Disbarred South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh testified in his defense at his trial Thursday, admitting he lied to investigators about his location the night his wife and son were murdered but insisted he did not kill them.
Murdaugh explained he lied to investigators because his opioid addiction caused him to have "paranoid thinking." He reiterated that he did not kill his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, in June 2021.
"I would never intentionally do anything to hurt either one of them. Ever. Ever," he said.
Fox News' Judge Jeanine Pirro reacted to Murdaugh's testimony, saying he had to take the stand and give his version of what took place on his family's 1,700-acre estate because the evidence is "stacked against him."
"The evidence is stacked against him. But the issue was how do you personalize a monster? They put him on the stand. He's one of the best witnesses I've ever seen on a witness stand. He's had a lot of reasons to react to the pitbull D.A. here, and he hasn't reacted," she said Thursday on "The Five."
ALEX MURDAUGH: TIMELINE OF THE ONCE POWERFUL SOUTH CAROLINA LAWYER'S SPECTACULAR DOWNFALL
"But let's talk about his saying sorry to ‘Maggs and Pawpaw.’ 'I didn't intentionally murder' or whatever the actual statement is. I didn't intentionally murder... or to hurt either one of them. Okay. So why does he use the word intentionally? Well, you can say he's a lawyer. You could say he's speaking in terms of how the indictment is written. Murder is an intentional crime, but it is prefaced with, ah, I am sorry to Maggs and Paul. All right. That means that he's basically admitting to them, you know, I'm sorry I didn't intentionally do anything to hurt you. What he is doing there is brilliant."
Pirro said Murdaugh could be aiming for a conviction on a lesser charge.
"He is creating the premise for a down charge," she said. "That means that even though he's charged with intentional murder, there is evidence when the defense goes in to have a discussion with the judge about what the jury will be charged - the defense will say, 'We want manslaughter in there' and the judge will say there's no evidence of manslaughter. Defense will say, yes, there is. He said he didn't ‘intentionally’ hurt either one of them. So that was a very big moment in the cross-examination."
Pirro added that the defense knew Murdaugh had to "admit the lies" because investigators had evidence to put him at the crime scene.
"The jury has no question other than that guy did it. So they personalize this monster. They have him on there. When you listen to the 911 call, it sounds like he's in tears. Then you look at him; he's in tears," she highlighted. "And you say to yourself, well, you know, the truth is maybe he's not so bad. The prosecutor is coming across as a pit bull, which is good, except this guy knows exactly how to handle the prosecutor."
