Nathan Tuten

Nathan Tuten testified for the State as Paul Murdaugh's lifelong friend and a former runner at PMPED. Drawing on his familiarity with the family and Moselle, he identified Paul, Maggie, and Alex Murdaugh as the voices on the kennel video and identified several firearm exhibits as weapons used by the family.

Tuten also testified that he frequently cashed checks at Palmetto State Bank and delivered envelopes of cash directly to Alex Murdaugh's office. He believed the requests stopped a few weeks before the killings and said he assisted Jeannie Seckinger in some respects with a financial review.

Cross-examination established the limits of those observations. Tuten said he never saw what Alex did with the cash and did not know its ultimate use, while clarifying that he handed the envelopes to Alex and was not suggesting that others in the office received the money. He also limited his identification of the courtroom rifle to one he had used at Moselle and described Paul as careless about securing firearms and prone to putting down or misplacing his phone.

Tuten characterized Alex's relationships with Paul and Maggie as loving and recounted nonspecific threats that Paul had reported after the boating accident. On redirect, he said he knew of no threats against Maggie, described conditions and visibility around the kennels, and testified that Paul commonly carried his phone in his back pocket while working outside.