“I did not shoot my wife or my son.”
Alex Murdaugh took the stand last week to testify in his own double murder trial, perfectly timed with the release of the Netflix docuseries about the Murdaugh murders. He is accused of killing his wife, Maggie, and one of his sons, Paul, in an execution-style shooting at their sprawling South Carolina hunting estate in 2021.
The Murdaugh murders and subsequent trial have captivated the nation for a number of reasons. For one, the Murdaughs were wealthy and well-known in their area; Alex Murdaugh was the third person in his family to serve as a top prosecutor in South Carolina’s 14th Judicial Circuit.
For another, as NPR notes, the deaths of Maggie and Paul happened in between two other violent events for the family: a fatal boat accident in 2019 that involved Paul (and that had led to an ongoing lawsuit against the Murdaugh family from the surviving passengers), and an alleged attempt by Murdaugh to have his cousin kill him in 2021 so that his remaining son could benefit from his life insurance. Murdaugh and his cousin have since been indicted for conspiracy and felony insurance fraud for their alleged roles in the plot.
The trial itself has been something of a spectacle as well. Prosecutors have presented evidence that Murdaugh stole millions of dollars from his clients to fuel his opioid addiction, and now Murdaugh himself has taken the stand.
When advised by the judge of his right to remain silent, Murdaugh, a seasoned lawyer himself, said, “I am going to testify. I want to testify.”
Here are some of the most notable moments so far from his time on the stand.
Murdaugh acknowledges he lied about an alibi to investigators
While on the witness stand, Murdaugh consistently denied any involvement in the execution-style killing of his wife and son. His defense attorney asked a number of questions about that, even asking Murdaugh at one point if he had “blown his wife’s brains out.”
Each time, Murdaugh said no. “I did not shoot my wife or my son any time,” he said repeatedly.
Murdaugh firmly maintained his innocence — but he also acknowledged a crucial lie he made to investigators in the days following the murders.
In Murdaugh’s original timeline that he provided to investigators, he said he never saw his wife and son after they all ate dinner together at their hunting estate. He said that at one point, Maggie and Paul went down to the dog kennels, while he napped in the residence.
Since investigators believe the two were killed shortly after they visited the kennels, this was Murdaugh’s major alibi — and it promptly fell apart when video footage from Paul’s cell phone was presented, in which Murdaugh can be heard in the dog kennels with them.
On the witness stand, Murdaugh acknowledged this contradiction, saying bluntly, “I did lie.” Murdaugh blamed the lie on paranoia from his drug addiction, as well as a professional distrust of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
Murdaugh’s new explanation for why he was in the video Paul took minutes before dying was that he did, in fact, go down to the dog kennel with his wife and son, but that he eventually went back up to the main house without them. He then drove to visit his mother, he says, and only found his wife and son when he came back from that visit.
“I lied about being down there, and I’m sorry that I did,” he said, openly crying on the stand. “I would never do anything intentionally to hurt either one of them.”
Murdaugh’s living son and dog caretaker defend his character
Buster Murdaugh, 26, hasn’t spoken publicly about the murders that destroyed his family — until he took the stand on Tuesday to defend his father.
During his time, Buster told the court that he spoke with his father on the phone about 20 minutes after prosecutors think Maggie and Paul were killed and that his father sounded “normal” on the phone. He also said that his family tended to handle arguments “like adults,” and that he had never seen his father behave violently.
When asked how his father was doing after the murders, Buster said his dad was “destroyed” and “heartbroken.”
A dog caretaker for the Murdaughs served as another witness to Murdaugh’s character. While on the stand, the caretaker did provide a number of key details about the state of the kennels at the time of the murder that made him think someone had been there. Then he went on to talk about the strength of Murdaugh’s marriage with his wife.
“I’ve never seen that man even raise his voice at his wife,” the caretaker said. He also described their marriage as “lovey-dovey,” and noted the close relationship Murdaugh seemed to have with his sons.
Why it’s so unusual for a defendant to serve as a witness in their own trial
Murdaugh’s decision to testify in his own defense is an unusual legal decision. Jason Goldman, a former prosecutor and current defense attorney who’s handled homicide cases throughout New York City, tells Katie Couric Media that lawyers usually advise their clients not to take the stand.
“The biggest fear is that when your client gets up there you lose control,” Goldman explains. “All it takes is a defendant to ramble and essentially undo all the work that you’ve done because they’ve gone totally off the rails and they couldn’t handle being confronted. You can’t control anything during cross-examination, so that’s the main risk.”
So why did Murdaugh decide to do it, anyway?
“Well, one, Murdaugh’s a lawyer,” Goldman says. “You see a lot of lawyers represent themselves at trial. They think that they know what they’re doing and that segues into testifying, too.”
“For another,” Goldman adds, “I think the general consensus might be that things are not looking great for him, and that this was a last-ditch effort.”
What comes next in the Murdaugh trial?
The trial against Murdaugh was originally intended to conclude on February 10, which has come and gone.
Murdaugh’s cross-examination began late yesterday and will continue today. It’s likely that the prosecution and defense will rest their cases soon, present closing arguments, and then leave the jury to deliberate. Murdaugh is charged with two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during a crime. If convicted, he could serve up to 30 years in prison.
But it’s not just the murder trial that stands in the way of Murdaugh and his freedom. He also faces almost 100 other criminal charges related to his financial dealings, including fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, forgery, and more.
