Fox News reports that, last week, Alex Murdaugh took the witness stand in his own defense. 

Murdaugh, a well-known lawyer from South Carolina, stands accused of murdering both his wife, Maggie, and his son Paul on June 7, 2021, on their family hunting estate, which is known as "Moselle." Murdaugh denies the accusations.

The murder trial, which has been broadcasted by various stations across the country, has been going on for several weeks. The prosecution rested its case on Feb. 17.

Murdaugh's legal team is now presenting its defense. And, as part of this defense, the 54-year-old Alex Murdaugh, himself, decided to take the witness stand.

A key admission

During his direct examination, Murdaugh made what may end up being a key admission: he admitted to lying about an important part of the information that he provided to authorities regarding his whereabouts on the night of the murders.

From the night of the murders onwards, Murdaugh had claimed that he was never at the Moselle dog kennels - the scene of the murders - on the night of the murders. Murdaugh, in fact, didn't just claim this once, but he claimed it repeatedly to investigators and even to family and friends.

What Murdaugh didn't realize, however, was that video recovered from his son Paul's cellphone captured Alex's voice at the kennels at 8:44 p.m. Murdaugh cannot be seen on the video footage, but witness after witness with personal knowledge of Murdaugh confirmed, in their testimony, that the voice does indeed belong to Alex Murdaugh.

As a result, Murdaugh was forced to admit, during his courtroom testimony, that he repeatedly lied about his whereabouts on the night of the murders. Murdaugh admitted that it was his voice on the video.

This is particularly problematic for Murdaugh for several reasons: for one, it shows that contrary to what he and his defense have claimed, he was not as open and forthright with investigators as he has claimed to be. And, even more importantly, it puts Murdaugh at the scene of the crime shortly before the murders of his wife and son.

Some themes that have emerged

The defense has attempted to paint Alex Murdaugh as a devoted family man with a drug problem that led to financial problems, insisting that, despite all of this, Murdaugh would never be able to murder anyone, let alone his own family.

The prosecution, however, has been painting a different picture.

The prosecution has sought to establish Murdaugh as a known liar - even to his own friends and family and clients - using the fact that he repeatedly, for years, stole huge sums of money from his clients, apparently to fund his drug habit. Clearly, the prosecution wants jurors to ask themselves the question, "if Murdaugh lied so much in the past, including to loved ones, who's to say he isn't lying now?"

The main thrust of the prosecution's case appears to be to show that, by June 7, 2021, a number of different factors were placing tremendous amounts of pressure on Murdaugh. The prosecution is trying to claim that this is the motive for the murders. Whether this will be enough to convict Murdaugh of the murders remains unclear.

The trial could soon be coming to an end. It appears that closing arguments may begin this week.