Alex Murdaugh handed two life terms after cell phone video helped convict disgraced attorney of son and wife’s murder
SHAMED legal heir Alex Murdaugh has been sentenced to life in prison.
The disbarred South Carolina attorney was found guilty of the June 2021 murders of his wife Maggie and his youngest son Paul.
On Friday, South Carolina Circuit Judge Clifton Newman handed Murdaugh, 54, two life sentences.
Newman slammed Murdaugh for “engaging in duplicitous conduct” in the courtroom and when testifying on the witness stand.
The judge also said that drugs may have turned Murdaugh into a “monster.”
He said: “It might not have been you, it might be the monster you become when you take… opioids.”
Prosecutor Creighton Waters described Murdaugh as a “cunning manipulator” and said he had a “lack of remorse.”
He said: “No one knew who he really was, and that’s chilling.
“This family has suffered and they have had to suffer in the public eye.
“The reality remains that despite all this attention, this case is about Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh.”
Murdaugh said he was innocent before being sentenced.
He pled: “I would never under any circumstances hurt my wife Maggie and hurt my son Paul Paul.”
The disgraced lawyer was found guilty of two counts of murder and two firearms charges.
Jurors in the case reached their conclusion following a deliberation that lasted less than three hours.
Craig Moyer, a juror, told ABC News that a cell phone video had helped convict the disgraced attorney.
He revealed that he was convinced he heard Alex’s voice in the footage which was filmed at the family’s kennels.
Moyer said: “I was certain it was [Murdaugh’s] voice.”
The footage was taken by Paul, 22, before he was killed.
Moyer claimed that jurors reached a decision in 45 minutes to an hour.
Waters said “justice was served” after the verdict was delivered yesterday.
He said: “It doesn’t matter how much money you have, or people think you have … if you do wrong, if you break the law, if you murder, then justice will be done in South Carolina.”
During the trial that lasted weeks, Murdaugh openly confessed that he lied to authorities about his whereabouts on the night of the murders on June 7, 2021.
Maggie, 52, was shot dead four or five times with a rifle.
Meanwhile, Paul was shot twice with a shotgun at the kennels.
Waters argued that Murdaugh committed the heinous crimes to distract from his financial and criminal wrongdoings.
He argued that his legal empire began to unravel after Paul was involved in a fatal boat crash in 2019 that left 19-year-old Mallory Beach dead.
Waters told the jury: “That legacy was in danger, and it was threatening to expose who he truly was, which would destroy that part of the legacy.”
He also argued the family was “watching him [Murdaugh] like a hawk” due to the attorney’s opioid addiction, which Murdaugh openly admitted to in court.
Waters described to the jury how Murdaugh used a shotgun to blow off Paul’s head and then picked up a rifle to execute his wife Maggie.
Defense attorney Jim Griffin slammed the state’s motive as he claimed: “Their theory is he slaughtered his wife and son to distract from an impending financial investigation—but he puts himself in the middle of a murder investigation, and he puts himself in the spotlight of a media firestorm. That’s their motive.”
During the testimony, Murdaugh denied allegations that he hurt his family.
He said: “I would never intentionally do anything to hurt either one of them, ever.”
He blamed withholding information on his years-long addiction to opioids, which he said made him “paranoid.”
Murdaugh added: “On June 7, I wasn’t thinking clearly. I don’t think I was capable of reason. And I lied about being down there. And I’m so sorry that I did.
“My addiction evolved over time, I would get in these situations or circumstances where I would get paranoid thinking over anything.”
Murdaugh testified that he had to keep lying.
He told the court: “Once I told a lie – I told my family – I had to keep lying.”
Body language expert Patti Wood told The U.S. Sun that Murdaugh’s fear and anxiety emerged as the verdict was read out.
She said that he kept his mouth in a straight line but the downward curves hinted at “suppressed sadness.”