Alex Murdock, an influential South American lawyer, was found guilty on Thursday of murdering his wife and son, a true story of a powerful man’s slippage that captivated the entire country.
After six weeks of investigations, the 54-year-old’s fate was decided within three hours. “The evidence of guilt is overwhelming,” Judge Clifton Newman said after reading the verdict.
Standing, Alex Murdock showed no emotion, blinking repeatedly. He faces up to life in prison and will be sentenced Friday morning.
This red-haired man with a flamboyant physique is accused of stealing insane amounts of money from his law firm, his friends, and the son of his cleaning lady, and of shooting his relatives to prevent him from being unmasked.
If he admitted to these thefts, he never admitted to double murder, an addiction to expensive opiates intended to recoup bad investments.
“Alex Murdock tried one last shot to avoid being held accountable for the rest of his life, but the jury was not fooled,” said attorney Creighton Waters, who represented him.
“This proves that no one is above the law, no matter their power or social standing,” state Attorney General Alan Wilson said, adding: “Alex Murdoch’s house, built on lies, manipulation and theft, has collapsed”.
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Alex Murdock shot and killed his wife Maggie, 52, and their youngest son Paul, 22, with two separate guns on June 7, 2021, near a kennel on their sprawling property, called Moselle, where the men like to hunt, it is alleged. wild boar
The judges visited the campus on Wednesday to better understand its layout. It was the first time in a month and a half that television cameras were kept away from the proceedings.
Because all the media, including the most serious of the case in America, dissected the life of this wealthy family, its three generations of local lawyers and judges, and proud of the confiscation of the father.
Several podcasts have already covered the case and the documentary “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal” is one of the most-watched shows on Netflix, with 40 million hours watched in the country last week.
Throughout the trial, news channels broadcast live a parade of defrauded colleagues and friends, recounting how Alex Murdock had unwittingly stolen millions of dollars from them over the years.
But his image began to crack, especially when investigators began to take an interest in his finances after a young woman died in a boat accident piloted by his son Paul.
“absurd”
“His whole illusion of life is going to be shattered, and he can’t take it,” promised attorney Waters.
According to him, Alex Murdock killed his relatives to buy time, before trying to end his life in a new scandal: in early September, he asked to shoot an accomplice so that his surviving son would touch $10 million in life insurance. The bullet grazed him.
In the lead, his attorney Jim Griffin denounced a “ridiculous theory,” vowing he “adored” his wife and son and outlining the lack of DNA or traces of blood.
But he had to identify a disturbing feature: a video shot by Paul moments before his death, in which we hear the father’s voice, while Alex Murdock denies ever going near the evening kennel.
In harrowing testimony last week, the disgraced lawyer admitted to the lie, maintaining that he did not commit the double murder because of paranoia caused by drug addiction.
When he’s confronted with the truth, “he backtracks, pivots and invents a new story,” the lawyer replied.
