Murdaugh was unable to answer when asked why he found the gun after the bodies were discovered
Defense attorneys asked Alex Murdo why he decided to pick up a gun after discovering the bodies of his wife and son, but South Carolina’s attorneys were unable to answer.
“I don’t know,” he said, as he became emotional once again. In the audio of the 911 call, Murdaugh can be heard saying that he plans to return home to get the gun.
“I know you’re upset Mr. Murdoff,” the 911 operator replied, “but I don’t want you to grab a gun and pull out a gun whenever my officers get there, okay?”
Murdoff returns to his home and claims to have picked up a 12-gauge shotgun. He then loaded it with 16-gauge shells, an error he said he would never make as a lifelong hunter.
“This is not a mistake I would have made under any circumstances other than that night,” he testified.
‘I should have known,’ Murdaugh said in 911 call after killing wife and son
A recording of the 911 call made by Murdoff after Margaret and Paul’s bodies were found was played for the jury, in which he is heard saying, “I should have known.”
Murdoch clarified that he was referring to compromising security amid death threats to his son Paul.
According to Murdaugh’s testimony, his son Paul received several “hateful” threats on social media, which the family did not take seriously.
“We disregarded it because it was over the top,” he said.
‘My Boy’s Laying Facedown’: Murdaugh Weeps As He Describes His Son’s Body
Murdaugh broke down again when he attempted to describe his son’s dead body, which he claimed he discovered after checking whether his wife Margaret and Paul were still in the family dog ​​kennel.
At first, all he could say was, “Paul was like that—he was so bad.” He then said he attempted to check Paul Murdo’s pulse and turn him over.
“I don’t know why I tried to move him,” she said, and she continued to sob. “My boy is lying face down. He’s done what he’s done. His head was as it was. I could see his brain lying on the pavement. I didn’t know what to do.”
Murdaugh said he grabbed his son’s belt loop and tried to turn him over. When he did, Paul’s phone fell out of his pocket and Murdoff placed it back on his son’s body.
Murdaugh wept when asked to describe the scene of the murder.
When Murdog was asked what he saw when he drove to the dog house where his wife and sons were found dead, he choked up and struggled to describe the scene of the murder.
“So bad,” she said between sobs.
The South Carolina lawyer wept uncontrollably until saliva dripped from his mouth. After pausing, he asked for a bottle of water and took a long sip before starting to answer questions again.
Murdaugh said he did not dispose of the murder weapon or bloodstained clothing.
After leaving his parents’ home in Alameda, Murdo said, he stayed in the driveway for about a minute.
The defense asked whether he had been disposing of the murder weapon or the bloody clothes during this period.
Murdaugh testified that he was taking out his phone, which had fallen into the crevices of his vehicle.
The state’s biggest obstacle so far has been the lack of direct evidence, such as witnesses or a murder weapon, that could prove Murdaugh’s culpability.
elsewhere in the question
Murdaugh said that on the day of the murder, his mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease, was crying a lot and being fussy.
“Your mom is agitated. You need to get her checked out,” he recalled Barbara Ann Mixon, her parents’ housekeeper, telling her.
Murdaugh’s testimony corroborates what Mixon said on the stand yesterday about asking Murdaugh to meet his mother on the afternoon of June 7, 2021.
Murdaugh testified that he had spent time with his mother before going directly to Moselle, where, he said, he found the bodies of Paul and Margaret.
Prosecutors have questioned throughout the trial whether Murdog had gone to his parents’ home in Alameda to make up an alibi.
‘Mags’ and ‘Paul Paul’: Murdaugh uses surnames of his dead wife and son in testimony
As Murdaugh testified about his wife and son in the moments of his death, he continued to refer to them, using their nicknames for them.
Murdaugh often referred to his wife, Margaret, as “Maggie” or “Mags” and to his son, Paul, as “Paul Paul” – although there is some confusion as to whether Murdaugh meant “Paul Paul” or “Paw Paw”. have been
“I called him Paul Paul and Paul Terry, Mags called him Paul Paul, [my son Buster] He’s called Paul Paul,” Murdaugh said. “A lot of people call him Paul Paul.”
Murdaugh addresses the clothes he was wearing the day of the murder
Murdaugh testified that he showered on the day of the murder because he was sweating from working around the Mossel property, and also because of Oxycontin, prescription pills he had been taking.
She also testified that the clothing she was wearing in the Snapchat video leading her to the doghouse prior to the murder was the same clothing she had previously worn at work.
An investigator had previously testified that it seemed strange that Murdaugh was clearly visible on the night of the murders, almost as if he had new clothes on.
Murdaugh breaks down on the stand as he talks about his son’s murder
Murdaugh broke down in tears as he talked about Paul, with whom he said he had spent the day before the 22-year-old Paul died.
Murdaugh, who is accused of killing his son, said he enjoyed spending time with his son. He said that he was very close to Paul and their other son, Buster.
“I love doing anything with[Paul],” she said, as she found her voice again after choking up. “It was an absolute joy.”
Murdaugh apologizes to his family on the stand
While on the stand, Murdo apologized to his and his wife’s family for lying to law enforcement after the murders.
He claimed that once he started lying after the death of his wife and son, he told his family that he had to lie.
“I would never do anything to intentionally hurt either one of them,” he told his defense attorney on the stand.
Murdaugh lies about his whereabouts due to his addiction and paranoia
The defense quickly turned to one of the state’s most compelling evidence against Murdaugh, the video that put him around the doghouse shortly before the murder.
Murdaugh testified that he had lied to SLED agents about being there.
“why did you lie?” defense attorney Jim Griffin asked him.
“As my addiction developed over time, I would reach situations or circumstances where I would go insane,” Murdo replied.
Murdaugh took the stand and denied shooting his wife and son
Murdaugh was sworn in and began testifying at approximately 10:45 a.m.
The defense began by asking whether he had taken any guns to “blow his son’s mind” or to shoot his wife, Margaret. Murdaugh testified that he never shot his wife or son.
Local sheriff accuses jail inmate of making bomb threat at courthouse at start of trial
The Colton County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday it charged a jail inmate with making bomb threat calls at the county courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, during the Murdo trial.
Joy Dean Coleman, an inmate at the jail about 30 minutes from the courthouse, is accused of calling a court clerk earlier this month with the claim that there was a “bomb in the judge’s chamber.”
When officers did not locate the bomb, they traced the phone call to a cellphone in Coleman’s possession. A criminal arrest warrant was issued against him.
The sheriff’s office said that “no direct connection has been identified between Joey Coleman and Alex Murdo or the Murdo trial,” but that the matter is under investigation.
Murdaugh’s testimony draws large audience
The line to get to the small county courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, wrapped around the block today as members of the public lined up to watch Murdoch testify in his defense.
Due to the intense interest in the case, people started queuing up to visit the court premises since morning. This forced the court to close the line for public tickets at 7:30 a.m. The seats inside the courthouse were packed with spectators.
A group of women, who did not give their names, stood at the front of the queue. They said they arrived at the courthouse at 5 a.m. from Augusta, Georgia, hoping to testify against Murdo or his family.
Slain son’s friend testifies on day of murder
The defense called a close friend of the slain son, Paul Murdaugh, to the stand before Murdaugh testified this morning.
Nolan Tuten testified that he had spoken with Paul on the day of the June 7 murders. Tuten went to the family’s vast hunting lodge estate Moselle in the morning to look at the dying sunflowers, which had been planted to attract pigeons for hunting.
Tuten was supposed to return in the afternoon to plant sunflowers, but eventually the work became a conflict.
Later that night, at about 10:30, he learned from his mother about an incident in Moselle and went straight there.
“F—– boat wreck,” Tuton recalled a “distraught” Murdaugh saying when they saw each other after the murders, referring to the fatal boat crash of 2019.
During cross-examination, prosecutor David Fernandez also questioned Tuton about Snapchat videos captured on Paul’s phone. The prosecution used the video as evidence that Murdaugh was present at the dog kennel with his wife, Margaret, and Paul, minutes before he was shot dead, contrary to his claim that he was at Moselle’s main home. I was taking a nap.
Tuten testified that he heard the voices of all three family members in the video.
murdaf will testify today
Murdaugh was read his rights to testify in his own defense and told the judge that he had decided he wanted to testify.
Defense attorneys again raised concerns about the scope of the prosecution’s cross-examination questions, particularly regarding their client’s alleged financial crimes.
“This is a Bernie Madoff trial, this is not a murder trial,” said defense attorney Dick Harpootlian.
Judge Clifton Newman again clarified that the court would address the evidence as presented, and could not pre-empt certain lines of inquiry.
What has the prosecution done and not done so far
Prosecutors rested last week and did not present concrete evidence — such as a confession, eyewitnesses, video or fingerprints — that Murdoff, a once-powerful attorney and part-time prosecutor in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, had pulled the trigger.
Although the Murdo family had guns, several of which were seized from their Colleton County hunting property in the investigation, prosecutors have said investigators did not find the actual murder weapons: a shotgun and an AR-style rifle. .
The state attorney general’s office’s lead prosecutor, Creighton Waters, relied heavily on circumstantial evidence to find that Murdaugh, 54, wanted his wife, Margaret, 52, and their son, Paul, 22, dead and proposed. He had the opportunity to present a timeline based on cellphone and car GPS data.
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Witnesses at Murdo’s trial describe chaotic crime scene
The defense of disgraced South Carolina attorney Murdaugh, accused of murdering his wife and young son, questioned the integrity of the crime scene on the second day of his case, while trying to distinguish between Murdaugh’s alleged deception, including financial misconduct. and the double murder charge he is facing.
Mark Ball, a former law partner who Murdo once considered a close friend, testified in Walterboro on Wednesday morning that there were no obstructions at the crime scene and that he was able to move freely around Murdo’s property in Moselle after the murders. were capable
“There was a piece of Paul’s skull, about the size of a baseball, lying there,” he recalled, referring to Paul Murdo, the son Murdo is accused of murdering.
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