Murdaugh’s defense will fight today against claims that he is a “teacher liar and family destroyer.”

Alex Murdaugh’s defense will today fight claims that he is a “lying teacher and family destroyer” in a last-ditch effort to convince a jury that he did not kill his wife and child.

Jurors will then be dispatched to reach their verdict in the double murder trial that has gripped the nation during more than five weeks of testimony at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina.

Murdaugh, a disgraced legal descendant whose family has wielded immense judicial power over the region for three generations, is accused of shooting his wife Maggie and son Paul on their sprawling 1,800-acre hunting estate in Moselle on June 7. of 2021.

The State closed its case yesterday arguing that the father of two faced a “looming storm” of financial ruin that led him to kill Maggie, 52, and her youngest son, Paul, 22.

Defense attorney Jim Griffin will mount a three-hour argument this morning to try to persuade the jury that Murdaugh was a family man who, while deceitful, was incapable of committing the brutal murders. The defense will also criticize the state’s reliance on circumstantial evidence that they say proves Murdaugh’s guilt.

Maggie, Paul, Alex and Buster Murdaugh with their dog Bubba in a new family photo obtained by DailyMail.com

Murdaugh faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted.

Bringing his closing argument to a dramatic close, Waters said Murdaugh was facing legal action that “could not only screw him up, but expose the reality of what he’s been doing for years.”

“No one knew who this man was,” he told the court, after exposing the lies Murdaugh had told while embezzling millions from his prestigious family law firm and the lies he told police after the murders.

Waters concluded his speech with a fervent plea to the jury: ‘This defendant has misled everyone, everyone. Everyone who thought they were close to him he fooled them all and he also fooled Maggie and Paul and they paid with their lives. Don’t let him fool you too.

The case has drawn intense media coverage given the family’s immense political power in and around Colleton County, where the trial is taking place.

For decades until 2006, family members served as the top prosecutors in the area, and Murdaugh was a leading personal injury lawyer in the state.

Throughout the trial, Murdaugh’s lawyers have tried to portray their client as a loving family man who, though struggling financially and suffering from a powerful opiate addiction that led him to lie and steal, would never harm his wife. and son.

They have also tried to present alternative theories about the murders, with Murdaugh testifying that he believed someone angered by a deadly 2019 boating accident involving Paul was likely seeking revenge on his son.

Prosecutors have argued that Murdaugh committed the murders to garner sympathy and distract attention from a litany of financial crimes, including stealing millions of dollars from his law partners and clients — money used to fuel a years-long opioid addiction and maintain an expensive lifestyle. .

Buster Murdaugh, his girlfriend Brooklynn White and Alex’s sister Lynn arrive at court on Thursday.

Buster Murdaugh, his girlfriend Brooklynn White and Alex’s sister Lynn arrive at court on Thursday.

A line of people outside the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro. Trial fans have been queuing up since the early hours of the morning

Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian arrives in court on Thursday

Prosecutor Creighton Waters delivers his closing statement during the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro on Wednesday.

Waters made an impassioned closing argument to the jurors, urging them not to let Murdaugh “fool you too.”

Waters holds up a 12-gauge shotgun during closing arguments in the trial Wednesday.

In his closing argument, Waters repeatedly noted Murdaugh’s admission from the stand last week that he had lied about his whereabouts on the night of the murders, telling investigators that he was not at the kennels prior to the murders.

Murdaugh changed his version after jurors heard audio evidence placing him at the scene of the crime minutes before it occurred.

Murdaugh said he initially lied to investigators out of paranoia tied to his drug addiction and mistrust of police.

Waters told jurors Wednesday: “No one knew who this man was.” He avoided accountability his whole life, relied on his last name, had a powerful family, wore a badge and wore it with authority, lived a rich life, but now he was finally facing utter ruin.

His father, whom I idolized, who I worked with on occasion, was dying, his son was facing charges in the boat case, facing civil action that could not only ruin him, but expose the reality of what he had been doing. for years he had an addiction to opiates, his life was about to change, he couldn’t live for it, he is the type of person for whom shame is an extraordinary provocation.

“His ego couldn’t take that and he became a family destroyer.”

The prosecutor concluded by asking the jurors: “On behalf of the State of South Carolina, I ask that you return a guilty verdict against defendant Richard Alexander Murdaugh for the murder of his wife Maggie and their son Paul.”