His giant Ego led him to believe he could run the show, as he had many times as the attorney in Many Civil Suits. Basically an Ambulance Chaser. Big $$$
Yup. He, unlike most murder defendants, was very comfortable talking in front of a jury. I am always interested in why a murder defendant decides to take the stand, sometimes against their attorney's advice, because it is rare when they chose to do this.
Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was sentenced Friday to life in prison after being convicted of murdering his wife and their youngest son.
abcnews.go.com
Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian stood by putting
Alex Murdaugh on the stand during the trial.
"There was no choice, because he had been made out to be a monster ... he had to try to push back on that," Harpootlian said. "Without taking the stand, he was toast."
"He had to take the stand to explain the video," he said, referring to the
cellphone video placing Alex Murdaugh at the scene minutes before the murders.
Harpootlian said the prosecution focused on Alex Murdaugh's character, casting him as a thief and a liar.
"This jury had to think he was a despicable human being and not to be believed. So it was about character, wasn't about motive," he said.
Harpootlian said he wouldn't change anything about how the defense presented its case.
Harpootlian said the defense will file an appeal in 10 days.
No doubt, if Mr Murdaugh hadn’t confessed during direct questioning from his defence team, he would have faced a grilling by prosecutors about why he lied about being at the kennels that night.
Mr Murdaugh was confronted by his defence attorney Jim Griffin about the murders and his fake alibi as soon as he took the stand.