Sandy MaloneColleton County, SC – A South Carolina jury found disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh guilty of the murders of his wife and son after deliberating for just under three hours after a 28-day trial.
The 54-year-old Murdaugh, who was a successful plaintiff’s attorney as well as an assistant prosecuting attorney in the 14th Judicial District, was convicted of two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon in the commitment of violent crime, ABC News reported.
South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman, who presided over the high-profile, televised trial, said the murder convictions carry sentences of no less than 30 years in prison to life without parole, and the gun convictions carry sentences of five years.
However, Murdaugh is still facing about 100 charges in connection with stealing millions of dollars from his former law firm and clients, ABC News reported.
WATCH: Moment Alex Murdaugh is found guilty in the murders of his wife and sonpic.twitter.com/mFlftl1Pmi
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 3, 2023
He’s also charged with trying to stage his own death in order to have his surviving son collect on a $10 million life insurance policy.
The judge dismissed the defense’s motion for a mistrial after the verdict calling the evidence against Murdaugh “overwhelming.”
Following the guilty verdict, Alex Murdaugh’s lawyers attempted to make a motion for a mistrial, which the judge promptly denied, saying:
‘The evidence of guilt is overwhelming. I deny the motion.’ pic.twitter.com/Gy2OKc0TYI
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) March 3, 2023
Newman postponed sentencing to Friday morning and had Murdaugh immediately removed from the courtroom while his stunned family members looked on, ABC News reported.
Murdaugh testified in his own defense during the trial and admitted on the stand that he lied to investigators about having been at the dog kennels on his family’s hunting estate the night his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, were fatally shot multiple times by two different weapons.
Murdaugh had told police he wasn’t there when his wife and son were killed on June 7, 20201, and claimed to have found their bodies by the kennels and called 911 when he returned home that night to the family’s hunting lodge, Moselle.
He claimed he had been spending time with his mother who is suffering from dementia, the Island Packet reported.
But a SnapChat video filmed by his late son, Paul, just moments before he and his mother were killed proved that Murdaugh had been at the scene and lied about it.
Prosecutors had multiple close friends and family members testify that one of the voices heard on that video was Alex Murdaugh.
Maggie was killed with a large-caliber semiautomatic rifle and Paul was Paul was shot in the upper body and head with a shotgun, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Murdaugh lured Maggie to Moselle under the guise of visiting his dying father the night he killed her.
Alex’s father, Randolph, died two days after his grandson and daughter-in-law were murdered, FOX News reported.
For 100 years, Murdaughs have ruled South Carolina’s 14th Judicial Circuit, which includes Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, Allendale, and Jasper counties, both as prosecutors and in private practice, NBC News reported.
Until the failed attempt on his life, Murdaugh served as a part-time prosecutor for the 14th Judicial Circuit and was a partner in the law firm founded his by great-grandfather in Hampton more than 100 years ago.
Alex’s father, Randolph Murdaugh III, was also a 14th Circuit Solicitor.
Randolph’s father and grandfather had been the prosecutors for Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties before that, according to NBC News.
But things started going sideways for the family dynasty in 2019 after Murdaugh’s youngest son, then 20-year-old Paul, was charged with three felonies in connection with the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
Beach died after she was thrown from a boat that crashed while Paul was allegedly piloting it under the influence after a day of drinking and partying with older family members.
The family’s prominence and legal connections raised questions after Beach’s death.
Early on, 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone asked South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson to reassign the cases if charges were brought because three of the people on the boat had relatives who worked in his office, the Island Packet reported.
Then the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office asked to be recused from the investigation due to its “long-standing relationship” with Paul’s grandfather.
Beach’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in March of 2019 against a convenience store, Murdaugh, and his oldest son, Richard Alexander “Buster” Murdaugh Jr., for serving alcohol to underage people the night of the boat crash, WJCL reported.
A month later, Paul was indicted for boating under the influence causing death and two counts of boating under the influence causing great bodily injury.
Those charges were dismissed after the 22 year old was murdered.
Holly Matkin
