Alex Murdaugh’s protection workforce says the extraordinary curiosity in his trial value him a good one, telling reporters outdoors his sentencing listening to at present that the jury ‘may have watched all of it on Netflix’.
Murdaugh was yesterday discovered responsible of murdering his spouse Maggie and son Paul on the household’s searching lodge in South Carolina.
He pleaded his innocence all through a blockbuster six-week trial, however did not persuade the jury that another person was liable for their deaths.
In the present day, he was sentenced to 2 consecutive life sentences by a choose who branded him a ‘monster’.
Through the trial, Netflix launched a documentary sequence about his crimes and concerning the household’s sophisticated internet of controversy and demise.
Murdaugh attorneys Dick Harpootlian (left) and Jim Griffin communicate outdoors court docket after his sentencing
Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to 2 consecutive life sentences at present following a six week trial
There was additionally 18 months of intense public curiosity within the household, Murdaugh and his alleged crimes, which embrace a botched suicide try, embezzling from his regulation agency and theft from the sons of his late housekeeper.
In the present day, Murdaugh’s attorneys State Senator Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin mentioned he by no means stood an opportunity at a good trial provided that curiosity, and that prosecutors received the case after they satisfied the jury that he was a liar.
‘The [jury] heard every part. We had been hoping to get a jury that would ignore the noise and deal with the homicide.
‘They ended up attempting a case that they might have watched on Netflix,’ Griffin mentioned.
Harpootlian additionally defended placing Murdaugh on the stand – a transfer that turned the jurors off – saying he had ‘no selection’ however to attempt to defend himself in opposition to the image that had been painted.
‘He had been made out to be a monster who stole from youngsters and crippled individuals… he needed to attempt to push again on that.
‘If he’d let that lay with out taking the stand, he was toast. Taking the stand – may he pull it off? Apparently he did not.’
Harpootlian additionally slammed a ‘comedy of errors’ by the police whereas gathering proof. Initially, the grand jury that indicted Murdaugh was advised police discovered blood spatter on his shirt, when no such blood spatter was ever detected.
Murdaugh maintains that another person killed his spouse and son, however that police had been too targeted on him from the start to ever look significantly for every other suspects.
‘It is not our job to seek out the actual killer. If they’d taken fingerprints, taken footprints… they misrepresented to the grand jury that they’d a shirt along with his blood on it…
The protection attorneys mentioned it would not have made a distinction having Buster Murdaugh give a press release on Friday, and that he is already been by means of ‘extra trauma than anybody can think about’
Alex Murdaugh with spouse Maggie and their sons Buster (left) and Paul (proper)
Tracy Kinsinger holds up an indication as Alex Murdaugh walks into the Colleton County Courthouse for sentencing Friday, March 3, 2023 in Walterboro, S.C
Prosecutor John Meadors (proper) leaving the Colleton County Courtroom March third 2023
Members of the media anticipate Alex Murdaugh to reach to the courthouse throughout his sentencing on the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on Friday, March 3, 2023
Officers stroll by Daniel Brothers earlier than Alex Murdaugh is introduced into court docket through the Alex Murdaugh sentencing on the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on Friday
The Netflix sequence Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal was launched through the trial
‘It was a comedy of errors by way of forensics.
‘However do I’ve religion that they might discover the actual killer? No,’ he fumed.
They’ve vowed to enchantment the case, and say they’re going to take all of it the way in which to the Supreme Courtroom if obligatory.
The attorneys added that Murdaugh’s household are ‘steadfast’ of their assist of him and extra satisfied than ever of his innocence.
‘There was a whole lot of effort by the state to persuade the household that Alex is the assassin. The household got here to trial day by day anticipating to listen to proof optimistic that he killed Maggie and Paul.
‘They got here away extra satisfied that he didn’t do that,’ mentioned Griffin.
He additionally defined why Buster, Murdaugh’s surviving son, didn’t give an impression assertion at present earlier than his time period was handed down.
‘We may have had Mom Theresa up there talking in assist of him and it would not have made a distinction. He was getting a double life sentence.
‘That was anticipated. That is Decide Newman. He’s a really stringent punisher in terms of crimes and sentences, that was by no means in dispute.
‘For Buster to rise up and communicate on his dad’s behalf, it might not have made a distinction.
Harpootlian, who can also be a State Senator, mentioned a ‘comedy of errors’ in proof gathering led to Murdaugh’s arrest
Alex Murdaugh took the stand however did not persuade jurors of his innocence
‘And why do you need to put that child by means of extra trauma than anyone we are able to ever think about has been by means of?’
Buster supported his father day by day in court docket however he’s but to supply any public assertion on the murders of his mom and brother, or on the allegations in opposition to his father.
As Alex Murdaugh left the courthouse, a heckler yelled: ‘Buster’s subsequent! Justice for Stephen Smith!’
He was referring to the 19-year-old pal of Buster who died in 2015, and whose demise stays unexplained.
Police reopened the investigation into Smith’s demise after Maggie and Paul had been murdered.
Smith was discovered useless by the facet of the street in 2015. Initially, his demise was dominated a hit-and-run, however police now say he additionally had a blunt pressure trauma wound to the top.
The Murdaugh household identify is talked about all through the police case file that particulars his demise.
Alex Murdaugh advised the court docket that on the time of his spouse and son’s deaths, he was spending as much as $50,000-a-week on opioids to feed a crippling dependancy that precipitated him to lie continuously.
In handing down his sentence, Decide Clifford Newman mentioned Murdaugh can be haunted by his spouse and son.
‘You need to see Paul and Maggie through the nighttime while you’re making an attempt to fall asleep. I am certain they arrive and go to you. I am certain,’ he mentioned.
Murdaugh replied: ‘All day, all night time.’
Decide Newman shot again: ‘I am certain. And they’re going to proceed to.’