Alex Murdaugh is testifying in his homicide trial on the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C. He is seen right here on Tuesday, listening to his protection attorneys Phillip Barber, left, and Dick Harpootlian.

Jeff Blake/AP

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Jeff Blake/AP

Alex Murdaugh is testifying in his homicide trial on the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C. He is seen right here on Tuesday, listening to his protection attorneys Phillip Barber, left, and Dick Harpootlian.

Jeff Blake/AP

“Watch your step” — Alex Murdaugh heard these phrases from a courthouse worker as he entered the witness stand on Thursday, taking the extraordinary transfer of testifying on his personal behalf in a double homicide trial.

Alex Murdaugh is testifying in his personal protection in a homicide trial wherein he’s accused of finishing up an execution-style killing of his spouse and son in June of 2021.

“Good morning,” Murdaugh greeted the courtroom as he started his testimony.

The first questions from protection legal professional Jim Griffin centered on the 2021 murders, as Griffin repeatedly requested Murdaugh whether or not he had taken a rifle or a shotgun and shot his spouse and son.

“No I did not,” Murdaugh replied.

He repeated that reply when Griffin requested Murdaugh: Did you “blow your son’s brains out?”

“I did not shoot my wife or my son any time. Ever,” Murdaugh mentioned.

Murdaugh additionally admitted that he lied to investigators about his alibi — he has repeatedly mentioned he did not see his spouse and son after they ate dinner at Moselle, their looking property. In his model of occasions, he mentioned he napped in the home whereas Paul and Maggie visited the canine kennels.

But a number of witnesses have recognized Alex Murdaugh’s voice in a video taken by Paul on the kennel, minutes earlier than investigators say the execution-style taking pictures started.

“I did lie to them,” Murdaugh mentioned of the account he informed a minimum of three legislation enforcement officers.

Asked by Griffin why he lied, Murdaugh blamed his opioid habit.

“As my addiction evolved over time,” Murdaugh mentioned, he had incidents of nice paranoia. He mentioned he was nervous as a deputy sheriff swabbed his palms, and investigators requested him about his relationship along with his spouse and son, “coupled with my distrust of SLED” — the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

“On June 7, I wasn’t thinking clearly,” Murdaugh mentioned. “I don’t think I was capable of reason. And I lied about being down there. And I’m sorry that I did.”

“I would never do anything intentionally to hurt either one of them,” Murdaugh mentioned as he brazenly wept.

Griffin requested if he lied repeatedly, and Murdaugh mentioned, “Once I lied, I continued to lie, yes sir.” He later added, “I had to keep lying.”

It’s the newest dramatic shift in a case that has drawn consideration due to the Murdaughs’ standing as a rich and outstanding household — and in addition as a result of the 2021 killings had been bookended by two different violent actions: a deadly boating accident involving Paul, and Alex’s alleged try and have his cousin kill him in an obvious botched suicide.

The trial had initially been anticipated to conclude round Feb. 10, however it has sprawled far past that mark, as attorneys introduced jurors with an array of proof, together with testimony in regards to the tens of millions of {dollars} Murdaugh is accused of stealing from his former legislation agency and its purchasers, his opioid habit, and the roadside taking pictures that Murdaugh initially portrayed as an try on his life.

In an important ruling, Judge Clifton Newman determined in early February to permit prosecutors to current their account of Murdaugh’s alleged monetary misdeeds, saying the protection “opened the door” to that aspect of the case by asking witnesses about Murdaugh’s character — and whether or not they knew of any potential motive he may need to kill his personal spouse and son.

As they thought-about letting their consumer testify, Murdaugh’s protection group has requested Newman about potential limits on what questions the prosecution might pose to him — hoping to limit the subject to the monetary allegations. But the choose has refused to set such limits on cross-examination.