Alex Murdaugh Found Guilty Of Murdering Wife And Son

Forbes Business Breaking Alex Murdaugh Found Guilty Of Murdering Wife And Son Nicholas Reimann Forbes Staff I cover breaking and trending news, focused on national politics. Brian Bushard Forbes Staff I cover breaking news for Forbes Mar 2, 2023, 07:10pm EST | Press play to listen to this article! Got it! Updated Mar 2, 2023, 08:04pm EST Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline Former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was found guilty Thursday of killing his wife and adult son in a 2021 double-murder, following a trial that spanned more than five weeks and captivated the country given Murdaugh’s prominent background. Alex Murdaugh cries as prosecutor Creighton Waters describes the murder of Murdaugh’s wife and son .

. . [+] during closing arguments in Murdaugh’s double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.

C. , Wednesday, March 1, 2023. The 54-year-old attorney is standing trial on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife and son at their Colleton County, S.

C. , home and hunting lodge on June 7, 2021. (Joshua Boucher/The State via AP, Pool) Associated Press Key Facts Jurors in South Carolina deliberated for less than four hours Thursday before reaching their verdict.

Murdaugh had essentially no reaction as the guilty verdicts against him were read aloud in the courtroom. Murdaugh pleaded not guilty to the charges, but now faces 30 years to life in prison without parole with the conviction. Key Background Prosecutors successfully argued Murdaugh murdered his wife, Maggie, and his 22-year-old son Paul on his 1,700-acre rural South Carolina estate in June 2021, in a failed attempt to conceal a years-long scheme to steal money from his clients and his law firm.

The murder charges—accompanied by dozens of separate financial crime charges—devastated the reputation of Murdaugh, the scion of a prominent local family with a well-known personal injury law firm and extensive ties to the local district attorney’s office. Murdaugh said he found his wife and son dead at his estate’s dog kennels, and later told investigators he was visiting his mother at the time they were killed and only found their bodies later that night. Taking the stand in his trial, however, he confessed he had lied about his whereabouts, admitting he had been at the kennels, but claiming he went inside before they were killed.

Murdaugh’s lawyer blamed his lies on his painkiller addiction: “He lied because that’s what addicts do,” his attorney said. A video taken on his cell phone with Maggie and Paul’s voices in the background became a key piece of evidence for prosecutors, who used the video to show Murdaugh had been in the kennels just minutes before they were killed. Contra Defense attorneys representing Murdaugh have argued throughout the trial that prosecutors relied on shoddy investigative work from state law enforcement that failed to take DNA samples, and had built a case based on “theories and speculation” but lacked physical evidence.

What To Watch For Murdaugh has also been charged with about 100 other counts connected with either the deaths or his alleged schemes to steal clients’ money and stash it in a fake bank account. Two of the charges relate to insurance fraud, after prosecutors said he hired a hitman to kill him following the murders but survived being shot in the head in September 2021 in an apparent plot to let his surviving son—Buster Murdaugh—cash in on a $10 million life insurance policy. Tangent Before he was killed, Paul Murdaugh was set to face a trial for three felony counts related to a 2019 boating accident that killed 19-year-old passenger Mallory Beach along the Beaufort River in South Carolina.

He was accused of operating the boat while under the influence, which prosecutors had argued led to the crash that killed Beach. The criminal charges were dropped after his death, but Beach’s family reached a settlement with the Murdaugh family in January in a civil case related to the death. Further Reading Alex Murdaugh’s Murder Trial: Here’s What To Know About The Once-Prominent Lawyer As Jury Selection Begins (Forbes) Alex Murdaugh Murder Trial Jurors Make Rare Visit To South Carolina Crime Scene (Forbes) Alex Murdaugh Trial Heads To Jury Deliberations After Closing Arguments (Forbes) How Alex Murdaugh Opened The Door For Convictions On Financial And Tax Crime Charges (Forbes) Nicholas Reimann Brian Bushard Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.