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Creighton Waters, the lead prosecutor of the Alex Murdaugh murder trial, found himself on the Twitter page after grilling the defendant over his alleged financial crimes during the cross-examination on Thursday.
Prior to it, Murdaugh admitted to lying about his voice being heard in the kennel video taken on Paul’s cellphone, minutes before the latter was shot to death alongside his mother.
Waters began his session by asking the former attorney if the most important thing for him in court was to explain his lie about not being near the dog kennels at his home on the night of his wife and son’s murder. In response, Murdaugh said that he believed his entire testimony was important.
Shortly after, Waters began scrutinizing Murdaugh for stealing millions from his clients to continue his own lavish lifestyle. Speaking to the prosecutor, the latter admitted to stealing funds from clients at his PMPED law firm.
Creighton Waters highlighted the cases of specific victims of Murdaugh’s fraud scheme including his friend Barrett Boulware, a quadriplegic man, teenager Natasha Thomas and the Satterfield brothers, among others.
Waters asked:
“You had to sit down and look somebody in the eye and convince them that you were on their side when you were not? That’s what you did in every single one of these [cases]?”
Murdaugh then replied:
“Well, no, sir, that may or may not be true, and Mr. Waters just to try and get through this quicker…”
The prosecutor immediately cut him off and said:
“I know you want to get through this quicker — but we’re not.”
Murdaugh then blamed his 20-year opioid addiction for his alleged financial crimes and said:
“I’m not quite sure how it got the way it got but I was battling addiction for so many years. I was spending so much money on pills. My addiction is to opiate painkillers in particular to oxycodone. It just escalated and escalated and escalated.”
When Murdaugh agreed that he “did wrong” and “misled people I shouldn’t have misled,” Waters countered:
“How many times did you practice that answer before your testimony today?”
The tense cross-examination got further heated after Alex Murdaugh snapped at Creighton Waters for grilling him over financial crimes instead of focusing on the murder allegations:
“Mr. Waters, you have charged me with the murders of my wife and son. I can’t tell you all the details of these financial situations. I can tell you I did steal money that wasn’t mine. And I did wrong. It was terrible what I did.”
However, Waters continued to press Murdaugh about the details of his financial crimes and did not mention the murder allegations.
Prosecutors had earlier claimed that Alex Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract the authorities from his alleged financial crimes at a time when his fraud scheme was close to being exposed.
However, in an attempt to dismiss the prosecutor’s claims about a possible murder motive, during the cross-examination, Murdaugh attempted to say that he was “not that concerned” about his financial crimes being revealed.
What is known about Creighton Waters?
Creighton Waters is the chief prosecutor for the state of South Carolina’s grand jury and is currently the lead prosecutor of the Alex Murdaugh murder trial. He has reportedly worked for the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office for more than 24 years.
According to Fox Carolina, Waters is known for successful prosecutions and has won state Grand Jury indictments on corrupt law enforcement officers, as well as school district and county officials.
He reportedly earned indictments on more than 100 suspects in investigations related to drug operations in the state prison system.
Waters has also worked with other prosecutors on major white-collar cases, ranging from the misconduct allegations against former S.C. Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell of Charleston to the $9 billion V.C. Summer nuclear project criminal conspiracy.
Creighton Waters’ experience has been largely utilized by the Attorney General’s office to unravel Alex Murdaugh’s alleged web of financial and drug-related crimes. As of now, not much is known about Waters’ personal life.
Creighton Waters presses Alex Murdaugh over 2019 boat crash
In addition to pressing Alex Murdaugh over his financial crimes, Creighton Waters also grilled him over Paul’s drunken 2019 boat crash incident that took the life of 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
Waters shared a photo of Murdaugh with an assistant solicitor's badge hanging from his pocket as he went to the hospital after Paul drunkenly crashed his boat into a bridge, killing Beach:
“What advantage did you want?”
In response, Murdaugh said:
“A badge has a warming effect with other law enforcement.”
Murdaugh's late father and retired top prosecutor, Randolph Murdaugh III, was also allegedly spotted in the photo.
Murdaugh was previously accused of allegedly pressuring other passengers on the boat to tell investigators his son Paul was not driving the boat during the fatal incident.
Creighton Waters also highlighted the legal lineage of the Murdaugh family, starting with Alex Murdaugh’s great-grandfather becoming a district solicitor in 1920.
He noted that the family had a nearly 100-year-long “unbroken chain of being the chief prosecutor” and suggested that history illustrated the Murdaugh family’s relationship with local law enforcement.
While Murdaugh was initially reluctant to agree to the Waters’ arguments, he later admitted that the family had several good relationships with members of law enforcement.
Twitter reacts to Creighton Waters grilling Alex Murdaugh over financial crimes
South Carolina prosecutor Creighton Waters made the news after grilling Alex Murdaugh over his financial crimes as the latter took the stand to testify in the high-profile murder trial.
Parts of Waters’ cross-examination went viral online, and many social media users took to Twitter to react to the same:
While Alex Murdaugh, who is facing hundreds of charges over a multi-million dollar financial fraud scheme, admitted to his financial crimes, he continued to deny killing his wife Maggie and son Paul on the night of June 7, 2021.
