Alex Murdaugh resigned from his regulation agency, which sued him for allegedly funneling stolen cash from purchasers and the regulation agency right into a faux checking account for years. He additionally mentioned he entered a rehab facility.
Prosecutors declare that Alex Murdaugh, who comes from a legacy of distinguished attorneys within the area, killed his spouse and son to realize sympathy and distract from his alleged monetary wrongdoings.
In the meantime, the protection has portrayed him as a loving husband and father and argued that police ignored the likelihood that anybody else might have killed them.
A homicide weapon was by no means discovered.
The trial has drawn a packed courtroom, with strains exterior. After two jurors examined constructive for COVID-19, each side had been fearful an outbreak might sicken extra jurors and drive a mistrial.
Alex Murdaugh faces about 100 different fees for allegations starting from cash laundering to staging his personal loss of life so his surviving son might money in on his $10 million life insurance coverage coverage.
He was additionally charged for allegedly misappropriating settlement funds within the loss of life of his housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who reportedly died after a falling accident within the Murdaugh household dwelling in February 2018.
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