By Marlene Lenthang and Chantal Da Silva —
NBC News
South Carolina Circuit Judge Clifton Newman sentenced lawyer Alex Murdaugh, 54, to life in prison with no chance of parole on Friday after he was found guilty Thursday by a jury (which barely had to deliberate its verdict). three hours) of the double murder of his wife, Margaret Murdaugh, 52, and their youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, 22.
The woman and young man were found shot to death in June 2021 at a family hunting estate in rural Colleton County.
Murdaugh faced a possible penalty of between 30 years in prison and life in prison for these crimes.
In addition to the two counts of murder, the jury also found him guilty of two counts of possession of a weapon during a crime of violence, which carry an additional five years in prison.
Before hearing his sentence, Murdaugh reiterated again that he is innocent and would never "under any circumstances" harm his wife or child, but declined to plead to reduce his sentence.
"It may not have been you, it may have been the monster you became
," the judge said before handing down his sentence, but
"they are the same individual."
"I know that you will have to see Paul and Maggie when you try to get to sleep," the judge said.
"Every day and every night
," Murdaugh replied.
Alex Murdaugh is led out of court on Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Walterboro, South Carolina.Chris Carlson / AP
During the trial, which began in January and included six weeks of testimony from 74 witnesses, Murdaugh decided to take the stand to testify in his defense, a "fatal" decision for his case, according to the South Carolina attorney general. , Alan Wilson, to NBC News.
A video on the social network Snapchat that placed him near the scene of the crime was the final "nail" that sealed his conviction, Wilson added on the
TODAY program.
The Prosecutor's Office presented among its evidence a video taken from Paul's cell phone that his father was located in the kennels of the farm at 8:44 on the night of the murders, invalidating his statement to the police that he had seen his family for last time at dinner time.
According to investigators, the crime occurred between 8:50 and 9:06.
“That kennel video that no one knew existed until months after the murders happened,” he said, “was basically Paul speaking from beyond the grave.
That, yes, Alex Murdaugh was there moments before Maggie and Paul were brutally murdered.
That was an important piece of the case."
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Wilson further explained that Murdaugh himself was the "biggest piece of evidence" against him.
“When he took the stand, I think that was ultimately fatal for him,” he said, “Alex built a very successful career making closing arguments to jurors and winning big cases and a lot of money.”
Taking the stand “was his closing statement to the jury.
I believe in my mind that he believed he could get away with it.
And in the end, I think that was what doomed him."
Wilson explained that the prosecution alleged that Murdaugh was trying to garner compassion for the world with the deaths of his wife and son, and to divert attention from financial crimes that threatened to destroy his career.
“One of the things that people on the street would say to me,” Wilson explained, “you can understand a spouse killing another spouse, but the way Paul and Maggie were killed, the brutality of the crime, it was hard to understand.”
“What you have is a family legacy that is over 100 years old, you have a man who has lived a privileged lifestyle in a world many of us will never know, and all of that was going to end at some point.
And he was getting desperate,” he said.
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“He wasn't just killing his wife and son for the money he didn't earn, it was everything, it was a whole lifestyle and a whole life that was going to come to an end,” Wilson said.
Murdaugh probably loved his wife and son in his own way, he added, “but he loved himself more.
And killing them was the price he was willing to pay to preserve his way of life."
Prosecutors alleged that Murdaugh, who was disbarred last year following the charges against him, had been defrauding clients for years and had used the money in part to fuel an addiction to pain pills.
She was also dealing with a lawsuit related to Paul, who at the time of his death was facing trial for three felony boating under the influence in connection with a 2019 boating accident that killed a teenage passenger.
Alex Murdaugh listens to testimony during his double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, in Walterboro, South Carolina.
Grace Beahm Alford/AP
The deaths of his wife and son stalled the law firm's investigation into Murdaugh's suspicions of financial malfeasance and hampered the boating accident case in his favor, prosecutor Creighton Waters said.
A loving man, according to the defense
In their closing arguments, the defense portrayed Murdaugh as a family man with a loving relationship with his wife and children.
Attorney Jim Griffin said prosecutors had no direct evidence that he carried out the killings before calling 911 on the night of the shooting, June 7, 2021, to say that he had found the bodies of his wife and child near the kennels on their hunting estate.
Investigators stated that Paul had been hit twice by a shotgun, while Margaret was shot multiple times with an AR-style rifle.
Neither weapon was found, but officers said they used family firearm casings to match the murder weapons.
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The prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence for much of his case to convince jurors that Murdaugh was guilty, using electronic data and video from the victims' cell phones to suggest he was the only person with the motive, means, and chance to kill them.
“We had no doubt that if we had the chance to make our case in a court of law, they would catch on to the latest scam Murdaugh was trying to pull — and they did,” prosecutor Creighton Waters said after the verdict.
Wilson said the case has captivated the country because of its complexity.
“You can't write this story in Hollywood.
It is a generational story.
It goes back to the boat case.
It goes back decades,” he stated, “I want to remind people that as interesting as this case is, many lives were destroyed.
Two people were brutally murdered and there is a trail of victims."