Alex Murdaugh, a once-prominent South Carolina legal professional whose authorized household influenced the state’s Lowcountry area for generations, has been discovered responsible of murdering his spouse and son.
The 54-year-old was convicted Thursday of two counts of homicide within the 2021 shootings of his spouse Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, on the household’s rural looking property in Islandton, South Carolina. Every rely carries a sentence that may vary from 30 years to life in jail. He was additionally discovered responsible on two counts of possessing a lethal weapon through the fee of a violent crime.
The jury deliberated for slightly below three hours.
Murdaugh had insisted on his innocence all through the weekslong trial, although he admitted on the stand that he stole cash from purchasers and his regulation agency, and that he lied to investigators about his whereabouts on the night time his household was killed.
Murdaugh got here clear about being on the canine kennels along with his spouse and son minutes earlier than they had been fatally shot, after prosecutors introduced cellphone video that appeared to seize his voice on the scene with them. The video was recorded by Paul on June 7, 2021, at round 8:45 p.m., simply minutes earlier than it’s believed he was shot twice from behind. The video was found in April 2022 when Paul’s telephone was lastly unlocked by authorities.
Murdaugh testified that he was briefly on the property’s kennels, however that he left his spouse and son there. He stated he returned to the primary home after which left to go to his ailing mom simply after 9 p.m. When he returned house round 10 p.m., he stated, he discovered his spouse and son useless and known as 911.
Murdaugh partially blamed his opioid habit for his determination to deceive police about not having been on the kennels that night time. The medication made him paranoid and distrustful of state regulation enforcement, he stated.
“I did deceive them,” he stated. “As soon as I lied I continued to lie, sure sir ... As soon as I advised a lie, and I advised my household, I needed to preserve mendacity.”
Murdaugh, a fourth-generation lawyer, was disbarred final yr from working towards regulation whereas dealing with a number of legal investigations and civil lawsuits associated to the capturing deaths and allegations that he stole from purchasers and his regulation agency.
He's nonetheless awaiting trial for the monetary crimes he admitted to on the stand, in addition to insurance coverage fraud expenses ― after being accused of trying to rearrange his personal killing three months after his household’s deaths ― and tax evasion and cash laundering expenses.
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