A jury in South Carolina has found former attorney Alex Murdaugh guilty on all counts after just three hours of deliberation in the case involving the murder of his wife and son in 2021.
Murdaugh was convicted on four counts, including the murder of Maggie Murdaugh, the murder of Paul Murdaugh, and two counts of possession of a weapon during a crime.
He faces 30 years to life in prison without parole for each murder charge. Sentencing is expected to take place on Friday. However, he still faces another trial in the future over numerous financial crimes.
Jurors started deliberations after weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses in a sprawling case that culminated in a visit to the crime scene, the family’s rural hunting estate Moselle, ahead of closing arguments.
Murdaugh took the stand in his own defense and denied that he killed his wife and son. However, he admitted under questioning that he had lied to investigators when he denied being at the estate that night, blaming his lies on his addiction to opioids.
Prosecutors argued that Murdaugh killed his wife and son in a desperate effort to distract attention from his financial crimes and gain sympathy from the community. The murder weapons were not found.
For its part, the defense argued that the authorities conducted a shoddy investigation, failing to collect evidence like fingerprints or possible DNA on Maggie or Paul Murdaugh’s clothing that could have pointed to someone else.
Over the course of the trial, the number of alternate jurors dwindled to one, following dismissals for medical reasons and, in one case, speaking about the case. That juror was removed during closing arguments.
Murdaugh also faces nearly 100 charges against him for various financial crimes, including fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, and forgery, and is accused of stealing more than $8 million and trying to get a man to shoot him in a $10 million life insurance scheme.
While he admitted to some of these crimes on the stand during this trial, legal proceedings in those cases are still ahead.
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