Murdaugh’s conviction capped off an explosive six-week double murder trial
Alex Murdaugh is scheduled Friday to be sentenced to up to life in prison, just one day after a jury convicted him of slaughtering his wife and son after deliberating for less than three hours.
Murdaugh, 54, faces a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of life in prison when he faces Judge Clifton Newman in the Colleton County Courthouse after a panel of 12 jurors delivered a guilty verdict.
The disbarred attorney, who was standing, tightly closed his eyes as he heard his fate. He was found guilty of two counts each of murder and possession of a weapon in the commission of a violent crime.
Murdaugh’s living son, Buster Murdaugh, shook his head and wiped his face with his hand, as the clerk polled each juror.
The panel’s decision came in at 6:41 p.m. Thursday after they endured a grueling six-week trial and testimony from 76 witnesses.
The jury did not pose a single question to the judge during the deliberations.
“Obviously we’re disappointed but until he’s sentenced we will have no further comment,” Murdaugh’s attorney, Jim Griffin, told Fox News Digital outside the courthouse.
Murdaugh used a shotgun to kill his son, Paul, 22, inside a feed room attached to the dog kennels at the family’s hunting estate, known as Moselle, and a rifle to execute his wife, Maggie, 52, June 7, 2021.
Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters told jurors that the disgraced attorney carried out the double slayings to escape accountability for his financial crimes.
The day of the killings, the chief financial officer of his former law firm confronted Murdaugh about missing fees, and he had a hearing scheduled later that week in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a deadly 2019 boat wreck.
Paul Murdaugh had crashed his father’s boat into a bridge, killing 19-year-old Mallory Beach and injuring four other friends, and Murdaugh was facing a multimillion-dollar claim.
The murders, Waters argued, bought Murdaugh time, delaying an inevitable financial reckoning.
Murdaugh was later charged with stealing nearly $9 million from his clients and his law firm, which was founded by his great-grandfather, who served as prosecutor overseeing five counties in the Lowcountry.