The judge in the double
murder trial of Alex Murdaugh
delivered a severe blow
to his defense today.
Murdaugh is a member of
what was once considered
a prestigious family in South Carolina,
but it turns out he allegedly
been stealing from his clients,
many poor families, for years.
He's on trial
now, accused of killing his wife
and youngest son
to try to deflect attention
from those alleged financial crimes.
The prosecutors say
we're about to be revealed.
His attorneys said
the fraud claims were irrelevant,
that they shouldn't
be presented to the jury.
But after days of testimony,
the judge disagreed.
And today as well,
he testimony from a witness
who says she talked
with Murdaugh on the night of the murders
and that he made her, quote, nervous.
CNN's Randi Kaye has more on that
Was it unusual to see Alex
Murdaugh at that resonance
that time of night?
Yes, she was.
Yes.
This woman is the only witness
who saw Alex Murdaugh
around the time of the murders.
Michelle Shelley
Smith worked as a caregiver
for Alex
mother and says
Alex came to his mom's home sometime
after 9 p.m.
on June 7th. 20, 21.
That would have been shortly
after the state, says Maggie
and Paul Murdaugh's phones
ceased all activity,
meaning they were likely dead.
Alex mother had Alzheimer's.
Smith said
his mom was sleeping that night
and that it was unusual for Alex
to come visit her so late.
Smith recalled Alex
stayed about 15 to 20 minutes.
Despite that,
she says he told her
the next day,
unsolicited that he was there
much longer than that.
And just to be clear,
what was the statement
he said about how long he was here?
30 to 40 minutes.
But his phrase was
I was here, or,
you know, I was, I was here
30 to 40 minutes.
Was he there 30 or 40 minutes or not?
Not to all.
Smith cried on the stand
as she shared how that conversation
with Alex made her so nervous.
She called her brother
to tell him about it.
She seemed to suggest
Alex was sending her a message to say
he was there longer
the night of the murders.
She also described for the jury
how Alex seemed fidgety.
The defense pushed back.
It's his normal behavior.
Kind of fidgety.
Yes. Smith told the jury.
Days after the murders, Alex
returned to his mother's house around
six 30 in the morning
with what looked like a blue tarp over
something like this. Yes.
And what did it look like?
Like a blue tarp.
Like a tight
blue blue.
Okay. Was it vital?
Because, like, a tight
they get put on a car,
you keep your car covered up.
Did he say anything when you own it?
No.
What did you do when you walked in?
Went upstairs.
The prosecution argued
in opening statements
that investigators
recovered a blue raincoat
at Alex's mother's home,
which had gun residue on it.
This special agent
with SLED, the South
Carolina Law Enforcement
Division, told the jury
she found
a blue
raincoat tucked away in a closet
at his mother's house.
We located a blue raincoat in the closet
on the second floor.
When we found it
was balled up like this.
That is correct.
Still, the defense injected some doubt,
getting Smith,
the caregiver, to confirm
she thought it was a tarp,
not a raincoat.
And it was not a rain jacket, was it?
No, it wasn't. It was a blue tarp. Yes.
The defense
also pointed out
the blue item, whatever
it was, didn't have a gun
wrapped inside it,
such as a murder weapon,
which would have left gunshot residue.
But the caregiver noticed more about Alex
the night of the murders.
Did you observe anything about his face,
any on his face?
They're going to get a little color
cut or something
and then apologize a little like a
a little bruise or something.
Where was it
so that everybody's falling in?
What she didn't see on Alex was blood
that Alex have
Alex have blood on his clothes?
No, they have blood on his shoes.
No, he had blood on his hair.
No,
Medicaid joint is now.
So if Alexander didn't have blood on him
when he went to his mom's house,
what would that mean necessarily?
Well, I understand based on the timing,
he likely went to his mom's house
after those murders had already occurred.
So it could mean
if he didn't have blood on him,
that he really wasn't there
at the time of the murders.
As he has said.
Or it could mean,
as the prosecutors
have suggested, that he washed up
and changed his clothes
after allegedly killing his wife and son.
Now, we know from the caregiver
at the mom's house
that he was wearing
shorts and a white t shirt
when he showed up there,
which is different than the clothing
he was wearing.
Just about an hour
before the murders happened to occur
on that Snapchat video
that his son, Paul, had sent out.
So the jury will have to decide
which one they believe on that.
But also, Anderson, just one note
on that blue raincoat.
The witness
who oversaw
all of the testing
of the gunshot residue on that raincoat.
She's going to take the stand tomorrow.
She will likely say
that there was gunshot
residue on the
raincoat as the prosecutor
has already said
in his opening statement.
But the trouble is, Anderson,
nobody actually
saw Alex Murdaugh
wearing that raincoat
the night of the murder.
So the jury will really have
to connect the dots on that one. Right.
Randi Kaye, appreciate it. Thank you.