![]() But investigators never searched his mother’s house, giving time, some believed, for the defendant to recover and dispose of the murder weapons and clothing that was likely to be heavily soiled with blood evidence. Prosecutors argued that Murdaugh had left the estate soon after to visit his mother to help establish an alibi. But he said he drove a golf cart back to the main house, 500 yards away, before the shootings took place. Locals called the five-county district around the family’s seat in Hampton “Murdaugh country”.Īt the time prosecutors estimated the murders took place – at about 8.50pm – Murdaugh claimed he was visiting his mother and had not been at the dog kennels that night.Ĭellphone evidence showed that he had visited the kennels, and he admitted so on the witness stand. Going back three generations, the Murdaughs have held considerable sway over the judiciary, as state attorneys general, and via a prominent legal firm that brought profitable civil-award malpractice cases that companies would sooner settle than let go to trial. The verdict does not resolve questions over at least two other deaths connected to Alex Murdaugh, the disbarred lawyer whose family had lorded over this slice of the state for close to a century. If you look at everything it’s all plain and clear,” he said of Murdaugh’s guilt. Moyer also said he was sitting very close to the defendant and observed a lack of compassion from Murdaugh when he took the stand, and did not believe that the father was really crying when he showed emotion. “I heard his voice clearly, and everyone else could, too,” Moyer said. Moyer was convinced most particularly by the presentation of cellphone video that Paul Murdaugh sent to a friend minutes before he was killed, which featured the voice of his father. “He was a good liar, but not good enough,” Moyer told Good Morning America of the defendant. Juror Craig Moyer said on Friday morning that during deliberations, after two jurors thought the father was not guilty and one was unsure, the panel talked the case through for between 45 minutes and an hour and agreed on the guilty verdicts, which Moyer had believed throughout. “Our justice system gave voice to Maggie and Paul, who were brutally mowed down by someone they loved and trusted.” ![]() “No one, but no one, is above the law,” he said. He noted that many people had had misgivings that Murdaugh could be successfully held to account. Outside the court, South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson said he hoped the verdict would restore faith in the justice system. Defense lawyers repeatedly raised issues that they believed conferred reasonable doubt.īut in the closing days of the trial, as prosecutors sought to undermine Murdaugh’s defense that unknown assailants were responsible, a not guilty verdict had begun to appear remote to most observers. Missteps by investigators at the murder scene, and evidence mishandling thereafter, at times appeared to jeopardise a conviction. The case, the subject of a recent Netflix documentary, has been an opportunity to examine power and corruption in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, where the Murdaughs had established deep roots of power in the region as moonshiners during Prohibition. Murdaugh claimed on the witness stand that he would never do anything to hurt Maggie and Paul, but he never, outside of a plea of not guilty, directly denied killing them. Prosecutors said Murdaugh shot and killed his family members to distract from his financial crimes. Murdaugh, 54, had been held in jail in South Carolina since October 2021 on felony counts of fraud, after millions of dollars went missing from a settlement involving the death of a housekeeper.ĭuring the murder trial, almost 75 witnesses were called. ![]() “The circumstantial evidence, direct evidence, all of the evidence, only pointed to one conclusion – the conclusion that you all reached,” he said, before dismissing the jury. Murdaugh’s defense counsel immediately called for a mistrial, which Newman denied. Neither of Murdaugh’s brothers were in court despite one, John Marvin, testifying on his elder brother’s behalf. ![]() Newman has discretion to pass a sentence of 30 years to life without parole for each of the murder convictions. Murdaugh will return to court on Friday for sentencing. “He may be taken away,” the judge, Clifton Newman, said as Murdaugh was led out.
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