State prosecutors question Murdaugh after he reveals he lied to police

COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. (WTOC) - Alex Murdaugh was cross examined for about eight hours total by the prosecution who at one point went through what they believed to be all the things Alex Murdaugh wants the jury to believe about the murder of his wife and son.

“What you’re telling this jury is that it’s a random vigilante, the 12-year-old, 5-foot-2 people, just happened to know that Paul and Maggie would both be at Moselle on June 7th, that knew that they would be alone at the kennels on June 7th, that knew that you would not be there but only between the times of 8:49-9:02, that they show up without a weapon assuming that they’re going to find weapons and ammunition there, that they commit this crime during that short time window and then they travel the same exact route that you do around the same time to Almeda... that’s what you’re trying to tell this jury?” state prosecutor Creighton Waters asked.

“You got a lot of factors in there, Mr. Waters, all of which I do not agree with, some of which I do,” Murdaugh responded.

Prosecutors also focused on Alex Murdaugh’s new alibi that he unveiled Thursday on the stand, saying he was in fact at the kennels with his wife and son moments before they were murdered.

“The reality is Mr. Murdaugh is the reason why no one’s ever heard that before is because you had to sit in this courtroom and hear your family and your friends come in one after the other and testify that you were on that kennel video so that you - like you’ve done so many times over the course of life - had to back up and make a new story that kind of fit with the facts that can’t be denied... isn’t that true sir?” asked Waters.

“No sir, that’s not true,” Murdaugh responded.

The prosecution continued to push, hitting what they call Murdaugh’s “new story” repeatedly as he claimed he helped law enforcement as much as he could since the murders.

“Other than lying to them about going to the kennel, I was cooperative in every aspect of this investigation,” Murdaugh said.

“Very cooperative except for maybe the most important fact of all that you were at the murder scene with the victims just minutes before they died, right?” Waters asked.

“I did not tell them that I went to the kennel,” Murdaugh responded.

His defense team combatting the significance of that come their time for questions.

“Did you believe that the information that if you were there or not there would advance their investigation in any way?” defense attorney Jim Griffin asked.

“No, I didn’t think that,” Murdaugh said.

“And why didn’t you think that?” Griffin asked.

“Because they were fine and doing good when I left there,” Murdaugh said.

Over the last two days of his testimony, Murdaugh pointed to several reasons why he lied to law enforcement about being down at the kennels, all of which came in the hours after he claims he found his wife and son dead.

To end their cross examination, the state playing bodycam video from before any of those reasons could have come into play as Murdaugh lied to the first law enforcement responder on the scene.

“But you still told the same lie, and all those reasons that you just gave this jury about the most important part of your testimony, was a lie too, isn’t that true Mr. Murdaugh?” Waters asked.

“I disagree with that,” Murdaugh said.

“Nothing further,” Waters said.

Waters went back to his table with a big smile on his face after that moment, shaking the hands of several of his colleagues and bosses. At the same time members of the public had an audible reaction to the end of that line of questioning, just as they had earlier in the day.

The noise from the public being so obvious that at one point Judge Newman had to remind everyone in the courtroom that reactions are not allowed.

Court will resume on Monday, Feb. 27.