Murdaugh faces possible life sentence after conviction in South Carolina murder trial

[March 03, 2023]  (Reuters) - Richard "Alex" Murdaugh, the South Carolina lawyer found guilty of killing his wife and son in a grisly and complex case that has garnered international attention, faces 30 years to life in prison when he is sentenced by a judge on Friday.

On Thursday a South Carolina jury declared Murdaugh, 54, guilty on two counts of gunning down his wife Maggie, 52, and youngest son, Paul, 22 on their family estate on June 7, 2021. He was also convicted of two related firearms charges.

Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman scheduled a sentencing hearing for 9:30 a.m. ET on Friday.

Murdaugh, the scion of an influential legal family in an area west of Charleston, faces 30 years to life in prison for each of the two counts of murder under South Carolina law.

Newman, who will impose the sentence, told the jury that he believed they made the right call. After listening to testimony over five weeks, the jury took only three hours to deliberate before reaching their verdict.

"The evidence of guilt is overwhelming," Newman said on Thursday in denying a defense motion for a mistrial.

The case has drawn intense media coverage given the family's immense political power in and around Colleton County, where the trial took place. For decades until 2006, family members served as the leading prosecutor in the area, and Murdaugh was a prominent personal injury attorney in the Deep South state.

Alex Murdaugh stands after he was found guilty on all four counts at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina, U.S. March 2, 2023. Andrew J. Whitaker/USA TODAY NETWORK/via REUTERS.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors portrayed Murdaugh as a serial liar and argued that only he had the means and the opportunity to commit the murders. Prosecutors said he gunned down his wife and son to distract from an array of financial misdeeds, including the theft of millions of dollars from his law partners and clients -- money used to feed a years-long addiction to opioids and support an expensive lifestyle.

For their part, Murdaugh's lawyers tried to paint their client as a loving family man who, while facing financial difficulties and suffering from an opioid addiction that led him to lie and steal, would never harm his wife and child.

Murdaugh pleaded not guilty, but admitted to lying about his whereabouts on the night of the murders after evidence emerged placing him at the scene, denting his credibility with the jury.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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