Today Marks Day 11 of witness testimony in
the double murder trial of Alec Murdoch.
A lot of witnesses took the stand.
Today we heard from several people.
The prosecution again spent time trying
to convince a jury that Alec Murdoch's
money problems contributed and were the
motive to him killing his wife and his son.
Tonight we have team coverage outside
the Colleton County Courthouse.
We begin with news 19, kaylin hagwood.
Darcy, Andrea. Good Evening court
continuing after hours long testimony
from folks who were talking about
those alleged financial crimes as
prosecutors continue to work to lay
out their case against Alec Murdoch.
Now I want to take you into the courtroom
and introduce you to Chris Wilson.
He's an attorney who described himself as
Alex best friend while at separate firms.
He says they would work on cases
together occasionally with one.
He mentioned earning a multi
$1,000,000 settlement.
But when it came time to pay in that case.
He says Alec asked for his money directly
rather than sending it to the firm,
a move Wilson said he would
later learn was wrong.
Had been told that Ella had been
stealing from his firm and from
clients and that he had a drug
problem and was going into rehab.
Saw it yet? Y'all. What kind of?
Well, the defense continues to argue
that those financial allegations
are irrelevant to the killings,
and asked Wilson if he thought
Murdoch shot his wife and son.
Take a listen to that.
You weren't thinking you had
any involvement. In June, July,
during this period of time with
the murders of Maggie Paul, Sir.
Well, jurors also heard
from Tony Satterfield,
Murdoch's late housekeeper son,
about the money that he says was
allegedly stolen from him after his
mother fell at the Murdoch property and
later died coming up on news 19 at 6.
I'll tell you more of that financial
testimony and let you in on on how
jurors were reacting in the courtroom.
Reporting here in Collin County,
I'm Caitlin Hagwood.
Kellan, thank you.
Our team coverage continues now.
A large focus in court today has
been on testimony from Murdoch's
best friend Chris Wilson.
Rachel Rip breaks down his unique
position of knowing Murdoch personally
and also doing business with him.
Earlier today in the double
murder trial of Alec Murdoch,
Attorney Chris Wilson testified
that on the night of June 7th,
2021, when he learned of the
murders of Maggie and Paul,
he rushed to get clothing,
get to his car and drive.
Of the property known as Mozelle to support
his best friend in this time of tragedy,
Wilson went on to testify in cross
examination by defense Attorney
Jim Griffin about how in the
months of June and July 2021,
right after the killings,
Wilson believed Alec might kill himself.
He based that on how distraught Wilson
thought he appeared and Alex habits
of not sleeping or staying focused,
Wilson said.
As a result,
he would often check on Alec and
try to get him out of the house.
Wilson then testified that
at no point in time did he
think Alec had something to do
with Maggie and Paul's deaths
and nothing about his demeanor.
Set red flags off to you as to.
Man, he must be on something today.
No, Sir. I mean, I didn't see pill
bottles when we would travel together
for depositions or things like that.
He didn't seem to be out of it.
He seemed to be capable of handling
the work that we were handled,
that we were doing, you know,
when we would socialize together.
Didn't see.
Anything that indicated?
That he was addicted or had
a drug problem or using drugs
creating waters with the prosecution in
redirect focused on this information
about Alex alleged drug use.
Wilson told jurors that even
though he was Alex's best friend,
he didn't know about his problem and that
Wilson was shocked when Alec told him
about having an addiction for 20 years.
Wilson testified that Alec was, quote,
destroyed and upset the night of the murders,
and that he and other lawyers who
went to Mozelle that evening felt
Alex shouldn't interact with sled.
Without representation,
right before Wilson stepped
down from the witness stand,
he testified that in September 2021
when he got a call from Lee Cope
saying that Alec had been stealing
it quote hit him like a ton of
bricks reporting in Walterboro.
Rachel, Rip News 19 WLTX.
Alright, thank you Rachel.
And of course make sure you follow news 19.
For the most complete
coverage of the Murdoch trial,
you can download our streaming
service WLTX Plus also check out.
As streaming the trial live every
day on YouTube and then for our full
extended coverage go to wltx.com.