In a dramatic two days in the courtroom, Murdaugh took the stand in his own defense, seeking to convince jurors that he was not the “family annihilator” the prosecution painted him to be.
He confessed that he had lied for the past 20 months about his alibi on the night of the murders. And admitted for the first time that he was there at the kennels with the two victims that night.
Murdaugh made the sudden admission after jurors saw a cellphone video taken by Paul just minutes before he and his mother were killed. The video, taken at 8.44 pm, filmed a dog inside the kennels on the grounds of the Moselle estate.
During dramatic testimony, multiple witnesses identified Murdaugh’s voice in the footage before he then also confessed it was him.
Prosecutors said that Murdaugh killed his family to distract from his string of financial crimes. On the day of the murders, Murdaugh was confronted by his law firm CFO about money that he had stolen.
Opportunity and Motive
Three days after the murders, a hearing was slated to take place in a lawsuit over a fatal boat crash. In February 2019, Paul had allegedly been drunk driving the family boat. And it crashed, killing his 19-year-old friend Mallory Beach.
