A jury has convicted disgraced former lawyer Alex Murdaugh of murdering his wife and son in June 2021, and on Friday, he was sentenced to life in prison. The sentence caps a stunning fall from grace for the member of a dynastic family that dominated the legal scene in South Carolina’s Lowcountry for a century.
The Evidence
Jurors heard a video that placed Alex Murdaugh near the crime scene on the night of the murders, and family friends said they could hear Murdaugh’s voice in the background. The video, recorded by a friend of the Murdaugh family called Paul, was a key piece of evidence in the murder trial.
The prosecution alleged Murdaugh had a motive to kill his wife and son, as well as distract from financial crimes he was accused of. They also cited circumstantial evidence that Murdaugh was at the crime scene and lied to investigators, painting him as a fraudster who killed his family in a desperate bid to avoid scrutiny.
Murdaugh also admitted hiring a hitman in a botched insurance fraud attempt and was indicted on drug trafficking and money-laundering charges. He faces more than 100 other felony charges, including some with penalties that could exceed seven centuries of prison time.
Experts say Murdaugh’s defense was weak, but it was still credible because the jury could empathize with him while he repeated lies during the financial schemes and murder investigation. The jurors could see that Murdaugh had made bad decisions, and they did not believe he had the motivation or opportunity to kill his wife and son.
Conviction
In addition to being convicted of killing his wife and son, Murdaugh is facing 99 felony charges, many stemming from alleged financial crimes at his law firm. Murdaugh has not entered a plea in those cases, but he did admit to stealing millions from his clients during the murder trial.
Another important piece of the prosecution’s case was a video that placed Murdaugh at the dog kennels on his family’s property shortly before the murders. It showed Murdaugh and Paul interacting with the dogs and appeared to capture a voice that was said to be Murdaugh’s.
Despite the video’s appearance, Murdaugh testified throughout the trial that he was not there on the night of the murders. He claimed he was paranoid and had become addicted to opioid painkillers. He also argued that he lied to investigators about his whereabouts after he was discovered at the kennels with Paul that night.
However, prosecutors pointed to the voice in the video as another lie that played a crucial role in the case. It was captured in the video and identified as Murdaugh by nearly a dozen people who know him.
In the aftermath of the verdict, a spokesperson for the law group that employs Murdaugh, Parker Law Group, called it a “successful trial” but said it is unclear whether Murdaugh will be released from custody and sent back to work. The law firm said it would continue to fight Murdaugh’s conviction and seek justice in the future.
