Alex Murdaugh trial: South Carolina attorney general, prosecutors, react to guilty verdict: 'Herculean effort'
The South Carolina attorney general and prosecutors who worked the Alex Murdaugh double murder case are reacting to the guilty verdict handed down by a South Carolina jury on Thursday night, saying it's the result of massive teamwork.
WALTERBORO, S.C. – The South Carolina attorney general and prosecutors who worked the Alex Murdaugh double murder case are reacting to the guilty verdict handed down by a South Carolina jury on Thursday night, saying it's the result of massive teamwork.
Murdaugh was convicted of killing his wife and son after a panel of 12 jurors came back with a guilty verdict following less than three hours of deliberations.
The guilty verdict, possibly putting Murdaugh behind bars for life, came after a six-week-long trial where jurors heard testimony from 76 witnesses.
"It was a Herculean effort by everybody," South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said in front of the courthouse. "We can't bring them back, but we can bring them justice. I started off my remarks by saying it is a good day in South Carolina. Yes, It is. Yes, it is."
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South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson speaks to the media alongside the prosecution team after Alex Murdaugh was found guilty on all counts at the Colleton County Courthouse on Thursday, March 2, 2023 in Walterboro, South Carolina. (Larry Paci for Fox News Digital )
"Our criminal justice system worked tonight. It gave a voice to Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, who were brutally mowed down and murdered on the night of June 7, 2021, by someone that they loved and someone that they trusted."
Wilson said that Maggie and Paul's testimony "came through the evidence and the information" gathered by various law enforcement agencies.
Assistant Attorney General Creighton Waters said that "justice was done today."
"It doesn't matter who your family is. It doesn't matter how much money you have or people think you have. It doesn't matter what you think, how prominent you are if you do wrong, if you break the law, if you murder. Then justice will be done in South Carolina," Waters said.
According to prosecutors, Murdaugh used a shotgun to kill Paul, his son, in a feed room attached to dog kennels at the family's estate, and used a rifle to kill Maggie, his wife, who was 52. Both murders happened on June 7, 2021.
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Prosecutor Creighton Waters speaks to the media alongside the prosecution team after Alex Murdaugh was found guilty on all counts at the Colleton County Courthouse on Thursday, March 2, 2023 in Walterboro, South Carolina. (Larry Paci for Fox News Digital )
Waters said that Murdaugh, a disbarred lawyer, killed his son and wive in order to avoid financial ruins.
Prosecutors presented jurors with evidence from a cellphone video recovered from Paul's phone in 2022, placing Murdaugh at the scene of the crime with the victims just four minutes before they were killed at 8:50 p.m.
Murdaugh maintained that he didn't go to the dog kennels on the night that Paul and Maggie were killed, claiming that he was napping at the main house and then went to see his mother who lives in Almeda, South Carolina, at 9:07 p.m.
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Alex Murdaugh is led out of the Colleton County courthouse after being found guilty on all counts on Thursday, March 2, 2023 in Walterboro, South Carolina. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital )
When Murdaugh returned to the family estate, Paul and Maggie's bodies were found mutilated about 30 feet apart at the kennels, he said. Murdaugh then said he called 911.
GPS data from Murdaugh's Chevrolet Suburban shows that he dialed 911 fewer than 20 seconds after finding the bodies.
"Nineteen seconds. Is that enough time for a surprised human being to come across that scene, process what they are seeing, get out of the car, go over there, check both their bodies then call 911?" Waters said in closing arguments.
Waters said that Murdaugh was so quick to dial 911 because he knew what was there.
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Alex Murdaugh, Morgan Doughty, Paul Murdaugh and Maggie Murdaugh. In a Netflix documentary that aired Wednesday, Doughty alleges that Paul physically abused her. (Courtesy of Netflix)
"The reason why it’s so quick is because he knew exactly what scene he was going to find," Waters said.
"Obviously, we're disappointed. But, until he's sentenced, we will have no further comment," Murdaugh's attorney, Jim Griffin, told Fox News Digital outside the courthouse.
Murdaugh will be sentenced Friday at 9:30 a.m.
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