- A juror in the Alex Murdaugh trial broke down how deliberations went to ABC News.
- Craig Moyer said initially nine voted to convict, two thought Murdaugh was innocent, and one was unsure.
Three jurors initially opposed convicting Alex Murdaugh of murder when deliberations first started Thursday, but it only took 45 minutes to convince them to vote guilty, one of the jurors told ABC News.
Craig Moyer, a carpenter, spoke with ABC News just hours after the verdict was read Thursday night and broke down how the brief three-hour deliberations went.
Moyer said that when the jury first started deliberating Thursday afternoon, they took a quick poll to see where they all stood. Nine jurors, including Moyer, thought Murdaugh was guilty, two thought he was innocent, and one was unsure.
After that, Moyer says the group rewatched one of the videos presented at trial — body camera footage from an officer who responded to the scene the night Murdaugh called 911 and told police that he had found his wife and son shot to death.
Moyer said their debate after that largely focused on shotgun shells found at the scene. Two fired 12-gauge shotgun shells were found near where Paul died, while .300 Blackout shell casings were found near Maggie's body.
The defense used this evidence to spin their argument that two mystery shooters were behind Maggie and Paul's death, saying that it would have been too cumbersome for Alex Murdaugh to carry out the killings with two different long guns.
But it didn't take long to convince the holdout jurors that this piece of evidence wasn't convincing enough. Moyer said it only took 45 minutes of debate for the three holdouts to change their votes to guilty.
"The evidence was clear," Moyer said.
The jury found Murdaugh guilty on all counts Thursday night, and on Friday morning, Judge Clifton Newman sentenced Murdaugh to two consecutive life in prison sentences.
Murdaugh continued to profess his innocence on Friday.
"I'm innocent. I wouldn't hurt my wife Maggie, and I would never hurt my son Paw-Paw," Murdaugh said before being led away to jail in handcuffs.