March 2, 2023 - Alex Murdaugh found guilty in the murder of his wife and son

h defense addressed Alex Murdaugh lying about being at the family's dog kennels on the night that his wife and son were killed, with attorney Jim Griffin attributing it to Murdaugh's drug use.

"He lied because that's what addicts do," Griffin said. "Addicts lie."

"He lied because he had a closet full of skeletons," Griffin said, adding Murdaugh "didn't want any more ... scrutiny on him."

Griffin also said the prosecution's argument is "the most ironic thing in the world, because ... their theory is that he slaughtered his wife and son to distract from an impending financial investigation, but he puts himself in the middle of a murder investigation, and he puts himself in the spotlight of a media firestorm?"

Griffin said Murdaugh lied because he was "in the throes of addiction," but he didn't lie about the murders.

In his closing arguments Thursday, defense attorney Jim Griffin played back testimony from Alex Murdaugh's trial that he said illustrates the healthy relationship Murdaugh maintained with his wife and son, whom he is accused of killing.

Griffin argued that a loving relationship between Murdaugh, his wife Maggie and son Paul contradicts the prosecution's argument that the father would gun down his family just to distract attention from a series of alleged financial crimes.

He said witnesses who truly knew the family "testified under oath how much Alex adored Maggie — that was, she was 'his all.' Some people described Paul as Alex's best friend. His relationship with him was awesome. And that was unanimous."

Griffin then played a video from housekeeper Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson's testimony.

"He adored her," Turrubiate-Simpson said of Alex's relationship with Maggie. "He loved her. He adored her."

Griffin also replayed testimony from Roger Dale Davis Jr., who twice-daily cleaned the Murdaugh’s dog kennels.

Davis acknowledged earlier comments he made referring to Alex and his wife as “lovey dovey,” and testified under cross-examination he had never seen Alex raise his voice at Maggie.

"Anything she wanted, or the boys wanted, he would try to get it," Davis said of the Murdaugh patriarch.

"Why, why, why, would Alex Murdaugh, on June 7, execute his son Paul and his wife Maggie, who he adored and loved?" Griffin said after he played the clips.

Court is now in recess for a 10-minute break in the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh.

Defense attorney Jim Griffin has been presenting his closing argument in the case today.

Defense attorney Jim Griffin alleged investigators “started fabricating evidence" against Alex Murdaugh in the killings of his wife and son.

“Some of my best friends are law enforcement; I don’t make that claim lightly,” Griffin said in his closing arguments. 

Murdaugh's financial and drug issues made him an "easy target" for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, also known as SLED, he said.

Griffin said investigators produced a report that said Murdaugh’s T-shirt had high-velocity blood spatter on it, but a previous HemaTrace test had not detected blood.

The issue of Alex Murdaugh changing his clothes the night his wife and son were killed was “late to the dance,” Griffin added. 

When the defense team asked about the blood allegations, Griffin told the jury that SLED agent David Owen said he never got email about the test that indicated no blood splatter.

"Did the dog eat his email?" Griffin asked. "How does the lead investigator in the case not get the lab report that says there's no blood on the shirt?"

On Feb. 15, Owen testified he had told a county grand jury that an expert found multiple particles of blood spatter on the front of the T-shirt, and it was sent to a lab for testing. The test, however, found no blood on the shirt.

“Y’all completely overlooked the fact that when you did a HemaTrace test to confirm whether there’s blood, it came up negative. Wasn’t that overlooked?” asked Griffin.

“I had never seen that report,” responded Owen, who admitted he did not see it until November 2022, just months before the trial began.

Last week, Murdaugh said during his testimony that “there’s no way I had high-velocity blood spatter on me.”

“I have seen reports that said that,” Murdaugh added. “I was nowhere near Paul and Maggie when they got shot.”

CNN's Dakin Andone, Dianne Gallagher and Emma Tucker contributed reporting to this post.

In his closing arguments on Thursday, defense attorney Jim Griffin said investigators made missteps in the murder case against Alex Murdaugh.

“We believe that we’ve shown conclusively that (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) failed miserably in investigating this case,” Griffin said. “And had they done a competent job, Alex would have been excluded from that circle (of suspects) a year ago or two years ago.”

He said that hair was found in the hand of Alex Murdaugh's wife Maggie on the night she was killed, but he has not seen any testing or conclusions about it.

Previously during cross examination, Griffin had questioned a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agent's notes in her report that night which said Murdaugh’s wife appeared to have strands of brown hair in her hands and fingers and that Paul appeared to have scratches on his face.

Griffin said agents failed to properly take fingerprints, footwear and tire impressions, and DNA samples off of Maggie and their son Paul's clothes — even though investigators took samples from Alex Murdaugh's clothing.

He also alleged Maggie's phone was not secured properly after investigators found it on the side of a road.

Closing arguments have resumed in the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh.

Attorney Jim Griffin, one of Murdaugh's attorneys, is presenting the defense's closing argument.

Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters presented for the state Wednesday.

On Thursday morning, Judge Clifton Newman announced that one juror would be removed and replaced by an alternate after a member of the public reached out to inform the court that the juror engaged in improper conversations with parties not associated with the case.

Newman said they interviewed the juror and interviewed two of the people who were believed to be involved. Both waffled on the nature and extent of the contact, said the judge before announcing that the juror would be removed.

He then thanked the juror for their service.

“You have been a — by all accounts — a great juror and smiled consistently and seemingly been attentive to the case and performed well," he said.

"I certainly want to thank you for your service and not suggesting you intentionally did anything wrong, but in order to preserve the integrity of the process and in fairness to all the parties involved, we're going to replace you with one of the other jurors,” the judge continued.

Newman then asked the juror if she had left anything in the jury room, and she said “a dozen eggs and my purse,” to which the judge replied, “say that again, a dozen eggs?” leading to a burst of laughter in the courtroom.

State prosecutors said in closing arguments of Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial Wednesday that he was the only person who had the motive, means and opportunity to kill his wife and son in June 2021 – and that his lies afterward betrayed him.

“People lie because they know they did something wrong. That’s why he lied, ladies and gentlemen,” prosecutor Creighton Waters said.

The prosecution described the weeks and months leading up to the murders of Alex Murdaugh’s wife and son as a “gathering storm" which came to head on the night of the killings.

In the prosecution’s telling, the motive was Murdaugh’s attempt to distract and delay investigations into his growing financial problems. The means were two family-owned weapons, Waters argued. And the opportunity was Murdaugh’s presence at the crime scene, as revealed in a pivotal video, minutes before the murders.

How the shootings played out: Waters described what he said was the scene when Paul and Maggie were fatally shot. He said after Paul was hit, Maggie was shot twice at close range when she ran over to him. She is then shot a third time where the bullet goes through the left side of her head, Waters said. Maggie is then shot for a fourth time in the back of the head, he said.

An alibi: Waters argued to the jury that Alex Murdaugh was "manufacturing an alibi" by calling and texting his wife and son, among others, after they were killed. He said any "reasonable person" would remember the last conversation they had with their loved one if they were killed, but argued that Murdaugh "lies convincingly and easily and he can do it as a drop of a hat."

The prosecutor also noted the kinds of questions Murdaugh asked law enforcement after the murders. He said one of the first things Murdaugh did was point out to police how many phone calls he made that night.

The big picture: The prosecution’s focus on Murdaugh’s financial motive and lies underscores the lack of any direct evidence, such as a murder weapon, bloody clothing or eyewitnesses, that connects Murdaugh to the killings. Instead, they have hinged their case on circumstantial evidence, including the consequential video placing Murdaugh at the crime scene that night.

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Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh is on trial for murder in connection to the killing of his wife and son. The defense is set to present its closing argument today.

Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

Here are the key people to know as the trial comes to a close:

The prosecution:

The defense: