Alex Murdaugh shows little emotion during guilty verdict reading | LiveNOW from FOX
Alex Murdaugh was convicted Thursday of gunning down his wife and son after a panel of 12 jurors returned a guilty verdict after less than three hours of deliberations. Murdaugh looked shattered as the clerk read the devastating verdict. His only living son, Buster, sat in the gallery, shaking his head in disbelief and wiping his face with his hand. But he did not appear to shed a tear. Dr. Tracy Pearson joins LiveNOW’s Shirley Descorbeth to discuss. More LiveNOW from FOX streaming video
WALTERBORO, S.C. – Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced South Carolina attorney who was convicted of murder in the shooting deaths of his wife and son, will be sentenced Friday.
Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison without parole for each murder charge when he is sentenced, which in South Carolina is typically right after the verdict but can be delayed if a judge chooses.
Judge Clifton Newman set sentencing to take place Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. local time.
The jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Murdaugh guilty of two counts each of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime at the end of the six-week trial.
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Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence, jurors heard about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaugh’s failed attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme, a fatal boat crash in which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home and the grisly scene of the killings of Murdaugh’s wife and son.
“We can’t bring them back, but we can bring them justice,” Alan Wilson, South Carolina’s attorney general, told reporters following the verdict. “It is a good day in South Carolina. Today’s verdict proves that no one, no one, no matter who you are in society, is above the law.”
Alex Murdaugh is found guilty on all counts for the murder of his wife and son at the Colleton County Courthouse on March 2, 2023. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Earlier on Thursday, Murdaugh’s defense team delivered its closing arguments, claiming law enforcement was too quick to pinpoint Murdaugh as the main suspect in the killings.
Murdaugh’s lawyers will almost certainly appeal the conviction based on the judge allowing evidence of the financial crimes, which they contend were unrelated to the killings and were used by prosecutors to smear Murdaugh’s reputation.
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In a separate case, which is yet to go to trial, Murdaugh faces 99 separate charges stemming from alleged financial crimes.
This story was reported from Los Angeles. The Associated Press contributed.
