Alex Murdo Trial: American Lawyer Found Guilty of Killing Wife and Son

A prominent lawyer has been found guilty of killing his wife and son in a trial that has been raging across America for weeks.

Alex Murdo, 54, a scion of an elite South Carolina legal family, showed no emotion when a jury found him guilty of two murder charges.

A 12-member jury in Walterboro, South Carolina deliberated for less than three hours following a trial that lasted six weeks and was broadcast live across the United States.

Murdo killed his 22-year-old son Paul with a shotgun and his 52-year-old wife Maggie with an assault rifle that Paul used to hunt feral pigs on the vast family estate.

The two victims were executed at close range near the estate’s dog kennel on June 7, 2021.

After the verdict, Murdo’s lawyers attempted to file a motion for a mistrial, but the motion was denied by the judge.

Judge Clifton Newman said, “The evidence of guilt is irrefutable.”

Murdo faces 30 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on Friday.

He pleaded not guilty, telling the jury, “I didn’t kill Maggie and I didn’t kill Paul. I will never hurt Maggie and I will never hurt Paul, never, under any circumstances.”

But, testifying during the trial, he admitted that he had lied about his alibi and about a variety of financial crimes.

Throughout the case, prosecutors portrayed him as a serial liar.

They said he shot and killed his wife and son to divert attention from financial crimes, which included stealing millions of dollars from his legal partners and clients.

He used the money to fund his opioid addiction and lead an expensive lifestyle.

Murdo lied about his whereabouts

Murdo admitted as a witness that he had lied about his whereabouts on the night of the murder.

He first told the police that he was not in the dog kennel before his wife and son were killed.

However, he changed his account after a video was discovered on Paul Murdo’s mobile phone, which took investigators over a year to unlock.

The story goes on

It contains the voices of all three Murdos minutes before the crime.

Murdo told jurors that he actually joined Maggie and Paul at the kennel, where he took the chicken from a Labrador named Bubba.

In the video from the phone, he could be heard saying the name of the dog.

He claimed that he then returned to the house shortly before the fatal shooting.

Tell the police that the opioids made him paranoid

Murdo claimed he lied to the police from the start because the opioids made him paranoid.

Among 75 witnesses and over 800 documents, the jury also learned how Murdo failed in an attempt to fake his own death in an insurance fraud scheme.

They also heard about the housekeeper who died in a fall at Murdo’s house and the fatal boat accident in which his son was involved.

The weapons used to kill his wife and son were never found, and there was no direct evidence, such as blood spatter or DNA, linking Murdo to the murders.

But, in addition to the phone video, jurors also heard that the shell casings found near Maggie Murdo’s body matched those used at a shooting range elsewhere on the family’s property.

Murdo ‘killed to cover their tracks’

Prosecutors told the court that Murdo feared that all of his financial crimes were about to be exposed, so he killed his wife and son to gain sympathy and buy time to cover his tracks.

Before he was charged with murder, he was in jail awaiting trial on about 100 other charges, from insurance fraud to tax evasion.

Murdo’s lawyers were expected to appeal the murder conviction on the grounds that the judge allowed evidence of financial crimes to be used in court.

They claimed they were not connected to the murders and were used by prosecutors to smear Murdo’s reputation.

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