A state prosecutor on Friday accused disbarred South Carolina lawyer Richard "Alex" Murdaugh of changing his story about his whereabouts on the night his wife and son were murdered only after the jury heard contradicting evidence.
In his second day of cross examination, prosecutor Creighton Waters sought to portray Murdaugh as caught up in a pattern of lying and deceit, while detailing his drug use in the run-up to the murders at dog kennels on the family estate on June 7, 2021.
On Thursday during questioning from his lawyer, Murdaugh admitted to being at the kennels minutes before his wife, Maggie, 52, and 22-year-old son Paul were gunned down. Up until that point, Murdaugh had maintained he was not at the kennels.
The change in Murdaugh's account came after the jury saw cellphone video indicating his presence. Murdaugh said he lied to investigators about his whereabouts due to his distrust of the police and "paranoid thoughts" tied to his drug addiction.
"The second you’re confronted with facts you can’t deny, you immediately come up with a new lie. Isn’t that correct?" Waters asked Murdaugh, who disagreed with the prosecutor's characterization but acknowledged lying to clients and others.
"I have lied to people that have trusted me," Murdaugh said.
Murdaugh, the scion of an influential South Carolina legal family, was indicted by a grand jury in July on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon in connection with the fatal shootings. From the start, the case has been subject to intense media coverage given the political influence of the Murdaugh family in South Carolina.
While denying any involvement in his wife and son's deaths, Murdaugh has acknowledged lying to investigators and to stealing huge sums of money from his law partners and clients, partly to fund a years-long addiction to opioids. Waters accused Murdaugh of using the money to support a luxurious lifestyle.
On Friday, Murdaugh said he was taking more than 2,000 milligrams of oxycodone on some days in the months leading up to the murders, or more than 60 pills of 30 mg each. "Opiates gave me energy. Whatever I was doing it made it more interesting. It made me want to do it longer," Murdaugh said.
Prosecutors have said Murdaugh killed his wife and child to generate sympathy and distract from an array of financial crimes for which he is also facing criminal charges, an alleged motive that Murdaugh's lawyers have argued does not make sense.
On Friday, Murdaugh testified that he has sought to cooperate with the investigation, with the exception of lying about being at the kennels on the night of the shootings.
"Very cooperative except for maybe the most important fact of all: that you were at the murder scene with the victims just minutes before they died," Waters said.
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