Prosecution to rest in Murdaugh double-murder trial, as defense prepares to make its case
We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Back now at 7.30 here on CBS Mornings and the prosecution in the double murder trial of Alex Murdoch is expected to rest its case today. It follows three weeks of testimony related to the 2021 killings of Murdoch's wife and son. The lawyer, the disgraced lawyer has pleaded not guilty in those killings and Nikki Bates has been following this case every twist and turn from the very beginning and she joins us now. Nikki, good morning.
Good morning. Alex Murdoch's defense team could call its first witnesses today. The defense will likely point to what it says is a subpar investigation, a weak motive and no murder weapon to directly link Murdoch to the murders. Did you kill Maggie? No. Did I kill him? How much? Yes. No, they did. Jurors this week were shown footage of investigators questioning Alex Murdoch in August 2021, two months after his wife, Maggie and son Paul were shot and killed on the family's hunting estate.
I don't have anything that points to anybody else at this time. So does that mean that I am a suspect? Prosecutors have painted Murdoch as a manipulative man who con people out of millions of dollars for years. They claim he killed his wife and son in an attempt to distract from those alleged financial crimes before they came to light as a part of a separate civil case involving his son Paul, who was charged with driving under the influence in a boat crash that killed a 19-year-old girl. My son was in a boat wreck months back. He's been getting threats. Police body camera footage from the night of the murders shows Murdoch suggesting the killer's motive was revenge for the boating incident. I noticed somebody.
I noticed what it is. Prosecutors also played a social media video recorded by Murdoch's son, which they say showed him around an hour before the murders, wearing a different outfit from the white t-shirt and shorts he had on when police arrived. CBS News legal analyst Ricky Kleeman. So the prosecution may have been very, very effective, but it's getting to that motive that becomes the stretch. During cross-examinations, the defense characterized Murdoch as a loving family man with no motive to kill his wife and son. Out of the police, Murdoch said he was the only one who had the courage to kill his wife and son. Alex Murdoch's defense team told me they're considering putting him on the stand.
What might their strategy be? The strategy of putting a defendant on the witness stand is the highest risk. Alex Murdoch's past is filled with trouble as a witness. He would be a prosecutor's cross-examination dream. The ultimate decision for a defendant to testify or not testify is to put him on the stand. The defendant is a defendant alone. It is always possible that his lawyers don't want him to testify, and he's going to insist on testifying anyway. This morning, we expect to hear more testimony from an investigator regarding a bizarre incident three months after the murders, where Alex Murdoch allegedly asked a friend to shoot him in the head as part of a life insurance payout for his surviving son, Buster.
Buster Murdoch is one of the witnesses on the defense list. I want to make one point that I think the defense will want to reiterate. We heard from a forensic expert during the witnesses from the prosecutors that there was unidentified male DNA under Maggie Murdoch, Alex's wife's fingernails. They do not know who it belongs to. They have ruled out Alex Murdoch and they don't know how it got there. There are a lot of ways DNA can be transferred. There are so many, I was just going to say the exact same thing.
The more you hear, the crazier it gets. Yes, indeed. It's complicated.
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