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Influential lawyer Alex Murdaugh is found guilty of murdering his wife and youngest son in South Carolina

2023-03-03T02:23:04.540Z


The jury deliberated for less than three hours before reaching a unanimous verdict. Murdaugh faces a sentence of between 30 years and life in prison for the double murder committed in 2021.


By Erik Ortiz -

NBC News

A South Carolina jury found Alex Murdaugh, a prestigious personal injury lawyer, guilty this Thursday for the murder of his wife and youngest son in 2021, a crime that the Prosecutor's Office described as part of a plot by the lawyer to gain sympathy. and divert public gaze from their financial crimes.

After deliberating for three hours, the jury, made up of seven men and five women, found Murdaugh, 54, guilty of the murders of

Margaret, 52, and her youngest son, Paul, 22, in June 2021

.

He faces a sentence of between 30 years and life in prison without parole.

[“I did not shoot my wife or my son.”

Lawyer Alex Murdaugh testifies tearfully at his double murder trial]

Murdaugh was also found guilty of two counts of possession of weapons during the commission of a violent crime, which would add at least another 10 years in prison to his sentence, which will be handed down this Friday morning.

Murdaugh remained calm as he was found guilty, briefly closing his eyes as the verdict was read for each count.

The judge, Clifton Newman, denied a defense request to declare a mistrial, saying the evidence against the defendant was "overwhelming" and that the only possible outcome was that rendered by the jury.

Closing arguments and a dismissed jury

The jury began deliberating this Thursday after closing arguments in which Murdaugh's defense team tried to undermine the prosecution's claim about the motive for the crime and cast doubt that Murdaugh shot his wife and son on the night of the 7th. June 2021.

Early Thursday, Judge Newman removed one of 12 jurors and replaced her with an alternate after it emerged that she had inappropriate conversations about the case outside of court. 

The defense, chaired by Jim Griffin, used its closing arguments to describe Murdaugh, who was

barred from practicing law following the indictments

, as a family man who loved his wife and children, and to stress that the state had no evidence that he pulled the trigger.

From the dock, a prominent lawyer denies the murder of his wife and son

Feb 23, 202300:29

Investigators indicated that Paul was shot twice with a shotgun and Margaret was wounded multiple times with an AR rifle.

None of the weapons have been found.

Griffin argued that South Carolina authorities mishandled the investigation from the start, failing to properly secure the crime scene, failing to take prints outside the kennel where the bodies were found, and failing to preserve tire tracks that could have targeted at another suspect's vehicle.

The defender also opposed the chronology offered by the Prosecutor's Office on the night of the murders and questioned that the estimated time of death of Margaret and Paul, established at around 8:50 pm, was based on the moment in which their Cell phones stopped showing activity and not on a certainty.

[A South Carolina lawyer is shot three months after his wife and son were killed]

Griffin showed the jury a video from Paul's cell phone showing three voices, Paul, Margaret and Murdaugh, talking about a dog in the minutes before the time suggested in the indictment.

“Four minutes later, the State wants to make believe that Alex Murdaugh got up and blew his son's brains out,” Griffin testified.

"Nothing on that recording indicates that there was a struggle, anger, planning, fear, flight or haste," he added.

The State initially used the video to point out that

Murdaugh repeatedly lied to investigators

that he was not at the scene of the crime and did not see his wife and son before the murder.

He also insisted that he took a nap that day and then went to visit his mother who has Alzheimer's.

Alex Murdaugh is transferred to court on March 2, 2023. Andrew J. Whitaker / AP

The lawyer confessed lies

Murdaugh took the stand last week and

confessed that he lied about his whereabouts on the day of the murders, blaming

his drug addiction and paranoia.

Griffin insisted that his client lied about his actions and his addiction, but

described as "illogical" the motive suggested by the Prosecutor's Office for accusing him of having killed his wife and son,

alleging that he was under financial pressure and about to be discovered by steal money from the family law firm.

[What hides the "fall from grace" of the lawyer who paid a hit man to kill him]

A North Carolina attorney denies killing his family, changes his statement

Feb 24, 202300:25

The prosecution built its sprawling case on weeks of testimony and hundreds of pieces of evidence, using electronic data and video taken from the victims' cell phones to suggest that Murdaugh was the only one who had the motive, the means and the opportunity to

kill his wife. and son.

According to the indictment, the lawyer defrauded clients for years and used the money to support his drug addiction.

a controversial case

During the state's closing arguments, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters argued Wednesday that

Murdaugh had a lot to lose if his embezzlement was discovered

, but that the deaths of his wife and son quickly halted the firm's embezzlement investigation. of lawyers and halted another case involving a boating accident that killed Paul's friend Mallory Beach in 2019.

Responding to the defense, prosecutor John Meadors said Thursday that he agreed that Murdaugh loved his wife and son, as family and friends testified during the trial, but that his greatest motivation was to protect himself at all costs

.

“I think she loved Maggie and Paul.

But you know who he wanted more?" Meadors asked.

“To Alex (Murdaugh).”

From left to right: Paul, Margaret and Alex Murdaugh.via Facebook

The trial has been closely followed since it began in late January, drawing intense coverage for a case initially classified as an unsolved double homicide, but which soon gave way to allegations of financial fraud, a hit man ring and drug addiction, and

reignited investigations into

other suspicious deaths linked to the Murdaugh family.

The final day of closing arguments began with a hiccup, when Newman reported that a female juror, identified by number 785, spoke to at least three people about the case and "gave her opinion on the evidence presented."

[The mystery of the lawyer who found his wife and son dead and then survived another shooting is deepened]

After explaining the situation, Newman called the juror into the courtroom and told her she was going to be removed.

“You have been, by all accounts, a great juror, you have smiled constantly and seem to have paid attention to the case and performed well,” she stated.

"Thanks for your service.

I am not suggesting that he intentionally did anything wrong, but to preserve the integrity of the process and be fair to all parties involved, we are going to replace him with another of the jurors, ”he decided.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2023-03-03

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