South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson believes that the defense made a detrimental move in calling disbarred lawyer Alex Murdaugh, the now-convicted murderer of his wife and son, to the witness stand in his own trial.
Wilson called Murdaugh the "biggest piece of evidence," after a jury convicted him on March 2 on two counts of first-degree murder. He will serve consecutive life sentences for the murders of his wife, Maggie, 52, and his son, Paul, 22, in June 2021.
ALEX MURDAUGH FOUND GUILTY IN MURDER OF WIFE AND SON
Major victories for the prosecution included the admittance of evidence relating to Murdaugh's financial misconduct, for which he is facing 99 separate charges, and video and cellphone evidence that placed him at the scene of the crime — Murdaugh had lied to investigators up until taking the stand on his whereabouts the night of his family's deaths.
“When he took the stand, I think that was fatal for him ultimately," Wilson said in an interview with NBC News. "Alex had made [a] very successful career of giving closing arguments to juries and winning major cases and making a lot of money."
The prosecution focused mostly on Murdaugh's financial crimes as a motive for the murders, as news of his misconduct was set to be exposed in court just days after the murders took place. Prosecutors argued that Murdaugh hoped to attract sympathy and pity to delay his crimes destroying his reputation. During the trial, the defense presented him as a family man torn apart by the deaths of his wife and son.
However, the jury was not swayed by Murdaugh's testimony or his visible displays of emotion throughout the 28-day trial.
Taking the stand "was his closing argument to the jury," Wilson said. "I believe in my mind that he believed that he could talk his way out of this. And at the end of the day, I think that’s what sealed it for him."
People had a hard time comprehending the brutality of the crime, Wilson added, which is why the prosecutors focused heavily on video and financial evidence, making up for a lack of concrete evidence — such as a guilty admission from Murdaugh or either murder weapon.
Maggie was shot five times by a rifle, and Paul was shot twice with a shotgun, with one being a blow to his head. Defense witnesses had testified there may have been two shooters, but the jury sided with the prosecution that Murdaugh acted alone.
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Wilson said that while Murdaugh probably loved his wife and son, "he loved himself more. And killing them was the price he was willing to pay to preserve his way of life."
"What you have is a family legacy that is over 100 years old, you have a man that has lived a lifestyle of privilege in a world that many of us will never know, and all of that was going to end eventually. And he was getting desperate," he added. "He wasn’t just killing his wife and son because of the money he wasn’t making, it was everything, it was an entire lifestyle and lifetime that was going to come to an end."