Alex Murdaugh
, a lawyer belonging to one of the most powerful families in South Carolina, United States, was found
guilty
this Thursday
of murdering his wife and son
, a case that kept the country on edge for weeks and about which Netflix created a miniseries.
"The evidence of guilt is overwhelming
," Judge Clifton Newman said after the jury returned its unanimous verdict.
The popular 54-year-old lawyer was accused of having shot, in 2021, his wife, Maggie (52), and their youngest son, Paul (22), at their home, located in a rural area of the state of South Carolina, where the Murdaugh family enjoyed great influence.
The prosecution argued that Murdaugh committed the crime in
order to prevent his numerous cases of embezzlement and money laundering from coming to light
.
Murdaugh himself acknowledged during the trial that he had lied to the police about his whereabouts on the night of the crime, but assured that it was due to paranoia caused by drug use, and tearfully denied having shot his family.
The judge in charge of the case, Clifton Newman, said he will hand down his sentence later, according to
The New York Times
.
The minimum penalty for murder in South Carolina, where the trial has taken place, is 30 years in prison. The prosecution has already advanced that he will request life imprisonment.
Both the woman and the lawyer's son were shot several times with a rifle and a shotgun, although the weapons of the crime were never found, as were no bloodstains or other types of physical evidence.
What was found was a video recorded by Paul Murdaugh shortly before he died, in which the voices of both parents are heard, destroying the initial alibi of the lawyer, who claimed not to be in the house at the time of the crime.
When he was charged with the murder of his two relatives, Murdaugh was already in prison, awaiting trial on a hundred charges related to his business as a lawyer.
News in development
With information from agencies
DB
look also
"The Murdaughs", the Netflix series about the case that shocks the United States
Could Alex Murdaugh face the death penalty?
What are your possible sentences?