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State prosecutor Creighton Waters questioned Murdaugh for two
hours on Thursday before the court recessed for the day,
focusing on the defendant's financial crimes in an apparent
effort to establish his dishonesty to the jury.
Waters told the judge that he stil had some financial matters to
go over before tackling the "other evidence". He said would
likely need three to four hours to finish cross examination when
court resumes on Friday at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Under questioning from his lawyer, Murdaugh testified on
Thursday that he did not shoot his wife, Maggie, 52, or
22-year-old son Paul, who were both gunned down outside dog
kennels on the family's estate on June 7, 2021.
But Murdaugh also admitted to lying by saying that he was not at
the kennels that night, an assertion that was contradicted by
cellphone video showing he was there minutes before his wife and
son were fatally shot at close range.
Murdaugh, 54, testified that he lied because he was suffering
from paranoia tied to a years-long addiction to opiods, and did
not trust the police. He also said he stole from clients and his
law partners, partly to feed his drug habit.
Murdaugh, the scion of an influential South Carolina legal
family, was indicted by a grand jury in July on two counts of
murder and two counts of possession of a weapon in connection
with the shootings.
The murders have been subject to intense media coverage given
the political influence of the Murdaugh family in the low-lying
region of South Carolina where they took place, as well as a
string of scandals hanging over the defendant, once a prominent
personal injury attorney in the state.
Prosecutors have said Murdaugh killed his wife and child to
generate sympathy and distract from an array of financial crimes
for which he is also facing criminal charges, an alleged motive
that Murdaugh's lawyers have argued does not make sense.
(reporting by Nathan Layne; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
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