See how prosecutors grilled Alex Murdaugh on last day of cross-examination
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What we covered here
Disgraced former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, who is on trial for murder in the deaths of his wife and son, completed six hours of testimony on Friday, mostly under cross-examination. The case will resume Monday at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the June 2021 killings of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and 22-year-old son Paul Murdaugh at the family’s estate in Islandton, South Carolina.
Prosecutors accuse Murdaugh of killing his wife and son to distract from an array of financial misconduct allegations. His defense attorneys argue he is a caring father who has been wrongly accused after a mishandled investigation.
Our live coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest news here or read through the updates below.
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Alex Murdaugh quizzed on alibi, pill addiction and lies to police. Here's what happened in court today
From CNN staff
Defendant Alex Murdaugh is cross examined by prosecutor Creighton Waters while testifying during his murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina on Friday.
(Joshua Boucher/The State/AP)
Disgraced former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, who is on trial for murder in the deaths of his wife and son, was back on the stand Friday for more cross-examination from the prosecution.
Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the June 2021 killings of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and 22-year-old son Paul Murdaugh at the family’s estate in Islandton, South Carolina.
Here’s what happened in court:
Lies to investigators: Prosecutor Creighton Waters continued to press Murdaugh about why he lied to police about where he was on the night of the murders. He first publicly confirmed he was at the kennels that night on Thursday after previously saying he was not at the scene of the killings.
He said various factors contributed to his “paranoid thinking” which led to his decision to lie to police, including his “distrust of SLED,” (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division), questions about his relationship with his wife and son, and “the fact that I have a pocket full of pills in my pocket,” he said. The prosecution played clips of the police interview.
Alibi: Murdaugh denied that he was trying to manufacture an alibi when asked about the series of phone calls, some of them to Maggie Murdaugh, after she and her son were killed. Waters was asking about what he was doing for a period of about four minutes before he left to go to his mom’s house.
“It’s an absolute fact that I’m not manufacturing an alibi, as you say,” Murdaugh said, and categorized the calls as “very normal.”
Connection to boat crash: Waters questioned Murdaugh about the idea a “random vigilante” could be involved in the murder of his wife and son. Murdaugh testified that he believed a fatal boat wreck that Paul Murdaugh was involved in was the reason for the killings. He then clarified that he did not believe anyone involved in the 2019 boat wreck had anything to do with the murders — but suspected it was someone who had heard about what happened.
Pill addiction: Murdaugh said he sometimes took more than 2,000 milligrams of oxycodone per day in the months leading up to the deaths of his wife and son.
According to Murdaugh, he would take “maybe 1,000 milligrams or 1,200 milligrams on a day I didn’t take as much or didn’t have as much, up to, I mean — there were days, many days, a lot of days, most days were more than that, and many days would be … more than 2,000 milligrams a day.” It is virtually unheard of for a doctor to prescribe a patient more than 100 milligrams of oxycodone a day for even the most severe acute or chronic pain.
The trial will resume at 9:30 a.m. on Monday.
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Alex Murdaugh completes his testimony
From CNN’s Alta Spells
Defense attorney Jim Griffin, left, Alex Murdaugh, center, and Dick Harpootlian, right, after Murdaugh's testimony on Friday.
(Pool)
Alex Murdaugh has completed his testimony after about six hours on the stand.
The jury has been released for the weekend. The court will resume on Monday at 9:30 a.m. ET.
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Murdaugh denies walking with his wife’s cell phone the night of the murders
From CNN’s Alta Spells
Defense attorney Jim Griffin asked Alex Murdaugh under redirect about why his wife’s phone was moving around on the night she and their son was murdered.
“Were you walking with Maggie Murdaugh’s phone at the same time?” Griffin said.
“I wasn’t walking with Maggie’s phone anytime that night,” Murdaugh said.
Cell phone data showed Maggie Murdaugh’s iPhone traveled 59 steps between 8:53 p.m. and 8:55 p.m. on June 7, 2021, the night of the murders outside of their home in Islandton, a small community about an hour north of Hilton Head Island.
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Defense begins redirect of Alex Murdaugh
From CNN's Alta Spells
Court has reconvened after a brief break.
Alex Murdaugh is still on the stand for redirect by defense attorney Jim Griffin.
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Prosecution completes Murdaugh cross-examination
From CNN's Alta D. Spells
Prosecutor Creigton Waters said he has no more questions for Alex Murdaugh.
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Prosecutor questions Murdaugh on idea of "random vigilante" involvement in murders
From CNN's Alta Spells
Prosecutor Creighton Waters cross examines Alex Murdaugh during Murdaugh's trial on Friday at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.
(Joshua Boucher/The State/AP)
Prosecutor Creighton Waters questioned Alex Murdaugh about the idea a “random vigilante” could be involved in the murder of his wife and son.
Murdaugh testified that he believed a fatal boat wreck that Paul Murdaugh was involved in was the reason for the killings. He then clarified that he did not believe anyone involved in the 2019 boat wreck had anything to do with the murders — but suspected it was someone who had heard about what happened.
“What you’re telling this jury is that this is a random vigilante,” Waters said.
“That’s your term,” Murdaugh answered.
“You got a lot of factors in there, Mr. Waters. All of which I do not agree with, but some of which I do,” Murdaugh said.
Some background: Murdaugh’s son Paul was allegedly the driver of the boat that wrecked in February 2019, killing 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
At the time of his death, Paul Murdaugh was facing charges of boating under the influence, causing great bodily harm and causing death. He pleaded not guilty, and court records show the charges were dropped after his death.
Murdaugh previously testified that Paul received “the most vile threats” on social media after the crash.
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Court is back in session
Defendant Alex Murdaugh is back on the stand after a lunch break on Friday.
Murdaugh, who is accused of killing his wife and son, is facing questions from the prosecution.
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Court is in recess for a lunch break
From CNN's Alta Spells
The Murdaugh trial is now in recess for lunch. Court will resume at 2:15 p.m. ET.
Prosecutors have been questioning disgraced former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, who is on trial for murder in the deaths of his wife and son, this morning. It’s the second day Murdaugh has testified in his own defense.
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Murdaugh offers more explanation about why he lied to police about where he was on night of murders
The prosecution played parts of a video of Alex Murdaugh being interviewed by police in a car on the night of the murders.
(Pool)
Alex Murdaugh pointed to several different things he believed contributed to his decision to lie to law enforcement about where he was the night his wife, Maggie, and son Paul were murdered.
He first admitted to lying to investigators during his first day of testimony Thursday when he said he was not at the scene of the killings.
Being questioned by the prosecution Friday, Murdaugh said his partners at his law firm advised him not to talk to anyone without a lawyer.
“That was just one of the many things that I believe led to that situation, sitting in there, where those paranoid thoughts came to me,” Murdaugh said.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters played parts of a video of Murdaugh being interviewed by police in a car on the night of the murders. Murdaugh also said his “distrust of SLED,” or the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, was another factor that contributed to his paranoia, in addition to “the fact that I have a pocket full of pills in my pocket,” he said.
He also said questions about his relationship with Maggie and Paul made him uneasy.
“All of those factors combined and made me decide to lie,” Murdaugh testified.
Some background: Within moments of taking the stand Thursday, Murdaugh acknowledged his voice is heard in a video that appeared to be filmed at the dog kennels where the bodies of his wife and child were found, saying he lied about being at the kennels earlier that evening because of “paranoid thinking” stemming from his drug addiction.
CNN’s Dakin Andone, Dianne Gallagher, Randi Kaye and Alta Spells contributed reporting to this post.
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Murdaugh: "I never manufactured any alibi"
Alex Murdaugh tells the court Friday that he is "not manufacturing an alibi."
(Pool)
Pressed about various phone calls he made after his wife and son were killed, Alex Murdaugh said “it’s an absolute fact” that he was not trying to manufacture an alibi.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters asked Murdaugh, who is testifying in his own defense, about what he was doing during a period of about four minutes before he left to go to his mom’s house.
“It’s an absolute fact that I’m not manufacturing an alibi, as you say,” Murdaugh said, and categorized the calls as “very normal.” Several of the calls were to his wife, Maggie, who had been killed near the dog kennels.
Asked why he didn’t go down to the kennels to check why Maggie wasn’t answering, Murdaugh said, “There was no reason to.”
“It wasn’t important to do that,” he said, because the calls were to let them know he was leaving but he would be back.
“I never manufactured any alibi in any way shape or form because I did not, and would not, hurt my wife and my child,” he said. “So I know for a fact that I never, ever, ever created an alibi.”
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Murdaugh testifies on the 4th anniversary of boat crash involving his son
From CNN’s Dianne Gallagher
Alex Murdaugh took the stand in his own defense for the second day on Friday — the fourth anniversary of the boat crash involving his son Paul that killed Mallory Beach.
Mallory Beach, 19, was thrown from the boat in the February 24, 2019, crash. Her body was found about a week later, on March 3, 2019.
At the time of his 2021 murder, Paul was awaiting trial on felony charges that he was drunk while driving the boat during the deadly crash. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges. The charges were dropped after Paul was killed.
In court, state prosecutors have said they believe Murdaugh murdered his wife and son to distract from decades of alleged financial crimes being discovered, the scope of which could have been revealed at a hearing schedule for the boat crash civil lawsuit the same week Maggie and Paul were killed.
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Murdaugh: I sometimes took more than 2,000 milligrams of oxycodone a day
From CNN’s Alta Spells
Alex Murdaugh testifies on Friday.
(Pool)
During cross-examination Friday, Alex Murdaugh said he sometimes took more than 2,000 milligrams of oxycodone per day in the months leading up to the deaths of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul.
Murdaugh testified that most of what he was purchasing was “30-milligram pills instant-release oxycodone, probably mixed in with some OxyContin, which is made of oxycodone — it’s just time release.”
According to Murdaugh, he would take “maybe 1,000 milligrams or 1,200 milligrams on a day I didn’t take as much or didn’t have as much, up to, I mean — there were days, many days, a lot of days, most days were more than that, and many days would be … more than 2,000 milligrams a day.”
“You’re taking 60 (pills) a day or something like that?” state prosecutor Creighton Waters asked Murdaugh about the time between January and June 2021.
“It got to the point where I was taking so much just to not backslide or go into withdrawals or have all those symptoms … It evolved over time,” he added.
It is virtually unheard of for a doctor to prescribe a patient more than 100 milligrams of oxycodone a day for even the most severe acute or chronic pain.
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Murdaugh says dogs did not act unusually at kennel before wife and son were killed
The prosecution questioned Alex Murdaugh about the time he spent at the family’s dog kennels on the evening his wife Maggie and son Paul were killed.
On Thursday, Murdaugh first publicly confirmed he was at the kennels that night, despite him lying about it to investigators previously.
Murdaugh said his wife was “very concerned” about Paul.
But then he said, “I believe that at that time, we may have talked about Paul Paul, but I’m not certain.”
He told prosecutor Creighton Waters that the family’s dogs weren’t acting like someone different was around or hiding in the woods.
“There was nobody else around for them to sense,” Murdaugh said.
Waters then asked him about taking a chicken out of family dog Bubba’s mouth and how long it took him to leave the area to go back home.
“Did I get on the golf cart and leave that second? Probably not. But did I get on the golf cart and leave very quickly after that? I did,” Murdaugh said, adding he likely said something to Maggie, but did not recall exactly what it concerned.
“I think that you testified yesterday, ‘I got out of there,’” Waters said, which Murdaugh affirmed.
Waters asked him why he left quickly, and Murdaugh said, “because it was chaotic, it was hot, and I was getting ready to do exactly what I didn’t want to do,” which was to work more in the kennels.
Murdaugh said he didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary on his way back to his house.
He then laid down on the couch at home and possibly dozed off, Murdaugh said.
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Court resumes and the cross-examination of Alex Murdaugh continues
Court has resumed following a short break in the trial of former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh.
Prosecutors are continuing to question Murdaugh, who is charged in the June 2021 killings of his wife and son.
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Court is in a short recess
Court is taking a 15-minute break in the trial of former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh.
Murdaugh took the stand this morning for a second day of testimony in his own defense. Prosecutors have been cross-examining, asking questions about his financial trouble as well as about his activities on the day his wife and son were killed.
Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the June 2021 killings of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and 22-year-old son Paul Murdaugh at the family’s estate in Islandton, South Carolina.
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Murdaugh faces more questions about stealing money
Alex Murdaugh answers qu
(Pool)
The cross-examination of Alex Murdaugh kicked off on Friday morning with the former lawyer facing more questions from prosecutor Creighton Waters about him repeatedly stealing money.
“I would agree that in 2019, I stole more money than any other year,” Murdaugh said, not disputing Waters about stealing about $3.7 million just in that year.
Waters asked him about his reported income from 2015 to 2019.
“I have never [disputed], since being confronted that day my brother and my partner came to talk to me [on Labor Day weekend 2021], that I have stolen money that did not belong to me, that I misled people to do it — people that I cared about, still care about, a lot of them that I love and still love, and I misled them to do it, and I was wrong. I have never disputed that from day one,” Murdaugh said.
He said he borrowed multiple times from his law firm partners.
Prosecutors began asking Murdaugh questions about financial trouble and his theft of clients’ money on Thursday.
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Alex Murdaugh takes the stand for a 2nd day of testimony
Alex Murdaugh takes the stand on Friday.
(Pool)
Court is back in session and disgraced former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, who is on trial for murder in the deaths of his wife and son, faces more cross-examination today.
Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the June 2021 killings of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and 22-year-old son Paul Murdaugh at the family’s estate in Islandton, South Carolina
What happened yesterday: During testimony on Thursday, he denied the charges, insisting in response to his lawyer’s questions, “I didn’t shoot my wife or my son, anytime, ever.”
Within moments of taking the stand, Murdaugh acknowledged his voice is heard in a video that appeared to be filmed at the dog kennels where the bodies of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh were found, saying he lied about being at the kennels earlier that evening because of “paranoid thinking” stemming from his drug addiction.
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Badges, pills and stealing millions of dollars: Prosecution pressed Alex Murdaugh during cross-examination
Prosecutor Creighton Waters, left, asks Alex Murdaugh if he recognizes two solicitors badges during Murdaugh's murder trial in Walterboro, South Carolina, on Thursday.
(Joshua Boucher/The State via AP)
The prosecution began its cross-examination of disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh on Thursday afternoon, pressing him about his financial trouble, his theft of clients’ money and his relationship with law enforcement in the area where he lived.
Murdaugh took the stand in his own self-defense after he pleaded not guilty to the murder of his wife and son.
Use of badges: Prosecutor Creighton Waters presented two badges into evidence, one that was Murdaugh’s grandfather’s badge after he retired and another that he said he considered to be his badge. Murdaugh testified that he usually keeps it in his car and that while he did not consider himself law enforcement, he carried a badge as a “volunteer assistant solicitor” for two decades.
The prosecutor pressed Murdaugh on how he used the presence of the badge to influence a desired outcome with law enforcement. He presented a photo of Murdaugh with the badge hanging out of his pocket at the hospital on the night of a fatal boat crash involving his son Paul, even when he testified he was not acting in an official capacity.
Murdaugh testified that he also installed blue lights installed in the law firm’s vehicle that he drove.
Stealing from clients: Murdaugh admitted to stealing millions of dollars from clients and his law firm, which ultimately led to his resignation from the firm, then known as PMPED and since renamed Parker Law Group. Several members of the firm have testified in-depth about discovering Murdaugh’s alleged misdeeds.
The prosecution spent a lot of time going through these allegations because they accuse Murdaugh of killing his wife and son to distract from an array of alleged financial crimes, for which Murdaughseparately faces another 99 charges.
“I admit candidly in all of these cases, Mr. Waters, that I took money that was not mine and I shouldn’t have done it. I hate the fact that I did it. I’m embarrassed by it. I’m embarrassed for my son. I’m embarrassed for my family,” he said.
Before he took the stand, Judge Clifton Newman denied a defense request tolimit the scope of questioning Murdaugh will face, specifically in regard to alleged financial crimes.
Pill addiction: Muraugh testified that he was addicted to pills for about 20 years. Despite the addiction, he said he was still able to maintain his practice and was “certain none of my partners knew I had an addiction.”
Murdaugh testified that his opioid use was “certainly a cause” of his financial problems, but not the only cause. He said that he was using some of the money he stole from clients to buy pills, but not all of it. Some money was being used to fund what the prosecution called a “wealthy lifestyle,” a term Murdaugh said he would not take issue with.
The cross-examination is set to resume Friday at 9:30 a.m. ET.
CNN’s Dakin Andone, Dianne Gallagher, Randi Kaye and Alta Spells contributed reporting to this post.
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These are the key people to know in the murder trial against Alex Murdaugh
From CNN's Melissa Gray
Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh is on trial for murder in connection to the killing of his wife and son.
Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
Here are the key people to know as the trial comes to a close:
Clifton Newman: The South Carolina Circuit Court judge hearing the case. He has been on the bench since 2000. Newman has presided over various proceedings in the Murdaugh case since 2021.
Alex Murdaugh: Now disbarred, Murdaugh is a member of a prominent legal family in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Three generations of his family over 87 years have served as solicitors for the 14th Circuit, which oversaw prosecutions throughout the area.
Margaret (Maggie) and Paul Murdaugh: Alex Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, was 52 when she was found fatally shot with the couple’s younger son, Paul, at the family’s Moselle estate on June 7, 2021. At the time of the shooting, Paul was facing charges in relation to the boating accident that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach, court records show. He had pleaded not guilty, and the charges were dropped after his death.
The prosecution:
Creighton Waters: South Carolina senior assistant deputy attorney general and lead prosecutor. He has been involved with the case since 2021. The state attorney general’s office is prosecuting the case because of the Murdaugh family’s close ties to the local solicitor’s office.
John Meadors: A veteran attorney who worked for the Attorney General’s Office for four years before retiring from the Fifth Circuit Solicitor’s Office in 2012. He has tried hundreds of murder trials and was hired by the US Attorney’s Office in early January.
The defense:
Richard “Dick” Harpootlian: One of Murdaugh’s defense attorneys. Harpootlian is a South Carolina state senator and attorney whose Columbia-based practice specializes in criminal defense.
Jim Griffin: Another one of Murdaugh’s defense attorneys. A former federal prosecutor, he now works as a state and federal criminal defense attorney based in Columbia, South Carolina.
Phillip Barber: An associate attorney at Harpootlian’s law firm who is part of Murdaugh’s defense team.
A closer look at the timeline of the Murdaugh family killings
From CNN's Amir Vera and Eric Levenson
From left to right: Maggie, Paul, and Alex Murdaugh
(courtesy Murdaugh family friend)
For 87 years, the Murdaugh family name came to represent a legal dynasty in coastal South Carolina, where three successive generations controlled the local prosecutor’s office.
But that has all fallen apart in recent years. Now, among other legal and financial problems, Alex Murdaugh is on trial after being accused of killing is wife and son.
Here’s a look at the timeline:
June 2021
June 7: Alex Murdaugh calls 911 and reports he found his wife Margaret (known as Maggie), 52, and son Paul, 22, shot dead outside of their home in Islandton, a small community about an hour north of Hilton Head Island, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
June 15: The state law enforcement division releases basic information about the killings, saying Murdaugh called 911 at 10:07 p.m. and investigators collected evidence that night and the next morning.
June 22: The state law enforcement division reopens an investigation into the unsolved death of 19-year-old Stephen Smith, whose body was found on the road in 2015 in Hampton County. The agency says the probe is being reopened based on information gathered while investigating the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
June 25: Alex Murdaugh and his other son, Buster, announce a $100,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible for the killings of Maggie and Paul.
July 22: The state law enforcement division releases redacted audio of Alex Murdaugh’s 911 call the night of the killings. In the audio, a distraught Murdaugh advises dispatchers his wife and son had been shot, are on the ground and are not breathing.
September 2021
September 3: Alex Murdaugh resigns from the law firm Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick (PMPED), according to the firm.
September 6: Murdaugh releases a statement through his attorney, Dick Harpootlian, to WCSC saying he is resigning from the law firm and entering rehab. Murdaugh’s other attorney, Jim Griffin, later specifies that his client has an opioid addiction.
September 7: The law firm says Murdaugh resigned “after the discovery by PMPED that Alex misappropriated funds in violation of PMPED standards and policies.”
September 8: The South Carolina Supreme Court issues an order suspending Alex Murdaugh’s license to practice law in the state.
July 2022
July 12: The South Carolina Supreme Court disbars Alex Murdaugh, according to an order released by the court.
July 14: Alex Murdaugh is indicted on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in connection with the 2021 killing of his wife and son by a Colleton County grand jury, according to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel.
July 20: Murdaugh pleaded not guilty to the murders of his wife and son.
In addition to facing murder charges in the death of his wife and son, in January 2022 Murdaugh was charged with 23 more crimes in four new indictments returned by a grand jury, the state attorney general said, claiming that he stole more than $2.2 million meant for four clients. That’s on top of the seven indictments with 21 criminal charges are filed by December 2021 related to an alleged wide-ranging scheme that sought to defraud victims of more than $6 million, according to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.
You can read the full timeline — with everything we know about Murdaugh’s other legal and financial challenges — here.
