Alex Murdaugh’s family was petrified at the news of his sentencing Thursday night.
Youngest son Buster, 26, put his head in his hands after the verdict was announced, while Murdaugh’s sister Lynn showed little emotion as she drove away from the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.
Murdaugh was found guilty of the murders of his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, on June 7, 2021, after a sensational six-week trial that has gripped the country. He now faces 30 years of life imprisonment.
Neither the younger brother of disgraced attorney John Marvin, who testified earlier in the week, nor his older sibling Randy were in court to witness the verdict.
Lynn and Buster remained the only family members to watch as the jury unanimously found the patriarch guilty after deliberating for less than three hours.
Buster Murdaugh sat with his head in his hands as his father, Alex Murdaugh, was found guilty of the murders of Maggie and Paul
Lynn Murdaugh looks petrified as she drove away from the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina Thursday night
In other shots, Lynn appeared to look dejected as she stood outside the courthouse following her brother’s sentencing
Lynn, pictured, has not spoken publicly about her brother’s trial, although she has been frequently pictured in court to follow developments
Murdaugh turned to them as he was tied up and taken away by officers.
Buster had sat diligently behind his father every day of the dramatic trial, often expressing little emotion as the court debated how his mother and brother were shot.
But on Thursday night he finally seemed to break down and cupped his hands over his eyes – a contrast to the more stoic reaction of his father and aunt.
The convicted murderer, who wept throughout the trial as the jury was told in gruesome detail how his wife and son were brutally executed and showed harrowing images of the crime scene, looked blank as the judge spoke to the court.
The Murdaugh family exercised immense judicial power in South Carolina for three generations.
But their empire collapsed after Murdaugh shot dead his wife Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, on the night of June 7, 2021, on the family’s 1,800-acre hunting estate in Moselle.
The disfellowshipped attorney lied to police about his alibi before making the sensational decision to take a stand, where he changed his story to fit the damning evidence.
Buster looked stony and sat with one hand over his mouth next to his girlfriend, Brooklynn White, who was looking down at the floor
His sister Lynn can be seen a few rows away from him after the sentencing
Murdaugh is led out of court by the sheriff’s deputies after being found guilty of murdering his wife and son
Attorney Creighton Waters was acclaimed by the public when he announced at a press conference outside the court: “Justice was served today. “It doesn’t matter who your family is, it doesn’t matter how much money you have or people think you have it, it doesn’t matter how prominent you are. When you do wrong and break the law and when you murder, there is justice in South Carolina.
But the state won over the jury with video proving he was there just moments before blowing out Paul’s brain with a shotgun and mercilessly pointing an assault rifle at his 27-year-old wife and shooting Maggie five times.
He will return for the sentencing hearing on Friday at 9.30am. He was convicted of two counts of murder and two gun offenses.
He fiercely denied the execution of his wife and son when he sensationally took the stand last week to defend himself against the advice of his own lawyers.
The patriarch wept as he admitted to jurors he lied about being at the scene minutes before she was killed – but blamed his paranoia, which led to a crippling opioid habit and distrust of the police.
Murdaugh said, “I would never do anything on purpose to hurt either of them. Always. Never,” he sobbed. “I didn’t shoot my wife or my son.”
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave. Once I lied and told my family about it, I had to keep lying,” he added.
But prosecutor Creighton Waters blew up Murdaugh’s “new story” by playing bodycam footage of the local police officer who was first to the scene, where he was seen already lying about the last time he met Maggie and Paul had seen.
Waters told the jury in his closing argument yesterday: “The pressure on this man was unbearable and reached a climax on the day his wife and son were murdered by him.”
Waters, along with ex-clients of Murdaugh – who claim he stole millions from them – celebrated the news of his guilty verdict as he declared “justice” had been served.
Paul, Margaret, Alex and Buster (left to right). It took the jury less than three hours to come to a guilty verdict
Buster, Maggie, Paul and Alex Murdaugh in a photo posted by the mother for Father’s Day 2020
“If you do wrong and break the law and if you murder, there will be justice in South Carolina,” he said.
Meanwhile, Justin Bamberg, who represents several victims reportedly exploited by Murdaugh, said “today is a good day”.
“Those of us who have looked into Alex’s shenanigans over the last year and a half knew he was a liar,” he told Fox News.
“I think the jury made it very clear that we don’t buy what you sell.
“We think it’s been proven that you’re a liar, that you’ve lied to everyone, including those you care about most.
“If you look at Alex’s face when the verdict was read, the tears we saw at the trial, the snot we saw at the trial – there weren’t any.
‘You know why? Because tears and things like that wouldn’t help him.’
WHERE MAGGIE DIED: A pool of blood outside the kennel where Maggie Murdaugh was shot in the head with two AR bullets
WHERE PAUL DIED: Blood spatter on the floor in the kennel storeroom where Paul Murdaugh was shot. He was killed with one shot in the chest and a second in the head
WHERE PAUL DIED: Blood spatter on the floor in the kennel storeroom where Paul Murdaugh was shot. He was killed with one shot in the chest and a second in the head
Maggie’s body was found a few yards to the right of a kennel, while Paul’s lay by the door at the end of the kennel
The court case opened up a can of worms for the Murdaugh family and revealed a litany of criminal allegations dating back to 2015.
Among other things, he is accused of at least 99 financial crimes in 19 different charges.
These will be dealt with at a later trial, but reports say he could face an increase in his sentence of more than 700 years.
On taking the stand in the double murder case, he admitted: “What I can tell you is that in all these financial situations, I stole money that wasn’t my money, I misled people who I am should not have misled, and I did wrong. I can tell you that.”
Other scandals discussed in the trial include a boating accident in 2019 involving his late son Paul that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach.
Paul was criminally charged after being accused of driving the boat while drunk before being shot. The girl’s family was suing Murdaugh for allegedly $30 million at the time of Paul and Maggie’s murders.
The death of his housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield – who the Murdaugh family claimed tripped over the dogs and fell down the stairs while working at their hunting lodge – was also raised in the case. Her son Tony called to testify on the witness stand that Murdaugh allegedly paid $4 million in wrongful death payments.
Buster Murdaugh, his girlfriend Brooklynn White and Lynn are due to arrive in court earlier in the day
Buster and Lynn both appeared in court most days to watch Murdaugh’s trial, once being arrested by guards and told to go back a few rows in court
Lynn showed little emotion throughout the process. Pictured listening to the closing statements on Thursday
Murdaugh also faces separate charges in connection with a September 2021 botched suicide attempt aimed at gifting his only surviving son Buster a $12 million insurance payout.
In addition, the South Carolina Attorney General alleges that Murdaugh stole nearly $7 million from the bank account of his law firm, then called Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick.
He is reported to have evaded less than half a million dollars in taxes and stolen settlement funds from extremely ill, vulnerable and bereaved clients and families – including a paraplegic client who was cheated out of $1 million.
Early in the trial, Murdaugh shed tears and displayed dramatic emotions in court. But on Thursday his reaction was significantly toned down when he was found guilty