WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) — Disgraced South Carolina legal professional Alex Murdaugh was convicted of homicide Thursday within the capturing deaths of his spouse and son in a case that chronicled the unraveling of a robust Southern household with tales of privilege, greed and dependancy.
The jury deliberated for lower than three hours earlier than discovering Murdaugh responsible of two counts of homicide on the finish of a six-week trial that pulled again the curtain on the once-prominent lawyer’s fall from grace.
Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in jail with out parole when he’s sentenced, which in South Carolina is usually proper after the decision however may be delayed if a choose chooses.
Through greater than 75 witnesses and practically 800 items of proof, jurors heard about betrayed mates and shoppers, Murdaugh’s failed try to stage his personal demise in an insurance coverage fraud scheme, a deadly boat crash by which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall within the Murdaugh dwelling, the grisly scene of the killings and Bubba, the chicken-snatching canine.
In the top, Murdaugh’s destiny appeared sealed by cellphone video taken by his son, who he referred to as “Little Detective” for his knack for locating bottles of painkillers in his father’s belongings after the lawyer had sworn off the capsules.
Testimony culminated in Murdaugh’s look on the witness stand, when he admitted stealing thousands and thousands from shoppers and mendacity to investigators about being on the canine kennels the place the shootings passed off however steadfastly maintained his innocence within the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.
“I did not kill Maggie, and I did not kill Paul. I would never hurt Maggie, and I would never hurt Paul — ever — under any circumstances,” Murdaugh mentioned.
Murdaugh’s 52-year-old spouse was shot 4 or 5 instances with a rifle and their 22-year-old son was shot twice with a shotgun on the kennels close to at their rural Colleton County dwelling on June 7, 2021.
Prosecutors didn’t have the weapons used to kill the Murdaughs or different direct proof like confessions or blood spatter. But they’d a mountain of circumstantial proof, led by a video locked on Paul Murdaugh’s cellphone for greater than a yr — video shot minutes earlier than the killings that witnesses testified captured the voices of all three Murdaughs.
Alex Murdaugh, 54, had advised police repeatedly after the killings that he was not on the kennels and was as a substitute napping earlier than he went to go to his ailing mom that night time. Murdaugh referred to as 911 and mentioned he found the our bodies when he returned dwelling.
But in his testimony, Murdaugh admitted becoming a member of Maggie and Paul on the kennels, the place he mentioned he took a hen away from a rowdy yellow Labrador named Bubba — whose title Murdaugh may be heard saying on the video — earlier than heading again to the home shortly forward of the deadly shootings.
Murdaugh lied about being on the kennels for 20 months earlier than taking the stand on the twenty third day of his trial. He blamed his decadeslong dependancy to opioids for making him paranoid, making a mistrust of police. He mentioned that when he went down that path, he felt trapped within the lie.
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave. Once I told a lie — I told my family — I had to keep lying,” he testified.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters grilled Murdaugh about what he repeatedly referred to as the lawyer’s “new story” of what occurred on the kennels, strolling him second by second by means of the timeline and assailing his “fuzzy” reminiscence of sure particulars, like his final phrases to his spouse and son.
A state agent additionally testified that markings on spent cartridges discovered round Maggie Murdaugh’s physique matched markings on fired cartridges at a capturing vary elsewhere on the property, although the protection mentioned that sort of matching is an inexact science.
Murdaugh comes from a household that dominated the native authorized scene for many years. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather have been the realm’s elected prosecutors for greater than 80 years and his household regulation agency grew to dozens of legal professionals by suing railroads, firms and different large companies.
The now-disbarred legal professional admitted stealing thousands and thousands of {dollars} from the household agency and shoppers, saying he wanted the cash to fund his drug behavior. Before he was charged with homicide, Murdaugh was in jail awaiting trial on about 100 different prices starting from insurance coverage fraud to tax evasion.
Prosecutors advised jurors that Murdaugh was afraid all of his misdeeds have been about to be found, so he killed his spouse and son to realize sympathy to purchase time to cowl his tracks.
Murdaugh’s legal professionals will nearly definitely attraction the conviction based mostly on the choose permitting proof of the monetary crimes, which they contend have been unrelated to the killings and have been utilized by prosecutors to smear Murdaugh’s repute.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”