The choose presiding over the South Carolina homicide trial has mentioned the proof towards the ex-lawyer is ‘overwhelming’.
Alex Murdaugh, the 54-year-old scion of a long-standing authorized dynasty in South Carolina, has been discovered responsible within the murders of his spouse and youthful son, after a jury in america deliberated for lower than three hours.
Within the wake of the decision, Murdaugh’s protection crew swiftly moved to have the proceedings declared a mistrial. However Choose Clifton Newman rejected the enchantment.
“The proof of guilt is overwhelming,” Newman informed the courtroom.
The extremely anticipated verdict brings to a detailed six weeks of testimony and proof, as prosecutors sought to hyperlink the previous lawyer to the capturing deaths of his spouse Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and his 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh. He now faces between 30 years to life in jail.
Murdaugh’s protection crew introduced its closing arguments within the hours earlier than the jury deliberation on Thursday, with legal professional Jim Griffin pointing to what he thought of critical flaws within the homicide investigation.
Griffin argued that investigators and prosecutors jumped to conclusions about Murdaugh, zeroing in on him as a suspect with out correctly accumulating proof or contemplating different theories.
The protection alleged that investigators failed to gather fingerprint and blood proof, whereas discarding key supplies just like the victims’ garments and the material sheet used to cowl the our bodies, which may have carried DNA pointing to different suspects.
Griffin additionally famous that there was no DNA proof collected linking Murdaugh, or anybody else, to the crime scene.
“How may he have butchered Maggie and Paul with out leaving a hint of proof inside a matter of minutes?” Griffin mentioned.
However the prosecution finally made the ultimate remarks to the jury, arguing in its rebuttal that the 12-member panel didn’t have to unravel each thriller within the Murdaugh case to know that he was responsible.
“You possibly can’t reply each query, and the regulation would not require it,” legal professional John Meadors informed the jury.
Maggie and Paul Murdaugh had been discovered shot to loss of life exterior the canine kennels on their huge rural property in an remoted a part of Colleton County, South Carolina, on June 7, 2021.
4 to 5 rifle photographs had been recognized on Maggie Murdaugh’s physique, whereas Paul Murdaugh had been killed by two blasts from a shotgun, every with a special sized bullet.
All through the proceedings, Murdaugh has denied any involvement within the double homicide, saying he was on a go to to his ailing mom, who has dementia, on the time of the deaths.
Initially, he additionally claimed to be nowhere close to the canine kennels that night. However a key piece of prosecution proof positioned him within the neighborhood: After a yr of makes an attempt, investigators managed to unlock Paul Murdaugh’s iPhone, which contained a video taken close to the kennels that captured his father’s voice on the evening of the assault.
Murdaugh belongs to a strong household of legal professionals in South Carolina. His great-grandfather, grandfather and father had been all elected solicitors to the state’s 14th Circuit Court docket, placing them answerable for pursuing and prosecuting felony circumstances in 5 South Carolina counties.
Along with Thursday’s homicide trial, Murdaugh continues to face over 100 fees for crimes together with quite a few monetary misdeeds. He’s accused, as an illustration, of stealing $7m from his household’s regulation agency and taking cash from his purchasers’ authorized settlements, to the tune of $8.8m.
