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Alex Murdaugh Cross-Examined For Second Day In His Murder Trial. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired February 24, 2023 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CRYING)
ALEX MURDAUGH, ACCUSED OF KILLING HIS WIFE AND SON: I could see his brain on the -- and I ran over to Maggie.
Actually, I think I tried to turn Paul over first. You know, I tried to turn him over. And I don't know how I figured it out.
His cell phone popped out of his pocket. I started to try to do something with it thinking maybe -- but then I put it back down really quickly.
Then I went to my wife. And, I mean, I could see --
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Mm-mm.
Did you touch Maggie at all?
MURDAUGH: I did. I touched them both.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: OK.
MURDAUGH: I tried to -- I mean, I tried to do it as limited as possible but I tried to take their pulse on both of them.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Mm-mm.
MURDAUGH: And, you know, I called 911 pretty much right away. And she was very good. I talked to her. I told her I was going to get off the phone to call some family members. I did that. And --
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: What family members did you call?
MURDAUGH: I called my brother, Randy. And I called my brother, John. And I tried to call a little boy, real good friend that's right around the corner from here, but I didn't get him.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: OK.
What all was around Paul when you walked up? MURDAUGH: Blood.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Any other -- anything else?
MURDAUGH: I mean, there was some body things, yes, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: I mean like any other evidence? I know you said the phone fell out of the pocket. But did you see anything else that didn't belong or shouldn't belong or that wasn't part of Paul?
MURDAUGH: No, sir, not -- no. Not that -- no, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: What about Maggie?
MURDAUGH: No, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: You didn't see anything around them?
What made you come out here tonight?
MURDAUGH: I went to -- my mom has late-stage Alzheimer's patient. My dad's in the hospital. My mom gets anxious when she does. I went to check on them.
And Maggie, Maggie's a dog lover. She fools with the dogs. And I knew she was gone to the kennel. I was at the house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CREIGHTON WATERS, LEAD PROSECUTOR: Just to be clear, you say you hadn't made the conscious decision to start lying about your wife and son's murder right there, correct?
MURDAUGH: I don't believe so.
WATERS: OK. Let's continue on.
MURDAUGH: Mr. Waters, I can't -- I can't tell you exactly when that decision occurred.
WATERS: OK. You can't describe to the jury the moment you decided to lie about your wife and son's murder?
MURDAUGH: I can't tell you exactly when that moment occurred.
WATERS: All right.
MURDAUGH: I left the house and went --
WATERS: You did say earlier that when David Owen asked you about your relationships that was a trigger point, correct?
MURDAUGH: Well, that was certainly one of the things that contributed or made me paranoid. WATERS: OK.
MURDAUGH: Now, you know, there were already things that had gone on that occurred, as I said, that put me in that mindset.
WATERS: Yes.
MURDAUGH: But exactly when I decided to lie about that I can't tell you.
WATERS: So the things, again, you talked about, your dope paranoia, the fact they had taken GSR, and you talked about the advice of your law partners and Sheriff Hill and Greg Alexander.
And then you talked about your distrust of SLED somehow from the circumstances and demeanor of this interview right here, correct?
MURDAUGH: No. My distrust of SLED didn't rise from this interview. My distrust for SLED arose from a couple things. Really several things.
[14:35:01]
It arose from the way they had been involved in -- SLED had been involved in the investigation into Paul's criminal charges.
They had been involved in -- there were some issues that had gone on, some rumors about Buster and Paul. They had been involved in that where, you know -- Buster nor Paul had anything to do with what I'm talking about.
And SLED never said that. Even though they told their lawyer that, they never said that.
And there had been another incident where SLED had charged Greg Alexander, my friend, in this case, they charged him. And, in fact, I thought the agent involved in that was David Owen.
But the charges against Greg Alexander were so -- they were so wrong that my dad and I made a conscious decision, even though he was a career prosecutor, made a decision to go to the courthouse and sit with Greg Alexander while his trial went on because --
WATERS: Ten years ago, right?
MURDAUGH: It was a while back. You know?
WATERS: You don't know if Dave Owen was at SLED 10 years ago?
MURDAUGH: No. No. I checked on that because, that night, the officer who was involved in that case in bringing clearly manufactured charges against Greg Alexander --
WATERS: You're saying the night before you sat down for this interview you were asking somebody about whether or not -- about Greg Alexander 10 years ago in the wake of what had occurred?
MURDAUGH: Oh, no. I didn't ask anybody.
WATERS: OK. So that wasn't what you were discussing when you were sitting in this car?
MURDAUGH: No I wasn't discussing that. I'm just telling you that I thought David Owen was the same agent that was involved in that case.
Now, I learned later, because I checked on it, I learned later that it was a different David SLED agent, first name David with a different last name. I learned that later.
I'm just saying that was all part of that process going on in my mind.
WATERS: You're saying you're sitting right here thinking this Dave Owen and the circumstances and demeanor of this interview, you're thinking that guy had been involved in the prosecution or investigation of your friend 10 years ago.
MURDAUGH: I did.
WATERS: OK. So here's a new one you just mentioned to us, correct?
MURDAUGH: No, that's not a new one.
WATERS: OK.
MURDAUGH: That is part of --
WATERS: The circumstances are new.
MURDAUGH: No, no.
WATERS: That is fairly specific, don't you think?
MURDAUGH: Well, no, sir. I -- I --
WATERS: The story keeps evolving. Keep going.
MURDAUGH: No. You asked me about this, Mr. Owen. What I said is part of this whole --
WATERS: I'm not Mr. Owen.
MURDAUGH: I mean, Mr. Waters. The whole part of this whole process involved my distrust for SLED. That was part of, a big part of my distrust for SLED.
WATERS: We can all see it on your face in this interview, can't we?
MURDAUGH: I don't know.
WATERS: All right. But you said, what you just said a little bit ago, that wasn't the lie, the conscious decision yet. So let's keep going.
MURDAUGH: I'm not saying that. I'm saying I don't believe that it was.
WATERS: OK.
MURDAUGH: I don't know exactly when I made the decision to lie about that.
WATERS: OK.
MURDAUGH: All right?
WATERS: When you see it let me know. OK?
Let's go forward.
MURDAUGH: Just a little while, tried to call her when I left. Texted her, no response. When I got back to the house, the house was -- obviously nobody was in there, so I figured they were still up there fooling around.
Paul was going to be getting set up to plant -- our sunflower seeds got sprayed and died and he was refiguring to plant the sunflower seeds.
WATERS: OK.
MURDAUGH: So I came back up here and drove up and saw, and called.
WATERS: Had Maggie and Paul been arguing over anything?
MURDAUGH: No.
WATERS: What was their relationship like?
MURDAUGH: Wonderful.
WATERS: Wonderful?
How about yours and Maggie's?
MURDAUGH: Wonderful. I mean, I'm sure we had little things here and there, but we had a wonderful marriage, wonderful relationship.
WATERS: Yours and Paul's relationship?
MURDAUGH: As good as it could be.
WATERS: How old was Paul?
MURDAUGH: Twenty-two.
WATERS: That line of questioning right there, just asking very general questions about your relationship, you mentioned that before, didn't you, Mr. Murdaugh?
Is that the moment right there? Is that the look on your face when you decided to lie about an important fact in your wife and son's murder?
[14:40:02] MURDAUGH: I don't know. As I said, Mr. Waters, I don't know the exact point I made that decision.
WATERS: You specifically, earlier, mentioned that very exchange as somehow triggering you to lie about the last time you saw them alive.
MURDAUGH: No, I'm not saying that that's what made me lie. I'm saying this whole set of circumstances caused me to be in a state where I had paranoid thoughts.
WATERS: OK.
MURDAUGH: That normally, Mr. Waters, I could take a deep breath and make away in a second or two seconds or three seconds at the most. And on this night I wasn't able to do that.
But all of those things I mentioned I believe contributed to that.
WATERS: OK. Any more you want to add now since you keep adding?
MURDAUGH: I'd be glad to answer any question you have.
WATERS: I' mean, I'm asking you. I mean, the factors have gone from yesterday to today, and now even after lunch, we got new ones. So anything else you want to add right now as to factors?
MURDAUGH: Mr. Waters, I don't believe I've added any new factors. I believe that's what I said yesterday.
WATERS: All right.
MURDAUGH: I've explained some of those factors because of your questions but I don't believe I've added any factors.
WATERS: OK. All right. Let me move this forward just a little bit.
MURDAUGH: Most of this was stuff from -
WATERS: You had talked yesterday in great detail about the boat case you brought up on the 911 call and then Daniel Green and, of course, in this first interview, correct?
MURDAUGH: I did mention the boat wreck.
WATERS: All right. And you described that. Do you remember what you said in this interview about the boat wreck?
MURDAUGH: Not specifically.
WATERS: Not specifically the other people involved in the boat wreck? You don't remember specifically? Do you remember specifically? I guess you said no.
MURDAUGH: I remember talking about the boat wreck. And I --
(CROSSTALK) MURDAUGH: -- talked about the boat wreck.
WATERS: All right. I'm going to play it now from 17:14.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MURDAUGH: Any direct threats between any of the people on the boat specifically, but I do think there's been a small amount of yip yap between a couple of them but not recently.
UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATERS: OK. What was the term you used for that? "A small amount of yip yap?"
MURDAUGH: Yes. Just to be clear, Mr. Waters, there was never, ever a point in time where I thought that the people that were involved in the boat wreck did this to Paul Paul and Maggie. I've never thought that.
WATERS: All right. Never thought that but it is literally one of the first things you said out of the 911 call?
MURDAUGH: No. That's not what I said.
I never, ever, ever, under any point in time, believed those kids that were riding in that boat or their parents or their families --
WATERS: OK.
MURDAUGH: I didn't believe that any of the families, the people that were involved in the boat wreck had anything to do with hurting Maggie and Paul.
WATERS: OK.
MURDAUGH: But I can tell you that, at that time and as I sit here today, that I believe that boat wreck is the reason why Paul Paul and Maggie were killed.
WATERS: OK.
MURDAUGH: I'm certain -- I believe that.
WATERS: It was random vigilantes, the 5-2 vigilantes? Huh?
MURDAUGH: No. What I believe, Mr. Waters, is I believe when Paul was charged criminally, there were so many leaks, half-truths, half- reports, half-statements, partial information, misrepresentations of Paul that ended up in the media all the time.
And when I tell you the social media response that came from that was vile, the things that were said about what they would do to Paul Paul.
They were so over the top that nobody would believe anybody would get on social media and do that.
But I believe then and I believe today that the wrong person -- the wrong person saw and read that.
[14:45:10]
WATERS: OK.
MURDAUGH: Because I can tell you for a fact that the person or people who did what I saw on June the 7th, they hated Paul Murdaugh and they had anger in their heart.
And that is the only, only reason that somebody could be mad at Paul Paul like that and hate him like that.
WATERS: Got you.
All right. So we've got, now --
(CROSSTALK)
MURDAUGH: But that's why I did then believe it was the boat wreck. And I believe now that the boat wreck --
(CROSSTALK)
MURDAUGH: -- had something to do with it.
WATERS: All right. So we've got random vigilantes because of the boat wreck.
MURDAUGH: No. I don't know that they're random vigilantes.
WATERS: You just said it wasn't a family or the kids or the family of the other kids in the boat, right?
(CROSSTALK)
WATERS: So you're saying it is somebody off social media. You don't have any evidence of that, do you?
MURDAUGH: No --
WATERS: You just believe that. And you're telling that jury that as you try to explain the lie you told for the first time yesterday, isn't that right?
MURDAUGH: No, sir. That is not right.
WATERS: It's not right.
All right. Well, let me ask you a question then. What you're telling this jury is that it is a random vigilante?
MURDAUGH: That's your term. WATERS: The 12-year-old 5-2 people, that just happened to know Paul
and Maggie were both at Moselle on June 7th, knew they would be at the kennels alone on June 7th.
They knew you would not be there, but only between the times of 8:49 and 9:02, that they show up without a weapon, assuming they'll 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 Alameda. That is what you are trying to tell this jury?
MURDAUGH: You got a lot of factors in there, Mr. Waters, all of which I do not agree with, but some of which I do.
WATERS: All right.
You testified earlier that after this happened -- let me back up just real quick. When you were driving to and from Alameda, why were you in such a hurry?
(CROSSTALK)
WATERS: Why were you rolling 70, 80 miles an hour down that dark, beat-up road?
MURDAUGH: I wasn't in such a hurry.
WATERS: You weren't?
MURDAUGH: No, sir.
WATERS: All right. Showed you what's been marked as State's 573. See if you recognize this.
MURDAUGH: I do.
WATERS: Tell the jury what that is.
MURDAUGH: Mag's car.
WATERS: What is it in front of?
MURDAUGH: The house at Moselle.
WATERS: What is between the house and the Mercedes?
MURDAUGH: The golf cart.
WATERS: Is that where it was on June the 8th to your recollection?
MURDAUGH: No, sir.
WATERS: Where was it left?
MURDAUGH: It was near there but that is not exactly where it was, no, sir.
WATERS: Where was it?
MURDAUGH: Where would we normally park it would be a little bit closer to the shed. I mean a little bit closer to the house, to the bushes.
(CROSSTALK)
MURDAUGH: When was that photograph taken?
WATERS: Do you recognize when it was taken?
MURDAUGH: No. I don't recognize it, no, sir.
WATERS: You wouldn't dispute it was around the time in the aftermath of the murders, would you?
MURDAUGH: Aftermath being when?
WATERS: I'm asking you.
MURDAUGH: A day, a week, an hour?
WATERS: I wasn't there, Mr. Murdaugh.
Do you recognize this?
MURDAUGH: I recognize the car. I recognize the house. And I recognize the golf cart. But that is not -- that is not exactly how it would have been that night.
WATERS: All right. Can you describe where it would be different?
[14:49:59]
MURDAUGH: Well, it would more in line with -- first thing's first is when we drove the golf cart -- or when I drove it for sure, and I believe when the others drove it, you would come in and you would go across the little brick walkway that's in front of this.
So if I would have come in and gone this way or I would have come in and gone this way. This is not a place that any of my family would have normally parked.
So what I'm assuming is, this obviously was taken the daytime.
What I'm assuming is, it was taken when SLED came to the -- the earliest it was taken was when SLED came to the house the next day, which I believe the testimony is in the afternoon.
At this point in time, that golf cart, I would assume, would have been moved several times. But that's not how it was.
WATERS: All right. Well, where did you leave the golf cart when you got out of it around 8:49?
MURDAUGH: In the manner which I just talked about.
WATERS: OK. Help me out again so I understand. You would have come around this way or that way. But where would it end up?
MURDAUGH: It would have been -- in this picture, it's facing to the right.
WATERS: I gotcha.
MURDAUGH: The night -- the night that I drove it, I believe I parked it facing to the left.
WATERS: I understand.
MURDAUGH: It would be customarily how I did it. And I believe I did it that way that night.
WATERS: OK.
(CROSSTALK)
MURDAUGH: And that is how I would have gotten into it.
WATERS: All right. That's a very specific memory. Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
WATERS: All right, at this time, the state would offer --
MURDAUGH: That's just how it normally is.
WATERS: -- State's 5739.
UNIDENTIFIED DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No objection.
JUDGE CLIFTON NEWMAN, SOUTH CAROLINA CIRCUIT COURT: Admitted without objection.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
MURDAUGH: You see, Mr. Waters, you can see in the picture now, if you bring this up on screen, if you look to the right, you can see the actual steps. Just to the left of that would be where the little brick patio starts.
So I where I would normally park it, you roll across those bricks and the end of the golf cart would be just past those.
And we all normally parked it that way, because the way you charge this golf cart is -- if you see that back seat, you can see the edge. This is a three-seat golf cart. You can see the back seat.
A lot of golf carts have the charger that sits on the floor or something. This golf cart has the charger that's plugged in and part of the golf cart. So you flip that seat up and it plugs in. And the outlets are right up there by the door. WATERS: OK. Anything else you want to say about that?
MURDAUGH: I'm going to answer any questions you have, Mr. Waters.
WATERS: I appreciate all that information.
UNIDENTIFIED DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Objection to the comment.
NEWMAN: Sustained.
WATERS: All right.
MURDAUGH: It's just never parked that way. By the family.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: We'll take a quick break and we'll be right back in this courtroom in Walterboro, South Carolina.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:55:43]
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: We're going to take you back to the courtroom in Walterboro, South Carolina, for the testimony of Alex Murdaugh.
MURDAUGH: I don't think she got back quite that early. I think she got back a little bit later than that.
WATERS: OK.
MURDAUGH: Umm --
WATERS: What did you need to do? Were you at the office or --
MURDAUGH: No, I was home. I came home and I messed around. I -- I -- I was up at the house. I laid down, took a nap on the couch, probably, I don't know, 25, 30 minutes.
I got up, I called Maggie. Didn't get an answer. And I left to go to my mom's.
She said she might ride with me. But she normally doesn't when I go over there.
And I think I texted her.
WATERS: Is it there, when you repeated the lie, that you decided?
MURDAUGH: Was that the moment that I decided --
(CROSSTALK)
WATERS: Was that the moment that you decided to lie to Dave Owen?
MURDAUGH: I don't -- I don't know, as I told you, Mr. Waters, the exact moment I decided to lie. But at that point in time, I -- WATERS: But you did lie, correct?
MURDAUGH: I did.
And she's very good about answering the phone, so that was odd, or calling me back, so that was odd. But it wasn't that big a deal.
WATERS: All right. We'll go to the second interview that's been previously admitted.
You said earlier during your direct testimony that, after these crimes happened, you were around family, family was around you, your law partners were around you pretty much every minute after that, correct?
"Every waking minute." Didn't you say that yesterday?
MURDAUGH: Yes. They were for a long time.
WATERS: All right. And this second interview was three days later, is that right?
MURDAUGH: That's correct.
WATERS: At no time with any of your close friends and law partners and family do you confess the truth, do you?
MURDAUGH: No, I did not.
WATERS: Did you say, hey, man, I think I messed up, what should I do about this?
MURDAUGH: No, I didn't.
WATERS: You're not telling that lie to anyone, are you, until yesterday?
MURDAUGH: Excuse me?
WATERS: You're not telling that lie to anyone until yesterday, are you?
MURDAUGH: Not telling what lie? Saying I tried to tell somebody that I was lying?
WATERS: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
MURDAUGH: And --
[14:59:41]
WATERS: All right, I'm going to move this to approximately 2456.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
