i called curtis eddie smith on the telephone. >> who is curtis eddie smith. >> curtis eddie smith is years. there would be 40, 50, $60,000. >> a as much as $60,000 a week on pills. he met smith on the side of the road and gave him the gun. he says smith gave him a knife which murdaugh says he used to slash his tire. the plan was for it to look like murdaugh was fixing his flat tire when he was shot. >> did you just stand there and wait for him to shoot you? >> yes, sir. >> smith has denied shooting murdaugh, though smith has been charged in the scheme. the gunshot, wherever it came from just grazed murdaugh's head. he called 911 but didn't say who shot him. >> i got a flat tire. and i stopped and somebody stopped to help me and when i turned my back, they tried to shoot me. >> reporter: alex murdaugh waited more than a week before telling investigators about the scheme and telling them who allegedly shot him. and, anderson, the reason the state played that recording today is because earlier the defense floated a theory that alex murdaugh had a drug addiction so perhaps it was some dru

>> that's correct. >> were you trying to protect curtis eddie smith by doing that? rying to protect curtis eddie smith? >> yes, sir. >> i mean, i don't know exactly. it all had to come together so quick. i don't know that i was trying to protect curtis eddie smith. >> okay. >> i may have been, but it was just, you know, i wasn't supposed to be there. and then i was. >> when you say i wasn't supposed to be there, what do you mean by that? >> i intended him for -- i intended to be gone. i intended for him to shoot me and i intended to be gone. the one thing, the main -- my main concern at that point was, that i did not want buster -- i did not want buster knowing that i had tried to do that. >> okay. >> that was my motivation in telling that story. >> i see. >> did you eventually voluntarily convey to agent kelly and others that that was a fabrication? >> i did. i did. after -- i don't know a few days in detox when i got overdosed, initial -- where i could function, i think i told you first and then i think i told buster, and then i think i told randy and john and y'al

curtis smith by doing that? >> was i trying to protect curtis eddie smith? >> yes. >> i mean, i don't know exactly. it all had come together so quick, i don't know that i was trying to protect curtis eddie smith. i may have been. it was just -- it wasn't supposed to be there. and then i was. >> when you say i wasn't supposed to be there, what do you mean by that? >> i intended for him -- i intended to be gone. i intended for him to shoot me and i intended to be gone. and the one thing that -- the main -- my main concern at that point was that i did not want buster -- i did not want buster knowing that i had tried to do that. that was my motivation in telling that story. >> i see. did you eventually voluntarily convey to agent kelly and others that that was a fabrication? >> i did. i did. after -- i don't know, a few days in detox when i finally got over those initial -- where i would function, i think i told you first and then i think i told buster and i told randy and john and ya'll arranged the next day or two days later to come and we called ryan kelly. >> you've lied to your family over many yea

. >> law enforcement now believes murdaugh conspired with curtis eddie smith to kill him as part of ane fraud scheme. >> everything with alex has just been mind-boggling, because you know someone for so long and then a completely different side of him comes out. >> alex murdaugh apparently asked curtis eddie smith, who is friends with alex, who has done jobs for alex, to murder him so he can get the insurance money to give to buster, his son. >> if murdaugh died, his living son would have received an estimated $10 million as part of a life insurance policy. >> he didn't think it would pay if he committed suicide, so he wanted eddie to do the job for him so his son would get the money. >> when i heard about the suicide attempt, i didn't know if i believed it or not. the story about it all, it's kind of confusing. paying someone to come shoot you and then he misses. >> where we live, people don't miss. it don't matter if you're talking about a deer or a person, they don't miss. >> well, the suspect accused of shooting alex murdaugh in a failed murder-fraud plot claims he is being set up

survived the september 2021 attack with minor injuries and authorities arrested the alleged gunman, curtis eddy smithlative of the defendant. the defense has tried to block the jury from hearing about the alleged suicide for hire scheme arguing it was unrelated to the fatal shootings of murdaugh's wife maggie and his younger son paul three months earlier. the judge initially agreed but then reversed his decision after during cross-examination the defense asked a witness about murdaugh's alleged drug payments to eddie smith. mike? >> mike: jonathan serrie reporting live tonight. jonathan, thanks very much. ♪ >> mike: russia is firing more nice ukrainian territory. the russians used three dozen weapons overnight. this evening, fox news has exclusive access to a major ukrainian military facility. correspondent trey yingst reports from dnipro, ukraine. >> a territorial defense captain checks monitors at a field command center in the southern ukrainian region of zaporizhzhia. his troops from 129 brigade are using drones to identify russian positions and direct ukrainian artillery fire. >> with the help of

the bullet only grazed his head but investigators accuse murdaugh of hiring curtis eddie smith, a formerlative to kill him so murdaugh's son would receive a $10 million life insurance point. the judge is yet to decide if any of these witnesses will testify in the presence of the jury. the defense says that the financial crimes have no relevance to this murder trial, but the prosecution says that this testimony is crucial to establish a motive. martha? >> jonathan serrie, thanks very much. let's bring in mark eiglarsh, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor. good to have you with us today. >> my pleasure. >> should she's financial woes be shared with the jury? i would add one more detail about mr. smith who the story is that he was hired by alex murdaugh to shoot alex murdaugh which didn't go as planned. the two of them, mr. smith and mr. murdaugh, september 16 they turned themselves in. they were charged with insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, filing a false report. prosecutors believe there were years of money laundering related to distributing oxycodone tha

, not only did murdaugh know his assailant, he was related to him it was murdaugh's cousin, curtis eddie smith i told him that things were getting ready to get really bad and that i would be better off not here and asked him to shoot me. >> you asked him to shoot you? >> that's correct. >> what was his response >> i mean, i think at first, he was a little surprised but then he said okay. >> reporter: the reason he says so his son buster could collect a life insurance policy worth over $10 million south carolina law enforcement division investigator ryan kelly took the stand thursday to spell out the details of the confession >> did you obtain copy or review the 911 call from this particular incident? >> yes, i did. >> reporter: investigators were able to trace phone calls murdaugh made to his cousin from the hospital, who murdaugh says he bought pills from several times a week, admitting to a longtime opioid addiction but kelly denied smith had anything to do with the murders of maggie and paul. >> is there any evidence that curtis smith had anything to do with it? >> none whatsoever. >> repor

reporter: in a phone recording with his two lawyers, murdaugh says he asked his long-time friend curtis eddie smithm to shoot me. >> you asked him to shoot you? >> that's correct. >> what was his response? >> i mean i think at first he was a little surprised, but then he said, okay. >> reporter: the call happening while murdaugh was in a detox facility. the former prominent lawyer also revealing he was addicted to oxycontin, claiming smith who helped him in the alleged roadside shooting was his drug dealer. >> we had weeks where there would be $40,000, $50,000, $60,000. >> that you would give him for pills? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: smith's lawyer has denied he had any knowledge of this suicide shooting scheme. meanwhile the state averagely had hoped to wrap up this past wednesday, but they are still going. guys. >> all right. thank you, eva. so many twists and turns in that case. >>> now to the terrifying video of a young woman fighting off an attacker as she was working out at her apartment complex's gym. she's now speaking out about how she managed to fend him off. erielle reshef is here with th