Alex Murdaugh admits he first claimed he was at canine kennels in courtroom

Alex Murdaugh testified Friday in Walterboro, South Carolinathroughout a grueling cross-examination, that the primary time he admitted he was on the canine kennels the evening of the slayings was when he was on the witness stand.

“So we are able to agree that the prosecution and regulation enforcement and so a lot of your family and friends heard for the primary time your story in regards to the kennels yesterday?” requested lead prosecutor Creighton Waters.

“Legislation enforcement, my companions and my associates heard me say that for the primary time. Sure, I agree with that,” Murdaugh replied in his southern drawl.

The disgraced scion of a once-powerful authorized dynasty admitted on direct examination that he repeatedly lied to investigators, claiming he was by no means on the canine kennels June 7, 2021, the evening of the slayings.

ALEX MURDAUGH: TIMELINE OF ONCE-POWERFUL SOUTH CAROLINA LAWYER’S SPECTACULAR DOWNFALL

He made this identical assertion to a number of family and friends members.

Nevertheless, a cellphone video later recovered from Paul Murdaugh’s telephone captured his voice on the kennels at 8:44 p.m., contradicting Murdaugh’s alibi and putting him on the homicide scene minutes earlier than his son, Paul, and spouse, Maggie, have been shot to dying.

Murdaugh has denied fatally taking pictures Paul, 22, and Maggie, 52, close to the canine kennels at their looking property in Islandton, South Carolina.

Murdaugh advised jurors he lied as a result of he didn’t belief investigators and his opioid addiction made him paranoid.

“You, like you’ve gotten achieved so many instances in your life, needed to again up and make a brand new story to suit with the details?” Waters pressed.

“No, sir,” Murdaugh replied.

Creighton Waters, left, cross-examines Alex Murdaugh Thursday Feb. 23 within the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina. (Joshua Boucher/ The State/ Pool)

Murdaugh’s personal attorneys repeated his declare in a nationally televised interview in November 2022, Waters identified.

Waters blasted Murdaugh for telling jurors he’d been cooperative with investigators when he had lied about his whereabouts the evening of the slayings.

“Apart from mendacity to them about going to the kennel, I used to be cooperative in each side of this investigation,” Murdaugh insisted.

“Cooperative? That was possibly an important reality of all, that you simply have been on the homicide scene with the victims simply minutes earlier than they died, proper?” Waters requested.

“I didn’t inform them that I went to the kennel,” he replied.

From left, Lynn Murdaugh Goette, Randy Murdaugh and Buster Murdaugh watch as Alex Murdaugh testifies Feb. 23, 2023, within the Colleton County Courthouse. (POOL)

Murdaugh additionally admitted throughout questioning that he stole $3.7 million in consumer cash in 2019 — the identical yr that his son Paul drunkenly crashed his boat right into a bridge.

The collision killed 19-year-old Mallory Seashore and triggered a wrongful dying lawsuit.

“You agree with me that, that determine in 2019 was typically greater than another yr that you’ve got been stealing since 2011?” requested Waters.

“Positive, I would agree with that,” Murdaugh replied.

Proof proven in Alex Murdaugh’s trial for homicide on the Colleton County Courthouse on Thursday, February 2, 2023. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Submit and Courier/Pool)

Murdaugh acknowledged that his professional earnings had been lowering as the quantity he stole elevated within the time main as much as the double homicide.

Waters requested Murdaugh about his opioid dependancy. “Opiates gave me vitality,” Murdaugh replied.

He mentioned he was taking between 1,000 to 2,000 milligrams of oxycodone a day.  The utmost really useful dose for ache is 288 milligrams, in accordance with the Mayo Clinic’s web site.

He was usually paranoid as a result of he at all times had capsules on him, he mentioned.

“I had a pocket filled with capsules on June the 8 once I was sitting in David Owen’s patrol automotive,” he mentioned of his interview with South Carolina Legislation Enforcement Division brokers hours after the slayings.

A photograph of the Murdaugh household taken days earlier than Paul and Maggie Murdaugh have been shot to dying. From left to proper, Buster, Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh. (Protection exhibit)

Murdaugh testified in his personal protection Thursday, denying that he fatally shot Paul and Maggie close to the canine kennels on the household’s 1,700-acre looking property in Islandton.

On cross-examinationWaters spent most of his time Thursday afternoon grilling Murdaugh in regards to the tens of millions he swindled from his purchasers to fund a lavish way of life slightly than on the slayings of Murdaugh’s spouse and son.

ALEX MURDAUGH’S SLAIN SON, PAUL, ALLEGEDLY STRANGLED EX-GIRLFRIEND

“You needed to sit down and look any individual within the eye and persuade them that you simply have been on their aspect when you weren’t?” Waters requested, referring to the weak purchasers Murdaugh ripped off.

“That’s what you probably did in each single one in all these [cases]?” Waters mentioned waiving a stack of papers.

Diagram of the part of Alex Murdaugh’s property the place his spouse, Maggie, and his son, Paul, have been murdered. (Fox Information )

Murdaugh repeatedly acknowledged his cons, however Waters insisted on strolling him by means of probably the most egregious examples, together with stealing from a teen lady and a quadriplegic man.

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Prosecutors have argued that Murdaugh killed his spouse and son to deflect from his theft of almost $9 million from his regulation agency and purchasers.