Alex Murdaugh trial

Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, who is charged with killing his wife and son Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, said he plans to testify in the double murder trial.

He described how his addiction to opioids began after a knee injury and a series of surgeries and tried multiple times to kick the habit. Prosecutors allege Murdaugh killed his wife and son to gain sympathy and buy time to cover up his financial crimes that were about to be discovered. Murdaugh described his son Paul as a good man, who had been misrepresented in the media. [Murdaugh explains his actions, comments in the aftermath of the murders] [Griffin played the 911 call Murdaugh made after finding the bodies, and Murdaugh explained what he was doing while talking to the dispatcher. Murdaugh repeatedly said he didn't know why he went back to the main house get a gun and ammunition then indicated he thought the killer might be at large. In the rush to call family members, Murdaugh said they must have been an accident. Murdaugh could be heard on the 911 call saying "I should have known." Murdaugh broke down as he recounted discovering the bodies of his wife and son. Witnesses who saw Murdaugh in the minutes and hours after the shooting said they didn’t see any blood on him. "I know I tried to check him for a pulse. "I did lie to them," he said. Murdaugh said stopped briefly in her driveway before driving home and denied using that time to dispose of a murder weapon or bloody clothes.

Alex Murdaugh will continue to take the stand in his own defense Friday, Feb. 24. Watch Murdaugh's testimony live here and get the latest updates.

Disgraced former lawyer Alex Murdaugh is expected to face a second day of cross-examination in a South Carolina courtroom Friday morning, after telling ...

A tense cross examination of Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, who is charged with killing his wife and son Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, will continue Friday.

[Prosecution resumes cross examination on financial crimes, drug addiction] [Waters questioned Murdaugh on Friday about his financial misconduct and opioid addiction.] [Murdaugh said as his income diminished in the years before his family was killed, he borrowed significant amounts of money from the bank, a law partner and his father, then used stolen money to pay it back. Murdaugh began to cry again as he described finding the bodies of his wife and son. Murdaugh added he didn’t have the opportunity to do so before because the prosecution would not respond to his invitations to talk.] [Murdaugh details his actions the day of the killings] [Waters questioned Murdaugh about a timeline of the family's movements on the day of the killings constructed by the prosecution based on cell phone data. "The social media response that came from that was vile," Murdaugh said. Waters wrapped up his cross examination by questioning Murdaugh about repeatedly lying to his loved ones, clients and law enforcement. [Court documents filed in July 2021 ](http://bit.ly/3QXLrMG)alleged a civil conspiracy possibly connecting law enforcement and members of the Murdaugh family following the wreck. Waters continued to question Murdaugh about alleged theft from clients as his drug addiction escalated and what he was doing the moments before the killings during a sometimes combative cross-examination. "I do believe in September, that I tried to get a man to help me kill myself because issues were at my doorstep," Murdaugh said. [Curtis Edward Smith was charged with ] [shooting Murdaugh](http://bit.ly/3J2hHfF) in what [ state police described as a failed life insurance scheme](http://bit.ly/3Xi3mQp). Murdaugh broke down several times Thursday while being questioned by his defense attorney Jim Griffin about finding their bodies at the family's property in Colleton County and vehemently denied killing them. 4, 2021 when Murdaugh claimed he was attacked by an unknown assailant.

A Colleton County grand jury in 2022 indicted Alex Murdaugh on four counts in connection with his wife and son's murders. These are the charges against him.

He is accused of embezzling funds from clients at his family's personal injury law firm founded in 1910 by Randolph Murdaugh to pay off personal debts. [ALEX MURDAUGH TRIAL JUDGE RULES JURY CAN HEAR EVIDENCE OF MURDAUGH'S ALLEGED FINANCIAL CRIMES](https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/alex-murdaugh-murder-trial-february-6-2023) He says he then drove to check in on his mother, who has Alzheimer's, at her home before returning to Moselle around 10 p.m., which is when he discovered his wife and son's bodies lying on the ground near the family's dog kennels. "I could see [Paul's] brain laying on the sidewalk." Investigators found Paul's brain by his feet. [double murder and weapon possession charges](https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/crime) in connection with the 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.

A state prosecutor on Friday accused disbarred South Carolina lawyer Richard "Alex" Murdaugh of changing his story about his whereabouts on the night his ...

In tears, the former South Carolina attorney said he would "never intentionally do anything to hurt either one of them."

Murdaugh described arriving to find the grisly scene of the killings, pausing his testimony for several seconds as he cried. He said that, after returning home from visiting his mother, neither his wife nor his son was in the house. Once Alex Murdaugh started lying about being at the kennels, he said he felt he had to continue: "Oh, what a tangled web we weave. Murdaugh lied about being at the kennels with his wife and son shortly before their killings for 20 months before taking the stand Thursday, day 23 of his trial. The once-prominent attorney had told police that he was napping and did not go to the kennels before leaving the house to visit his ailing mother in another town. In his testimony, Murdaugh continued to staunchly deny any role in the killings.

Friday could be a pivotal day in the murder trial of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh as he faces continued questioning from prosecutors.

That event thrust the family into an unwelcome spotlight, and Murdaugh has said he believes it is linked to the execution-style slayings. Murdaugh acknowledged that in the years leading up to the 2021 killings, his stealing increased. Murdaugh said he spent most of his time at the kennels that night sitting in the golf cart. The prosecution resumed cross-examination one day after Waters peppered Murdaugh with questions about his years spent deceiving clients. In the months before the slayings, Murdaugh said, there were days when he took more than 60 pills a day. But Murdaugh insisted he hadn't specifically asked her to come from their house at Edisto Beach that night. Cell phone location data shows that Murdaugh did not bring his phone down to the kennels, Waters said. "I knew she had gone to the kennel," Murdaugh said in the recording, which was played for the jury. Murdaugh testified that he returned home from work around 6:45 p.m., after which he and his son Paul rode around the property. Before the trial, Murdaugh had repeatedly said he was not present at the dog kennels with his wife and son in the moments before authorities say they were shot and killed. Murdaugh said he wasn't sure before responding: "I know what I wasn't doing, Mr. Rather, he and his lawyers had previously said, Murdaugh was napping on the couch and went to see his mother during the time the murders were committed.