1 min agoAttorney General Alan Wilson says Alex Murdaugh’s wife and son “deserved justice”From CNN’s Dianne Gallagher
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson talks to the media outside the Colleton County Courthouse on Thursday, March 2, in Walterboro, South Carolina. (Chris Carlson/AP)South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said a person’s position and power are not above the law, and Alex Murdaugh’s guilty verdict Thursday proved just that.
“It’s been a long six weeks, but Maggie and Paul Murdaugh deserved justice, and they certainly did not deserve to brutally die at the hands of someone who was supposed to love and protect them,” Wilson said in a statement. “Alex Murdaugh’s house of cards, built on the foundation of lies, manipulation, and theft, came crashing down.”46 min agoBuster Murdaugh seen wiping tears as guilty verdict for his father was readFrom CNN’s Randi Kaye
As the verdict was read in the Colleton County courtroom for former attorney Alex Murdaugh, his only remaining son, Buster Murdaugh, could be seen wiping tears away from his eyes.
It appeared Alex Murdaugh mouthed the words “I love you,” to his son as he was placed in handcuffs.
Members of the jury kept their heads down and did not look in the direction of Alex Murdaugh.
51 min agoFamily of Murdaugh’s late housekeeper releases statement in response to jury’s verdictFrom CNN’s Dianne Gallagher
Eric Bland, family attorney of the Murdaugh family’s former housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, said Alex Murdaugh’s “life of lies and deceit ended today” after a jury found Murdaugh guilty of the murder of his wife and son.
“Through the verdict returned by the courageous jury in Colleton County, Alex Murdaugh will drink from the same cup of justice as every other citizen and other convicted murderers,” a statement from Bland read. “His power, prestige and money afforded him no special treatment. The people have spoken. Alex’s life of lies and deceit ended today. Maggie and Paul are vindicated. Justice prevails.” Satterfield, who spent more than two decades with the Murdaugh family, died in 2018 in what was described as a “trip and fall accident,” according to Bland.
After Satterfield’s death, a $500,000 wrongful death claim was filed against Alex Murdaugh on behalf of Satterfield’s estate, Bland said. In 2021, Murdaugh agreed to a $4.3 million settlement with Satterfield’s family, according to Bland.
1 hr 11 min ago”Justice was done today:” Prosecutor Creighton Waters responds to verdictProsecutor Creighton Waters speaks during a news conference after the conviction of Alex Murdaugh on Thursday, March 2, 2023. CNNProsecutor Creighton Waters thanked his team during a post-verdict news conference Thursday and responded to Alex Murdaugh’s conviction by thanking the jurors.
“We had no doubt that if we had a chance to present our case in a court of law, that they would see through the one last con that Alex Murdaugh was trying to pull. They did, and we’re so grateful for that,” Waters said at a press conference Thursday. Murdaugh was found guilty in the murder of his wife and son. In response to the verdict, Waters said “justice was done today.”
“It doesn’t matter who your family is,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how much money you have, or people think you have. It doesn’t matter what you think, how prominent you are. If you do wrong, if you break the law, if you murder, then justice will be done in South Carolina.” 1 hr 21 min agoNo one is above the law, South Carolina AG says after Murdaugh verdictFrom left, prosecutor Creighton Waters, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and defense attorney Dick Harpootlian speak to the judge during Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse on Thursday, in Walterboro, South Carolina. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier/AP)South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said he hopes the murder conviction of Alex Murdaugh proves that no one is above the law.
“Today’s verdict proves that no one, no one — no matter who you are in society — is above the law,” he said, speaking in Walterboro after the verdict was read.Wilson thanked his team and said the “justice system worked tonight” by giving a voice to Paul and Maggie Murdaugh who were killed in June 2021.
Wilson said their voices came through in the evidence and testimony presented during the trial.
“Their voice was heard tonight, and justice was brought for them we can’t bring them back, but we can bring them justice,” Wilson said.
1 hr 39 min agoAlleged financial crime victims say guilty verdict is “bittersweet”Justin Bamberg, a lawyer representing the alleged financial crime victims of Alex Murdaugh, said his clients have told him that Murdaugh’s guilty verdict is “bittersweet” for them.
“They were happy to hear Alex admit, ‘Yes, I lied and yes I stole.’ But, that’s not enough,” Bamberg told CNN. “Every single person who’s been victimized by Alex has wanted one thing: Complete accountability.”He said that “complete accountability” began with today’s jury verdict, and his clients “are happy about that.”
17 min agoWhy Murdaugh killed his wife and son, according to the prosecutionFrom CNN’s Eric Levenson and Alta Spells
Defendant Alex Murdaugh listens as Judge Clifton Newman charges the jury before they begin deliberation in Murdaugh’s double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse on Thursday in Walterboro, South Carolina. (Joshua Boucher/The State/AP)Alex Murdaugh has been convicted of killing his wife and son. Despite the lack of direct evidence, the prosecution spent weeks outlining how Murdaugh had the motive, means and opportunity to commit the murders.
The case hinged on circumstantial evidence: Proving Murdaugh was at the crime scene that night and that he lied to investigators, and painting him as a fraudster who killed his family in a desperate bid to distract the investigations into his actions.
Motive
A series of witnesses have accused Murdaugh of extensive financial wrongdoing at his namesake law firm and presented evidence that he lied to nearly everyone around him in a yearslong fraud. A “day of reckoning” was coming from several different angles, so he killed his family to distract and delay those financial investigations, the prosecution argued.
Two investigations in particular that could have exposed Murdaugh’s wrongdoing were coming to a head at the time of the killings.
For one, the chief financial officer of his law firm testified she had confronted Murdaugh about missing funds on the morning of June 7, 2021, hours before the killings. After the murders, the internal investigation into the funds took a backseat.
Second, Murdaugh was facing a lawsuit from the family of Mallory Beach, a 19-year-old who was killed in February 2019 when a boat, owned by Murdaugh and allegedly driven by Paul, crashed. A hearing in that civil case was scheduled for June 10, 2021, and had the potential to reveal his financial problems, prosecutors argued.
Means
Maggie was killed by a Blackout rifle and Paul was killed by a shotgun, prosecutor Creighton Waters said, adding that both were family weapons. Testimony from a weapons expert proved that Blackout rifle bullet casings discovered near Maggie’s body matched casings found on other parts of the family’s property.
Waters noted this weapon went missing and Murdaugh could not account for it.
Paul Murdaugh was killed by shots from a shotgun, one of Paul’s “favorite guns,” Waters said. Investigators determined that the two shells that killed Paul had “class characteristics” that were similar to a 12-gauge shotgun. Waters added that Alex Murdaugh had this shotgun with him on the night of the killings and that “Maggie’s DNA and blood” were found on the receiver of the gun.
Opportunity
One of the prosecution’s most compelling pieces of evidence was recorded audio that it said placed Murdaugh at the crime scene on the night of the murders. The video focuses on one of their dogs and appears to have been recorded at the kennels at their family home in Islandton, South Carolina. Three different voices can be heard in the background of the video, and family friends identified those voices as that of Paul, Maggie and Alex Murdaugh.
A video was filmed on Paul’s phone starting at 8:44 p.m. on June 7, 2021, just minutes before Paul and Maggie were shot dead, according to Lt. David Britton Dove, a supervisor in the computer crimes center at the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
Murdaugh’s presence there contradicted his original claim to investigators that he was not at the kennels that night, prosecutors said.
Murdaugh “told anyone who would listen he was never there,” the prosecution said in opening statements. “The evidence will show that he was there. He was at the murder scene with the two victims.”
Murdaugh later admitted to lying, testifying during the trial that he misled law enforcement because of addiction-induced paranoia.
Alex Murdaugh, center, is handcuffed in the courtroom after a guilty verdict of his double murder trial was read aloud at Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina on Thursday. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier/AP)2 hr 8 min agoJudge says the jury’s verdict was supported by the law and facts of the caseJudge Clifton Newman thanked members of the jury for doing their civic duty and considering all the evidence. They have been released from service and the court is in recess.
Newman said the verdict the jury reached collectively was supported by the facts that were presented during the trial.
“Circumstantial evidence, direct evidence, all of the evidence pointed to only one conclusion, and that’s the conclusion that you all reached. So I applaud you all for, as a group, and as a unit and individually, evaluating the evidence and coming to a proper conclusion as you saw the law, as you saw the facts,” the judge said before dismissing the jurors.Newman also thanked the alternate juror, who was required to stay at the court even though they were not part of the deliberations.
Murdaugh will reappear for sentencing Friday morning. Clifton told the jury they have no obligation to attend, but they are welcome to come back as a member of the gallery.
2 hr 25 min agoSentencing will be held Friday morningSouth Carolina Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman said sentencing for Alex Murdaugh will occur at 9:30 a.m. ET on Friday.