despite cell phone video placing him at the scene. remind me of the expression you gave on the witness stand. was it, oh, what tangled web we weave? what did you mean by that. i meant when i lied, i continued to lie. reporter: the defense relied heavily on murdaugh s opioid addiction to account for his deception and lies about his whereabouts, something the judge and jury didn t buy. they have concluded that you continued to lie and lied throughout your testimony. not credible. not believable. reporter: despite all the circumstantial evidence against him, murdaugh maintained he was not guilty. i m innocent. i would never under any circumstances hurt my wife, maggie, and i would never under any circumstances hurt my son, paul paul. and it might not have been you. it might have been the monster you become when you take 15, 20,
that. it certainly could have been because of the dynamic of his family, the fact that for generations they had really run that county, and as a result of that decided just to go and attempt to get a conviction and the life sentences that they did, the judge certainly noting that, right, for far less as you mentioned. so it s an interesting dynamic. in order for the judge to have imposed it and the jury to have considered it, notice would have had to have been filed and provided by the prosecutors and that never happened. it would be an interesting question in interviews going forward to ask, you know, if people have been convicted and sentenced to death for far less, why in this instance, based on who this defendant was, why wasn t it pursued in this case? i don t think anyone can think of a more heinous crime in shooting your own family members, that they would deserve death, if you believe in the
night despite cellphone video placing him at the scene. remind me of the expression you gave on the witness stand. was it, oh, what tangled web we weave? what did you mean by that? when i lied, i continued to lie. reporter: the defense relied heavily on murdaugh s opioid addiction in his attempts to lie about his whereabouts, something the judge and jury didn t buy. they ve concluded you continued to lie and lie throughout your testimony. not credible. not believable. reporter: despite all the circumstantial evidence against him, murdaugh maintained he was not guilty. i m innocent. i would never under any circumstances hurt my wife maggie and i would never under any circumstances hurt my son paw-paw. it might not have been you.
and a son to being the person indicted and convicted of killing them. that was striking. it also speaks to how close knit that area is. i wonder too, after hearing that, why wasn t there a bigger fight for a change of venue? would that have made a difference? i think at the onset of this case, the defense had to make a strategy call. on one hand, now in hindsight, there s always the concern you re going to have a prejudiced jury, because the murdaughs are so prevalent in the community. we ve seen these netflix documentaries that talk about a lot of stuff that isn t even in the trial. is that jury pool tainted? that s one camp.
minutes for you guys to come to a decision? probably about 45, maybe an hour. reporter: murdaugh, once a prominent lawyer in the area, took the stand last week in his own emotional defense, maintaining he found the bodies after returning from a brief visit to his mother that night, despite cell phone video placing him at the scene. remind me of the expression you gave on the witness stand. was it, oh, what a tangled web we weave. what did you mean? that when i lied, i continued to lie. reporter: the defense relied heavily on murdaugh s opioid addiction to account for his deception and lies, something the judge and jury didn t buy. they ve concluded that you continued to lie and lie throughout your testimony. not credible, not believable. reporter: despite all the circumstantial evidence against him, murdaugh maintained he was