Murdaugh: "I want to testify"

Alex Murdaugh told his trial Thursday that he will take the stand to deny blasting his wife and youngest son to death.

“I am going to testify — I want to testify,” the disgraced legal scion told Judge Clifton Newman at the start of proceedings Thursday.

[I haven’t paid much attention to this trial, but I have a relative who has watched it assiduously. The trial is not going well for Murdaugh, who is reportedly coming across as a sociopath, a narcissist, or both. If that’s the case, then this decision is no surprise, since one feature of both pathologies is a firm belief in the ability to manipulate others. At its core, though, it at least means that Murdaugh’s worried that prosecutors may have proven their case and he needs to fight back. — Ed]