Jury finds Alex Mardaugh guilty of murders of his wife and child

After less than three hours of deliberation, a jury in the United States found 54-year-old Alex Murdaugh guilty of killing his wife and younger son. Murdaugh is the scion of a prominent legal dynasty in South Carolina.

After the verdict, Murdaugh's defense team sought right away to have the case ruled a mistrial. Judge Clifton Newman, however, turned down the appeal.

“The evidence of guilt is overwhelming,” Newman told the court.

The eagerly awaited decision brings to an end six weeks of testimony and evidence during which the prosecution sought to connect the former attorney to the shooting deaths of his wife Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and his son Paul Murdaugh, 22, in that same year. Now, he might spend the rest of his life in prison.

The eagerly awaited decision brings to an end six weeks of testimony and evidence during which the prosecution sought to connect the former attorney to the shooting deaths of his wife Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and his son Paul Murdaugh, 22, in that same year. Now, he might spend the rest of his life in prison.

Before the jury began deliberating on Thursday, Alex Murdaugh's defense team gave its closing arguments. Attorney Jim Griffin emphasized what he believed to be significant weaknesses in the murder investigation.

Griffin contended that investigators and prosecutors focused on Murdaugh as a suspect without adequately gathering evidence or taking into account other ideas.

In addition to destroying crucial materials like the victims' garments and the fabric sheet used to cover the bodies, which may have had DNA pointing to further suspects, the defense claimed that detectives neglected to gather fingerprint and blood evidence.

Griffin added that there was no Genetic proof connecting Murdaugh to the crime scene. Moreover, the murderous weapons were not found.

“How could he have butchered Maggie and Paul without leaving a trace of evidence within a matter of minutes?” Griffin said. Given the amount of blood splatter from the shootings and the short window of time Murdaugh would have had to act, Griffin argued there was no way his client could have pulled off the crime.

“He had 17 minutes. He would have to be a magician to make all that evidence disappear,” Griffin said.

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