(Trends Wide) — With the Alex Murdaugh murder trial drawing to a close, legal experts who have been involved in some of America’s most high-profile cases joined Trends Wide Wednesday night to examine key questions looming over the trial, including whether Murdaugh’s admission to lying to investigators could help or hurt his case.
Murdaugh, a prominent lawyer in Lowcountry South Carolina, is accused of shooting to death his wife, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, and their son, Paul Murdaugh, on the family’s sprawling hunting estate on June 7, 2021.
After hearing weeks of witness testimony, the jury will continue hearing closing arguments Thursday before deliberating whether Murdaugh is guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of weapons, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
“It all comes down to two things that every prosecutor has to deal with. I’m talking about motive and opportunity,” said Laura Coates, Trends Wide’s senior legal analyst, who hosted the televised panel discussion. These are the key points of the legal experts’ discussion of the case.
Murdaugh’s lie to investigators could undermine his credibility with jurors
In his two-day testimony last week, Murdaugh admitted he lied to investigators when he told them he had not been at his farm kennel the night of the murders until he reported finding the bodies there. That admission came after multiple prosecution witnesses identified her voice in video taken with Paul’s phone at or near the kennels at 8:44 p.m. Shortly before, according to prosecutors, the murders occurred.
Murdaugh testified that he lied due to “paranoid thinking” stemming from his opiate addiction. During Wednesday’s panel discussion, attorney Glenda Hatchett said her admission may have come too late.
“I think the fact that he waited until there was testimony in this courtroom from multiple people, and then he said, ‘Yeah, I was there and I was paranoid,’ I really think it creates a credibility gap,” said Hatchett, who represented the family of Philando Castile, a black man who was fatally shot by police in 2016.
“Once you have that credibility gap, I think it can taint your other testimony as well, whether you’re credible or not,” said Hatchett, also a former presiding judge of the Fulton County juvenile court in Georgia.
Prosecutors have tried to paint Murdaugh as a dishonest and disgraced lawyer who killed his wife and son for the attention of investigations into allegations of financial misconduct against him. In his testimony, Murdaugh repeatedly denied committing the murders, but admitted to stealing millions of dollars from his former clients and his law firm.
“This video from the kennel is the most important piece of evidence”
Prosecutors have tried to overcome the lack of direct evidence, such as eyewitnesses, linking Murdaugh to the murders. They have built their case in large part using video, photos, and cell phone and location data to try to convince the jury that Murdaugh is lying about his actions that night.
“In order to get his conviction, the prosecution has to eliminate, exclude, all reasonable assumptions of innocence,” said criminal defense attorney Mark O’Mara, who represented the man who fatally shot Trayvon Martin in 2012.
Prosecutors have based their case on video recorded around the kennels on Paul’s phone.
“I think this kennel video is the most important piece of evidence in this case for the prosecution because it exploits the big lie,” said Loni Coombs, a former Los Angeles County prosecutor. “I’m talking about the big lie of her alibi, where she (initially) said, ‘I wasn’t there at the scene of the crime.'”
Murdaugh maintains that Maggie and Paul were alive when he left the pound to return to the house, and that he eventually drove to visit his mother in a nearby town. She found the bodies near the kennels after returning, she said. Authorities say she called 911 after 10 p.m.
Prosecutors, however, have argued that he carried out the murders and then tried to create an alibi by abandoning the property. They also point to videos showing he changed his clothes sometime between when he was with Paul that day and when he called 911, though the defense suggested the change was not unusual for him.
The “big question” for jurors, Coates said, is “did Murdoch have time to commit a murder, dispose of the weapons, clean himself up, leave and come back in about an hour and 17 minutes? Or is there a reasonable doubt?
Alex Murdaugh walks into the courtroom in Walterboro, South Carolina, before closing arguments began Wednesday. (Credit: Joshua Boucher/The State/AP)
Murdaugh’s claim that he was taking 2,000 milligrams of opioids a day is medically possible
During his testimony last week, Murdaugh said he had a decades-long addiction to opioid painkillers, contributing to “paranoid thinking” that led him to lie to investigators. He testified that he took more than 2,000 milligrams a day of oxycodone in the months before Maggie and Paul died.
“As my addiction evolved, I would find myself in these situations or circumstances where I would have paranoid thoughts,” Murdaugh said on the stand. “On June 7, I wasn’t thinking straight. I don’t think he was capable of reasoning. And I lied about being there.
Patients typically start with 10 to 20 milligrams several times a day, Trends Wide’s chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta said Wednesday night. While 2,000 milligrams sounds astronomical by comparison, it’s possible to take that amount daily, he said.
“People can gradually build up a higher tolerance to these drugs, these opioids. This is not unusual,” Gupta said. “Over time, people can increase the dose more and more.” It’s “difficult to know” what the impact of opioid addiction would be on a specific person’s behavior, Gupta added.
Murdaugh, who says he is now drug-free, testified that he took the high doses in part to avoid withdrawal symptoms, which can include vomiting, dizziness, depression and confusion.
“People can start to build significant tolerance to the point where they’re no longer taking the drug to get high, to build euphoria, but just to feel normal and not have withdrawal symptoms,” Gupta said.
— Trends Wide’s Eric Levenson, Alta Spells, Dianne Gallagher and Randi Kaye contributed to this report.
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(Trends Wide) — With the Alex Murdaugh murder trial drawing to a close, legal experts who have been involved in some of America’s most high-profile cases joined Trends Wide Wednesday night to examine key questions looming over the trial, including whether Murdaugh’s admission to lying to investigators could help or hurt his case.
Murdaugh, a prominent lawyer in Lowcountry South Carolina, is accused of shooting to death his wife, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, and their son, Paul Murdaugh, on the family’s sprawling hunting estate on June 7, 2021.
After hearing weeks of witness testimony, the jury will continue hearing closing arguments Thursday before deliberating whether Murdaugh is guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of weapons, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
“It all comes down to two things that every prosecutor has to deal with. I’m talking about motive and opportunity,” said Laura Coates, Trends Wide’s senior legal analyst, who hosted the televised panel discussion. These are the key points of the legal experts’ discussion of the case.
Murdaugh’s lie to investigators could undermine his credibility with jurors
In his two-day testimony last week, Murdaugh admitted he lied to investigators when he told them he had not been at his farm kennel the night of the murders until he reported finding the bodies there. That admission came after multiple prosecution witnesses identified her voice in video taken with Paul’s phone at or near the kennels at 8:44 p.m. Shortly before, according to prosecutors, the murders occurred.
Murdaugh testified that he lied due to “paranoid thinking” stemming from his opiate addiction. During Wednesday’s panel discussion, attorney Glenda Hatchett said her admission may have come too late.
“I think the fact that he waited until there was testimony in this courtroom from multiple people, and then he said, ‘Yeah, I was there and I was paranoid,’ I really think it creates a credibility gap,” said Hatchett, who represented the family of Philando Castile, a black man who was fatally shot by police in 2016.
“Once you have that credibility gap, I think it can taint your other testimony as well, whether you’re credible or not,” said Hatchett, also a former presiding judge of the Fulton County juvenile court in Georgia.
Prosecutors have tried to paint Murdaugh as a dishonest and disgraced lawyer who killed his wife and son for the attention of investigations into allegations of financial misconduct against him. In his testimony, Murdaugh repeatedly denied committing the murders, but admitted to stealing millions of dollars from his former clients and his law firm.
“This video from the kennel is the most important piece of evidence”
Prosecutors have tried to overcome the lack of direct evidence, such as eyewitnesses, linking Murdaugh to the murders. They have built their case in large part using video, photos, and cell phone and location data to try to convince the jury that Murdaugh is lying about his actions that night.
“In order to get his conviction, the prosecution has to eliminate, exclude, all reasonable assumptions of innocence,” said criminal defense attorney Mark O’Mara, who represented the man who fatally shot Trayvon Martin in 2012.
Prosecutors have based their case on video recorded around the kennels on Paul’s phone.
“I think this kennel video is the most important piece of evidence in this case for the prosecution because it exploits the big lie,” said Loni Coombs, a former Los Angeles County prosecutor. “I’m talking about the big lie of her alibi, where she (initially) said, ‘I wasn’t there at the scene of the crime.'”
Murdaugh maintains that Maggie and Paul were alive when he left the pound to return to the house, and that he eventually drove to visit his mother in a nearby town. She found the bodies near the kennels after returning, she said. Authorities say she called 911 after 10 p.m.
Prosecutors, however, have argued that he carried out the murders and then tried to create an alibi by abandoning the property. They also point to videos showing he changed his clothes sometime between when he was with Paul that day and when he called 911, though the defense suggested the change was not unusual for him.
The “big question” for jurors, Coates said, is “did Murdoch have time to commit a murder, dispose of the weapons, clean himself up, leave and come back in about an hour and 17 minutes? Or is there a reasonable doubt?
Alex Murdaugh walks into the courtroom in Walterboro, South Carolina, before closing arguments began Wednesday. (Credit: Joshua Boucher/The State/AP)
Murdaugh’s claim that he was taking 2,000 milligrams of opioids a day is medically possible
During his testimony last week, Murdaugh said he had a decades-long addiction to opioid painkillers, contributing to “paranoid thinking” that led him to lie to investigators. He testified that he took more than 2,000 milligrams a day of oxycodone in the months before Maggie and Paul died.
“As my addiction evolved, I would find myself in these situations or circumstances where I would have paranoid thoughts,” Murdaugh said on the stand. “On June 7, I wasn’t thinking straight. I don’t think he was capable of reasoning. And I lied about being there.
Patients typically start with 10 to 20 milligrams several times a day, Trends Wide’s chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta said Wednesday night. While 2,000 milligrams sounds astronomical by comparison, it’s possible to take that amount daily, he said.
“People can gradually build up a higher tolerance to these drugs, these opioids. This is not unusual,” Gupta said. “Over time, people can increase the dose more and more.” It’s “difficult to know” what the impact of opioid addiction would be on a specific person’s behavior, Gupta added.
Murdaugh, who says he is now drug-free, testified that he took the high doses in part to avoid withdrawal symptoms, which can include vomiting, dizziness, depression and confusion.
“People can start to build significant tolerance to the point where they’re no longer taking the drug to get high, to build euphoria, but just to feel normal and not have withdrawal symptoms,” Gupta said.
— Trends Wide’s Eric Levenson, Alta Spells, Dianne Gallagher and Randi Kaye contributed to this report.
