Who is Alex Murdaugh? Verdict returned in trial over family murders of son and wife - when is sentencing

A judge has sentenced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh to life without parole after he was convicted of murdering his wife and son. Days earlier, a jury found the disgraced attorney guilty of killing his wife and son.

Investigators said Murdaugh’s 22-year-old son, Paul, was shot twice with a shotgun and his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, was shot four or five times with a rifle outside dog kennels on their rural Colleton County property on 7 June 2021.

For 20 months, Murdaugh had told police repeatedly that he was not at the kennels, and was instead napping before he went to visit his ailing mother that night. But while testifying in his own defence, he finally admitted he was at the kennels.

Here is everything you need to know about it.

What happened?

At the time, he called 911 and said he had discovered the bodies when he returned home. But while testifying in his own defence, he finally admitted he was at the kennels, while steadfastly maintaining his innocence in the deaths of his wife and son.

In the end, Murdaugh’s fate appeared sealed by the mobile video taken by his son Paul, who he called “Little Detective” for his knack for finding bottles of painkillers in his father’s belongings after the lawyer had sworn off the pills.

The video, which includes the voices of Murdaugh, his wife and son at the kennels just minutes before investigators said they were killed - was a key piece of evidence for prosecutors, but was not discovered for a year because agents could not initially hack into his son’s iPhone.

In his testimony, Murdaugh admitted joining Maggie and Paul at the kennels, where he said he took a chicken away from a rowdy yellow Labrador named Bubba - whose name Murdaugh can be heard saying on the video - before heading back to the house shortly ahead of the fatal shootings.

Investigators think Murdaugh had no more than about 17 minutes from the time his wife and son stopped using their mobile phones to when he left the property to visit his ailing mother.

What was Alex Murdaugh’s motive?

Motive is not a necessary element to prove the crime. But Rachel Fiset, a Los Angeles-based trial attorney, said prosecutors painstakingly laid out a motive to address the question she figures must have weighed on the juror’s minds. “I don’t think there could possibly be any conviction without answering that lingering question of why Alex Murdaugh would kill his family,” Fiset said.

Murdaugh comes from a family that dominated the local legal scene for decades. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were the area’s elected prosecutors for more than 80 years and his family law firm grew to dozens of lawyers by suing railroads, corporations and other big businesses.

Prosecutors think Murdaugh killed his wife and son because he feared his years of stealing millions of dollars from his law firm and clients would be exposed and his lofty standing in the community toppled. They said he hoped their deaths would make him a sympathetic figure and draw attention away from the missing money.

The now-disbarred attorney admitted stealing millions of dollars from the family firm and clients, saying he needed the money to fund his drug habit. Before he was charged with murder, Murdaugh was in jail awaiting trial on about 100 other charges ranging from insurance fraud to tax evasion.

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, the grisly scene of the killings and Bubba, the chicken-snatching dog.

When will Alex Murdaugh’s sentence be?

A judge has sentenced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh to life without parole after he was convicted of murdering his wife and son.

Murdaugh will be taken to a state prison where he will be held in the highest security The lawyer maintained his innocence when addressing the judge before sentencing.