March 2, 2023 - Alex Murdaugh found guilty in the murder of his wife and son

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.

Judge 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.

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.

South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman said sentencing for Alex Murdaugh will occur at 9:30 a.m. ET on Friday.

Judge Clifton Newman denied the defense's motion for mistrial, saying that there has been an "overwhelming amount of testimony and evidence" presented to the jury.

He said this was a matter for the jury to determine and the court found that there "was sufficient evidence to find the defendant guilty if the evidence was believed by the jury."

Alex Murdaugh was found guilty on two counts of murder in the killing of his wife and son. The jury deliberated for under three hours after hearing weeks of testimony by dozens of witnesses.

The jury in the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh has found him guilty of murdering his wife and son, the grisliest and most severe of the allegations faced by the disgraced former South Carolina attorney.

Murdaugh, the 54-year-old scion of a prominent and powerful family of local lawyers and solicitors, was also found guilty of two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in the killings of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh on June 7, 2021.

Prosecutors have indicated they will seek life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders, sparing him the death penalty.

In a separate case yet to go to trial, Murdaugh continues to face 99 separate charges stemming from a horde of alleged financial crimes, including defrauding his clients, former law firm and the government of about $9 million.

The jury has reached a verdict in the double murder trial of former attorney Alex Murdaugh after just hours of deliberations.

Murdaugh pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the fatal shootings of his wife, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, and son Paul at their family estate in Islandton, South Carolina, in June 2021.

The jury must be unanimous in its decision to either acquit Murdaugh or convict him.

The jury has been told they can deliberate until 10 p.m. ET tonight, a source familiar told CNN.

The jury has asked for monitors, the source said, likely to watch interviews and other important videos that were played in court.

As of now, there is no plan for the jury to deliberate over the weekend if they do not reach a verdict before then.

After receiving detailed instructions from the judge, the jury is now deliberating in the case against disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh.

The jury will consider two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the killings of Murdaugh's wife and son at the family’s estate, a property known as Moselle.

Earlier Thursday, Judge Clifton Newman removed a juror and replaced them with an alternate after a member of the public reached out to report improper conversations with parties not associated with the case.

The court is back after closing arguments and a lunch break.

The judge is now charging the jury before they start deliberations.