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Jury finds Alex Murdaugh guilty of murdering his wife and son: 9 key moments from the trial
Jury finds Alex Murdaugh guilty of murdering his wife and son: 9 key moments from the trial
Ashley Collman,Lloyd LeeMar 3, 2023, 06:42 IST
Alex Murdaugh talks to Dick Harpootlian, his lawyer, during his trial.Grace Beahm Alford/The State via AP
On Thursday, a jury found Alex Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder.
His wife and son were found dead in June 2021 from bullet wounds at the family's hunting compound.
Alex Murdaugh, a disbarred attorney whose family includes a long lineage of influential South Carolina prosecutors, was found guilty of murdering his wife and son on Thursday.
After less than three hours of deliberation, a jury of the Colleton County Courthouse unanimously found Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon.
Murdaugh faces a maximum of life in prison for the murder charges and an additional five years for each weapons possession charge.
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The jury reached a guilty verdict on Thursday.
The six-week trial came to a close with a speedy verdict on Thursday.
After about two and a half hours of deliberation, the jury found Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon.
Murdaugh remained mostly blank-faced as the verdict was announced.
Alex Murdaugh choked up during opening statements.
Alex Murdaugh crying after seeing his family during opening statements in his murder trial in South Carolina.Grace Beahm Alford/The Post and Courier via AP, Pool
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Prosecutors played a video clip that cast doubt on Murdaugh's alibi.
Murdaugh admitted on the stand that he lied to police about his whereabouts the night of the killings.
Murdaugh testifies during his murder trial at South Carolina's Colleton County Courthouse.Grace Beahm Alford/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool
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Prosecutors played video of Murdaugh that they said contained an early admission of guilt.
Murdaugh's surviving son, Buster, testified in his father's defense, saying his dad was "destroyed" and "heartbroken" after the deaths of Maggie and Paul.
Buster Murdaugh testifies during his father's trial.Grace Beahm Alford/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool
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In bizarre moment, one of Murdaugh's attorneys, Dick Harpootlian, pointed an assault rifle at the prosecutors table and said "tempting."
The defense attorney Dick Harpootlian holds Buster Murdaugh's .300 Blackout rifle, similar to the gun used to kill Maggie Murdaugh.Jeff Blake/The State via AP, Pool
On Wednesday, the jury visited the Murdaugh family's hunting property where Maggie and Paul were found dead.
The gates near the Murdaugh home in Islandton, South Carolina, on September 20, 2021.Jeffrey Collins/AP
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In the final moments of the trial, Judge Clifton Newman dismissed a juror for violating trial rules and speaking about the case with three people.
"The juror has had contact or discussions concerning the case with at least three individuals, though it does not appear the discussion was that extensive," Newman said.
Newman said the juror and the three people she spoke with were interviewed. He said the juror offered her opinion on evidence presented at the trial.
Before the juror was officially dismissed Thursday morning, Harpootlian made a point to add on the record that two of the people who interviewed the juror were South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents. He said one of the agents was a witness in the trial and the other was listed as being one of the investigating officers in the killings.
One of the defense's main strategies throughout the trial was to point out missteps by investigators to throw into question the quality of their investigation.
"SLED has made another bad judgment in this case," Harpootlian said Thursday. "This is just a continuum of a calamity of errors."