Alex Murdaugh‘s defense is set to call four final witnesses before resting their case today as his double murder trial enters its sixth week.
Murdaugh took the witness stand last Thursday in the latest dramatic turn in the saga to admit he lied to cops about his alibi the night his wife and son were murdered.
But the disgraced legal scion, 54, said he was telling the truth when he claimed vigilantes killed Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, at the family’s estate in Moselle, South Carolina, on the night of June 7, 2021.
Prosecutors have called 61 witnesses, compared to 11 for the defense. Murdaugh’s lawyers said they planned to question four additional witnesses before resting their case in the early afternoon on Monday.
Alex Murdaugh is cross examined by prosecutor Creighton Waters after taking the stand in his trial for murder at the Colleton County Courthouse on Friday. Murdaugh’s defense are set to call four final witnesses before resting their case today as his double murder trial enters its sixth week
Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh in a photo the mother posted for Father’s Day in 2020
Prosecutor Creighton Waters said he then planned to call ‘a couple’ of reply witnesses intended to rebut defense evidence, indicating their testimony would not take a long time.
That will be followed by closing arguments and the judge instructing the jury, which could happen on Tuesday or Wednesday, Murdaugh defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said in court on Friday. The judge did not set a strict schedule.
Murdaugh on Friday floated his own theory for who killed his wife and son, testifying that someone was out for revenge after his younger son Paul’s fatal boat accident.
At the time of Maggie and Paul’s deaths, Murdaugh was being sued over his son’s drunken smash which killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
But prosecutors argue it was the ruinous financial aspect of this case which helped drive the legal heir to murder.
As well as up to $30m he stood to lose in the boat case, Murdaugh was confronted on the day of the killings over $792,000 in ‘missing’ fees from his firm.
In the months after the murders it would be discovered that he had stolen more than $10m from clients and partners at his firm over the last decade.
Under cross examination, Murdaugh admitted that he routinely lied to the victims of horrific accident who he was supposed to represent, as well as his colleagues.
Buster Murdaugh, Alex’s sole surviving son, buries his face in his hand as he sits beside his girlfriend Brooklynn White at the courthouse last Friday
Alex Murdaugh is cross examined by prosecutor Waters Friday
Prosecutor Waters sought to paint him as an unscrupulous liar who when faced with calamity chose to act violently in a bid to cover-up the litany of financial crimes.
Murdaugh admitted to lying to investigators in the aftermath of the murders by telling them he was not at the kennels on the night of the murders.
He changed his account after the jury saw cellphone video that contained audio of Murdaugh’s voice that placed him at the scene minutes before investigators have said his wife and son were killed.
Waters asked: ‘And you want this jury to believe a story manufactured to fit the evidence that you brought forth just yesterday after hearing this trial’s whole testimony?’
Murdaugh replied: ‘No sir, that’s not correct.’
He said Paul had been threatened and attacked after the drunken boat wreck in February 2019.
At the time of Paul’s death, Murdaugh was facing a lawsuit over allowing his son to drive his boat under the influence of alcohol when 19-year-old Mallory (left and right) was killed in February 2019. Murdaugh told cops Paul and Maggie had been killed in revenge for the accident
Alex Murdaugh’s boat the Sea Hunt after it was crashed by his son Paul in a fatal accident that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach
Murdaugh told jurors: ‘The social media response that came from that was vile. The things that were said about what they would do to PawPaw, they were so over the top.
‘I believed then and I believe today that the wrong person saw and read that because I can tell you for a fact that the person or people who did what I saw on June 7, they hated Paul Murdaugh, and they had anger in their heart.’
Murdaugh, the scion of an influential South Carolina legal family, was indicted by a grand jury in July and pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon.
The case has drawn intense media coverage given the political influence of the Murdaugh family in South Carolina.
Murdaugh’s sole surviving son Buster, 26, has attended court everyday and testified last week. He was staying with his girlfriend near Charlotte at the time of the killings.
The disbarred attorney’s brothers John Marvin and Randy and sister Lynn have also attended the Colleton County courthouse in Walterboro most days.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
