A South Carolina jury discovered disbarred lawyer Richard “Alex” Murdaugh responsible of homicide Thursday within the 2021 killings of his spouse and son.
The jury deliberated lower than three hours earlier than Murdaugh, 54, was discovered responsible of two counts of homicide and two counts of possession of a weapon throughout the fee of a violent crime.
Murdaugh’s spouse Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, had been discovered fatally shot close to canine kennels on the household’s dwelling on June 7, 2021. Murdaugh admitted in courtroom that he lied to investigators when he informed them he was not on the kennels earlier than discovering their our bodies.
After the decision was learn, Decide Clifton Newman scheduled Murdaugh’s sentencing at 9:30 a.m. Friday and thanked the jurors for his or her service. The minimal sentence for homicide is 30 years in jail. The South Carolina Lawyer Common’s Workplace is in search of life in jail with out the potential of parole.
Murdaugh comes from a household that dominated the native authorized scene for many years. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather had been the realm’s elected prosecutors for greater than 80 years and his household regulation agency grew to dozens of attorneys by suing railroads, firms and different massive companies.
South Carolina Lawyer Common Alan Wilson thanked his authorized crew led by lead prosecutor Creighton Waters, courtroom employees and regulation enforcement for what he referred to as their “Herculean effort” on the case throughout a short press convention exterior the courthouse.
“We had little doubt that if we had an opportunity to current our case in a courtroom of regulation they’d see by way of the one final con that Alex Murdaugh was attempting to drag,” Waters stated. “Justice was performed at present.”
All through the trial, prosecutors offered circumstantial proof of Murdaugh’s guilt to help their declare Murdaugh killed his household to realize sympathy and purchase time to cowl up alleged monetary crimes that had been about to be found. The protection criticized the state’s circumstantial proof and argued regulation enforcement failed to gather key proof as a result of they had been too narrowly targeted on Murdaugh as a suspect
After listening to greater than 5 weeks of testimony from over 75 witnesses — together with Murdaugh himself — the jury traveled Wednesday to the home the place Murdaugh’s household was fatally shot.
Murdaugh took the stand in his personal protection final week. He repeatedly denied killing his household and instructed that a 2019 boat crash that Paul was concerned in is the rationale his household was killed.
“I did not shoot my spouse or my son anytime, ever,” he stated. “I might by no means deliberately do something to harm both of them. Ever.”
However Murdaugh admitted to repeatedly mendacity to investigators about his whereabouts the night time of the murders, citing his mistrust for native regulation enforcement and paranoia induced by drug habit, stealing hundreds of thousands from purchasers and regulation agency and making an attempt to orchestrate his personal demise in what investigators have referred to as a botched life insurance coverage fraud scheme.
Throughout his closing argument, Waters argued that Murdaugh killed his household to cease a “gathering storm” from ruining his household’s legacy and profitable regulation follow. For 3 generations, members of Murdaugh’s household served as back-to-back solicitors of the 14th Judicial Circuit.
Murdaugh will later stand trial for greater than 100 different felony costs associated to alleged crimes together with cash laundering, tax evasion, and drug trafficking.
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Contact Breaking Information Reporter N’dea Yancey-Bragg at nyanceybra@gannett.com or observe her on Twitter @NdeaYanceyBragg
Contributing: Related Press