Alex Murdaugh may take a stand in his own defense in the double murder trial of his wife and son, a source close to his lawyers says.
In a move experts have described as “virtually outrageous,” the disgraced legal successor, 54, would face cross-examination that could blow up his alibi.
Murdaugh is accused of shooting Maggie and Paul at the family’s sprawling hunting lodge on June 7, 2021 to distract from his financial crimes. He claims he visited his mother and came home to find her dead.
The state is expected to drop its case Wednesday, meaning the defense could call Murdaugh as early as this week. The source told News 2 the plan is subject to change.
Murdaugh’s defense team declined to comment.
Alex Murdaugh and defense attorney Jim Griffin stand as District Attorney John Meadors enters the Colleton County Courthouse Monday on day 16 of Murdaugh’s double murder trial
An emotional Alex Murdaugh exits Colleton County Court on February 13
The state is expected to drop its case Wednesday, meaning the defense could call Murdaugh as early as this week. He is pictured here leaving court on Monday
Lori Murray, a former South Carolina prosecutor, told : “It is virtually unheard of to call a defendant to the stand to testify in his own defense because when you do so you open your client to cross-examination, which is basically a publicized interrogation with leading questions.
“Instead, most defense attorneys focus on a lack of evidence against their client or, as in this case, on sloppy police work. Remember that it is up to the state to prove the accused’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
“The accused is under no obligation to prove his own innocence. However, in some cases, like this one, there are some facts that can only be explained by the defendant taking the stand. Alex almost has to take the stand to explain why he lied about his alibi and where his clothes are.”
The jury heard evidence of a video taken by Paul shortly before his death in which Murdaugh’s voice can be heard along with Maggie’s down in the kennels on the estate.
But the disfellowshipped attorney claims he only ever got to the scene after they were shot.
His housekeeper testified last week that clothes, a shirt, pants and shoes worn by Murdaugh earlier that evening went missing and were never found.
Murray said: “The defense also knows the jury wants to hear from him and his transformation, to talk about his love for his family and to show the emotions that could sway the jury. Hopefully, as an attorney and because of the detailed preparation by his attorneys, he will be able to navigate the witness stand.’
Murdaugh cried Monday as the court heard vivid testimony from coroner Ellen Riemer. She recounted how Paul’s brain was shot in the back of the head by a shotgun, while Maggie was shot five times with a high-powered assault rifle.
New footage of Murdaugh sobbing meters from their blood-soaked bodies has also been revealed for the first time, having been shown early in the trial.
The disgraced legal scion, 54, sobs and asks the first officer at the scene, “You’re dead, aren’t you?”
The bodies are blurred in the publicly available footage.
“It’s bad, I took her pulse,” Murdaugh tells the officer while pacing the property next to the dog kennel in a white T-shirt, shorts and sneakers.
Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh. Buster was staying with his girlfriend near Charlotte at the time of the murders
Alex Murdaugh is seen at the crime scene of the family’s hunting lodge in Islandton, South Carolina on June 7, 2021. Murdaugh speaks on the phone in the video and tells the officer that his brother is on the line.
Murdaugh tells Sergeant Daniel Greene that he was gone about an hour and a half to visit his mother. “I saw her about 45 minutes beforehand,” he says.
“I drove around in the pickup with Paul for two hours this afternoon,” he tells the police officer.
Then he asks, “Did anyone go to check them out? Have you checked them? Are you sure you’re dead?’
The officer confirms they are dead.
Murdaugh’s Chevrolet Suburban is parked nearby, a shotgun propped against it. He tells the officer he found the shotgun but is otherwise unarmed.
In the video, the disgraced attorney speaks on the phone and tells the officer that his brother is on the line.
The jury was shown images of the grisly scene today as Coroner Riemer spoke to them about the injuries Maggie and Paul suffered.
She explained that Paul could have stopped after the first shot from the shotgun to his chest, but that a second shot blew his brains out of the back of his head.
The court said the 22-year-old’s brain was taken to the autopsy in a separate bucket.
The fact that Paul’s face remained intact shows that he faced his shooter, Riemer said.
She said Maggie’s first two wounds were stained with gunpowder, indicating her shooter was no more than three feet away. The first three rounds were not instantly fatal, hitting her thigh and torso.
The direction of travel shows that Maggie was kneeling on all fours when she was hit by the fourth shot, which went through the left side of her chest and penetrated her brain.
“When it entered the left side of the face, it basically destroyed the brain,” Riemer told jurors.
A final shot was fired at point-blank range to the back of the head as she lay on the ground, the coroner said.
A murder weapon was never found.
Buster Murdaugh arrives in court Monday with his girlfriend Brooklynn White, Alex’s sister Lynn is behind them as they are escorted by security guards
Alex’s brother John Marvin Murdaugh, his sister Lynn and son Buster with his girlfriend Brooklynn White arrive in court Monday
The state says Murdaugh killed the couple to distract from his financial crimes. He embezzled millions from his law firm and was facing a lawsuit over his son’s drunk boating accident that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach in February 2019.
On the day Maggie and Paul were murdered, Murdaugh had been confronted with $792,000 he had stolen from the company.
A hearing was due later that week in the boatwreck lawsuit to determine the status of his finances.
Murdaugh told Beach’s family lawyers that he was broke and the court heard him divert funds from the company to his personal accounts to protect the money from the lawsuit.
Maggie recently confided in her housekeeper that they were being sued for $30 million.
The defense theory is that someone else killed Maggie and Paul in revenge for the boat accident.
They argue that their client was a “loving” husband and father who could never have killed his wife and son. They have branded the state’s alleged financial motivation as “ridiculous.”
Murdaugh claims he went to see his mother around 9 p.m. on the night of the murder. The state says Maggie and Paul were killed just after 8:49 p.m. and that video taken by Paul at 8:45 p.m. proves he was at the scene.
Several witnesses, including close family friends, have testified that they can hear Alex, Maggie and Paul’s voices in the footage.
But the alleged killer told investigators he was never inside the kennel.
Murdaugh says the family had dinner together around 8:15 p.m. and that Maggie and Paul went to the kennel while he fell asleep in front of the television.
At the time of Maggie and Paul’s deaths, Murdaugh and his son were facing a civil lawsuit over the boatwreck that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach in February 2019. Murdaugh told officers Paul and Maggie were killed in revenge for the accident
At 9:06 p.m., his Chevrolet Suburban was started and he visited his mother in Almeda, about 15 minutes away.
He claims he was there for around 40 minutes, although this is disputed by his mother’s caregiver, who said he was only in the house 20 minutes.
Murdaugh says he arrived at the hunting grounds to find Maggie and Paul dead in the kennel. He called 911 at 10:07 p.m.
First responders have testified that they did not examine Maggie or Paul because their injuries were so horrific that they were “incompatible with life”. Two shots went into Maggie’s head while Paul’s brain was completely detached from his skull.
The court has previously heard evidence that when police arrived, Murdaugh’s clothes looked so clean that police believed he had recently changed.
Blood tests done on his white T-shirt later came back positive. However, Murdaugh says he touched their bodies to look for signs of life.
Earlier video taken by Paul at 7:56 p.m. that evening shows Murdaugh in a blue shirt, long pants and brown loafers.
The family’s housekeeper, Blanca Simpson, testified last week that she never saw the clothes again.
Alex Murdaugh listens as his friend Chris Wilson testifies at the Colleton County Courthouse Thursday during his double murder trial
The family’s housekeeper, Blanca Simpson, testified that Alex told her to go to the house the day after Maggie and Paul were killed on June 7, 2021 in the kennels on the Moselle, South Carolina estate and clean up
The state intends to drop its case by Wednesday, at which point the defense will begin calling its own witnesses.
The trial takes place at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, a sleepy, rural town 50 miles west of Charleston in a low-lying region of South Carolina over which the Murdaugh family has wielded immense legal and political power.
In fact, in the courtroom where Murdaugh will be tried, a portrait of his late grandfather — legendary longtime 14th Circuit Solicitor Buster Murdaugh Jr. — hung on the wall before it was removed before the trial.
Following the murder trial, Murdaugh faces more than 100 other criminal charges ranging from drug trafficking to allegations that he stole nearly $9 million from clients and other attorneys.
Prosecutors say Murdaugh lured his wife and son to their 1,700-acre hunting lodge and shot them.
The state also claims his life spiraled out of control amid years of opioid addiction and mounting debt.
Murdaugh pleaded not guilty in June, and the blockbuster trial is expected to include wild allegations of dark family secrets, financial ruin and hedonistic excess.
A total of over 220 people were able to testify against Murdaugh in the trial.
SCHEDULE: NIGHT OF THE KILLS
Alex Murdaugh, 54, is accused of shooting dead his wife Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, on the night of June 7, 2021 at the family’s hunting property in Islandton, South Carolina.
Here are the key events in the timeline established by the prosecution:
At 7.56pm, Paul sent a Snapchat video to friends showing the 22-year-old driving around the property with his father.
At 8:15 p.m., Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, came home and the trio had dinner together. Autopsies showed similar stomach contents for Maggie and Paul.
Around 8:30 p.m., Paul’s phone moves in the direction of the kennel.
Then, at 8.44pm, a second video taken by Paul in the kennel – soon to lead to a murder scene – allegedly proves Maggie, Paul and Alex were together.
At 8:49 p.m., prosecutors say Paul’s phone was locked and forever silent, never to text again or make another call.
Between 9pm and 9.30pm, Paul and Maggie were killed – according to the coroner.
At 9:06 p.m., Murdaugh’s car is set on fire.
The alleged killer said he was visiting his mother in Almeda, about 15 minutes’ drive away, who has late-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
At 10:07 p.m., Murdaugh called 911 and claimed he got home to find his wife and son shot.