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Alex Murdaugh Takes the Stand in His Own Defense; Murdaugh Admits He was at Kennels Night of Murders; Murder Admits Lying to Police About His Whereabouts. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired February 23, 2023 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to take you back live to South Carolina where Alex Murdaugh is now preparing to take the stand this as soon as a short recess ends there. His lead defense attorney just confirmed they did not need to consult before his testimony.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN ANCHOR: And let's bring in CNN's Randi Kaye and Attorney Areva Martin. Randi, you are outside of the courthouse. What are you hearing right? How do you think this is all going to play out and how long until he takes the stand?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just a few more minutes, Kristin, he should be on the stand. He just needed a quick break before doing so. It's unclear how long he will be up there but he will promise to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.

I think the key moment that the jury will be listening for, and certainly the rest of us, will be how does he explain that voice of his, that at least now at least ten witnesses have said was his video taken around the time of the murders on the night of the murders at 8:44 P.M. Alex Murdaugh has told investigators and others that he was not at the kennel area where the murders took place that night, and I think that is the big question for the jury, how will he explain saying he wasn't there when at least ten people have said he was.

SCIUTTO: Areva Martin, we noted there that his defense attorney said he did not need to consult with his client prior to this testimony. Is that unusual?

AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It is unusual. But, again, you have to keep in mind that this is a very experienced attorney. Alex himself has been a criminal defense attorney, and we know that his family, many of his relatives are also attorneys. So, I think that he is feeling, look, this is not my first rodeo, I know how this is going to go, and obviously he has got a long time about this.

Let me just say also, Jim, one of the other things I think he has to explain, remember, his sister-in-law took the stand and said they were very worried that whoever killed the sister and her nephew might be coming back for more family members, and she said Alex didn't seem worried at all. So, there are some questions about what his (INAUDIBLE) was, what his attitude disposition was following the murder of his wife and son. FISHER: Randi, this is going to be the second witness of the day. We have already heard one witness before Alex took the stand. Who was that witness and what did they talk about?

KAYE: That was Nolan Tuten. He was talking about -- the very good friend of Paul Murdaugh's, and he is the tenth witness to identify Alex Murdaugh's voice on that kennel video I was just speaking of. But he really just laid the groundwork for Alex Murdaugh being a good father and how close he was to his family and to Paul. I think he said that even their friends, even Paul and Buster's friends called Alex Murdaugh Big Red. I mean, they had a relationship with their children's friends, according to a lot of these witnesses. They were really like family.

But just picking up a little more on what they can expect from his testimony today, not only will he have to answer to that kennel video but I think he'll also have to speak to just a lot of these unanswered questions that certainly we have been wondering about and likely the jury has been wondering about, where are the clothes that he was wearing earlier that day, on the day of the murders.

The prosecution has suggested that he showered and washed and changed his clothes. We have not had any word on where that clothing. Also how long was he really at his mother's house that night. He said that he was gone from the property -- left the property around 9:06, went to his mom's for about an hour. But her caregiver, she has Alzheimer's, her caregiver said he was only there for about 15 to 20 minutes. So, there are just a lot of questions that we expect he will be pressed on from the stand.

SCIUTTO: Areva Martin, you've been involved in a lot of cases. I wonder, have you ever seen a defendant who is also a criminal defense attorney testify in his own murder trial in his own defense?

[10:35:07]

MARTIN: This is unusual, Jim. It is unusual for defendants to testify in any case, and it doesn't matter what their profession is, definitely in a case of this magnitude. But, again, Alex Murdaugh, his entire family are beloved in this community. So, he is not your typical celebrity, but in many ways, he is a celebrity because of the prestige that his family had in this community.

And I'm thinking, my speculation is that Alex is counting on that. He is counting on the reputation that his family has. He's counting on the stature that his family has in this community to carry the day, and for jurors to relate to him, for him to be able to speak to those jurors in a way that they find credible. So, I think that he is betting on his personality and the oversized personality or reputation, I should say, of his family to be helpful to him as he gives his testimony.

FISHER: CNN's Jean Casarez has also been following the Murdaugh investigation trial closely. Jean, what are you going to be watching as he testifies? Did you think that this moment would actually happen as you have been covering this? JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Normally, as you just said, a defendant does not testify, but you see his desire, you just see it in court. And normally in a case like this, the forensics, when we are talking blood, fingerprints, footprints, DNA, usually they are so important because they can leave beyond a reasonable crime that someone committed a crime. This case is very weak in all of this. What it is strong in is the iPhone data, and we are talking about the steps when someone is holding a phone, how landscape can change. It is strong.

But the jury cannot take notes to all of this analytical data. Now, they are going to be hearing a story. And they're going to hear a story. He si going to have to bear his soul through this whole trial, it's been determined that he lied, time and time again, he is going to have to explain that, and the jury is going to have to accept that this liar is now telling truth once and for all. He is bearing that soul.

The direct examination will be a story. The cross-examination will get tense and they will try to poke holes in all of the lies to show that he is untruthful to try to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt.

SCIUTTO: Well, there he is, Alex Murdaugh sitting there flanked by his lawyers. This a live picture from inside of the courtroom. Any moment now, he will take the stand.

Areva Martin, I wonder, as Jean was making the point, the defense presenting a story, the prosecution presenting a story here. I mean, the defense, of course, as we say, they just have to establish some sort of reasonable doubt. They don't have to convince the jury of their own story. But how important is it for them and Murdaugh in his testimony to say, here is what really happened?

MARTIN: I think it is very important. The jurors want to know what happened. And right now, they really don't know. As Jean said, they have been given a lot of analytical data, but that isn't compelling testimony that the jurors typically remember. They go back to the deliberation room, and oftentimes they have forgotten what experts have testified to, they've forgotten all of the technical evidence.

But if he can tell a compelling story, if he can say what his defense attorney essentially said in opening, which is, look, when you're under stress, when your wife has been murdered, when your son has been murdered, yes, you may say some things that are not consistent. If he can give a reason for why he has given what appears to be inconsistent testimony, jurors may believe him.

And if they may like him, that's so important in these trials, likability. They are not just listening to hear who is telling the truth, they are looking at who they like. And we cannot underestimate that subjective factor, because if they like Alex, if they feel like he is really expressing pain and suffering related to the death of his wife and his son, that could carry a great deal of weight in terms of how they evaluate his testimony.

FISHER: And the jury has now entered courtroom, as we await Alex Murdaugh's testimony.

Joining us now, Defense and Trial Attorney Misty Marris. Misty, clearly, the defense, Murdaugh's attorneys believe that this is a good move for them, but how are you feeling if you are the prosecution right now? How are you feeling about this opportunity to cross-examine him?

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE AND TRIAL ATTORNEY: The cross-examination, there is a lot of fodder, because he has been caught in a lot of lies, especially with respect to that video, the Snapchat video. That is the best piece of prosecution evidence, how is Murdaugh going to explain that?

But notably in pretrial arguments relating to the scope of cross- examination, Dick Harpootlian said that he advised his client not to testify, because of the judge's ruling on the financial crimes being fair game during cross.

[10:40:03]

Remember, your right testify lies with the defendant. It is their right, it is ultimately their choice. So, even his legal team seems that they may have had some hesitation, but I do agree with Areva, the jury wants to hear his story, and that is what we are going to hear today.

SCIUTTO: Remarkable. Randi Kaye outside the courtroom, what happens now?

KAYE: We're still waiting, watching and waiting. But when he takes the stand, I mean, we know that, yes, the defense will certainly have him share his story. And as Areva was saying, we'll see what the jury thinks. Do they like him or not like him.

But we have to remember that the state has presented these alleged financial crimes as motives. They had a lot of witnesses and a lot of evidence about this. So, that will really play into whether this jury likes him. Alex Murdaugh is accused of ripping off friends and fellow lawyers and the government of nearly $9 million.

So, this is a big deal as to whether or not the jury will take that into consideration as they decide if they like or don't like, if they believe or don't believe Alex Murdaugh. They know that he lied to his clients and ripped them off, at least $4 million to one family he has already admitted to, and then there are these other alleged crimes. So, that will certainly play into what they think and how they will decide his guilt or innocence.

FISHER: And, Areva, clearly, the defense team had -- they tried to limit the scope of the cross-examination to just the murder charges, not any of those financial crimes that Randi Kaye was talking about. But the judge denied that and said that, basically, anything is fair game. So, what are the biggest pitfalls for Alex Murdaugh as he sits there right now waiting to take the stand in his own murder trial?

MARTIN: Well, we know that the cross-examination, they are going to be incredibly, I think, aggressive in going after him with respect to those financial crimes. And he has to worry about incriminating himself. Because even after this trial is over, no matter what happens in this trial, he is still facing prosecution and a trial as it relates to those financial issue.

So, is he is going to be taking the Fifth Amendment with respect to some of those questions, that remains to be seen. Because, as you said, the judge said he would not give a blanket prohibition to the prosecution as it relates to asking the questions about those financial issues. So, that could become a dicey matter on the witness stand if he is asked questions that he and, as a lawyer, he would know, and his defense team will definitely know if he is putting himself in legal jeopardy as it relates to those other cases that are still pending.

But I think the jurors -- I know for me, when I first heard the evidence in this case, it is a big leap from, I have a lot of financial issues, I could be facing criminal prosecution because of these financial issues, to get from there to blowing the brains out of my son. And as a parent, I think that a lot of the jurors are thinking, yes, even if you are in trouble, would you do something so extreme as to kill your wife, shoot her what appears to be execution style, and then to literally shoot your son in a way that we have heard this graphic description of his brains being blown out of his head. I think that a lot of jurors are still probably wrestling with that even though these financial issues are significant.

SCIUTTO: Goodness, the circumstances are just shocking, appalling to hear.

Please stand by, Areva Martin, Misty Marris. We are going to take a quick break, come back as soon as Alex Murdaugh is called to the stand.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Live to the courtroom in Walterboro, South Carolina, where Alex Murdaugh is taking the stand.

[10:45:01]

Now you see him there with his hand raised, swearing an oath to tell the truth, and he'll sit down to take questions from the prosecution and the defense. Let's listen in.

ALEX MURDAUGH, MURDER DEFENDANT: I'm Alex Murdaugh, M-U-R-D-A-U-G-H. Good morning.

JIM GRIFFIN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Mr. Murdaugh, on June 7th, 2021, did you take this gun or any gun like it and shoot your son, Paul, in the chest in the feed room in your property off of Moselle Road?

MURDAUGH: No, did not.

GRIFFIN: Mr. Murdaugh, did you take this gun or any gun like it and blow your son's brains out on June 7th or any day or any time? MURDAUGH: No, I did not.

GRIFFIN: Mr. Murdaugh, did you take a 300 Blackout, such as this, and fire it into your wife Maggie's leg, torso, or any part of her body?

MURDAUGH: No, I did not.

GRIFFIN: Did you shoot a 300 Blackout into her head causing her death?

MURDAUGH: Mr. Griffin, I did not shoot my wife or my son any time, ever.

GRIFFIN: Mr. Murdaugh, is that you on the kennel video at 8:44 P.M. on June 7th, the night Maggie and Paul were murdered?

MURDAUGH: It is.

GRIFFIN: Were you in fact at the kennels at 8:44 P.M. on the night Maggie and Paul were murdered?

MURDAUGH: I was.

GRIFFIN: Did you lie to SLED Agent Owen and Deputy Laura Rutland on the night of June 7th and told them that you stayed at the house after dinner?

MURDAUGH: I did lie to them.

GRIFFIN: Did you lie to Agent Owen and Agent Croft from the follow-up on June 10th, that the last time that you saw Maggie and Paul was at dinner?

MURDAUGH: I did lie to them.

GRIFFIN: And then in the interview of August 11th, did you tell Agent Owen and Agent Croft, did you lie to them by telling them that you were not down at the kennels on that night?

MURDAUGH: Yes.

GRIFFIN: Alex, why did you lie to Agent Owen, Agent Croft and Deputy Rutland about the last time you saw Maggie and Paul?

MURDAUGH: As my addiction evolved over time, I would get in these situations and circumstances where I would get paranoid-thinking. And it could be anything that triggered it. It might be looks somebody gave me, it might be a reaction to somebody I had or something I did. It might be a policeman following me in a car.

That night, June 7th, after finding Mags and Paul Paul, don't talk to anybody without Danny with you, all my partners were just repeatedly telling me that. I had a deputy sheriff taking gunshot tests from my hands. I am sitting in a police car with David Owen asking me about my relationship with my wife and my son. And all of those things coupled together after finding them coupled with my distrust for SLED caused me to have paranoid thoughts.

Normally, when these paranoid thoughts would hit me, I could take a deep breath real quick and just think about it, reason my way through it, and just get past it quickly. On June the 7th, I wasn't thinking clearly. I don't think I was capable of reason and I lied about being down there.

[10:50:00]

And I'm so sorry that I did. I'm sorry to my son, Buster. I'm sorry to grandma and Papa T. I'm sorry to both of our families. Most of all, I am sorry to Mags and Paul Paul. I would never intentionally do anything to intentionally hurt either one of them ever, ever.

GRIFFIN: Did you continue lying after that night, did you not?

MURDAUGH: Once I lied, I continued to lie, yes, sir.

GRIFFIN: Why?

MURDAUGH: You know, what a tangled web we weave, but once I told a lie, and I told my family, I had to keep lying.

GRIFFIN: Alex, tell the jury what happened on the evening of June 7th, starting when you met one Paul.

MURDAUGH: I had been at work that day, a fairly normal day. Do you want me to start in the morning or --

GRIFFIN: Sure, start in the morning.

MURDAUGH: It was just a regular morning. Maggie was leaving to go out of town. She was going to a doctor's appointment. She had some stuff to do at Edisto, where she was having some work done on our house at Edisto there. So -- but Maggie was there that morning. She went to leave and she told me she was going to do these things. I always, always asked Maggie to come back home to stay with me. But, anyway, Maggie had left and she did her thing. I went to work, did work. I learned from Paul Paul that --

GRIFFIN: Who is Paul Paul?

MURDAUGH: That's Paul -- my son, Paul Paul, my son, Paul Murdaugh.

GRIFFIN: And your name for him was Paul Paul?

MURDAUGH: Yes. I mean, we called him Paul Paul.

GRIFFIN: Okay. Go ahead. I am sorry.

MURDAUGH: And, I mean, Buster and Maggie -- I called him Paul Paul to Paul terry. But Mags called him Paul Paul. Buster called him Paul Paul. A lot of people called him Paul Paul.

But, anyway, I learned about the -- I had known that C.B., te guy that worked for us had sprayed the sunflowers. And I knew about that, but I had been out of town. I didn't know they were dead. Paul let me know they had died, so we had to replant the dove field. That's not the dove field which -- the dove field is just a big -- it's a big social part of having property. People would come and it is just a big social part of it. So, the dove field was a big deal. So, when the sunflowers got killed, Paul was -- we knew they were dead, Paul was coming home. And I learned that early Monday morning.

GRIFFIN: And did -- and we will catch back up, but at some point in time, did you meet up with Paul?

MURDAUGH: Yes, after work, I met Paul Paul at the property.

GRIFFIN: And we are going back to the field to talk about more of the day, but I just want to focus in on the evening right now.

MURDAUGH: Okay.

GRIFFIN: When Paul gets to the property, what do you do?

MURDAUGH: The first thing we do is we go to the dove field and we look at the dove field and --

GRIFFIN: How did you get to the dove field?

MURDAUGH: He had come in my brother's truck. We got in my son, Buster's, black pickup truck. We called it Buster's truck or the black pickup truck, you've heard it called, too, but I called it Buster's truck.

GRIFFIN: Okay. So, you are in Buster's truck, and you go to the dove field. Tell the jury what else?

[10:55:00]

MURDAUGH: Well, that is the first thing we do. We go look to the dove field and we look, and it was clearly -- you could tell they had been sprayed and you could tell they were dead. I mean, they might have still had a tiny bit of life, but they were dead. So, we knew that. So, we knew we had to replant the whole field. So, that didn't take but a second.

But after that, Paul Paul, we just rode to property, we spent time together. We rode around and we spent time together on the property.

GRIFFIN: Did you go to duck pond?

MURDAUGH: Oh, yes. We went to several food plots. We went to Single Oak Stand, we called it, which is across the road. We went to the bridge stand. We went to the duck pond where we stayed for a minute. And I couldn't remember the duck pond specifically, because I had helped Paul Paul plant the dove field and the corn in the dove field, so sunflowers, corn, sunflowers, corn. And I had helped him plant the corn in the dove field. Paul Paul had planted the duck pond by himself corn and he is making it a really big deal to me about how much better the corn was doing and the duck pond than it was in the dove field.

So, we stayed there for a little while. We rode. We were at the cabin for a little while. We rode around the cabin, looking at it.

GRIFFIN: The cabin is what?

MURDAUGH: That's -- it is just a little small -- it is truly a cabin. It is a four-room structure. It has got a little living area, a little kitchen, it has got two little bedrooms and one little bathroom. And it's what you have heard talked about where the kids stayed some summers. And --

GRIFFIN: And the jury seen some overhead pictures that's right there on Moselle Road?

MURDAUGH: Yes. It is right up on Moselle Road and it is very close to the driveway that goes to the shop and the kennels.

GRIFFIN: Did you spend any time at the shop, do you think?

MURDAUGH: Oh, yes. I mean, the shop was -- I mean, that was sort of the hub. That was the main place. If you weren't at the house, you might be out going to this field or this food plot or this duck pond or this part of the river, but the shop is where the kennels were located. You know, that was --we were always there. Something was always going on there. You're always doing something there. That is where all of the tools were, that's where all of the equipment was kept. I mean, that was the main hub.

GRIFFIN: Right.

MURDAUGH: And so we were there that day. I mean, it was a point in time where we unloaded a bulldozer that had been on a different part of the property. It was on the trailer. We unloaded it and sprayed it down real quick. It was just one of the many things we did that day.

GRIFFIN: One of the many things the jury has seen, Alex, is the Snapchat video of you doing something with a tree. Do you remember that?

MURDAUGH: Oh, yes.

GRIFFIN: So, what was happening there?

MURDAUGH: That was just part of when we were riding that particular location where that was is at a food plot that we called sawtooth oaks, and it was named that because there were some sawtooth oaks that were planted there that you can't see in the picture.

But what that tree is, at all these food plots, there is an area where it is not as big as the field but it is like a field where you plant vegetation for wildlife. Like it might be cow peas or soybeans, but you plant. And then there's a feeder to attract deer. Then we planted these little fruit trees on the stands.

And what you see me doing is fooling with a fruit tree that I had been tending to. It had fallen over, I had straps on it, I had strings on it holding it up, one of the strings popped. I undid the other string and it was falling over and Paul Paul was laughing at me trying to get it back upright, and that was just a fruit tree that I had been dealing with for -- really for years, and it would not stand up straight.

GRIFFIN: And were you and Paul having a good time at that point?

MURDAUGH: You could not be around Paul Paul -- you could not be around him and not have a good time.

[11:00:08]