Feb. 24 (UPI) — In an early cross-examination of disgraced former South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh on Friday, prosecutors quizzed him about his financial troubles before turning to the night his wife and son were killed in 2021.

Murdaugh, a one-time powerful attorney from a prominent South Carolina family, is facing double murder charges in the case and has also been indicted for a series of financial crimes in a separate case.

Prosecutors tried to establish that Murdaugh was present inside a dog kennel at the time of the murders, where their bodies were found.

Murdaugh had said he left his wife and son at the kennel and went back to their home and took a nap before returning and finding both bodies. Prosecutors spent part of the cross-examination forcing Murdaugh to explain his actions step by step in an effort to find inconsistencies.

Murdaugh admitted he took more than 2,000 milligrams of oxycodone per day in the months leading up to the deaths. He said he was buying “30-milligram pills instant-release oxycodone, probably mixed in with some OxyContin, which is made of oxycodone — it’s just time release.”

The former attorney had previously disclosed his drug abuse that clouded his judgment in a possible explanation of the financial problems he is facing.

Before the questioning, prosecutor Creighton Waters questioned Murdaugh about missing law firm funds and a conversation he had with the firms chief financial officer Jeanne Seckinger on the day of the murder.

Seckinger described it as a confrontation. Murdaugh said he didn’t see the conversation taking that tone, saying that she was almost “apologetic” about the conversation.