Alex Murdaugh murder case: Lawyer found guilty of killing wife and son faces 30 year prison sentence

It has been the subject of a string of true crime documentaries on Netflix and HBO.

Now South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh has been found guilty of murdering his wife and son – in a bid to cover up crimes where he swindled clients and partners out of millions of dollars to fund a drug habit and lavish lifestyle.

Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years in prison without parole for each murder charge.

Paul Murdaugh, 22 and his mother, Maggie, 52, were shot at close range at the family home in June 2021. The pair were shot four or five times with a rifle outside dog kennels on their rural Colleton County property.

Alex Murdaugh is led outside the Colleton County Courthouse by sheriff's deputies after being convicted of two counts of murder.

The privileged, wealthy family was hugely influential in the local area, so much so that the region became known as “Murdaugh County”. Murdaugh himself was a well-known personal injury attorney in the state, , while his father, grandfather and great-grandfather were the area's elected prosecutors for more than 80 years. His family law firm grew to dozens of lawyers by suing railroads, corporations and other big businesses.

"Today's verdict proves that no-one, no matter who you are in society, is above the law," said South Carolina's top prosecutor, Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Mudaugh insisted for the first 20 months of the investigation that he was not at the kennels at the time of the murders, saying he had left the property to visit his ailing mother.

However, prosecutors, who had initially struggled to access Paul Murdaugh’s iPhone, eventually gained access to a video that includes the voices of Murdaugh, his wife and son at the kennels just minutes before investigators said they were killed.

The hearing of the case saw not only the murders of Mr Murdaugh junior and his mother laid bare – but also a saga of other scandals which had rocked the influential family in recent years.

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.

Prosecutors also told of an attempt Murdaugh made to stage a hit on his own life in what was believed to be an insurance fraud scheme, three months before he killed his family. However, the hit man botched the attempt and the bullet merely grazed Murdaugh’s head.

During the trial, Murdaugh admitted stealing millions from clients and lying to investigators about being at the dog kennels where the shootings took place but steadfastly maintained his innocence in the deaths of his wife and son.

"I did not kill Maggie, and I did not kill Paul. I would never hurt Maggie, and I would never hurt Paul - ever - under any circumstances," Murdaugh said.

Instead, he attempted to switch focus for the blame to someone who he said could have been angry with his son over the deadly boating accident in 2019.

Investigators told the jury he stole millions from clients and colleagues, including $3.7m (£3m) in 2019 alone. He also admitted to wide-scale theft and an addiction to painkillers.