South Carolina’s attorney general said Alex Murdaugh “has been weaving a tangle of lies for decades” and the once-prominent lawyer’s guilty verdict proves that “no one is above the law.”
Murdaugh secured his demise when he took the stand in his double murder trial, AG Alan Wilson said Friday morning Good morning America just before the disgraced legal scion was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife Maggie and son Paul. The two life sentences are running consecutively.
Murdaugh took the stand at his trial last month, saying “oh what a tangled web we weave” when he admitted to lying about being at the crime scene minutes before the murder.
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave,” he had told the court. “I lied once, and I told my family, I had to keep lying.”
After six weeks of harrowing testimony and just under three hours of deliberation, a jury returned the guilty verdict.
Wilson said the conviction sends a signal to those “who question the criminal justice system” and who think “it is not fair and applies equally to all people.”
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Alex Murdaugh (pictured in court Friday) “has been weaving a tangled web of lies for decades” and that his guilty verdict proves “no one is above the law”
Wilson said on Good Morning America Friday morning that Murdaugh secured his demise when he took the stand in his trial for the murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul
Murdaugh was led away after being sentenced to life in prison for the 2021 murders
“We’re here to say that it is true, that no one is above the law in South Carolina and that when you brutally murder your wife and son, you will be held accountable no matter who you are,” Wilson said.
Wilson said on GMA he was “pleasantly surprised” to learn the jury had reached a verdict in less than three hours, adding he had hoped it was a good sign.
“I didn’t know what to make of it,” he said. “I respect the process too much to be so confident, but I was cautiously optimistic when they came back as quickly as they did.”
He pointed out that for so long Murdaugh was able to manipulate people—including juries—but he couldn’t get what he wanted out of this jury. This was his final closing argument, Wilson said.
“He’s been able to manipulate and control people for so long because he’s so good at what he does,” Wilson said.
“He was a master at manipulating and communicating with juries and I believe when he took the stand that was his final closing argument. He had been doing this for so long that he believed he could get what he wanted out of this jury.
And I think when he took the stand, he confirmed to many of those jurors what they heard in that video — that he was a liar.”
The disgraced legal scion arrived at court on Friday, where he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife Maggie and son Paul. The two life sentences are running consecutively
Murdaugh’s surviving son Buster remained emotionless in court on Friday
Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh were shot at close range on June 7, 2021 near the dog kennels on their family estate in South Carolina
Wilson wanted to make it clear that he hopes no one forgets the victims of the case.
“At the end of the day, two people were brutally murdered, they lost their lives, a family was destroyed, a legacy was torn apart, and there were dozens of victims, and we want to draw attention to them and let them know that their voices can be heard,” said Wilson.
On Thursday evening, just after the sentencing verdict was handed down, the AG spoke to the press and talked about the six weeks everyone went through during the trial.
“But it was all worth it because we have to bring justice and be a voice for Maggie and Paul Murdaugh,” Wilson said.
South Carolina’s attorney thanked authorities, investigators and prosecutors in the case, saying “they made this conviction possible.”
He also praised the community of Walterboro, the small town in South Carolina’s Low Country.
“You don’t know how good that feels when you’re under an incredible amount of stress, under an incredible amount of scrutiny,” Wilson said, pointing to the doubt some had that holding the trial so close to home would get in the way of a fair verdict .
