WOODERBORO, S.C. After less than three hours of deliberation, a jury of 12 people found Alex Murdaugh guilty of shooting dead both his wife and kid on Thursday.
Without asking the judge a single question while deliberating the case, the jury found Murdaugh, 54, guilty of two counts each of murder and possessing a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.
Murdaugh appeared broken as the clerk announced the shocking decision. Buster, his lone surviving son, sat in the audience while wiping his face and shaking his head in shock. He didn’t seem to cry, though.
“We are obviously disappointed. But we won’t speak further until he is sentenced “Outside the courthouse, Jim Griffin, Murdaugh’s attorney, told Fox News Digital.
“What a tremendous day for the state of South Carolina,” said Alan Wilson, the state’s attorney general, to the roughly 100 reporters waiting outside the Colleton County Courthouse for the press conference following the verdict.
Murdaugh was heckled by a few onlookers as he left the courthouse. Buster was led by Murdaugh’s family as they left the courthouse through a guarded entrance.
The panel’s judgement, which could result in Murdaugh serving a life sentence, was reached after a gruelling six-week trial during which 76 witnesses testified. The sentencing is set for Friday at 9:30.
The family’s estate, Moselle, was the scene of Murdaugh’s alleged use of a shotgun to kill his son Paul, 22, and a rifle to murder his wife Maggie, 52, on June 7, 2021.
According to Assistant Attorney General Creighton Waters, the disbarred lawyer committed the double murders to avoid a disastrous financial reckoning.
The affluent descendant of a once-dominant legal family has admitted he is a drug user and a crook who is accused of defrauding his law company and clients of about $9 million.
He, however, denied murdering his kid and wife.
A cellphone video that was found on Paul’s phone in 2022 and showed Alex with the victims four minutes before they were allegedly shot to death at 8:50 p.m. was the most devastating piece of evidence against Murdaugh.
Murdaugh insisted again and over again for months that he was not at the dog kennels on the night of the killings, lying to authorities, his acquaintances, and even his own family. Instead, he asserted that he was taking a siesta at the main house, which was perched on a hill, and that he departed at 9:07 p.m. to visit his mother in the nearby Almeda.
He claimed to have found their mangled remains around 30 feet apart in the kennels after returning and not finding them at the main house. He then reportedly checked their pulses and dialled 911 after discovering their missing bodies.
But, GPS information from his Chevy Suburban showed that he made the 911 call less than 20 seconds after pulling up.
“Just 19 seconds. Is that enough time for a shocked person to arrive at the scene, take it all in, get out of the car, walk over, check both of their bodies, and then dial 911?” In his closing remarks, Waters posed a question.
