Alex Murdaugh's lawyer delivers summation in explosive double murder trial

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Tour of Alex Murdaugh’s former estate Moselle where double murder occurred

Murdaugh jurors are given a tour of the Moselle property in South Carolina.

WALTERBORO, S.C. Alex Murdaugh's lawyer, Jim Griffin, began delivering his summation Thursday morning in the sensational double murder trial that has captivated the country.

The seasoned attorney took the stage one day after jurors heard a marathon three-hour closing argument from lead prosecutor Creighton Waters. The defense team estimated that its presentation won't last more than 1½ hours. 

The Walterboro, South Carolina, trial has stretched into its sixth week with more than 70 witnesses taking the stand, including Murdaugh. Spectators began lining up at 4 a.m. Thursday for seats in the courtroom.

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Spectators line up outside of the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina on Thursday, March 2, 2023. People are lining up in the early hours of the morning in the hopes of getting a seat inside the gallery to see the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh.

Waters cast the defendant as a master manipulator who gunned down his wife, Maggie, 52, and his son, Paul, 22, to avoid a devastating financial reckoning.

"There was a gathering storm" and "the hounds were at the gate" when Murdaugh allegedly blew out Paul's brains with a shotgun and executed Maggie with a rifle on the family's hunting estate known as Moselle June 7, 2021, Waters said.

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The day of the slayings, the chief financial officer of Murdaugh's former law firm confronted him about missing fees. Murdaugh had a hearing that week in a wrongful death lawsuit over a 2019 deadly boat wreck that threatened to expose his financial malfeasance. 

Paul drunkenly crashed his father's boat into a bridge, killing 19-year-old Mallory Beach and injuring four others, triggering an unthinkable spiral of destruction for the Murdaugh dynasty.

Defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian, left, and Jim Griffin talk during the Alex Murdaugh trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool)

Murdaugh was later charged with stealing nearly $9 million from clients and his former firm.

Shame and greed drove this man of "singular prominence and respect in this community" to slaughter his own family, Waters told jurors.  

The killings seemingly solved Murdaugh's problems, halting an inquiry into the missing funds and putting the wrongful death lawsuit on ice. 

From left, Buster Murdaugh, 26, his mother Maggie Murdaugh, his brother Paul Murdaugh and his father Alex Murdaugh. Alex is accused of fatally shooting Maggie, 52, and their son, Paul, 22, June 7, 2021. (Facebook)

Waters told jurors that Murdaugh was a cunning conman who tried to deceive them when he took the stand last week.

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"This is a man who made his trade on lying. He lied about the most important facts in the case and effortlessly and easily pivoted to a new lie when confronted by something he wasn’t prepared for," Waters said of Murdaugh's testimony. 

A damning piece of evidence — an unsent video — recovered from Paul's phone in 2022 placed Murdaugh at the murder scene with the victims minutes before they were shot to death. 

Buster Murdaugh, Brooklynn White and Lynn Murdaugh leave the Colleton County Courthouse for a lunch break Wednesday, March 1, 2023, in South Carolina. (Mark Sims for Fox News Digital)

The video contradicted Murdaugh's claim he hadn't visited the dog kennels that night and was napping when Paul and Maggie were killed.

"He’s the kind of person for which shame is an extraordinary provocation," Waters said of Murdaugh's motive. "His ego couldn’t stand that, and he became a family annihilator."

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Jurors could begin deliberating as early as Thursday. If convicted, Murdaugh faces up to life in prison.