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On February 23, 2022, Alex Murdaugh took the stand to testify in his own murder trial. He admitted to lying about not being present in the dog kennel video recorded on Paul’s cellphone moments before he was shot to death alongside his mother Maggie.
However, the former attorney continued to deny having any role in the June 2021 killings of his son and wife:
“I would never intentionally do anything to hurt either one of them.”
Murdaugh initially told investigators that he was napping after dinner on the night of the murders and had last seen the mother-son duo 90 minutes before stumbling across their dead bodies.
The kennel video, obtained after hacking Paul’s phone, put Murdaugh’s alibi under scrutiny as several witnesses claimed they could hear the latter’s voice in the background of the footage. Following his confession, Murdaugh blamed his lies on opioid addiction and said:
“As my addiction evolved over time, I would get in these situations, these circumstances where I would get paranoid thinking.”
He also mentioned that he had to continue lying after the first lie created a “tangled web”:
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave. Once I told a lie — I told my family — I had to keep lying.”
Despite admitting to the lies, Alex Murdaugh maintained his stance about not being involved in Paul and Maggie’s slayings. However, some social media users claimed that the disgraced lawyer was seen nodding his head up and down when asked about killing his family, while saying, “No I did not.”
Twitter user @/pattykazUSA alleged that body language experts would reportedly rule Murdaugh’s gesture as a lie. They also mentioned that “his body gave away the truth while his words lied."
Twitter user @/LunaLens21 also pointed out that Murdaugh nodded his head as 'yes' while saying 'no' to killing his wife and son. They also dubbed it as a “body language giveaway."
Prosecutors have accused Alex Murdaugh of killing his son Paul and wife Maggie to gain sympathy and distract authorities from uncovering his multi-million dollar financial crimes. Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to the charges related to the murder case.
Body language experts analyzes Alex Murdaugh’s testimony
On Thursday, Alex Murdaugh denied killing his wife and son while testifying at his murder trial. Shortly after, body language expert Janine Driver appeared on CNN to weigh in on the testimony.
Driver addressed how Murdaugh spoke during his testimony and said there is something called “statement analysis” and “words that have hidden meaning behind them.” She also mentioned that the “strongest denial is always a no”:
“Truthful people convey, liars try to convince and we hear that with him, considering, absolutely not.”
The host then played parts of Murdaugh’s testimony in which he can be seen saying:
“Mr. Griffin, I didn’t shoot my wife or my son any time, ever.”
Following the clip, Driver mentioned:
“So the biggest thing would have just would have just been saying no, first of all, but he is like, no, I did not, and I have never done this, and he goes on to this I call it ‘smoke screening,’ saying all but just stop.”
She continued:
“He says things like unequivocally . Absolutely, not. This is overselling. Again, truthful people convey, liars try to convince. So we have some hot spots here.”
Driver also pointed out that when someone something like “that’s all I can tell you” 100 percent of the time it means “It means there is something they are not telling you.” The expert said that Murdaugh used the same phrase in regard to speaking about his wife:
“So this right here to me is a smoking gun. There is more to the story he is not sharing.”
When the host asked Driver about her opinion of Murdaugh’s addiction issues and gestures like “licking his lips” and “poking out his tongue” in court from a body language perspective, the former said:
“Well, first of all, the drugs can in fact, do that. But you are really looking at when do these moments happen? When do these tongue protrusions come out? We something very interesting when he pushes his tongue inside his mouth, they are called pacifiers. The higher the pacifier, the more stress and anxiety.”
She further added:
“This high level pacifier, pushing the tongue inside his cheek, you see it often… it indicates, usually its smugness, this contemptness , where it’s demonstrating like this is a joke, like I am being contemptuous.”
Speaking about Alex Murdaugh’s presence, Driver noted:
“He is very charming. You know, yesterday in the courtroom, they had a couple of jurors crying at the same time. We have mirror neurons, if he cries and we cry, that makes us like him because we experience it.”
The expert continued:
“I think the prosecuting attorney is going to have his hands full here with the jury. I would always say the best way to detect deception is to not have the aspect of the person you’re looking at in analyzing. If they’re crying, if they’re screaming, if they’re mad, if they’re contemptuous, if they’re disgusted, you have no effect.”
Driver mentioned that the fact that two jurors were crying yesterday is “not good” for the prosecuting attorney.
Sharing more about her insight on Alex Murdaugh’s body language, the expert said:
“The body language, he leaks a lot of disgust. And this is discussed. This disgust is repelling contaminated objects. It doesn’t belong here. If anything, we should have sadness here. Authentic sadness. We should maybe have fear- hey, who did it? If it wasn’t him, who did it?”
Driver concluded her analysis by saying that the aforementioned part of Murdaugh is “just not showing up.”
Body language expert Dr. Lilian Glass spoke to Fox News and discussed Alex Murdaugh breaking down in the courtroom while speaking about finding his son’s body.
She said that there was “not a lot of authenticity” and that the former attorney was “practiced”:
“It’s not genuine. I don’t feel that those are genuine tears. There may be remorse for getting caught and for being in a trial but in all honesty, throughout this whole experience you don’t see a lot of tears, you really see a lot of inauthenticity.”
Glass also mentioned that Murdaugh showed some “signals of deception” during his testimony. Similar to Driver, the expert also questioned Alex Murdaugh’s “no I did not” response and said such responses are always “a red flag.”
Netizens react to Alex Murdaugh’s body language during testimony
Alex Murdaugh’s body language has been subject to major discussion ever since the former attorney took the stand to testify at his ongoing murder trial.
While body language experts shared their insight on the testimony, netizens pointed out that Murdaugh was nodding his head “up and down” while saying “no” about killing his wife and son in June 2021.
Several social media users also took to Twitter to react to Murdaugh’s body language in the wake of his testimony.
Alex Murdaugh’s testimony came to an end on February 24, a day after he first took the stand. Judge Newman reportedly dismissed the jury with immediate effect after the testimony concluded.
Prosecutors are currently seeking life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for Murdaugh instead of the death penalty on alleged charges of killing his wife and son. The latter has continued to maintain his innocence and pled not guilty.
