Posted on 02/23/2023 10:06:12 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
Alex Murdaugh, a once-wealthy and powerful South Carolina attorney on trial for allegedly shooting his wife and son, took the stand Thursday, testifying he had no part in the grisly double murder and blaming an addiction to painkillers for his erratic behavior in front of friends and law enforcement officials.
"I did not shoot my wife or my son any time — ever," he said of Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, who had been gunned down in June 2021.
Murdaugh admitted he had lied several times to authorities about his whereabouts the night of the shootings.
"I lied about being down there, and I'm so sorry that I did," he said, adding that he was overly "paranoid" and claimed attorneys from his family's law firm urged him not to say a word without representation present.
Murdaugh also apologized to his son Buster and relatives for lying about the last time he saw Maggie and Paul and said once he started lying, he could not stop.
Prosecutors have argued that Murdaugh, who belongs to a powerful family that has dominated the legal landscape for more than a century, killed his family members in a desperate attempt to hide his financial crimes, which they said included swindling clients out of ten million dollars.
The mother and son were killed on June 7, 2021, near the kennels on the family's sprawling, 1,772-acre Colleton County hunting estate.
They were found in a pool of their own blood, Paul dying from two shotgun blasts and Murdaugh's wife being killed by 5 rifle shots.
The prosecution, which rested its case on Friday, also pointed to footage found on Paul Murdaugh's phone that was taken minutes before he died in which multiple witnesses testified hearing Alec Murdaugh's voice despite him claiming he was nowhere near the scene.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
That he paid someone to kill him and the person failed seems funny.
“It’s crazy that a classmate of his older son also died, apparently murdered, close to their property.”
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Yes, his name was Stephen Smith, and it was not properly investigated.
Admitted lying to the police on the witness stand no doubt.
Of course one more misdemeanor charge on that guy at this point is tantamount to throwing a glass of water in a swimming pool. 😏
Who shoots their own dog these days or have someone else do it? I could see doing it as a last resort if a vet isn’t available and the dog is suffering.
“Who shoots their own dog these days or have someone else do it? I could see doing it as a last resort if a vet isn’t available and the dog is suffering.”
***
Great point.
Yes. I really like this judge.
“With Jay Bender’s help, Murdaugh trial is a lesson in the value of court access”
*Jay Bender is the South Carolina Press Association’s general counsel.
He has been spending weeks serving as a liaison between the court and the media for a trial that has become so sensational that it has triggered the imaginations of millions of true-crime fanatics across the globe.
That coverage has expanded beyond the local news and spawned a media frenzy, wall-to-wall coverage, and dozens of podcasts and YouTube videos.
https://nna.org/with-jay-benders-help-murdaugh-trial-is-a-lesson-in-the-value-of-court-access
Actually he was asked about a life policy on his wife and said no. A fact easily checked.
Good article.
Thanks for the feedback...
Shooter needs more time if he actually shot from point blank range /s
Eastern NC has better BBQ...
Ha. The never ending debate about who makes the best BBQ. I never cared for the vinegar tasting BBQ that I had in NC.
“Join us TONIGHT, Sunday, 2/26, 10pm ET on Fox News for THE MURDAUGH MURDERS Hosted By Nancy Grace.
We will be broadcasting LIVE from South Carolina and taking your questions.
What do you want to know about the trial and the double murders?”
Can’t get FOX now. Pity. Always like Nancy’s comments.
If this is so then it stands to reason that he might come to view the Hyde side as not really him, but instead something artificially created by painkillers and by a catastrophic event not of his own making but externally wrought by the actions of his son (which in turn might be why he wanted to kill his son, as the source of his whole life and reputation suddenly falling apart).
Therefore when Murdaugh testified something to the effect of "I would never intentionally hurt Maggie or Paul", what he really was saying is that at the time of the murder he (his body) was merely a puppet to this monstrous side of him that had taken over. (And on that note it would have been interesting if the prosecutor had jumped in and asked "You say you didn't intentionally hurt them, Mr. Murdaugh, but did your raise the gun with your arm and did you pull the trigger with your finger?").
Oh and one more thing. Murdaugh had prefaced the above statement by apologizing to his wife and son, which sounded extremely odd and almost like an admission of guilt. To me this was him acknowledging that he (his Jekyll persona if you will) held himself at least somewhat responsible for the killings even though he believed that he was being controlled by this other persona.
Taking psychiatric drugs can make people lose control and their bodies move as if they were possessed.
Also apparently one of the drugs he was abusing can cause paranoia. My guess is that Murdaugh developed a paranoia centered aruond both Maggie and Paul, perhaps in part because they were the people he was around the most (ie, convenient targets for the paranoia to latch on to) but also due to the boat accident at least in regards to Paul.
But having said that, Murdaugh using paranoia as an excuse for lying to the police on the night of the murder doesn’t ring true to me. Mostly because paranoia is similar to narcissism in that there is an abnormal focus on oneself, though instead of self-love there is a nebulus fear of being harmed in some way. Yet after seeing people close to you killed, a normal reaction would be to go into shock and for your emotions to become numb for a period of time. Thus knocking aside paranoid feelings (or any feelings of self-preservation) at least until the shock wears off. Yet Murdaugh’s focus turns immediately to protecting himself.
That reminds me of what Nancy Grace said this morning on Fox, pointing out that Murdaugh testified that he felt paranoid about the police learning he was at the kennel which is why he lied. But why would saying he was at the kennel trigger paranoia? Wouldn’t it be normal for him to be at the kennel on any given day? And on the night of the murders when he ‘discovered’ the bodies, he (if innocent) wouldn’t have known when they were killed. 10 minutes earlier? 20 minutes? 30? An hour? So why would that have triggered any warnings UNLESS of course he knew that saying he was the kennel a couple hours earlier would put him there not only at the crime scene but also at the approximate time of when the murders occurred.
However i disagree with her on one thing. She thought it was a mistake for Murdaugh to testify but after the witnesses came forward saying that was his voice on the video, i think he and his team knew they had no shot of getting a hung jury unless they did something to shake things up. And the only thing that might shake things up would be for him to testify. A sort of Hail Mary pass, hoping that it might connect with one or more of the jurors who might let a sense of empathy towards him override rational thinking.
Murdaugh has been exposed as being at the scene of the crime because of the video his son took. I hope he’s found guilty.
I don’t know what to think about this guy. It seems like he effortlessly stole $10 million from his law partners, clients, friends, and family. There will be books written about him.
I’ll be watching Nancy Grace’s show tonight.
Are there newer threads? I think police should check out any unsolved murders within 50 miles... This psychopath could be a serial killer.
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