LIVE FEED – ‘Murdaugh Murders’ Trial: Day Twenty-Four

4:32 p.m. EST – Griffin asks if Murdaugh remembers that the first call to 9-1-1 went to Hampton. He doesn’t recall that. Murdaugh tells Griffin the roadside shooting was a failed attempt to end his life. Griffin asks if he lied about what happened because he was trying to protect Smith. Murdaugh says, “I wasn’t supposed to be there but I was. I intended for him to shoot me and be gone.”

4:27 p.m. EST – Jim Griffin asks Murdaugh why he repeatedly pleaded with SLED to pull the data off Maggie’s phone. Murdaugh responds, “I knew that whoever had done this to them had Maggie’s phone. I knew that my phone and Maggie’s car were never together.” When asked if he was lying when he gave investigators inaccurate times, Murdaugh says, “No. I was trying to estimate. But a lot of the times when I gave times, I gave them instructions on how they could verify those times.”

4:24 p.m. EST – Griffin is going through the texts between Paul and Alex Murdaugh on May 30, 2021 about Paul’s feet swelling up.

4:13 p.m. EST – Court has resumed after a break. Jim Griffin is on re-direct. Griffin asks Murdaugh about the $500,000 of the Farris fees that went to Curtis Eddie Smith. Murdaugh states all of that went towards drugs.

3:45 p.m. EST – Creighton Waters states Murdaugh told the jury that he lied about his alibi because he was suspicious of SLED. Then his law partners had arrived and told him to have a lawyer before he spoke to the police stating they were asking about their relationship and testing him for GSR on his hands. Then Waters comes in with a bomb… noting that none of that had happened when Greene arrived and Murdaugh still told this lie. Waters says, “But you still told the same lie. And all those reasons you just gave this jury about the most important part of your testimony was a lie, too. Isn’t that true, Mr. Murdaugh?” Murdaugh states he disagrees with that. With that, Creighton Waters has no further questions.

3:40 p.m. EST – Waters is going through the list of people to whom Murdaugh lied.

3:37 p.m. EST – Creighton Waters says, “Mr. Murdaugh, are you a family annihilator?” Murdaugh responds, “No.”

3:30 p.m. EST – Waters asks Murdaugh, “When accountability is at your door, Mr. Murdaugh, bad things happen, isn’t that true?” Murdaugh seems confused and says, “What do you mean by bad things?” Water reminds him quickly, “June 7 happened. Sept. 4 happened.” Murdaugh responds, “I don’t believe June 7 happened because of accountability being at my doorstep.”

3:25 p.m. EST – Waters reminds Murdaugh that he sat down with a SLED sketch artist after the September 2021 roadside shooting and answered SLED’s questions about a fictional assailant. Waters says, “You sat there and answered their questions just as effortlessly and convincingly as you’ve been trying to do for the past two days, isn’t that correct?” Murdaugh responds,“No, sir. That’s not true.” He continues explaining he was in the throes of withdrawal from opioids, having a difficult time.

3:20 p.m. EST – Waters says, “Let’s move on to September 2021, when your law firm confronted you with unassailable evidence of your thefts.” Waters continues, “No wiggling out of this one, correct?” Murdaugh responds, “I didn’t try to wiggle out of this one.”

3:17 p.m. EST – Waters asks Murdaugh about the .300 Blackout and how he told investigators he wasn’t sure if whether or not there was a replacement purchased. Murdaugh says Waters is absolutely wrong about that. He says he told law enforcement that when they went to look for it at Christmas time, they couldn’t find it.

3:14 p.m. EST – Murdaugh states that none of the investigators were discourteous to him. He returns to the theory that he distrusted SLED because he thought David Owen was the investigator who “manufactured evidence” in the Greg Alexander investigation.

3:09 p.m. EST – Murdaugh says he did not tell John E. Parker that he was borrowing $250,000 for the Farris fees. He says he did not tell Russell Laffitte or Palmetto State Bank that he was borrowing money for the Farris fees when he took the loan out in July of 2021.

3:05 p.m. EST – Waters stops the video at the part of the interview where Murdaugh said Paul was incredibly intuitive and a “little detective.”

2:53 p.m. EST – Waters begins playing portions of the first and second interviews of Murdaugh done by law enforcement showing discrepancies in his statements.

2:49 p.m. EST – Waters admits a photo of Maggie’s Mercedes in front of Moselle into evidence and asks if that is where Murdaugh parked the golf cart. Murdaugh says where the golf cart is located in the photo is not where he left it on June 7, 2021. He believes he parked it facing to the left which is opposite of what the photo shows. He states that the charger for the golf cart is in the rear seat and the outlets are by the door and that’s why he knows he didn’t park it that way.

2:46 p.m. EST – Waters asks Murdaugh if he’s trying to tell the jury that this crime was committed by 5’2″ random vigilantes who just happened to know Paul and Maggie Murdaugh were alone at the kennels at Moselle between 8:49 and 9:02 p.m. on June 7, 2021.

2:43 p.m. EST – Murdaugh testifies that he never thought anyone involved in the boat wreck had anything to do with killing Maggie and Paul. But he says at this time, he believes that is why they were killed. Waters says, “That’s right, random vigilantes. 5’2″ vigilantes.” Murdaugh says the person who did this had hatred in their hearts.

2:36 p.m. EST – Murdaugh says that the investigation into Greg Alexander also was so wrong that him and his dad got involved.

2:33 p.m. EST – Waters stops the video and asks if that was the moment he decided to lie to law enforcement. Murdaugh says he cannot explain the exact moment he decided to lie. Murdaugh said his distrust of SLED began when they were involved in the criminal investigation of the boat crash.

2:29 p.m. EST – Waters resumes playing Murdaugh’s first interview with police on June 8, 2021.

2:25 p.m. EST – Court has resumed. Defense attorney Jim Griffin has asked Judge Newman to strike the question regarding a violation of Murdaugh’s due process rights.

1:00 p.m. EST – Judge Newman has called for lunch recess until 2:15 p.m. EST.

12:55 p.m. EST – Regarding the pills in his pocket during his first interview, Murdaugh says at some point he put them in his suitcase. Waters continues to hammer Murdaugh with questions about when he decided to lie to law enforcement.

12:53 p.m. EST – Murdaugh says he doesn’t view the advice attorney friend’s to not speak to law enforcement without an attorney as anything but them trying to protect him. He did not take it as them telling him to lie. Murdaugh says, ““ I accept full responsibility for what I did.“

12:45 p.m. EST – Waters asks about his testimony that he doesn’t remember what he told law enforcement. Waters says that during the interview when Murdaugh said, “I was at the house”, Murdaugh made a conscious decision to lie. Murdaugh doesn’t believe that was lying at that point because Maggie had gone to the kennels and he was at the house.

12:37 p.m. EST – Waters is playing the June 8, 2021 interview video for Murdaugh to point out that he said he checked the bodies before calling 9-1-1.

12:26 p.m. EST – Murdaugh says he heads back to Moselle at 9:42 p.m. He arrived at Moselle at about 10:00 p.m. and was at the house at 10:05 p.m. after which he went back to the kennels. He says he did not call check the bodies before calling 9-1-1 but after.

12:23 p.m. EST – Waters brings up the conversation with Blanca. Murdaugh says that on August 11, 2021, Agent Owen asked about the clothes he was wearing in the tree video. He states the next time he saw Blanca, he checked with her and asked her about the clothes he had on and if she recalled them. He says he wanted to give law enforcement accurate information but got stuck in a lie.

12:20 p.m. EST – Murdaugh says he sent Maggie a text at 9:08 p.m. because he couldn’t reach her by phone. He called Shelley Smith by phone to ask her to let him in. He told Ms. Shelley after the murders that law enforcement would be talking to her and told her to cooperate and tell the truth. He didn’t tell her to lie about the amount of time he was at Almeda with his mother.

12:17 p.m. EST – Waters asks Murdaugh why he told law enforcement officers she was coming home because she was concerned about him. He said he found out afterwards that is why she came back when Blanca showed him the text.

12:15 p.m. EST – Regarding wanting Maggie to come to Moselle instead of Edisto, Murdaugh says he always wanted Murdaugh to come home and would have told her that before she went to Charleston. He continues saying that he believed Maggie never had any intention of staying at Edisto because none of the dogs were with her. If she was staying at Edisto, at least one of the dogs would have been with her. (Not sure how she would have had the dog with her at the doctor…)

12:13 p.m. EST – Disregard, he’s Pau Pau again. Murdaugh says the only thing he can remember talking to Maggie about was Pau Pau as they were worried about his health. He also says he doesn’t think they ever discussed her going to Almeda with him.

12:10 p.m. EST – Waters moves on to the phone calls made to Maggie when Murdaugh was leaving Moselle for Almeda. He asks Murdaugh why he didn’t just go down to the kennels and tell them he was leaving. Murdaugh says it wasn’t important for him to do that. Him calling was simply his way of telling them they are leaving and it wasn’t unusual at all for them not to answer. He says it was unusual for them to not call him back. He says there was no sense of urgency because Maggie was with Paul and she should have been safe. (Note: Pau Pau is now Paul)

12:08 p.m. EST – Murdaugh says he knows for fact that he never ever tried to create an alibi. Waters continues to circle back to Murdaugh’s selective memory for that night.

12:03 p.m. EST – Waters asking Murdaugh about all the phone calls he made while he was making phone calls. Murdaugh says he will agree that the data shows there was 283 steps on his phone and that sometime during that period he made phone calls. Murdaugh claims he did not intentionally delete phone calls.

12:00 p.m. EST – Creighton Waters continuing to go through the timeline with Murdaugh. He asks about the sudden step activity on Murdaugh’s phone between 9:02 and 9:06 p.m. Murdaugh says he was preparing to go to his mom’s house. Waters asks what he had to do to prepare that caused that many steps. Murdaugh cannot recall. Murdaugh says he knows “what he wasn’t doing.”

11:55 a.m. EST – Waters is attempting to trip Murdaugh up on the small details of his previous testimony. Maggie’s phone disconnected from her vehicle at 8:17 p.m. Murdaugh says it’s normal for Maggie to run into the house without her phone and send someone out to retrieve it. Murdaugh agrees that Paul’s phone was at the kennels at 8:38 p.m.

11:50 a.m. EST – Waters shows Murdaugh the phone records showing that Paul’s phone connected to the wifi at the house at 8:08 p.m. on June 7, 2021. Murdaugh says he believes Paul stayed at the shop. Waters asks if he put his phone down when he got in the house and Murdaugh says he believes he did. Waters asks if he left his phone in the Suburban. Murdaugh says he brought it in the house. Waters asks about his testimony yesterday pointing out how Murdaugh recalled his phone falling into the crevice of the phone. Murdaugh says it is a totally different instance.

11:47 a.m. EST – Waters asks if Paul Murdaugh’s arrival time at 7:04 p.m. was accurate. Murdaugh says that he thought it was earlier, but would concede to the data provided by cell records. When asked about the step accuracy, Murdaugh says since they were driving to different places on the property, it does make sense. Murdaugh agrees the data on his phone shows he arrived at the house at 8:09 p.m. Waters tries to trip him up by asking if Paul was at the house. Murdaugh says that as he told Waters before, Paul was still at the shop and Maggie was at the house.

11:45 a.m. EST – Waters asks if it is normal for him to go to the kennels without his phone. Murdaugh says if he was just running down there quickly, it would be normal, but can’t recall that specific night. Waters says this surprises him since his memory of other things that night was so good.

11:41 a.m. EST – Court has resumed. Waters asks Murdaugh if there was blood on the chicken when he picked it up. Murdaugh doesn’t believe so. Murdaugh also says Maggie wasn’t playing with the hose at all while he was at the kennels. Waters pulls up the timeline already entered into evidence. Waters asks if it is correct that he didn’t have any activity on his phone from 6:52 to 9:04 p.m. and Murdaugh says if that is what the data says, it is true.

11:18 a.m. EST – Judge Newman calls for a 15-minute break.

11:13 a.m. EST – Murdaugh agrees it “could have” been around 8:47 p.m. when he left the kennels and it could have taken approximately 2 minutes to drive back to the house in the golf cart. He went straight inside and the television was on. He says he could have dozed off, but doesn’t remember. He went straight to the couch. According to the data, Murdaugh says he was leaving at 9:02 p.m. Waters asks if he heard anything at all and Murdaugh says no. Waters reminds Murdaugh that he told law enforcement that he thought he heard someone pull up. Murdaugh says that there was a point in time that he thought they pulled up.

11:09 a.m. EST – Waters asks if it would have taken about a minute for him to say goodbye and leave. Murdaugh says it would have been more like 30 seconds. Waters states that it was about 8:46 p.m. and asks if Murdaugh would concede that it would have taken a minute.

11:03 a.m. EST – Murdaugh says he got off the golf cart to get the chicken from Bubba. Murdaugh testifies that the dogs weren’t indicating there was someone around they didn’t know stating, “There was nobody around for them to sense.” Murdaugh agrees the kennel video was about 50 seconds long and he pulled the chicken out of his mouth very shortly after it was recorded. He got out of the golf cart and got the chicken and put it up. After that he got on the golf cart and left. He says he didn’t leave immediately, but very quickly. He says he got out of there because it was chaotic and hot and he was getting ready to do exactly what he didn’t want to do, get sweaty and work. He says there would have been some exchange when he was departing, but can’t remember his exact words. He says he didn’t talk to them about the chickens or Cash’s tail. It would have been something to the effect of “I’m leaving.”

11:01 a.m. EST – Waters asks if Murdaugh had a conversation with Paul about the dog’s tail prior to going down to the kennels and Murdaugh says he doesn’t believe so. When he pulled up to the kennels in the golf cart, he parked near where Maggie was standing. He states when he pulled up he stayed on the golf cart, but got off to take the chicken out of Bubba’s mouth. He was there a couple minutes before he did that talking to Maggie, but can’t remember what they spoke about. Waters tells Murdaugh that he’s gone through a lot of details about what happened, but can’t remember what they spoke about. Murdaugh says they may have been talking about their concern for Paul.

10:58 a.m. EST – When asked about how long it took him to change his mind about going to the kennels, Murdaugh says it didn’t take long. He repeats he took the golf cart. Waters asks if when the kennel video started, if Murdaugh was already there. He states he believes he was, but not for long. He says that when he arrived at the kennels, Paul was not in the kennels as he was in the video.

10:55 a.m. EST – Murdaugh admits that he didn’t provide the information about the narrative that night to law enforcement. Waters asks if he thought that was important information and Murdaugh says it is. Murdaugh says he doesn’t know about the time that Maggie and Paul went to the kennels or how they got there, but looking at the data from the trial, he now thinks Maggie and Paul went to the kennels together.

10:53 a.m. EST – Murdaugh believes Maggie came in the kennel entrance and went to the house. Murdaugh says he must have arrived at the house just after her. He says he would have taken a shower at that point and put his clothes on the floor. After the shower, he came back out and ate dinner. Paul was already eating when he came out and left their immediate vicinity. Murdaugh says he doesn’t believe he left at that point, but was around the house for a little bit longer.

10:50 a.m. EST – Murdaugh testifies he never saw a .300 Blackout. Waters asks Murdaugh about his statements to law enforcement that him and Paul were hog hunting. Murdaugh says hogs don’t come out during the day and they would not have been hunting them at that time, but looking for indications they were on the property. He repeats that they did not have a .300 Blackout with them.

10:48 a.m. EST – Waters begins asking Murdaugh about June 7, 2021. He says he left shortly after Noon and went to the office to work on the Dominion Energy case which was one of the biggest cases in his career. He tells Waters he left work a little after 6:00 p.m. that day. Waters asks if he was working on financial disclosures for the boat crash case as well and arrived home a little before 7:00 p.m. according to the records.

10:43 a.m. EST – Murdaugh identifies texts between himself and Maggie on June 6, 2021 and they are admitted into evidence. Murdaugh says he was in a hotel in Columbia, SC when the text exchange occurred. In the texts, Murdaugh tells Maggie that he will leave the hotel for the game after checkout at 1:00 p.m. Waters asks if he was late joining them because he was going through withdrawl symptoms. Murdaugh agrees that is accurate. He does not agree that his wife and son were on him because of the pills they found the month prior.

10:42 a.m. EST – Judge Newman has called for a brief standing break while the attorneys discuss something.

10:39 a.m. EST – Murdaugh says the confrontation with Mark Tinsley at the Trial Lawyers conference absolutely, unequivocally did not happen. This contradicts Tinsley’s testimony.

10:34 a.m. EST – Waters asks Murdaugh about when he stated the confrontation with Jeanne Seckinger in the afternoon of June 7, 2021 was “no big deal.” Murdaugh says that Seckinger actually seemed apologetic. He does not believe Seckinger was actually lying about the confrontation because she may have felt like it was a confrontation to her. He said he got the impression that the firm was concerned he was hiding fees from the boat crash case. He states to him, on that day, it was not a confrontation. Waters questions how he could get paranoid from a police officer behind him but not a confrontation at the law firm. Murdaugh says his paranoia was more related to his drug use.

10:30 a.m. EST – Murdaugh says he can agree with Waters that the first time anyone, including his family, heard his story about being at the kennels on June 7, 2021 was yesterday in court. Judge Newman overrules an objection about the question that Murdaugh’s attorneys were repeating his story about napping at the house on June 7, 2021 on national television.

10:25 a.m. EST – When asked if he ever reached out to law enforcement or prosecutors regarding the change in his story placing him at the kennels on June 7, 2021, Murdaugh responds, “No, sir.” Griffin strongly objects and is overruled by Judge Newman. Murdaugh then states he has been begging for a meeting to bring this to a close until the State charged him in July of 2022.

10:18 a.m. EST – Murdaugh says his family had been watching him like a hawk for years relating to his drug use. Waters asks if his family wanted him to self-detox after they found the pills on May 6, 2021. Murdaugh states they did not.

10:14 a.m. EST – When asked who in his family saw him go through severe withdrawl, Murdaugh says Buster, Maggie, Paul, and his dad. Waters asks if the nickname “little detective” that they had for Paul had something to do with the pills. Murdaugh says it was just in general. Waters asks about the pills Paul found a month before the murders and Murdaugh states that it wasn’t Paul, but Maggie, who found the pills

10:00 a.m. EST – Waters says, “Let’s talk a little bit about the pills.” When asked how many pills he took a day, Murdaugh says it depends on how strong the pills were. In January 2021, he was taking 30 mg Oxycontin. He is not positive how many he was taking a day.

9:53 a.m. EST – Waters asks Murdaugh about Barrett Boulware. Murdaugh says that he had a long history with Boulware and starts going into Boulware’s history. Waters says he doesn’t need Boulware’s entire history.

9:48 a.m. EST – Waters asks, “Would you agree with me that the $792,000 that you stole from the Farris funds – that you exhausted those within about two months?” Murdaugh responds that he doesn’t know the exact timeframe, but knows that he exhausted them. Murdaugh explains again to Waters that he met with all his clients multiple times and looked them in the eye and believed he had the trust of his clients.

9:44 a.m. EST – Murdaugh states that he often borrowed money from his law partners, including John E. Parker and his father, Randolph Murdaugh III.

9:39 a.m. EST – Waters asks if in 2019 Murdaugh stole $3.9 million and Murdaugh agrees. Murdaugh also agrees that as a plaintiff attorney, his income did ebb and flow. Murdaugh says he doesn’t dispute that when the law firm confronted him in September 2021, that he had stolen money that didn’t belong to him and misled people he cared about.

9:36 a.m. EST – Court has resumed. Creighton Waters is continuing his cross-examination of defendant Alex Murdaugh. Waters asks Murdaugh if he would agree that his stealing increased over the years leading up to June 7, 2021. Murdaugh responds, “Yes, sir.” He states that he does not believe he stolen more money after the boat wreck, but says he defers to Waters’ documents.

8:10 a.m. EST – Rocking out to a little “Head Like A Hole” from NIN on the ride into Walterboro this morning with my good friend Jenn Wood. Prior to that, it was “Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against The Machine. Clearly, it’s that kind of day …

8:07 a.m. EST – It really is the moment of truth in this trial. A devastating cross-examination from lead prosecutor Creighton Waters could really seal the deal for the state. Waters was building momentum as the day wore on Thursday, but I got the sense he didn’t want to uncork any haymakers so late in the day. It felt like he was saving the real bombs for today. I guess we shall see … but yeah, it’s all on the line right now.

7:46 a.m. EST – Loved meeting “Lauch” yesterday. This young man is going to do amazing things …

7:35 a.m. EST – Speaking of the boat crash …

7:21 a.m. EST – Important reminder …

7:14 a.m. EST – A valid perspective … and one gaining some traction on social media in recent days.

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