Stella Pinewood
It is expected that Alex Murdaugh will be sentenced to life in prison on Friday. After less than three hours of deliberation, a jury convicted him of killing his wife and son just one day earlier.
When Murdaugh, 54, faces Judge Clifton Newman in the Colleton County Courthouse after a panel of 12 jurors convicted him, he faces a maximum of life in prison.
As he heard his fate, the disbarred attorney closed his eyes tightly. As a result of his conviction, he was found guilty of murder and possession of a weapon for the purpose of committing a violent offence on two counts each.
Paul Murdaugh, 22, was shot dead by Murdaugh with a shotgun inside a feed room attached to the dog kennels at the family’s Moselle hunting estate. Maggie, 52, was also executed with a rifle by her husband on June 7, 2021.
Jurors were told by lead prosecutor Creighton Waters that the disgraced lawyer killed the two people in order to escape accountability for his financial crimes.
Murdaugh was confronted by the chief financial officer of his former law firm the day of the killings about missing fees. A wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a fatal 2019 boat wreck was scheduled for hearing later that week.
An accident involving Murdaugh’s father’s boat led to Mallory Beach’s death and the injuries of four other friends, and he was facing a multimillion-dollar claim.
Paul’s phone video recovered in 2022 shows Murdaugh four minutes before both victims were murdered, shattering his alibi. During their deaths, he claimed to have been taking a nap in the main house and never went to the kennel.
The murders, he maintained, bought Murdaugh time, delaying an inevitable financial reckoning.
His great-grandfather, who served as prosecutor over five counties in the Lowcountry, founded the law firm his great-grandfather used to manage, which Murdaugh later stole nearly $9 million from.
In court last week, Murdaugh, who was once the powerful heir to a legal dynasty, admitted to being a drug addict, a thief and a liar. In spite of this, he denied killing his wife and son.
The slain son left behind a critical piece of evidence in the case that he could not explain away.
As the clerk polled each juror, Murdaugh’s living son, Buster Murdaugh, shook his head and wiped his face with his hand.
A decision was reached at 6:41 p.m. on Thursday following 76 witnesses’ testimony during a six-week trial. There was not a single question asked by the jury to the judge during the deliberations.
“Our disappointment is obvious, but we won’t comment until he is sentenced,” Murdaugh’s attorney, Jim Griffin, told Fox News Digital.
_
Source: Omanghana.com/SP
