Alex Murdaugh Sentenced For Murders Of Wife And Son

According to one juror, who spoke to Good Morning America ahead of sentencing, nine of the 12 jurors initially believed Murdaugh was guilty when they began deliberating. The others — two who believed he was not guilty, and one who was unsure — changed their minds after about 45 minutes of discussion, the juror, Craig Moyer, said.

“The evidence was clear,” Moyer said, specifically citing the video recovered from Paul’s phone, which placed Murdaugh at the scene of the crime. “You could hear his voice clearly, and everybody else could too.”

Though much of the evidence that the prosecution relied on was circumstantial — and Murdaugh, an admitted liar, denied that he would ever harm his family — prosecutors managed to prove to the jury that he killed his wife and son to divert attention away from himself amid a “gathering storm.” At the time of the murders, multiple upcoming events threatened to expose his many alleged financial crimes and bring ruin and scandal to the legal empire his family had built over generations.

“The entire illusion of his life was about to be altered — he couldn’t live with that,” prosecutor Creighton Waters told the jury in his closing statement. “He’s the kind of person for which shame is an extraordinary provocation.”

The double-murder case, and the question of whether the wealthy good old boy from a long line of powerful South Carolina attorneys had murdered his wife and son to protect himself from the consequences of his financial misdeeds, fascinated true crime enthusiasts, the media, and everyday people nationwide. Tens of thousands of people tuned in to the court proceedings, which were livestreamed, and two documentaries about the case were produced before the trial even began.

Outside the courthouse on Thursday night, state Attorney General Alan Wilson said it was a “great day for the people of South Carolina.”

“We got to bring justice and be a voice for Maggie and Paul Murdaugh,” said Wilson, the state’s top prosecutor.

The jury’s decision to convict Murdaugh served as proof that “no one — no one, no matter who you are in society — is above the law,” he added.

“A lot of people doubted that this process would work,” Wilson said, “and hopefully for those who did doubt the process, hopefully we have instilled and put a little bit of faith back into you and your lives as you view this process as it unfolds.”