Walterboro: Disgraced In the shooting deaths of his wife and son, South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of murder on Thursday. The case, which included tales of privilege, greed, and addiction, detailed the disintegration of a wealthy Southern family.
After a six-week trial that lifted the lid on the once-famous attorney's downfall, the jury took less than three hours to deliberate before finding Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder.
For each murder charge, Murdaugh, 54, faces a sentence of 30 years to life in prison without the possibility of parole when the court reconvenes on Friday at 9:30 a.m. for sentencing.
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As the verdict was read, the approximately 30 spectators present in the courtroom remained mostly silent. There were no audible gasps. A court official had earlier issued a quiet warning to them.
The surviving son of Murdaugh sat about four rows behind his father and the defence team, frequently resting his face in his left hand's palm before and during the reading of the verdict.
The defence moved for a mistrial to be declared and the verdict to be overturned after the verdict was read, but Judge Clifton Newman rejected the motion and noted the overwhelming amount of testimony and evidence jurors heard."The evidence of guilt is overwhelming," he declared. "The jury has now considered the evidence for a significant amount of time.
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Jurors learned about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaugh's failed attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme, a fatal boat crash in which his son was involved, the housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home, the graphic scene of the killings, and Bubba, the chicken-stealing dog, from more than 75 witnesses and almost 800 pieces of evidence.
In the end, mobile video taken by Murdaugh's son—whom he dubbed "Little Detective" for his talent for discovering painkiller bottles in his father's possessions after the lawyer had sworn off the pills—seemed to seal the lawyer's fate.
The testimony came to a head when Murdaugh took the witness stand. He steadfastly maintained his innocence in the shooting deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh but admitted to stealing millions from clients and lying to investigators about being at the dog kennels where the shootings occurred.
Paul and Maggie were not killed by me. Under any circumstances, I would never hurt Paul and I would never hurt Maggie, Murdaugh vowed. On June 7, 2021, Murdaugh's 52-year-old wife was shot four or five times with a rifle at the kennels close to their rural Colleton County home, and their 22-year-old son was shot twice with a shotgun.
The Murdaughs' murder weapons, as well as other direct evidence like confessions or blood spatter, were not in the possession of the prosecution. But they also had a tonne of circumstantial evidence, including a video that had been locked on Paul Murdaugh's phone for more than a year and which was said to have been taken just before the killings and in which all three Murdaughs could be heard, according to witnesses.
After the killings, Alex Murdaugh repeatedly told police that he was not at the kennels but rather was napping before going to see his ailing mother that evening. Murdaugh dialled 911 and reported finding the bodies after getting home.
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However, in his testimony, Murdaugh acknowledged going to the kennels with Maggie and Paul. There, he claimed to have taken a chicken from a rowdy yellow Labrador named Bubba (whose name Murdaugh can be heard saying on the video) before returning to the house just before the fatal shootings. Prior to taking the witness stand on the 23rd day of his trial, Murdaugh lied about staying at the kennels for 20 months.
He attributed his paranoia and mistrust of law enforcement to his long-term opioid addiction. Once he took that route, he claimed that he felt trapped in the lie. Oh, the complicated web we spin. I had to keep lying after I once did so—I told my family—he admitted in court.
Murdaugh was interrogated by prosecutor Creighton Waters about what he repeatedly referred to as the lawyer's "new story" of what transpired at the kennels. Waters took Murdaugh through the timeline moment by moment and criticised him for having a "fuzzy" memory of some details, such as his final words to his wife and son.
The defence argued that this type of matching is an imprecise science, but a state agent testified that markings on spent cartridges found close to Maggie Murdaugh's body matched markings on fired cartridges at a shooting range elsewhere on the property.
Murdaugh comes from a family that has long dominated the neighborhood's legal scene. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather served as the region's elected prosecutors for more than 80 years, and by suing railroads, corporations, and other major businesses, his family law firm expanded to include dozens of attorneys.
The now-barred lawyer acknowledged stealing millions of dollars from the family business and clients, claiming he needed the cash to support his drug habit. He has since been disbarred. Murdaugh was in jail awaiting trial on about 100 other charges, ranging from tax evasion to insurance fraud, before he was accused of murder.
Murdaugh killed his wife and son to win sympathy and buy time to cover his tracks because he was afraid that all of his wrongdoings were about to be discovered.
The fact that the judge allowed evidence of the financial crimes, which the defence claims had nothing to do with the killings and were used by the prosecution to damage Murdaugh's reputation, will almost certainly lead to an appeal of the conviction.