Tensions erupted below Alex Murdaughis double murder trial Tuesday morning when his defense attorney began yelling at his former friend of 25 years in the courtroom.
Disgraced judicial dynasty attorney Dick Harpootlian lost his temper and became increasingly fiery during his cross-examination of the state’s first cross-examination witness Ronnie Crosby.
Mr Crosby, Mr Murdaugh’s friend of 25 years and his law firm partner at PMPED, testified earlier in the trial about how the defendant lied to him about his alibi the night his wife Maggie and son Paul were murdered.
He had also testified that he learned that his close friend and colleague had stolen millions of dollars from their law firm and its clients — and how the investigation into the missing money was put on hold because of the murders.
During heated cross-examination when Mr Crosby returned to the witness stand on Tuesday, Mr Harpootlian grilled him about how much of his personal money he has had to pay out to victims of Mr Murdaugh’s fraud.
Tensions reached boiling point when Mr. Harpootlian went so far as to suggest that Mr. Crosby testified against Mr. Murdaugh because he is angry with him over the stolen money.
“If you’re implying that I would come in here and somehow shade the truth in any way because of that, I would take offense to that, Mr. Harpootlian,” Mr. Crosby said.
This prompted Mr. Harpootlian to begin yelling at the State’s witness, scoffing at the notion that he felt no anger toward Murdaugh.
“I’m not worried about your high insult. Are you mad at him for stealing your money?” shouted Mr. Harpootlian.
When Mr Crosby replied that he had “no feeling one way or another” for Mr Murdaugh anymore, Mr Harpootlian continued combatively
“You have no feeling that Alex Murdaugh is betraying you and stealing your money?” he asked, before mockingly saying, “I admire you. I don’t know if I could see beyond that.”
He went on to grill Mr Crosby about being angry at his former friend – before admonishing him that he became angry in the stands during the combative exchange.
Mr Crosby told the court he used to be angry with Mr Murdaugh but has had to move on for the sake of his own life.
“I’ve had anger at him, extreme anger Mr. Harpootlian, because of what he did to my law firm, my partners, my clients, his clients, our clients, what he did to his family, what he did to so many people, he said, becoming more rattled.
The feed room and kennels where Maggie and Paul were killed
(FOX19)
“Yes, I experienced a lot of anger, but you can’t walk around with anger. You have to find a way to deal with it and move on, and I have.
“If you think I’ve come in here and told this jury something because of money when we’re talking about two people who were brutally murdered, you’re dead wrong.”
Mr Harpootlian continued to try to forbid a stronger reaction – or an admission of a potential motive for his testimony – by encouraging him to be “zen” and “nirvanaed” and claiming “maybe I just saw some anger there”.
Pushing back, Mr Crosby said: “I came to the scene of these murders to support my partner. I was there. I saw things that haven’t even been talked about in this courtroom. I was there. I loved Paul very much. I thought i knew who alex was i didn’t.
“But it’s hard to walk around with anger… So maybe you’re not like that, but I have to function. I have a family. I have to move on with my life.”
He later added that he hasn’t necessarily forgiven his former friend but has been working to move on with his life.
“When you go through what we’ve been through — not just losing people we loved in a double homicide, seeing the aftermath and then learning that someone you worked with for more than 20 years had stolen for a period of time and cheated us — there’s a lot feelings there, he said.
“And yes, it was bad in the fall of 2021 and I’ve found a way to have no feelings. It’s not forgiveness. It’s just that I have no feelings.”
The brutal exchange culminated in Mr Harpootlain suggesting Mr Crosby “may not want to help him in front of this jury” because of Mr Murdaugh’s financial crimes.
“All these things happened, and it does not affect my testimony. I take the oath I just took very seriously, and if you have any indication that anything I said was incorrect, I will be happy to take it up with you,” Mr. Crosby replied calmly.
“Well, the jury can judge that, thank you,” Mr. Harpootlian said.
The heated exchange came after Crosby disagreed with Mr. Harpootlian that — having represented many personal injury clients who have experienced trauma — trauma victims are often given details of what went wrong.
“They can. But I also think that people who have been involved in traumatic experiences try to be very particular about details because they know it’s important to who is representing them,” he said.
During direct testimony, Mr. Crosby told the court how Murdaugh stole thousands of dollars from his friend who was dying of terminal cancer.
It was around 2018 and Barrett Boulware – a friend of both Mr Crosby and Mr Murdaugh – was being treated for colon cancer at the Mayo Clinic.
Mr. Crosby testified that he helped Mr. Boulware financially with the treatment, something Mr. Murdaugh knew about.
Later, Crosby said he learned Murdaugh had stolen $75,000 in insurance money from their dying friend.
Mr Crosby was the prosecution’s first rebuttal witness called to the stand – with his testimony marking the third time he has given evidence in Mr Murdaugh’s murder trial.
Defense attorney Jim Griffin and prosecutor Creighton Waters listen to testimony during Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial
(AP)
Earlier in the trial he had sobbed as he told the court how he was very close to the Murdaugh family and Paul would call him ‘uncle’.
He testified how he rushed to Mosel as soon as he learned of the murders and stayed with Mr Murdaugh that night.
During that time, he said Murdaugh repeatedly lied to him, saying he had never gone down to the kennels that night, and gave him the same alibi story he gave to police — that he slept at the family home, woke up and drove to his parents’ home to to visit his sick mother.
Mr. Crosby was one of several witnesses who identified Mr. Murdaugh’s voice in the cellphone video of Paul at the kennels minutes before the murders.
Last week, Murdaugh took the stand in his own case and admitted he lied about his alibi on the night of the murders and admitted it was his voice in the video.
In court on Tuesday, Mr Crosby said that – hearing his former friend’s evidence – was the first time he had heard him admit to having taken place there.
He also testified that during the evening of the murders, Murdaugh told him on “more than one occasion” that he had touched the bodies of Maggie and Paul.
He said it was “clear” to him that the accused killer said he touched the bodies before calling 911.
“I understood that he was checking on them before he called 911. That was clear to me,” he said.
During his testimony last week, Murdaugh claimed he touched the bodies while calling 911 — testimony that came after data showed less than 20 seconds elapsed between the time Murdaugh’s car pulled up at the crime scene and the start of his 911 call in which he claimed he found Maggie and Paul’s bodies.
During the 911 call, he told the dispatcher that he had touched the bodies of both his wife and son to check for signs of life.
Prosecutors began calling more witnesses to the stand at the Colleton County Courthouse Tuesday morning as part of their restitution motion.
Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters told the court the state plans to call up to seven witnesses and expects to wrap up its case by the end of the day.
Alex Murdaugh wipes his eyes as the court is shown gruesome images of the bodies of his wife and son
((Jeff Blake/The State via AP, Pool))
Jurors will be taken on a field trip to the Mosel property to see for themselves the crime scene where the brutal murders took place.
At the property, jurors will visit the kennels and feed room on the farm where Maggie and Paul were shot dead on June 7, 2021.
After that, closing arguments will begin before the jury begins deliberations in the case.
It’s possible that by the end of the week, the disgraced lawyer and accused murderer will know his fate.
The defense rested its case on Monday after calling 14 witnesses over the course of a week as the legal team tries to convince jurors of Murdaugh’s innocence.
Murdaugh’s younger brother John Marvin Murdaugh was the last witness called to the stand for the defense and broke down in tears as he described how he “cleaned up” the crime scene – and “what was left” of his nephew Paul.
In emotional testimony, John Marvin said he had gone down to the doghouses on the family’s sprawling Mosel estate on June 8, 2021 – the morning after the murders – and saw that police had not cleaned up Paul’s blood, brains and skull material before returning the scene to the family only hours after the murders.
– It was not cleaned. I saw blood, I saw brains, I saw pieces of skull… I don’t know what I saw,” he said.
Sobbing, he said he began cleaning up “what was left of Paul” as he cried “uncontrollably”.
“I promise you that no mother, father, aunt or uncle will ever have to see and do what I did that day. I don’t blame anyone. But I was just so overwhelmed,” he says.
John Marvin also gave testimony critical of the investigation, including what he described as a “puzzling” statement released by police saying the community was in no danger and an apparent lack of urgency to find Maggie’s cellphone.
He also said a SLED agent told him they knew his brother was responsible for the murders because of blood spatter evidence found on the white T-shirt he was wearing the night of the murders. This was later shown to be false, with forensic tests finding no human blood on the shirt.
He also claimed his brother had a “good relationship” with his wife and son, as the defense tries to paint Mr Murdaugh as a loving father and husband who could never have killed his family members.
The defense’s case has also sought to poke holes in the prosecution’s case, casting doubt on the validity of the investigation, while pushing a theory that two shooters may have carried out the attack.
During two dramatic days in court last week, Murdaugh took the witness stand in his own case and admitted he lied about his alibi the night of the murders.
Alex Murdaugh’s brother breaks down and describes how he ‘cleaned up’ the scene of nephew’s murder
For the past 20 months, the 54-year-old has denied ever being at the doghouse with his wife and son on the night of June 7, 2021, and lied to the police, his family and friends about the last time he saw them. Live.
In a bombshell moment, he admitted he lied, saying he was “paranoid” partly because of a distrust of SLED and because he was encouraged by his lawyer friends not to speak without a lawyer present.
But during dramatic cross-examination, prosecutor Creighton Waters appeared to catch Mr Murdaugh in another lie.
He revealed evidence that Mr Murdaugh had lied about his alibi from the moment the first police arrived on the scene and appeared to pour cold water on the accused killer’s reason for lying.
The defense case came after jurors heard four weeks of dramatic testimony from prosecutors, who covered a trove of circumstantial evidence, including cell phone and car records and many glaring holes in his alibi for the time of the murders.
Prosecutors allege Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his string of alleged financial crimes — at a time when his multimillion-dollar fraud scheme was on the verge of being exposed.
Murdaugh faces life in prison for the murders of Maggie and Paul and has pleaded not guilty.
In addition to the murders, the brutal double murders uncovered a series of scandals surrounding Murdaugh, including unexplained deaths, a multi-million dollar fraud scheme and a botched hitman plot.