Prosecutor says only South Carolina attorney Murdaugh could have murdered wife and son

By Nathan Layne

(Reuters) -The lead state prosecutor said on Wednesday that only Richard "Alex" Murdaugh could have killed his wife and son, telling the jury that the now-disbarred South Carolina lawyer was "living a lie" and sought to use the murders to cover his tracks.

In his closing argument, Creighton Waters said the evidence given during more than a month of testimony, including of Murdaugh's presence at the crime scene minutes before the killings on June 7, 2021, and his lies in its aftermath, all pointed in one direction.

"After an exhaustive investigation, there is only one person who had the motive, who had the means, who had the opportunity to commit these crimes, and also whose guilty conduct after these crimes betrays him," Waters said.

"The defendant is the one person who was living a lie."

Murdaugh, the 54-year-old scion of an influential legal family in an area west of Charleston, has been charged with fatally shooting his wife Maggie, 52, and youngest son, Paul, 22, at dog kennels on their estate, known as Moselle.

The jury visited Moselle to review the crime scene earlier on Wednesday.

Prosecutors have argued that Murdaugh committed the murders to generate sympathy and distract from a litany of financial crimes, including the theft of millions of dollars from his law partners and clients -- money used to feed a costly addiction to opioids and support an expensive lifestyle.

In the weeks leading up to the murders, Murdaugh was confronted by his son and wife about his drug use and by a paralegal at his law firm about missing funds, Waters said. He was also facing a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a 2019 boating accident in which Paul was involved.

After the murders, a hearing in the wrongful death lawsuit was delayed, demands from his partners concerning the stolen funds dissipated and the community rallied to his side.

"In the wake of this, everything changes. All those things that were coming to a head immediately go away," Waters told the jury. "It worked."

Murdaugh, who denied in court having anything to do with the murders, faces 30 years to life in prison if found guilty.

The case has drawn intense media coverage given the family's immense judicial and political power in and around Colleton County, where the trial is taking place. For decades until 2006, family members served as the leading prosecutor in the area, and Murdaugh was a prominent personal injury attorney in the state.

In addition to the murders, Murdaugh has been charged with dozens of financial crimes, including an alleged scheme to have himself killed so that his older son, Buster, could collect a $10 million insurance payout.

Murdaugh's lawyers, who will deliver their closing argument later on Wednesday, have sought to portray him as a loving family man who, while facing financial troubles and suffering from a powerful addiction to opioids that led him to lie and steal, would never harm his wife and child.

Last week Murdaugh testified that he had lied about his whereabouts on the night of the killings, changing his account after the jury was presented with video evidence placing him at the scene minutes before investigators say the murders occurred.

Murdaugh said he initially lied to investigators about his alibi, including to the responding officers that night, because of paranoia tied to his drug habit and because he did not trust the police.

"Why in the world would an innocent, reasonable father and husband lie about that, and lie about it so early," Waters said.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Leslie Adler and Daniel Wallis)