‘Guilty of murdering wife and second son’… The decline of the prestigious American legal profession

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100-year-old legal family
Lawyer Murdo, the 4th generation grandson, guilty verdict
Housekeeper’s death insurance money defrauding revealed
State Government “No one is above the law”

Alex Murdo (right), who came from a prestigious judicial family in South Carolina, USA, with three generations serving as regional prosecutors, was found guilty by the court on the 2nd for the murder of his wife (left) and second son. Photo courtesy of Margaret Murdo on Facebook.

A famous lawyer, the fourth-generation descendant of a prestigious judicial family that has maintained a powerful influence in South Carolina for over 100 years, has been found guilty of murdering a family member. On the 2nd (local time), foreign media such as the New York Times (NYT) reported that a South Carolina court found Alex Murdo (54) guilty of murdering his wife Margaret (52) and second son Paul (22) in June 2021. reported to have fallen

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The Murdo family has been renowned for 86 years, starting with their great-grandfather, Randolph Murdo, in 1920, with their grandfather and father serving as district attorneys covering five counties in the state until 2006. The area was even called ‘Murdo District’. Alex and his older brother also worked at a law firm founded by their great-grandfather over 100 years ago.

However, on June 7, 2021, an incident occurred in which Alex’s wife and second son were shot to death at a hunting lodge. Alex reported the incident to 911 at around 10 p.m. This case has been a mystery for some time.

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However, three months later, as it was revealed that Alex had commissioned an acquaintance to shoot himself and staged a self-dramatization, doubts about his actions so far began to grow. He had a $10 million life insurance policy on his eldest son, Buster, in case he died.

Shortly after, it was revealed that Alex abused his privilege to cover a manslaughter case in 2019 when his second son, Paul, drove a boat while drunk, killing one passenger and seriously injuring three others. Alex allegedly blackmailed the friends he was traveling with and pressured the local police to clear Paul’s name from the case record in order to exonerate his son.

In 2018, it was also revealed that Alex swindled 4.3 million dollars (approximately 5.6 billion won) of insurance money that came after the housekeeper who worked in his house died under mysterious circumstances. He even resigned from his law firm after it was revealed that he had embezzled millions of dollars from his law firm. Alex’s lawyer said, “Most of his useful company money was spent on drugs, spending up to $50,000 a week on opioids.

In the end, Alex was indicted on four charges, including family murder, in July of last year, and a grand jury later decided on a public trial. He tearfully claimed in court, “I didn’t shoot my wife and son,” but evidence showing his possible murder surfaced one after another. First of all, it was revealed that on the day of the incident, Alex called his wife and son to the dog kennel, the scene of the incident. He claimed not to have been at the scene of the murder, but admitted to making a false statement when it was confirmed that Murdo’s voice was recorded on his second son Paul’s cell phone.

Prosecutors explained that it appears that Alex killed his family to delay the revelation of his embezzlement crimes and create public opinion of sympathy for him in preparation for being cornered by various financial crimes. Even at the time of the 911 call, Alex claimed he “seemed to be retaliation for Paul’s boating accident.”

Alex’s attorney, Jim Griffin, denied the murder charge in closing arguments, saying that “prosecutors presented misleading evidence to the grand jury.” However, on the 2nd, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty after about 3 hours. US CNN broadcasting evaluated it as “an exceptionally quick decision”.

State Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a press conference after the verdict that “the verdict proves that no one is above the law, no matter what their social standing.” Sentencing is scheduled for 3 days. The judge accepts the jury’s guilty verdict and decides the sentence.

Source: Donga

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