Richard “Alex” Murdo, a disgraced South Carolina lawyer found guilty of killing his wife and son, was sentenced to life in prison despite a last-minute appeal of his innocence.
At Friday’s hearing, Judge Clifton Newman sentenced Murdo to the remainder of his natural life and slammed his “dual behavior,” which he says is particularly troubling given the family’s long history as lawyers and prosecutors in the area.
“I know you need to see Paul and Maggie at night when you’re trying to sleep,” Judge Newman said of his wife and child. “Maybe it wasn’t you (killed her). It could be the monster you’ve become.
Dressed in prison attire, Murdo pleaded not guilty in court, possibly ahead of an appeal.
“I’m innocent. I would never hurt my wife Maggie and my son Pow-Pow,” he said, using Paul’s nickname, minutes before the judge announced his verdict.
A day earlier, a South Carolina jury found Murdo, 54, guilty of two counts of murdering his wife, Maggie, 52, and youngest son, Paul, 22, on June 7, 2021, at their family home. He was sentenced to two life terms. without parole after the jury had deliberated for less than three hours.
The high-profile trial has been taking over the US for the past six weeks, attracting real detectives who tuned in to live streams to see the courtroom drama unfold. It even spawned a Netflix documentary and podcast.
The case revolved around violence, money, power, and corruption in rural South Carolina—it focused on a wealthy, powerful family involved in a scandal. The complex case spanned a series of shocking events, from a boating accident that killed a 19-year-old girl, to the death of her housekeeper in a fall, to a spate of financial crimes and a failed murder plot.
At trial, Mr. Murdo admitted to stealing millions from clients and lied to investigators about being in the dog kennel on the family estate where the shooting took place, but maintained his innocence after the deaths of his wife and son.
Despite the verdict, further criminal charges and numerous unanswered questions remain.
Key points of the process
The most dramatic moment in the trial came when Murdo unexpectedly stepped into the podium to testify – against the advice of his lawyers.
After denying he had been at the scene for over 20 months, a Snapchat video taken by his son Paul putting him there was shown, and he admitted to lying about his whereabouts.
“I lied because I was there,” he said, “and I’m sorry I did.” He blames his lies on paranoia caused by his opioid addiction.
One aspect of the process that caught the attention of Liz Farrell, a local journalist who covered the Murdo family for more than four years, was the state’s “strong” closing arguments.
“When the prosecutor described what Maggie was doing in the last moments of her life when she ran to Paul, she heard the shots and ran to him. I noticed it,” she shared. I.
Farrell is the co-host of the popular true crime podcast. Murdo Murders Podcast which delves into the family’s tragic saga. She called Maggie’s sister Marian Proctor’s testimony “heartbreaking”.
“We haven’t heard anything from her side of the family, it looks like they don’t really pass judgment in public. But I think a lot of it is because they want to keep in touch with Buster. [the Murdaugh’s eldest son] and they weren’t sure where he fell.
“So seeing Marian there in a way was like seeing Maggie’s ghost, because they are very similar in appearance and behavior.”
The lawsuit generated widespread interest around the world, and online groups have formed on social media to discuss the case and conduct their own investigations.
Murdo Murders Podcast The team created their own live stream. “We watched with a few thousand people,” Farrell said. “It was like a small community where you can ask questions and provide context.”
She believes that the strength of the family is what attracted people to the company. “That’s the strength, the wealth, and the intergenerational stronghold they had in that community.”
“This time, you just want to see a powerful man try to buy himself out of trouble and face the consequences. I think with True Crime you just want the good guys to win,” she added.
What are unanswered questions?
Much remains unresolved, including a number of family deaths.
Before he was shot, Paul Murdo was on trial for the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach in a boating accident in which the family’s youngest son was allegedly drunk driving. He pleaded not guilty.
Farrell says there will be a case of obstruction, but “the most important thing for us Murdo Murders Podcast Stephen Smith [who was found dead on a road, believed to be a hit and run]. Now Stephen’s mother did not get justice. And she fought for so long.”
An investigation is ongoing into the death of Gloria Satterfield, the Murdo family’s housekeeper for two decades, who died when she collapsed on the estate.
“The state of South Carolina has shown they have the drive and ability to hold the Murdo family accountable,” Farrell said. “I think we might start to see answers in these other cases.”
Murdo’s lawyers attempted to portray their client as a loving family man who, despite financial hardship and suffering from a drug addiction that led him to lie and steal, would never harm his wife or child.
They put forward a number of alternative theories, with Murdo testifying that someone upset by the boat accident in 2019 wanted revenge on his son.
Jim Griffin, one of the defense lawyers, called the state’s alleged motive absurd during his closing speech Thursday, arguing that the killings only drew more attention to Murdo’s financial misdeeds.
He pleaded not guilty, but his credibility with the jury was compromised after he confessed to lying about his whereabouts on the night of the murder.
“It doesn’t matter who your family is, it doesn’t matter how much money you have,” Attorney General Creighton Waters said Thursday after the verdict. “If you make a mistake, if you break the law, if you kill, justice will be served in South Carolina.”
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Source: I News
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.