After a few hours of deliberation on Thursday, a jury determined that Alex Murdaugh had killed his wife and kid. The disgraced South Carolina lawyer was found guilty on all counts, including the killings of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and his son Paul Murdaugh, 22, as well as two counts of having a weapon while committing a violent crime.
Alex Murdaugh faces a sentence of 30 years to life in jail on Friday morning. Murdaugh was a well-known lawyer who came from a prominent South Carolina family with a long history in the legal profession. However, in recent years, he has fallen out of favor amid claims that he killed his wife and son and defrauded his customers and his company of money.
When Alex Murdaugh called the police on June 7, 2021, informing them that he had discovered Maggie and Paul Murdaugh dead after returning home from seeing his mother, the inquiry into their deaths got underway almost two years prior.
Police discovered Paul, 22, who had been shot twice by a shotgun, and Maggie, 52, struck by four or five rounds from a rifle. They were shot in the head after being wounded next to dog kennels on the family’s rural property, Moselle, according to a report from the crime scene.
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Murdaugh was identified as a person of interest in the investigation by his lawyers in October 2021, although he was not detained until one year after the killings.
According to the prosecution’s case, Murdaugh killed his wife and kid to divert attention from the financial crimes he had committed. The trial has concentrated on themes like the savagery of his wife and son’s deaths and information from financial records because they cannot access the weapons used in the murders.
The defense resorted to experts to examine how the investigators handled the situation. The specialists testified that they discovered that the detectives collected or tested no blood samples nor fingerprint dust.
The crime scene was accessible to family members and friends as well. Instead of using a tarp to protect the sheet, which can absorb liquid, the bodies were covered. Paul’s body was occasionally covered in the rain.
But, the prosecution’s evidence that Murdaugh had misled authorities about his location on the night of the killings called into question his trustworthiness over that night’s events. Paul recorded a video that was kept in his phone for a year before investigators could access it, and the footage showed Alex was at the kennels where his wife and son were allegedly shot five minutes earlier than initially believed by authorities.
Although Murdaugh claimed to police that he was never at the kennels, his voice can be heard on Paul’s recording. According to legal experts, having Murdaugh speak in his defense was a hazardous choice made by his counsel. During cross-examination, he vehemently refuted claims made by his attorneys and the prosecution that he killed his wife or son or would ever damage them.
Alex Murdaugh has been convicted in the murders of his wife and son.
Alex Murdaugh has been convicted in the murders of his wife and son. pic.twitter.com/aLo4wJHuTN
— Complex (@Complex) March 3, 2023
Murdaugh did, however, admit to taking millions of dollars from his law practice and the customers he served. Murdaugh will go on trial for the financial crimes he has been accused of, some of which he has admitted to, after the murder trial. Almost 100 further counts of financial and other offenses have been brought against him.
Prosecutors claim that Murdaugh asked someone to assassinate him for his living son, Richard, to earn $12 million from life insurance in one case of insurance fraud. He is also accused of money laundering and tax evasion. Following the conclusion of Murdaugh’s evidence on Wednesday, closing arguments were held before the jury was escorted to the crime site.
