Legal expert weighs in on Murdaugh guilty verdict

(3 Mar 2023)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4422370

POOL
Walterboro, South Carolina - 2 March 2023
1. Alex Murdaugh listening to the judge after guilty verdict
HEADLINE: Legal expert weighs in on Murdaugh verdict

ASSOCIATED PRESS
California - 2 March 2023
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rachel Fiset, criminal defense attorney:
"The evidence that Alex Murdaugh was at the kennels on the night of the murder, basically at the time of the murders and had lied about it for 20 months, I think was the most important evidence for the jury to consider."
++WHITE FLASH++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rachel Fiset, criminal defense attorney:
"He gave a 'hail mary' and testified and tried to explain away why he had lied about his whereabouts that night. But what it looked like, my guess is, to the jury, was a cover up of the murders themselves."
++WHITE FLASH++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rachel Fiset, Criminal defense attorney:
"The prosecution did a very good job summarizing the evidence inside of their closing arguments. There was so much evidence put forth that narrowing the issues for the jury and really giving them something to think about inside of their deliberations probably was nice and synthesizing the issues for them and was obviously very convincing to them, whereas the defense in their closing, again, tried to put just put holes inside of the case and raise reasonable doubt, but was unable to express any other reason or person for these murders."

POOL
Walterboro, South Carolina - 2 March 2023
5. Alex Murdaugh handcuffed, escorted out of court
ANNOTATION: Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison without parole when he is sentenced.
STORYLINE:
Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was convicted of murder on Thursday in the shooting deaths of his wife and son in a case that chronicled the unraveling of a powerful Southern family with tales of privilege, greed and addiction.

The jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder at the end of a six-week trial that pulled back the curtain on the once-prominent lawyer’s fall from grace.

Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison without parole for each murder charge when court is scheduled to reconvene for sentencing at 9:30 a.m. on Friday.

Murdaugh’s surviving son sat about four rows behind his father and defense team, frequently resting his face in the palm of his left hand before and while the verdict was read.

After the verdict was read, the defense moved to have a mistrial declared and the outcome tossed out, but Judge Clifton Newman denied the motion and commented on the massive amount of evidence and testimony jurors heard.

Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence, jurors heard about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaugh’s failed attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme, a fatal boat crash in which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home, the grisly scene of the killings and Bubba, the chicken-snatching dog.

In the end, Murdaugh’s fate appeared sealed by cellphone video taken by his son, who he called “Little Detective” for his knack for finding bottles of painkillers in his father’s belongings after the lawyer had sworn off the pills.

Prosecutors didn’t have the weapons used to kill the Murdaughs or other direct evidence like confessions or blood spatter.



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