Alex Murdaugh — a well-known private damage lawyer in South Carolina who comes from one in all that area’s wealthiest households — was discovered responsible of homicide on Thursday.

Murdaugh, who had pleaded not responsible to 2 counts of homicide and two counts of possession of a weapon through the fee of a violent crime, was convicted on the conclusion of his trial on all 4 counts.

The jury deliberated for less than three hours following the tip of the trial.

Murdaugh can be sentenced on Friday morning; he faces 30 years to life in jail with out parole.

As for his heinous crime?

On June 7, 2021 the our bodies of Murdaugh’s 52-year previous spouse, Maggie and 22-year previous son, Paul, had been discovered lifeless on the 1,770-acre property in Islandton, South Carolina the place the household’s searching lodge was situated.

The pair died close to the lodge’s canine kennels because of a number of gunshot wounds, a State Legislation Enforcement Division press launch mentioned on the time.

Murdaugh was the one who referred to as 9-1-1 and reported the deaths.

For many years till 2006, Murdaugh members of the family served because the main prosecutor in and round Colleton County.

Throughout the six-week lengthy trial, Murdaugh mentioned he gunned down his spouse and son to distract from his monetary crimes, together with the theft of tens of millions of {dollars} from his legislation companions and purchasers … cash used to feed a years-long habit to opioids and assist a lavish life-style.

Whereas testifying in his personal protection, Murdaugh confessed to mendacity about his whereabouts on the evening of the killings, though he additionally denied taking the lives of his spouse and son.

“I might by no means deliberately do something to harm both of them,” he mentioned on the stand. “Not ever.”

Alas, a jury of his friends didn’t consider this declare ultimately.

“It doesn’t matter who your loved ones is, it doesn’t matter how a lot cash you’ve gotten,” Creighton Waters, the lead prosecutor, mentioned after the decision.

“If you happen to do fallacious, when you break the legislation, when you homicide, then justice can be performed in South Carolina.”

After the decision was learn out loud on Thursday, in the meantime, Murdaugh’s lawyer instantly motioned for a mistrial — which the decide swiftly denied.

“The proof of guilt is overwhelming,” South Carolina Circuit Court docket Decide Clifton Newman mentioned in response.

The murders had been the subject of Netflix’s Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, which premiered on February 22, which supplied additional background into the Murdaugh household’s affect amongst its native South Carolina group.

Murdaugh’s great-grandfather based the Hampton legislation agency in 1910, whereas a member of this household had occupied the 14th Circuit solicitor’s chair for 3 generations.

The sequence additionally lined how Paul and Maggie’s deaths shed a light-weight on “a century of corruption, energy, and cover-ups within the Low Nation,” that includes interviews with these closest to the Murdaugh household within the course of.

“Circumstantial proof, direct proof — all the proof pointed to just one conclusion, and that’s the conclusion that you just all reached,” Decide Newman instructed the jurors on Thursday.