where he was the night of the murders, but he has fervently denied he committed the killings. murdaugh s defense attorney said today in closing arguments that he could not have committed these murders, but the prosecution pushed back reminding the jury about mur murdaugh s lies. alec would not have killed the people he loved the most in the world. but you don t lie and misremember being at the scene of a murder. cnn s randi kaye was inside the courtroom and in walterboro, south carolina, today and has been following this case closely really for years now. randi, before the defense gave their closing arguments there was a juror dismissed. what happened? well, john, this juror was dismissed for speaking with other people about the case, not fellow jurors but just other people and every day in the court the judge reiterates to the jury to not discuss the case. he spoke with the lawyers about it and law enforcement
don t come to me, i ll come to you. the president makes the trip up pennsylvania avenue as democrats set their priority list. senate majority leader chuck schumer was in the room, and now he will be here on the lead . a plot to kill foiled in michigan as authorities arrest a man they say wanted to kill jewish lawmakers including fwf michigan s attorney general. after six weeks of testimony and more than 70 witnesses, now the jury gets the case in the double murder trial for alex murdaugh. welcome to the lead. i m john berman in for jake tapper. we start with our national lead. moments ago the jury began deliberations in the murder trial of alex murdaugh. the jury will have to decide if murdaugh killed his wife maggie and son paul. more than 70 witnesses testified in the trial, which spanned more than six weeks. murdaugh admitted on the stand he lied to investigators about
might be to the jury? i think it s a slippery slope, john, and i ll explain why. so on one hand in the defense s favor, there are so many people in this country who have been impacted by opioids. it s a crisis. it s a crisis nationwide, so from the defense perspective, raising the specter that his opioid addiction could have led him to act irrationally and that he lied and was paranoid, this is something they believe will resonate with one or two jurors who have perhaps had personal experience either with themselves or a loved one or friend with opioid abuse. i say it s a slippery slope because on the flip side you re talking about somebody acting rationally, act k reasonably and the defense was saying alex murdaugh was not able to do that. he was paranoid. that s why he lied so long.
to me yesterday watching the funeral is the role that women were playing in this funeral. you think about his mom stepping up and giving that emotional speech. had is sister and then all the other mothers who showed up who also had sons or daughters who were victims of what they call police brutality with something to see. not to mention the vice president of the united states playing a big role as well. ryan in memphis, thank you. nice job. appreciate it. testimony resumes this morning in alex murdaugh s double murder trial in south carolina. prosecutors presented pivotal evidence of cell phone video undercuts his alibi the night his wife and son were brutally murdered. randi kaye is covering the trial. she joins us live again. good morning. good morning, poppy. that s right. al alex murdaugh said he was napping.
calls that were answered, incoming calls answered on paul s phone? no, sir. alex murdaugh was not identified by prosecutors on the video. but this witness rogan gibson testified that paul was sending the video in question to him that night. so gibson could do you recognize the voices on there? i did. you recognize the voices of your second family? i did. and what voices did you hear? paul and miss maggie and alex. how sure are you now? positive. 100%? yes. it seemed to backfire. you heard a voice say no, it s a chicken. do you remember whose voice that was? that was mr. alex that said it first time and paul also said it was a chicken. it only got worse for the