Alex Murdaugh's surviving son defends dad against murder charge

The surviving son of South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was called by the defense to testify on behalf of his father on Tuesday, The Daily Beast reported.

" Buster Murdaugh, 26, was the third witness to be called in his father's defense, a day after the prosecution rested its case," reported Polar Melendez. "Prosecutors allege former lawyer Alex Murdaugh murdered his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, and his 22-year-old son, Paul, on June 7, 2021, at their family's hunting estate in an attempt to distract from questions about his financial crimes."

Murdaugh, whose family has been powerful in legal circles in the South Carolina Lowcountry, has separately been exposed as trying to fake his own death to arrange a fraudulent insurance payment to Buster.

The unusual nature of that scheme has drawn national attention to the killings of Murdaugh's family.

In addition to the financial misconduct — which comes as one of his former associates testified he was frequently asked to bring Murdaugh " envelopes of cash" for an unknown purpose — Murdaugh also spent tens of thousands of dollars on a drug habit per week, something that the defense itself stated at trial.

Watch video of the trial at this link.