Updated February 23, 2023 at 11:07 AM ET
"Watch your step" — Alex Murdaugh heard those words from a courthouse employee as he entered the witness stand on Thursday, taking the extraordinary move of testifying on his own behalf in a double murder trial.
Alex Murdaugh is testifying in his own defense in a murder trial in which he is accused of carrying out an execution-style killing of his wife and son in June of 2021.
"Good morning," Murdaugh greeted the court as he began his testimony.
'I did not shoot my wife or my son'
The first questions from defense attorney Jim Griffin focused on the 2021 murders, as Griffin repeatedly asked Murdaugh whether he had taken a rifle or a shotgun and shot his wife and son.
"No I did not," Murdaugh replied.
He repeated that reply when Griffin asked Murdaugh: Did you "blow your son's brains out?"
"I did not shoot my wife or my son any time. Ever," Murdaugh said.
Murdaugh also admitted that he lied to investigators about his alibi — he has repeatedly said he didn't see his wife and son after they ate dinner at Moselle, their hunting estate. In his version of events, he said he napped in the house while Paul and Maggie visited the dog kennels.
But several witnesses have identified Alex Murdaugh's voice in a video taken by Paul at the kennel, minutes before investigators say the execution-style shooting began.
"I did lie to them," Murdaugh said of the account he told at least three law enforcement officials.
Asked by Griffin why he lied, Murdaugh blamed his opioid addiction.
"As my addiction evolved over time," Murdaugh said, he had incidents of great paranoia. He said he was nervous as a deputy sheriff swabbed his hands, and investigators asked him about his relationship with his wife and son, "coupled with my distrust of SLED" — the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
"On June 7, I wasn't thinking clearly," Murdaugh said. "I don't think I was capable of reason... and I lied about being down there. And I'm sorry that I did."
"I would never do anything intentionally to hurt either one of them," Murdaugh said as he openly wept.
Griffin asked if he lied repeatedly, and Murdaugh said, "Once I lied, I continued to lie, yes sir." He later added, "I had to keep lying."
Murdaugh says he took a shower at Moselle
Murdaugh spoke warmly about his wife and son, repeatedly calling them Mags and Paul-Paul as he recounted their last days together.
He also spoke about another aspect of the case that has raised many questions: his change of clothes, and the apparent use of a shower at Moselle.
Murdaugh said he and Paul had been driving around the property, checking on plantings for fields they used to hunt doves. He was sweaty, he said, from work — adding that he was heavier at the time, and saying that taking opioids also made him sweat more.
Murdaugh said he took a shower after getting back to the house, and that was why, he said, he changed into clean clothes and was reluctant to go down to the dog kennels with Paul and Maggie. He laid on the couch, he said, but then he opted to follow them, taking a golf cart down to the kennels.
The murder trial has taken many turns
It's the latest dramatic shift in a case that has drawn attention because of the Murdaughs' status as a wealthy and prominent family — and also because the 2021 killings were bookended by two other violent actions: a fatal boating accident involving Paul, and Alex's alleged attempt to have his cousin kill him in an apparent botched suicide.
The trial had initially been expected to conclude around Feb. 10, but it has sprawled far beyond that mark, as attorneys presented jurors with an array of evidence, including testimony about the millions of dollars Murdaugh is accused of stealing from his former law firm and its clients, his opioid addiction, and the roadside shooting that Murdaugh initially portrayed as an attempt on his life.
In a crucial ruling, Judge Clifton Newman decided in early February to allow prosecutors to present their account of Murdaugh's alleged financial misdeeds, saying the defense "opened the door" to that facet of the case by asking witnesses about Murdaugh's character — and whether they knew of any potential motive he might have to kill his own wife and son.
As they considered letting their client testify, Murdaugh's defense team has asked Newman about possible limits on what questions the prosecution could pose to him — hoping to restrict the topic to the financial allegations. But the judge has refused to set such limits on cross-examination.
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