"I never manufactured any alibi in any way shape or form. Because I did not and would not hurt my wife and my child. So I know for a fact that I never ever, ever created an alibi," Alex Murdaugh testified in court.
High tension flowed at the Alex Murdough double-murder trial as the disgraced attorney was back on the stand in South Carolina for a second day.
This time, Murdaugh was being pummeled by the prosecutor, who portrayed the accused murderer as a drug addict, a thief and a liar.
The prosecutor honed in on a video, which the prosecution says shows that the disgraced lawyer had been with his son Paul and wife Maggie just minutes before the two were shot to death.
Murdaugh had initially told police he last saw his family hours before their murders.
"You have to sit in this courtroom and hear your family and your friends, one after the other, come in and testify that you were on that kennel video. So you, like you've done so many times over the course of your life, had to backup and make a new story that kind of fit with the facts that can't be denied, isn't that true, sir?" Prosecutor Creighton Waters asked Murdaugh at one point on the stand.
Murdaugh denied this, but the prosecutor accused Murdaugh of "manufacturing an alibi."
That resulted in a lengthy response from Murdaugh, who said: "I never manufactured any alibi in any way shape or form. Because I did not and would not hurt my wife and my child. So I know for a fact that I never ever, ever created an alibi."
Murdaugh claimed his addiction to painkillers made him paranoid and said that is why he lied to cops about his whereabouts that night.
He said that there were days he took more than 60 pills, which were a combination of oxycodone and OxyContin.
Opinion is mixed on Murdaugh's testimony, with many finding his decision to start referring to his son Paul a "Paw Paw" on the stand as contrived since he has never used that name before for his son.
Murdaugh is not the final witness that the defense will be calling in the case, which will have more witnesses on the stand Monday before closing arguments in the case.
Even if Murdaugh is acquitted, he could still spend decades in prison if he is found guilty on any of the litany of other charges he is facing for various alleged financial crimes.
Murdaugh has maintained his innocence throughout the trial, stating he did not murder is wife or son.
