Alex Murdaugh found guilty of murder on all counts (update: life without parole)

Publish date: 2024-06-29


Update:: Murdaugh has been sentenced to life without parole.

The story of the Murdaugh family in lowcountry, South Carolina is sordid and infuriating. They come from a long line of influential, well-connected DAs and acted above the law, with impunity, for decades. Alex, 54, was addicted to painkillers and embezzling money from clients at his law firm. His son, Paul, was boating drunk in 2019 when he caused an accident that resulted in a young woman’s death. His older son, Buster, was rumored to have been in a relationship with a young man who was found dead in 2015 by blunt force trauma. Alex’s wife, Margaret, was at home in 2018 when the family’s longterm housekeeper was found dead from a head wound following an alleged fall down the stairs. Alex collected the multimillion insurance payout from her death, laundering it with the help of local banks and not paying a penny to her surviving sons. So many people had personal beef with the Murdaughs. When both Margaret and Paul were found shot dead in June, 2021, the list of suspects was long. Their father, attorney Alex Murdaugh, was just convicted on all counts of their murders after a highly publicized trial. Prosecutors are seeking life without parole.

In a case that has captured nationwide attention, Alex Murdaugh was convicted Thursday evening of murdering his wife and son in South Carolina, where the death penalty is legal. But prosecutors have said they are not seeking capital punishment.

“After carefully reviewing this case and all the surrounding facts, we have decided to seek life without parole,” South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a December statement. Robert Kittle, a spokesperson for Wilson, said that is still the state’s intention following the guilty verdict.

Murdaugh was also convicted on two counts of possession of a weapon while committing a violent crime, which could add an additional five years each of prison time, though that does not apply when a defendant is sentenced to life without parole, according to South Carolina law.

He faces a minimum of 30 years in prison and potentially life behind bars without parole.

[From The Washington Post]

A juror in the Murdaugh case said that the cell phone footage placing Alex Murdaugh at the dog kennels, the place where Margaret and Paul were murdered, helped him declare Alex guilty. I didn’t follow this trial but I watched the three part HBO docuseries on the Murdaughs, Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty. I came away feeling sympathy for their victims and anger that they were allowed to escape the law as long as they did. How many other families and dynasties exist who get away with murder and robbery? A three part Netflix series about this family just came out, Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, and it’s number two on Netflix’s TV ratings this week. I’m glad this case is getting publicity and that Alex was convicted and will hopefully never see the other side of a jail cell. I also hope that this family’s victims will get restitution.

BREAKING: Jury finds Alex Murdaugh guilty of double murder. https://t.co/LZCGGhjDFL pic.twitter.com/J6tFqLJOzz

— ABC News (@ABC) March 3, 2023

It’s likely the Murdaughs have a long legacy of murder and fraud.

The founder of the Murdaugh legal dynasty, Randolph Murdaugh Sr., was killed in a suspicious train crash, from which his son benefited, in 1940. https://t.co/nKPwk4NJWg

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 3, 2023

Photos credit: Netflix and via Instagram

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