>> Did you take this gun or any
gun like it and blow your son's
brains out on June 7th or any
day or any time?
>> No, I did not.
>> Did you shoot a 300 blackout
into her head causing her death?
>> Mr. Griffin, I didn't shoot
my wife or my son any time ever.
>> Reporter: Alex Murdaugh
proclaiming his innocence and
after more than 20 months
admitting he lied about one key
piece of evidence against him.
>> Mr. Murdaugh, is that you on
the kennel video at 8:44 P.M. On
June 7th, the night Maggie and
Paul were murdered?
>> It is.
>> Reporter: Over and over
Murdaugh had told investigators
he hadn't seen his family since
dinner and was not at the dog
kennels around the time of the
murders.
But that video extracted from
his son's phone was recorded
minutes before prosecutors
believe the killings occurred
and many witnesses have
testified it was Alex Murdaugh's
voice on the recording.
Murdaugh told the jury he had
left the kennels and driven his
golf cart to the main house on
the property.
>> There's no way that I had
high velocity blood spatter on
me. >> Just to be clear, were you
anywhere in the vicinity when
Paul and Maggie were shot?
>> I was nowhere near Paul and
Maggie when they got shot.
>> Reporter: Regarding the
state's gps data that shows
Murdaugh paused briefly in the
driveway at his mother's house
the night of the murders he told
the jury he was simply trying to
locate his phone.
>> Were you during that minute
or however long it was, were you
disposing of murder weapon,
Alex? >> No.
>> Were you disposing of bloody
clothes?
>> No.
>> Reporter: Another key moment,
Murdaugh explaining to the jury
why evidence shows him wearing
different clothes before and
after the murders.
>> Yeah, I mean I sweated.
I was, you know, I was heavy and
taking prescription pills also
makes you sweat worse or at
least taking oxycodone makes you
sweat more than you normally do.
>> So was it unusual for to you
take a shower when you got back
to the house?
>> Not at all.
>> Reporter: On
cross-examination, the
prosecution pushed back.
>> You agree that the most
important part of your testimony
here today is explaining your
life for a year and a half that
you were never down at those
kennels at 8:44?
Would you agree with that?
>> I think all of my testimony
is important, Mr. Waters.
>> Reporter: The state's goal at
the end of the day, of course,
was to set Alex Murdaugh up as a
liar to show the jury that he
can't be trusted and, wolf,
that's why the prosecution on
cross-examination right away
went to those alleged financial
crimes basically to send the
message that the jury that,
look, if he can allegedly lie to
all these peoples, all these
victims you could look you in
the eye as the jury and lie to
you as well.
>> He admitted to stealing a lot
of money also.
Randi, thank you very much.
>>> Let's break down today's
explosive testimony with our
legal experts, joining us now
attorney and legal affairs
commentator areva martin as well
as defense attorney and former
federal prosecutor shan Wu.
Areva, what stands out to you
from the cross-examination so
far and exchanges between Alex
Murdaugh and the prosecutor?
>> I think, wolf, it goes to the
issue of a lie.
That's what I believe motivated
this defendant to take the
witness stand. There was going to be this
lingering question for the
jurors as to why is it that ten
witnesses came forward and said
that they could identify Alex
Murdaugh's voice on this
videotape but yet he continued
to tell the police that he
wasn't at the kennel just
minutes before the prosecution
says his wife and son were
killed.
So I think that exchange,
everybody was waiting to see
what the prosecution would do
with that piece of evidence and
we saw what I think we expected,
the prosecution went in hard on
Alex Murdaugh about telling that
lie, not once, not twice but
continuing to tell that lie
throughout the entire time
period really until he took the
witness stand today to try to
give us an explanation for why
he lied.
>> And, shan, Murdaugh also
admitted he lied -- he admitted
he was at the scene just before
the murders.
How big of a gamble is this
testimony?
Is it a mistake that his
attorneys allowed him to go
ahead and testify?
>> Well, it's a strategic call.
I mean, as I'm sure areva knows,
it's a very difficult choice and
don't want to put your client on
the stand because they're at a
great disadvantage.
This signals that they were
concerned that that audio
evidence is so overwhelmingly
indiscriminatory that they had
no choice but to put him on the
stand.
He's got to deal with the fact
that he lied about it.
He's got to deal with the fact
that there's financial lies he
committed.
He defrauded clients so opens up
this whole cascade of stuff he
has to admit to and trying to
turn that into he's admitting
all these other things but he's
a good guy.
I didn't think he did a very
convincing job today, but you
never know with a jury.
It only takes one.
>> Important, indeed.
Areva, is the defense strategy
to portray Murdaugh as
supposedly sympathetic, a
sympathetic figure?
Is that strategy working?
>> Well, I think parts of it did
work, wolf, but parts of it were
not compelling.
He cried a lot on the witness
stand. He was teary at times when you
expect him to be.
He used the nicknames he had for
his wife and son to show that
they were very close and, you
know, how he used these terms of
endearment to describe them.
I agree that there was a huge
gap in the defense's case
because of that video, but I
still think the prosecution has
a problem too, wolf.
They have no gun.
They have no murder weapon.
They don't have an eyewitness so
all of their evidence is
circumstantial and want the
jurors or need the jurors to
believe that a man that was that
close to his wife and his son
would blow his son's brains out
simply to distract from his
financial problems.
Now, clearly the man is a liar,
he is a chief, so far based on
the evidence that's been, you
know, presented, but that's a
big leap from I lie and I steal
money to I kill a wife and I
kill a son who clearly from all
evidence he was very close to,
so I think of their parents on
that jury.
I'm a parent.
You're still going to be
scratching your head saying,
hmm, I don't know.
I may not like this guy, I may
not think he's the most
honorable person but I don't
know if he had it in him to blow
his son's brains out.
>> Murdaugh testified about how
his opioid addiction began.
What effect do you think that
will have?
>> Well, they're trying to use
it for positive effect to show
he had a problem.
He was sympathetic for trying to
wrestle with it and that that
may have made him paranoid and
caused him to, you know,
distrust the police when he is
telling this lie.
A little bit of a double-edged
sword. The prosecution doesn't have to
raise this point but if he was
that addled by the addiction, he
might have been acting very
irrationally at the time and the
jury might believe this very
opioid addicted person went off
into this paranoid frenzy and
did slaughter his own family.
So it's a double-edged sword