By Erik Ortiz -
NBC News
Three jurors in Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial said Monday they don't think he should have taken the stand to speak in his defense and that his emotions during the two days of testimony seemed fabricated.
“We did not believe in her crying, I did not believe that she was crying.
It was like something she turned on and off,” said juror Gwen Generette in a live interview on NBC's TODAY show.
"
No, it wasn't genuine
," he added.
"We already know he's a lawyer," juror James McDowell said of Murdaugh.
“He is able to get excited about the cases.
He can get emotional with himself.
I think we were able to read that,” he added.
Another juror, Amie Williams, said Murdaugh "didn't help himself" by testifying.
James McDowell, Gwen Generette and Amie Williams spoke Monday about why Murdaugh was convicted.TODAY
Murdaugh, 54, was sentenced Friday to two consecutive life terms for murdering his wife, Margaret, 52, and son Paul, 22, in June 2021.
After a roughly six-week trial that called 75 witnesses, including Murdaugh himself, it
took the jury less than three hours to deliberate
and convict the personal injury lawyer of fatally shooting the family on the rural property they have in Colleton County.
During Murdaugh's sentencing, South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman condemned him for his lack of remorse, saying the former attorney would have to deal with his conscience and the "monster he's become."
The judge told Alex Murdaugh that he is "sure" that his murdered wife and son visit him at night
March 3, 202303:04
The trial drew widespread interest in a region of South Carolina known as the Lowcountry, where three generations of Murdaugh patriarchs had been chosen as front-line prosecutors for 87 consecutive years.
The family's fingerprints have been on countless cases involving the legal system in the Lowcountry, and Murdaugh had also been a part-time prosecutor who participated in trials in the same courtroom where he was now convicted.
The trial came after a series of strange events.
This includes a roadside shooting of the lawyer three months after the murders.
Authorities said Murdaugh tried to have him killed.
This event brought attention back to him as the prime suspect in the murders.
With Murdaugh's name so recognizable and the case already grabbing headlines and becoming the focus of true crime docu-series and podcasts, judicial officials mailed a staggering 900 jury summonses in Colleton County, home to of about 38,600 people.
Jurors were not allowed to take notes during the trial, but could use a notepad to jot down questions when they returned to the jury room during breaks.
Before deliberations began, Newman allowed jurors a tour of the crime scene: the family's sprawling estate known as the Moselle, where Margaret and Paul were shot several times, in an area near where they had open kennels (outdoors). free) and a space to feed the animals.
Williams said that was beneficial in helping her make a decision and understand the distances between key locations explained during testimony.
“I wanted to see how big that feeding space was.
He was very small in person,” she said.
“I also wanted to see if you could see the feeding room, the kennels in the house, and you could,” she said.
With an impassive face, Alex Murdaugh heard that he was found guilty of murdering his wife and son.
March 3, 202302:08
Prosecutors from the state Attorney General's Office did not produce hard evidence, such as a confession or surveillance video, that Murdaugh fired the weapons used in the slayings, saying investigators had not located the weapons.
Instead, his case against him
was based primarily on circumstantial evidence
and the premise that he had the motive, the means, and the opportunity to kill his family.
Prosecutors allege that, for years, Murdaugh masterminded and stole about
$8.5 million from more than a dozen victims
, including through his family's law firm and clients.
On the day of the murders, the firm's chief financial officer testified, she had confronted Murdaugh about $792,000 in settlement funds from lost clients.
But after the murders, she said, she stopped investigating her.
Paul was hit twice with a shotgun.
Margaret was then shot multiple times with an AR-style rifle (semi-automatic assault rifle), according to investigators.
The moment Alex Murdaugh testifies during his murder trial on February 23, 2023. Grace Beahm Alford / AP
Murdaugh denied to investigators that he was at the kennel that night, saying that he last saw his family in the early evening at dinner and took a brief nap before visiting his sick mother, who has the disease. Alzheimer's.
However, the prosecution played a video taken from Paul's cell phone at the pound at 8:44 pm to cast doubt on Murdaugh's alibi.
Three voices could be heard on the video speaking, and several of the state's witnesses identified the voices as belonging to Paul, Margaret and Murdaugh.
In response, Murdaugh was called to the stand by his lawyers and said that he had lied to investigators several times, admitting that he had
not been honest
when answering questions about where he was before the murders due to his addiction to prescription painkillers and his problems with paranoia.
"We spent six weeks there"
During closing arguments, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters used his change of story to question Murdaugh's credibility and claim that he orchestrated an alibi.
“
Why would I lie about that, ladies and gentlemen?
“he asked the jury.
“Why would he even think of lying about it if he was an innocent man?” he added.
Alex Murdaugh: The jury visits the crime scene in the final stretch of the trial
March 2, 202301:44
Defense attorney Jim Griffin reiterated that Murdaugh had lied about his actions and his addiction to painkillers.
He called the motive given by the prosecution for the lawyer killing his wife and son an "illogical" theory: he was under financial pressure and about to be exposed for swindling money from the family's law firm. he.
But all three jurors said Monday that Murdaugh's testimony and the revelation that his voice was in the kennels video worked against him.
“
I realized it was him in the kennel video
, that just convinced me,” Generette said.
The details of Murdaugh's financial misdeeds throughout the trial were also critical in the case against him.
"We couldn't do anything other than consider it part of the motive," Williams said.
“It helped show that he was very convincing and manipulative.
And it made sense that that would be included as evidence,” he explained.
"I don't think we'll ever know" why Murdaugh killed his wife and son, he added.
Generette said Murdaugh's need to influence people in his favor played a big role in his decision.
“
He wanted to be in control of everything
,” she said.
“I'm thinking it was more like greed,” she remarked.
Lawyer Alex Murdaugh sentenced to life in prison accused of killing his wife and son
March 3, 202300:34
After his sentencing on Friday, Murdaugh was transported to a state prison in Columbia for medical and mental health evaluations.
He will eventually be assigned to a specific custody level and placed in one of the state's maximum security prisons for inmates serving life sentences.
Aside from the murder charges, Murdaugh still faces
99 counts related to financial crimes
.
His defense attorneys said last week they plan to appeal the double murder conviction.
McDowell and other jurors said it was important to be in the courtroom for Murdaugh's sentencing on Friday.
“We spent six weeks there.
we unite.
We are a very close jury at that point,” McDowell said.
“It was very important to see it through to the end,” he said.