Day 24: Prosecutor says Murdaugh’s ‘most important lie’ started right after murders

Alex Murdaugh, a once prominent Hampton-based attorney from a well-known politically connected family, is on trial in the deaths of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.

Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty. He faces life in prison without parole if found guilty. The trial started Jan. 23 with jury selection, opening arguments and the initial round of witness testimony.

How to watch the Murdaugh double murder trial, who to follow from The State, Island Packet

4:50 p.m. — Alex Murdaugh leaves the stand, court adjourned

Alex Murdaugh has left the witness stand after two days of testimony and hours of intense cross-examination by lead prosecutor Creighton Waters.

On redirect, defense attorney Jim Griffin once again asked Murdaugh directly if he had killed his wife and son.

“I would never hurt Maggie,” Murdaugh told Griffin. “I would never hurt Paul. ... I can promise you I would hurt myself before I hurt one of them.”

Waters ended Murdaugh’s time on the stand by implying he had crafted a new story about June 7, 2021, after hearing testimony from the dozens of witnesses that have taken the stand throughout the trial.

Murdaugh denied Waters’ suggestion.

Shortly after Murdaugh stepped down, Judge Clifton Newman adjourned court until 9:30 a.m. Monday.

Next week, defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said the defense will introduce four witnesses of “about an hour each.”

The defense will likely rest mid-day Monday, Harpootlian said. Waters said that the state will introduce “a couple” response witnesses after the defense ends its case.

There will be no time limits on final arguments, Newman confirmed.

Harpootlian requested that he and fellow defense attorney Jim Griffin split the final argument.

“I’m not inclined to allow the defense to split closing arguments,” Newman responded to the request. He indicated he would consider it.

“We’ll look at it, I’m not inclined to do it,” Newman said. “It’s unprecedented, perhaps in the history of the state of South Carolina. ... We have some days to think about that.”

4 p.m. — Alex Murdaugh cross-examination ends

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters has ended his cross-examination of Alex Murdaugh.

In the final moments of his questioning of the case’s most anticipated witness, Waters took jurors back to the opening moments of the Murdaugh murders: Bodycam footage from the first officer on the scene, Colleton County Sheriff’s Office Cpl. Daniel Greene.

When Greene arrived at the scene, Murdaugh told him that he’d last seen Paul and Maggie 45 minutes before he left for his mother’s house at 9:02 p.m. Murdaugh admitted on the stand that was a lie, since he’d been at the kennels with them around 8:45 p.m.

During his testimony, Murdaugh has given several explanations for why he’d lied to SLED investigators, ranging from his distrust of SLED itself to mistaking lead Agent David Owen, who conducted the first SLED interviews with Murdaugh, for another agent named David who had been part of bringing charges against a close friend of Murdaugh’s.

“At that point in time, SLED was not there. No one had gotten (gunshot residue) from you. Your law partners and Sheriff Hill were not there. No one had asked you about your relationships. David Owen was not there, but you still told the same lie,” Waters said, raising his voice to a closing crescendo.

“And all those reasons that you just gave this jury about the most important part of your testimony was a lie too. Isn’t that true, Mr. Murdaugh?” Waters demanded.

“I disagree with that,” Murdaugh responded.

“Nothing further,” Waters finished.

3:33 p.m. — Waters: ‘Bad things happen’ when Alex faces scrutiny

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters has shifted his cross-examination to Alex Murdaugh’s Sept. 3, 2021, shooting on a Hampton County road.

Murdaugh confirmed that he did lie to SLED agents in the wake of what he called an attempted suicide. He earlier testified he’d asked his distant cousin and drug supplier, Curtis Eddie Smith, to kill him so life insurance money would pass to his surviving son, Buster.

Murdaugh told SLED agents after he was taken to the hospital he’d been attacked by what Waters called “an unknown assailant,” and even provided a fake description of the suspect.

The attack, Waters pointed out, happened only two hours after Murdaugh’s longtime friend, Chris Wilson, confronted him about money Murdaugh stole from his own law firm and clients. Murdaugh was also terminated just before the incident.

Waters drew parallels between the circumstances around the Labor Day weekend shooting and those of June 7, 2021, when Paul and Maggie were killed. Earlier that day, Murdaugh had been similarly confronted, that time by his law firm’s CFO, Jeannie Seckinger.

Seckinger said she had reason to believe Murdaugh was pocketing the firm’s money at that point.

“When accountability is at your door, Mr. Murdaugh, bad things happened, isn’t that true?” Waters asked. “For the first time in your life of privilege and prominence and wealth, when you were facing accountability, each time suddenly you became a victim and everyone ran to your aid, isn’t that true?”

Murdaugh disagreed. He continued to insist the roadside shooting was not a “sympathy ploy” to take attention away from his emerging monetary crimes.

“I mean, I disagree with that. You seem to be implying two days, June 7 and September, and talking about accountability issues, to me those two things are totally different,” Murdaugh said.

“You’re saying that people in your family, and your friends, didn’t instantly believe that whoever these 12-year-old marauders were, were back to finish the job, and it happened just two hours after you had been confronted by Chris Wilson?” Waters demanded, continuing to suggest the staged attack was a ploy to gain public sympathy and create fear the Murdaugh family was being targeted.

Murdaugh testified those close to him didn’t believe his story.

2:59 p.m. — Alex: Boat wreck families didn’t kill Paul, Maggie

Alex Murdaugh testified he doesn’t believe the families of victims involved in Paul Murdaugh’s 2019 boat crash, which resulted in the death of Mallory Beach, were responsible for killing Paul and Maggie.

“There was never a point in time where I thought the people involved in the boat wreck did this to Paul and Maggie. I never thought that,” Murdaugh said.

“You never thought that, but it’s literally one of the first things that you said out of the 911 call?” lead prosecutor Creighton Waters asked.

Murdaugh had mentioned Paul’s boat wreck and pending charges to SLED investigators and on the initial 911 call.

“Nah, that’s not what I said,” Murdaugh countered. “I never, ever, ever, under any point in time, thought that those kids riding in that boat, or their parents. ... I didn’t believe any of the families involved in the boat wreck had anything to do with Maggie and Paul.”

“So it’s random vigilantes, random 5-foot-2 vigilantes?” Waters pressed, mockingly referring to a previous expert witness that estimated the gunshot wounds on Maggie and Paul’s bodies were consistent with a shooter around that height firing from the hip.

Murdaugh said he does believe the boat case had something to do with Paul’s death, based on “vile” social media comments and threats made to his son.

“So what you’re telling this jury is that it’s a random vigilante, the 12-year-old, 5-foot-2 people that just happened to know that Paul and Maggie were both at Moselle on June 7, that knew Paul and Maggie would be alone at the kennels on June 7, that knew that you would not be there, but only between the times of 8:49 and 9:02, that they showed up without a weapon, assuming that they’re going to find weapons and ammunition in there, that they commit this crime in that short time window, and then they travel the exact same time window that you do, around the same route to Almeda,” Waters went on. “That’s what you’re trying to tell this jury?”

“You’ve got a lot of factors in there Mr. Waters, all of which I do not agree with, but some of which I do,” Murdaugh responded.

2:31 p.m. — Court resumes

The jury has returned to the courtroom.

Just before their return, defense attorney Jim Griffin told Judge Clifton Newman the defense team objected to lead prosecutor Creighton Waters asking Alex Murdaugh about his statements to SLED investigators the night Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed, particularly about his failure to state he’d been at the kennels with them before they were murdered.

Griffin argued the U.S. Supreme Court case Doyle v. Ohio protected Murdaugh’s right to post-arrest silence, and moved the court to strike the record and Waters’ question.

Newman denied the motion, ruling that the case has no bearing on someone who gives multiple and voluntary statements after a crime, as Murdaugh has.

1:07 p.m. — Court enters lunch recess

Judge Clifton Newman has sent court into lunch recess.

Alex Murdaugh remains under cross-examination by lead prosecutor Creighton Waters. Before the break, Waters was replaying a recording of SLED’s earliest interview with Murdaugh on the night of June 7, 2021, hours after Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed.

Most of Waters’ questioning has focused on hammering Murdaugh on his history of lying to law enforcement, even as early as the intial interview, where he did not tell law enforcement he’d been at the kennels before Maggie and Paul were killed.

“I don’t believe I was lying at that point,” Murdaugh testified. “At that point in time, I wasn’t capable of planning anything or thinking through anything.”

12:22 p.m. — Waters asks Murdaugh why he didn’t stop at kennels

Before Alex Murdaugh left Moselle the night of June 7, 2021, he made several calls to Maggie and Paul. He intended to inform them he was leaving to visit his mother, Murdaugh testified.

But on the way out of the property, Murdaugh didn’t stop by the kennels, where he knew they’d been, despite his calls going unanswered.

“Why didn’t you just take that quick little left (on the way out of Moselle), 1,100 yards away?” lead prosecutor Creighton Waters asked. “You were obviously wanting to get in touch with them. Why didn’t you go down to the kennels that were so close by to stop in and say, ‘Hey guys, I’m heading over there?’”

“There was no reason to,” Murdaugh answered. He added missed calls on the Moselle property weren’t unusual, and cellphone service was often spotty.

Waters has also confronted Murdaugh about the state’s claim he used calls to Maggie and Paul to craft an alibi after a long period of phone inactivity.

“The real reason, Mr. Murdaugh, is that you as a lawyer and prosecutor are up at 9:02 p.m. (on the night of the murders), finally having your phone in your hand, moving around and making all these phone calls to manufacture an alibi; is that not true?” Waters asked.

“That is absolutely incorrect,” Murdaugh answered.

12:06 p.m. — Prosecution grills Alex on step data

Around 9 p.m. the night Paul and Maggie Murdaugh were killed, data pulled from Alex Murdaugh’s phone shows he took more steps in a brief five minute period than he did throughout the rest of the day.

Waters pressed Murdaugh on what he was doing around that time, which the state has theorized is around when Paul and Maggie were killed. Their phone activity stopped around 8:50 p.m.

Murdaugh testified he was “preparing to leave for my mom’s house,” leaving out specifics. Waters was unconvinced.

“Well, what? What does that mean?” Waters asked. “I mean, you’re in the front room, on that couch where you say you laid down, the Suburban is just outside, so what are you doing?”

Murdaugh insisted he couldn’t remember the specifics of what he might’ve been doing before he left Moselle.

“I know what I wasn’t doing, and what I wasn’t doing, was doing anything, as I believe you’ve implied, that I was cleaning off or washing off guns or putting guns in a raincoat,” Murdaugh replied. “I can promise you I wasn’t doing any of that.”

11:43 a.m. — Judge reminds courtroom not to react to testimony

Before the jury returned from a brief recess, Judge Clifton Newman issued a reminder to the courtroom, today packed pew-to-pew with members of the public eager to witness Alex Murdaugh’s testimony.

“I remind everyone in the courtroom that there is to be no reaction to the testimony,” Newman said. “No jeers, cheers, no reaction at all by anyone in the courtroom.”

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters is still cross-examining Murdaugh.

11 a.m. — Alex: ‘I sure did’ leave out important information to SLED

After lengthy build up based on Alex Murdaugh’s financial crimes and drug abuse, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters has shifted his questioning to what happened the night of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh’s murders.

Waters immediately asked why Murdaugh declined to tell investigators that he’d actually been at the kennels in the minutes before the state timeline alleges they were killed.

“You, as a lawyer and a prosecutor, didn’t think that was important to offer up on your own?” Waters asked.

“No, I think it’s important,” Murdaugh answered.

“You told this jury how cooperative you’ve been and how much information you wanted to offer,” Waters continued, “but you left out the most important parts, didn’t you?”

“I left that out. I sure did,” Murdaugh confirmed.

10:54 a.m. — Prosecutor confronts Murdaugh on lies

During cross-examination, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters directly accused Alex Murdaugh of changing his alibi from the night Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed after listening to testimony from numerous witnesses that identified his voice in a video taken at the Moselle kennels on June 7, 2021.

Murdaugh testified yesterday he was at the kennels, but had never told anyone because of his distrust for SLED and paranoia caused by opiate addiction.

“The reality is, Mr. Murdaugh, the reason why nobody’s ever heard that before, is because you had to sit in this courtroom and hear your family and your friends come in and testify that you were on that kennel video, so that you, like you’ve done so many times over the course of your life, had to back up and make a new story that kind of fit with the facts that can’t be denied. Isn’t that true sir?” Waters asked.

“No sir, that’s not true,” Murdaugh answered.

“You’ve done that over and over again with all of this that we’ve been talking about, haven’t you?” Waters continued to press. “The second you’re confronted with facts that you can’t deny, you immediately come up with a new lie. Isn’t that correct?”

Murdaugh responded he has lied “many times” in the past but would disagree he changed his story based on new facts presented in the case.

10:35 a.m. — Alex testifies prosecution didn’t respond to info offers

Tension in the courtroom reached an early peak when Alex Murdaugh testified that after he was arrested, he and his defense team attempted to reach out to prosecutors and offer information to help their investigations into his admitted financial crimes and the murders of Maggie and Paul.

“Mr. (prosecutor Creighton) Waters, you keep making issues about the first time you’re hearing these things. When I got arrested and I went to jail, we began reaching out to you to talk to you about all of these things, to try to tell you everything I’d done, to give you all these details, to help y’all go through these financial things,” Murdaugh testified. “Up until the time you charged me with murdering my wife and child you would never give (defense attorney) Jim Griffin a response to our invitations to sit down and meet with you.”

Waters challenged, “So you’re telling me I never responded to Jim Griffin, is that what you’re saying here today? Are you saying that you ever, before yesterday, reached out to someone through yourself or through your attorneys, that you ever reached out to law enforcement and the prosecution and told them the story about the kennels. Are you telling me that?”

As Murdaugh began to confirm he hadn’t told law enforcement about his presence at the kennels, Griffin rose to “strongly object” to the line of questioning.

“This question on him volunteering information about these charges violates his Fifth Amendment rights,” Griffin argued.

Newman overruled the objection. As Waters continued, Griffin rose again briefly after.

“The objection is overruled. Sit down Mr. Griffin,” Newman ordered.

10:19 a.m. — Alex asked about drug abuse

Alex Murdaugh’s cross-examination has shifted focus to his opiate abuse.

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters asked Murdaugh to explain roughly how many pills he was taking daily from January to June 2021, at what times and dose amounts.

As with many of Waters’ earlier questions about his finances, Murdaugh didn’t commit to specifics. He described at length the symptoms of opiate withdrawals, which he previously testified he would do “almost anything” to avoid.

On May 6, 2021, about a month before the murders, Paul Murdaugh contacted his father about his pill abuse. Paul had written they “need to talk” after his mother, Maggie, found a stash of pills in Murdaugh’s computer bag.

9:50 a.m. — Finances dominates Murdagh cross-examination

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters’ cross-examination of Alex Murdaugh has continued to focus on Murdaugh’s financial condition leading up to the June 7, 2021, murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

Waters said he’s aiming to establish how Murdaugh’s financial situation had declined in the year leading up to the killings.

Murdaugh has generally agreed that he’d taken client money and other funds that he shouldn’t have, but has rarely conceded to specifics when Waters presses on details.

9:30 a.m. — Murdaugh back on stand

Alex Murdaugh is back on the stand this morning in his double-murder trial, still under questioning in cross-examination by lead prosecutor Creighton Waters.

For two hours Thursday, Murdaugh answered questions from Waters about his family legacy, his wealth, his work as an attorney and with the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office and his actions, which are under investigation, hours after the 2019 boat crash that killed Mallory Beach.

But Waters mainly focused on Murdaugh’s alleged financial crimes, of which he’s alleged to have stolen money from his former law firm and clients.

Waters’ cross-examination is expected to take hours Friday, delaying the likelihood that the defense rests its case.

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said Thursday they have two other expert witnesses they plan to call.