Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh returned to the stand for the second time in his double murder trial. While testifying in his own defense, he admitted to stealing from clients and his addiction to pain pills.
Murdaugh faces murder charges for allegedly killing his wife, Maggie, and their youngest son, Paul.
ALEX MURDAUGH TRIAL: MURDAUGH SOBS ON STAND, ADMITS TO SWINDLING CLIENTS OUT OF MILLIONS
During cross-examination, prosecutor Creighton Waters began listing off an endless name of family, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances, asking if Murdaugh had ever lied to any of them. He agreed he had lied to most.
For 20 months, Murdaugh insisted he was never at the kennels on their property where his wife and son were shot. But after over a year, state agents hacked his son’s iPhone and found a video in which you can hear Murdaugh’s voice. It was taken less than five minutes before the victims stopped using their cellphones and prosecutors think they were shot.
In what Waters kept referring to as Murdaugh’s “new story,” he admitted to being at the kennel, then getting on a golf cart and returning to the family’s house about 1,150 feet away, lying down for a few minutes, and then getting up to get ready to visit his mother. This was verified by step data on his cellphone, which he claims he didn’t take to the kennels.
Prosecutors have said Murdaugh killed his wife and son to gain sympathy and buy time because his financial misdeeds were about to be discovered. The former lawyer has also been charged with cheating clients out of more than $1 million.
Waters asked, ”And would you also agree that over the years, particularly as we move to June of 2021, you would use stolen money to pay that back?”
“I don’t dispute that,” Murdaugh replied.
Of his addiction, Murdaugh said, “As I took more and more and over the years, it just, you know, you build up a tolerance to pain pills. And so what might give me this energy. The reason — one of the reasons I became so addicted is, you know, some people talk about pain pills and how they make them lethargic and, you know, where they can’t do anything and they feel. Opiates gave me energy.”
Murdaugh is charged with about 100 crimes, ranging from stealing from clients to tax evasion. He is being held without bail on those charges, so even if he is found not guilty of the killings, he will not walk out of court a free man. If convicted of most or all of those financial crimes, Murdaugh would likely spend decades in prison.
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However, Murdaugh maintains his innocence when it comes to the deaths of his wife and son.
“Mr. Griffin, I didn’t shoot my wife or my son any time,” he contended.
