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After a six-week trial that delved into the intricacies of a tarnished legal dynasty, Alex Murdaugh, a disgraced South Carolina attorney accused of killing his wife and son, has been found guilty and sentenced to consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.

The trial jury deliberated for less than three hours after closing arguments were completed on Thursday before returning the guilty verdict. Prosecutors contended that Mr. Murdaugh committed the murders to divert attention from his own financial misconduct, which they said was about to be uncovered. Mr. Murdaugh testified in his own defense, admitting that he had embezzled millions of dollars from his clients and law firm, but denied responsibility for his wife and son's deaths. The following are key details to keep in mind about the case.

Murdaugh was at the crime scene

Alex Murdaugh had previously denied being at the dog kennels when his wife and son were fatally shot for over 20 months. However, during the trial, he admitted that he had lied about his whereabouts and that he was briefly present at the kennels before the murders occurred.

However, Mr. Murdaugh only admitted to being at the dog kennels on the night of the murders after a video, taken by his son Paul, was presented in court confirming his presence. He stated that he was only there briefly before leaving, then went back to the house to rest before checking on his sick mother who lived nearby. He claimed he returned to the kennels an hour later and discovered his family's bodies.

During the trial, Mr. Murdaugh explained that he had been struggling with opioid addiction and depression, and that his fear and paranoia had led him to lie to the police. He also claimed that he did not trust the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which is why he had not been truthful about his whereabouts. According to him, he was afraid that acknowledging his presence at the kennels before the murders would make him a suspect in the case.

“I lied about being down there,” he said, “and I’m so sorry that I did.”

Lack of Physical Evidence in the Case

Prosecutors relied on a variety of digital evidence, including telephone calls, text messages, videos, car navigation data, and cellphone tracking step counts, to challenge Mr. Murdaugh's claims about his location on the night of the murders.

However, the prosecutors' case was largely based on circumstantial evidence. They used telephone calls, text messages, videos, car navigation data, and even step counts based on cellphone tracking to challenge Mr. Murdaugh's version of events on the night of the murders. No physical evidence was presented, and investigators have not recovered the family-owned rifle allegedly used to kill Mrs. Murdaugh or the shotgun used to kill Paul Murdaugh.

Despite the lack of physical evidence, Alex Murdaugh's defense team argued that his white T-shirt did not have any blood on it when police arrived, which would have been present if he had committed the crime. Additionally, DNA of an unidentified man was found under Mrs. Murdaugh's fingernails.

In an attempt to discredit the police investigation, Mr. Murdaugh's attorneys depicted it as haphazard. They pointed out that certain location data on Mrs. Murdaugh's phone from the day of the murders had been erased. Additionally, two deputies from the Colleton County Sheriff's Office acknowledged that tire tracks from the crime scene had been driven over and stepped on, while another deputy admitted to having walked near one of the victims' bodies without covering his footwear.

The defense lawyers pointed out that the police statement released after the murders declared that there was no immediate threat to the public, suggesting that the investigation was solely focused on Mr. Murdaugh.

One defense lawyer, Jim Griffin, said that the police “failed miserably in investigating this case.” Mr. Murdaugh would have been vindicated, he added, “had they done a competent job.”

Murdaugh faces charges for numerous financial crimes

On the day of the murders, the CFO of Mr. Murdaugh's law firm confronted him with an accusation of embezzling around $800,000 in legal fees that he was supposed to have deposited into the firm's account.

Mr. Murdaugh has been charged with stealing approximately $8.8 million in total, according to prosecutors. He has admitted under oath to many of those crimes, including embezzling about $3.7 million in 2019. This was the same year that his son Paul was charged with drunkenly crashing a boat into a bridge, resulting in the death of one of his passengers, 19-year-old Mallory Beach.

Throughout the case, Mr. Murdaugh has asserted that he thinks his son's death was caused by an unidentified attacker or attackers as retaliation for Paul's role in a boat crash where he was driving drunk and crashed into a bridge, killing one of his passengers, 19-year-old Mallory Beach.

The Prosecution Relied on Murdaugh's Deception to Convince the Jury to Doubt Him

Prosecutors relied on Murdaugh's history of deceit and addiction to painkillers to convince the jury that he was not to be trusted. In addition to his numerous financial misdeeds, Murdaugh confessed to a long-standing habit of lying. The prosecution used this admission to argue that his claims of innocence in the murders of his wife and son were also fabrications.

During the trial, Creighton Waters, the lead prosecutor, raised a pile of documents that pertained to the clients whom Mr. Murdaugh stole from.

“Every single one of these, you had to sit down and look somebody in the eye and convince them that you were on their side when you were not, correct?” he asked Mr. Murdaughwhile looking directly at the jury.

“What I admit is I misled them, I did wrong, and that I stole their money,” Mr. Murdaugh responded.

Mr. Murdaugh's lawyers portrayed his admission of lying as a sign of his willingness to be honest and transparent about his past mistakes. They argued that while he may have struggled with addiction and made poor decisions related to his financial dealings, he was not a violent person and did not have the motive or opportunity to commit the murders.

Surviving family members defended Murdaugh but had their doubts

Friends and family initially stood by Murdaugh following the killings, but their support was not unconditional. They said he “would have to create a new word to describe how distraught he was.”

During the trial, the surviving relatives of Alex Murdaugh provided testimony that portrayed him as a man who was devastated by the killings of his wife and son. His brother John Marvin Murdaugh testified that he had never seen his brother act violently and was shocked to learn that he had been accused of the murders. Alex Murdaugh's surviving son, Buster Murdaugh, also took the stand and testified that his father was "destroyed" and "heartbroken" after the killings. He said that when he spoke with his father about 20 minutes after prosecutors say the murders took place, Alex Murdaugh sounded "normal" - at a time that Mr. Murdaugh's lawyers say he had yet to discover the bodies of his wife and son.

His Sister Testified Against Him

However, the prosecution also called a witness who testified against Murdaugh. His sister-in-law, Marian Proctor, said that she began to question Alex Murdaugh's account of the murders about three months after they occurred. According to her, he seemed more concerned with protecting Paul's reputation than with finding out who had killed his son. She testified that she became suspicious of her brother-in-law's account after his law firm fired him and accused him of stealing millions of dollars over many years.

So, while some family members defended Alex Murdaugh as a grieving father and husband, others testified against him and suggested that he may not have been entirely truthful about his involvement in the case.

When Ms. Proctor asked him who might have murdered his wife — Ms. Proctor’s only sister — and his son, Mr. Murdaugh offered a cryptic response, she said.

“He said that he did not know who it was, but he felt like whoever did it had thought about it for a long time,” Ms. Proctor said. “I just didn’t know what that meant.”