Alex Murdaugh, who is now barred, comes from a prominent legal family in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Over the course of 87 years, three generations of his family have served as solicitors for the 14th Circuit, which oversees prosecutions throughout the region. A portrait of his late grandfather, one of the solicitors, had hung on the courtroom wall; it had been removed before the trial. Murdaugh has entered a not guilty plea to the charges.
In the Alex Murdaugh horrifying murder case both sides described a horrific scene where the two were discovered dead as they presented their opening statements in the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh, a well-known South Carolina lawyer who is accused of killing his wife and youngest son.
In his opening statement, Creighton Waters, the state’s chief prosecutor, said that Murdaugh, 64, shot Margaret and Paul Murdaugh dead at close range using family-owned firearms.The facts of Margaret and Paul’s injuries would be difficult to hear, Waters warned the jury, adding that the trial “is going to be horrific.” The two, he said, “as if they didn’t sense a threat coming from their assailant,” had no defensive wounds.
According to Waters, Paul Murdaugh, 22, suffered “devastating damage” to his body after being shot with buckshot from a 12-gauge shotgun in the chest, shoulder, and head. Margaret Murdaugh, 52, suffered bullet wounds to her head, abdomen, and leg after being shot with a rifle, according to Waters.
“Pow, pow! two gunshots to the leg knocked her out, “said Waters. “There were more gunfire after that.”After calling 911 in June 2021, Margaret and Paul Murdaugh were discovered shot to death on their family’s farm about 65 miles south of Charleston, South Carolina.
In July 2022, he was accused of two charges of murder and two counts of possessing a weapon. He entered a not-guilty plea to the accusations.
In his opening statement, Dick Harpootlian, the defence counsel for Murdaugh, also disclosed horrifying information regarding the condition of the victims’ corpses.Murdaugh sobbed in court when Harpootlian detailed the moment he discovered his own kid “lying in his own blood with his brain lying at his feet.”Murdaugh’s counsel claimed that there were flaws in the prosecution’s case, including the fact that there was no blood on Murdaugh when police got at the scene and that Murdaugh was “hysterical and in anguish” when he dialled 911.
From head to toe, Harpootlian predicted that you would be covered in blood. From head to toe.Harpootlian stated that police didn’t bother looking for other possibilities since they swiftly determined Murdaugh was guilty after showing up on the scene.”No, he didn’t. He didn’t murder his wife and son “Harpootlian informed the jury. And whatever advice he gave you has to be forgotten.Buster Murdaugh, Murdaugh’s surviving son, was present for the opening comments in court. NBC reporters in the courtroom reported that Murdaugh gave his son many glances during the day and at one point appeared to say, “I love you.”
Murdaugh is accused of stealing about $8.5 million from customers at his legal company and other persons close to his family, including his former maid, according to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office. Murdaugh is also charged with dozens of other fraud and money laundering offences.
Additionally, Murdaugh is accused of lying to the police in connection with a failed murder-for-hire scheme in which he is said to have requested another man to kill him in order to give his son Buster a $10 million insurance payoff.
The allegations against Murdaugh, who comes from a long line of successful attorneys in South Carolina’s low country, amount to more than 80 counts in all. Top prosecutors in the southern region of the state have all been Murdaugh’s father, grandpa, and great-grandfather.