The conviction of disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh, who put on an emotional display throughout his trial, evoked several other cases where the defense had to weigh whether calling the defendant would be helpful or disastrous.
One of the few burdens that rest on the defense in a criminal trial is whether to call the defendant to testify. Attorneys must determine whether their client’s testimony will outweigh the amount of circumstantial and concrete evidence presented against them in court.
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Defendant testimony can significantly affect a jury. It can work in favor of the defendant, or it can further suspicion of their guilt, particularly if they unintentionally expose holes in their alibis.
Here are four defendants who testified in their own trials and were convicted.
Alex Murdaugh
Alex Murdaugh, the disbarred lawyer from South Carolina, was found guilty in the murders of his wife, Maggie, and his son, Paul, who were fatally shot in June 2021.
While the prosecution lacked concrete evidence, such as a guilty plea or a murder weapon, heaps of circumstantial evidence, including video and cellphone records, ultimately swayed the jury.
The two biggest pieces of evidence against Murdaugh in the trial were his financial misconduct, for which he is facing 99 separate charges, and his testimony, according to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.
“When he took the stand, I think that was fatal for him ultimately,” Wilson said. “Alex had made [a] very successful career of giving closing arguments to juries and winning major cases and making a lot of money.”
On the stand, Murdaugh broke down and admitted he swindled millions of dollars from his clients and lied about his whereabouts the night his family members died — something he had hidden from investigators for nearly two years.
His testimony played into the prosecution’s framing that his financial crimes were a motive for the murders. Despite the defense presenting him as a family man torn apart by violence, the prosecution said his testimony was actually “his closing argument” to the jury.
“I believe in my mind that he believed that he could talk his way out of this,” Wilson said. “And at the end of the day, I think that’s what sealed it for him.”
Murdaugh will serve two consecutive life sentences for Maggie and Paul’s murders in a maximum security prison.
On Thursday, however, attorneys for Murdaugh filed a notice of appeal to his conviction and sentencing.
Jussie Smollett
Jussie Smollett, former Empire TV star, was convicted in March 2022 of staging a hate crime against himself. Prosecutors said it was an attempt to boost his Hollywood career.
He was charged in 2019 for hiring two black men to attack him and hurl racial and homophobic insults at him. He filed a false police report after the “attack.” He was sentenced to 150 days in jail, but his unstable condition in prison resulted in his early release after six days.
Smollett maintained his innocence throughout the process, but legal experts believe he hurt his own defense by taking the witness stand.
“Smollett testifying in his own defense is one of two things, or maybe both: a narcissistic criminal defendant who is doubling down on his charged lies to law enforcement or defense attorneys who know they are way behind and are throwing a low probability Hail Mary to try to get their client off,” former U.S. attorney Neama Rahmani said in an interview with Fox News Digital in December 2021.
He was convicted on five felony counts of disorderly conduct. He recently appealed his conviction in a 102-page document on March 1, alleging “prosecutorial misconduct” was “clear and egregious.”
His lawyers said a defense witness was “pressured to change his statement,” and they said the trial judge made “biased” decisions against Smollett.
Elizabeth Holmes
Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced CEO of Theranos, testified in her own criminal trial in November 2022 after being charged with defrauding investors by falsely claiming her company possessed the technology to scan for hundreds of health problems using a finger prick.
Holmes took the witness stand, and the defense presented her as a harmless pregnant woman and a “well-meaning entrepreneur” who did not engage in heinous criminal acts.
She claimed she was taking full responsibility for Theranos, calling it “my life’s work.”
“I am devastated by my failings,” she said. “I have felt deep pain for what people went through because I failed them. To investors, patients, I am sorry.”
Several people had written letters to the judge asking for leniency in sentencing. Her partner, Billy Evans, called her “honest, humble, selfless, and kind beyond what most people have ever experienced.”
However, prosecutors pointed to her seven-day testimony where she deflected and blamed the situation on other people, including Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, former Theranos chief operating officer and former love interest of Holmes. She painted him as manipulative and callous.
Prosecutors used her deflection to their advantage, saying it was the prime example of “arrogance.”
Holmes was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison and three years of supervised release. She will begin serving time on April 27, which allows her to give birth and spend time with her child.
Jodi Arias
Jodi Arias, who was charged in the 2008 death of her lover, Travis Alexander, stood before the jury in 2013 and claimed that she killed him in self-defense and was ashamed.
Alexander was found shot in the forehead and had suffered 27 stab and slash wounds, including a slit throat.
Arias testified for 18 days, contradicting several previous versions of her story that she gave investigators years prior. Originally, she said she knew nothing about his death, later she blamed it on masked intruders before finally settling on self-defense.
She also claimed Alexander had been abusive, but none of the other witnesses corroborated her claims.
Jury foreman William Zervakos said the length of her testimony was one of the reasons she did not sway the jury in her favor.
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“I think 18 days hurt her. I think she was not a good witness,” Zervakos said on ABC’s Good Morning America. “We’re charged with going in and presuming innocence, right? But she was on the stand for so long, there were so many contradicting stories.”
Arias was convicted in May 2013 and sentenced to life in prison in 2019.
