Alex Murdaugh, a former prominent attorney and member of one of South Carolina's most notable families, has been convicted on all counts in the deaths of his wife and son by a jury in South Carolina. After deliberating for approximately three hours, jurors found Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of using a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Murdaugh remained composed as the verdict was delivered.
During the trial, the 54-year-old defended himself by taking the stand. However, he was ultimately found guilty of using a rifle to kill his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and a shotgun to kill his son, Paul, 22. The incident occurred on June 7, 2021, at the Murdaugh family's expansive Moselle hunting estate in South Carolina's Lowcountry region.
Before being disbarred, Murdaugh was a prominent and influential attorney in South Carolina.
Alex Murdaugh has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for each murder conviction, as prosecutors opted not to pursue the death penalty. Following the verdict, prosecutor Creighton Waters stated that justice had been served, regardless of one's the social standing or financial status. "If you do wrong, if you break the law, if you murder, then justice will be done in South Carolina," he added.
The judge in the case, Clifton Newman, described the evidence against Murdaugh as "overwhelming" and denied a defence request to declare a mistrial. The six-week trial received widespread attention and media coverage, including live broadcasts, true crime podcasts, and a Netflix docuseries.
Murdaugh had admitted to lying about his alibi but maintained his innocence regarding the deaths of his wife and son. In the final stages of the trial, his defence team sought to cast doubt on the work of police and forensics teams, suggesting that they had failed to preserve critical evidence from the crime scene. The defence attributed Murdaugh's lies and alibi revisions to paranoia brought on by his opiate addiction.
Rewritten: The prosecution urged the jurors to rely on "common sense" and "facts" in response to the abundant testimony about Murdaugh's character. They claimed that the once-prominent lawyer had lied to his colleagues and clients and stolen millions of dollars from them. As his financial troubles mounted, he resorted to desperate measures and killed his wife and son, even fooling them.
Meanwhile, defence attorney Jim Griffin argued that law enforcement was biased against Murdaugh from the beginning and that they had fabricated evidence against him. He criticized the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) for its incompetent investigation. He said Murdaugh would have been cleared as a suspect if they had done their job correctly.
"Griffin stated that unless an alternative person is found, Alex is the only suspect, according to investigators. Griffin also claimed that Alex's opioid addiction made him an easy target for SLED, who allegedly fabricated evidence against him. On the witness stand, Alex denies the murders while facing scrutiny from prosecutors about his lies. Griffin argued that while SLED took samples from Alex's clothes, they never took DNA samples from the victims' clothes. Once high-velocity blood spatter was found on Alex's T-shirt, Griffin claimed that investigators refused to consider any other possibility and pursued this lead relentlessly. However, when the state encountered mixed results and questions about the validity of the tests on Alex's shirt, they embraced the "Mr. Clean theory," which suggests that Alex quickly washed himself off with a hose and then drove back to the house naked in a golf cart before leaving to visit his mother."
Griffin alleged that the state agency was responsible for several shortcomings. He claimed that the state never clarified whether hair found in Maggie's fingers was tested. Additionally, he criticized investigators for not correctly securing Maggie's phone after its discovery on June 8, stating that the device was allowed to continuously ping GPS locations, resulting in overwritten data from the night of the murders.
Regarding the lies that Murdaugh admitted to telling, Griffin explained that his client lied due to his addiction. Griffin also suggested that Murdaugh had many secrets to which he didn't want to be exposed.
During the rebuttal closing argument, prosecutor John Meadors urged the jurors to focus on the facts rather than the lies uncovered during the trial, including Murdaugh's inconsistent alibi. Meadors asserted that all Murdaugh had done during his testimony was to confirm that he was a liar. Meadors used dramatic flair in his speech to make his point.
Prosecutor Meadors emphasized the importance of focusing on the facts of the case and not being swayed by the defence's attempts to undermine them. He repeatedly invoked "credibility and common sense" and urged the jury to remember these throughout the trial. Meadors also ridiculed the defence's theory of what happened on the night of the murders, pointing out the unlikelihood of an unknown attacker or attackers knowing precisely when Murdaugh would be leaving his wife and son at the dog kennels and that guns would be there for an execution-style killing.
Meadors reminded the jury that South Carolina law does not require the state to prove premeditation or motive in a murder case. However, he believes that the reason and other aspects of the case against Murdaugh have been established beyond doubt. He confidently declared that "nobody else could've done it." Finally, Meadors expressed gratitude for Murdaugh's dog, Bubba.
The prosecutor highlighted the testimony of a friend of Paul's who confirmed that the rifle prosecutors claim was used to kill Maggie had recently been fired at Moselle. He described this as a powerful piece of evidence.
Meadors drew comparisons between the case and the TV detective show Columbo, stating that Murdaugh had made critical mistakes just like the killers in that show.
He ended his argument by referring to the "beautiful" and "perfect" evidence from the victims themselves: the video Paul took that proved his father was lying. The bullets found around Maggie's body confirmed that the murder weapon was a family gun.
Meadors believed Alex Murdaugh loved Maggie and Paul but ultimately loved himself more. He concluded by saying, "Thank God for Bubba," about the video where Maggie and Alex discuss their dog and how it ultimately provided crucial evidence in the case.
According to Meadors, when Murdaugh's alleged financial crimes threatened his wealthy lifestyle and put real pressure on him, he showed that he loved himself more than anything else. The prosecutor added that Murdaugh did whatever he needed to protect himself.
On the other hand, Griffin, Murdaugh's defence attorney, poked holes in the prosecution's case, replaying the video Paul took minutes before the shooting and questioning the investigators' findings of the time of death. Griffin also replayed witness testimony that described Murdaugh as a loving husband and father and insisted that the pressures on his client had been overblown.
Furthermore, Griffin reminded the jury that the law's default position is that Murdaugh is innocent and that it is the prosecution's job to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. He added that if the government hasn't met its "high burden" of proof, the jury must find Murdaugh not guilty.
However, as Thursday's court session began, Judge Clifton Newman announced that a juror was being replaced on the panel due to a complaint from a member of the public about improper conversations with people not involved with the case.
The judge thanked the juror for her positive attitude and investment of time in the trial but ultimately decided to replace her to ensure the trial's integrity. Before she left, there was a lighthearted moment when she asked to take a dozen eggs another juror had brought in. The judge allowed it but instructed her to discuss the case only after the trial ended.
The prosecution's case against Murdaugh relies on circumstantial evidence since there are no eyewitnesses, video records, or murder weapons to rely on.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters told the jury on Wednesday that they couldn't bring any eyewitnesses to the trial because they were murdered. The problem is nearly over; a week after Murdaugh admitted on the stand, he had repeatedly lied to investigators about his whereabouts when his wife and son were killed. He admitted being at the dog kennels with them but said he left before the murders occurred.
In his closing argument, Waters urged the jurors not to be fooled by Murdaugh, emphasizing that the defendant had shown no remorse for not staying at the kennel to protect his family. Jurors have heard a lot about Murdaugh's character, including accusations that he stole millions of dollars from his clients and colleagues and multiple stories about his alibi.
According to Waters, Murdaugh has fooled everyone who has ever been close to him, including his wife and son, who paid for it with their lives. He urged the jurors not to let Murdaugh fool them too.