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Here are some takeaways from the trial that began on Jan. 25 and led to Thursday’s verdict. Murdaugh on Friday was sentenced to life in prison.
Murdaugh admitted he lied about being at the crime scene
The 54-year-old Murdaugh has maintained his innocence throughout the trial. He pleaded not guilty in the murders of his wife, Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22. Prosecutors accused him of shooting them to “shift focus away” from his financial wrongdoings and obscure stealing millions of dollars from clients and law partners.
But during the trial, one admission — that he had lied about being at the crime scene — became a key moment that prosecutors seized on. Murdaugh said in public last week, for the first time, that he was at the scene shortly before the killings, which happened about 50 miles from Charleston.
A video on Paul Murdaugh’s phone included Alex Murdaugh’s voice, indicating that the father was indeed there in direct contradiction to what he told authorities.
On the stand, Murdaugh gave many reasons for being nervous while talking to investigators at the time, including a lack of trust and that he had been suffering from paranoia attributed to an opioid addiction.
Murdaugh’s defense said no physical evidence tied him to killings
The prosecution won the case on circumstantial evidence. Murdaugh’s defense attorneys leaned heavily on the lack of physical evidence tying him to the crime scene at their estate, which is known in the Lowcountry as “Moselle.”
“There’s no eyewitness,” defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said during the trial over the 2021 killings, in which weapons have not been recovered. “There’s no forensics tying him to the murder,” he said.
Murdaugh admitted to stealing millions from clients
The lead prosecutor spent hours questioning Murdaugh about the charges he faces of alleged financial crimes.
A once successful and now disbarred lawyer, Murdaugh opened himself up to cross-examination when he decided to testify — which legal experts described as a risky move that could sway the jurors.
He said bad land deals and an addiction to opiate pills fueled a cycle of borrowing and spending that battered the family’s financial situation. He apologized several times for swindling clients which included teenage girls and a quadriplegic man.
Murdaugh’s family members finally gave their views of the case
Marian Proctor, the sister of Murdaugh’s slain wife, spoke as a witness for the prosecution and offered her side of the family’s perspective for the first time in public since the killings.
She indicated that the family didn’t initially see Alex Murdaugh as a potential suspect, according to the Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston, S.C. “We were sort of living in fear because we thought this horrible person was out there. We were mostly afraid for Alex and [his son] Buster, but we didn’t know the motive behind the killings,” she reportedly said on the stand. “We thought that up until September. And then things started to change a little bit.”
Speaking as a witness for the defense, John Marvin Murdaugh described his brother Alex a loving father and said he did not believe the real killer had been found.
“In my mind, I told Paul I loved him” upon seeing where his nephew had died, he told the jury, according to the Post and Courier. “I promised him that I’d find out who did this to him.”
The jury reached a verdict in about three hours
After more than a year of intrigue and a trial that lasted a little over a month, the jury took about three hours Thursday evening to find Murdaugh guilty.
Observers were surprised the verdict was out within hours, after some had expected deliberations to drag into next week or a possible hung jury and more waiting. Prosecutors have said they are not seeking capital punishment in this case. Legal experts said they expect him to appeal, noting various points in the trial with questionable legal merit.
Anumita Kaur contributed to this report.
