COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Attorney General is seeking life without parole for Alex Murdaugh in the killing of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.
“After carefully reviewing this case and all the surround facts, we have decided to seek life without parole for Alex Murdaugh,” Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a statement Tuesday. “Because this is a pending case, we cannot comment further.”
Murdaugh is set to go on trial Jan. 23 on charges he murdered his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, in Colleton County in June 2021. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In a statement, Murdaugh’s attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin said, “We are not surprised but also welcome the decision to not seek the death penalty for Alex Murdaugh. Now there is no impediment for going ahead with the trial scheduled for Jan. 23, when we look forward to evidence, not leaks, determining the outcome.”
Murdaugh is charged with murdering his wife and son the night of June 7, 2021. Paul and Maggie were found near the dog kennels on the family’s sprawling hunting lodge in Colleton County, called Moselle.
Maggie was killed with multiple shots from a high powered rifle. Paul was found dead inside of a closet at the kennels, according to recent court filings. He was killed by close range blasts from a shotgun.
In court, lead prosecutor Creighton Waters, with the S.C. Attorney General’s Office, accused Murdaugh of killing his wife and son in a desperate attempt to distract from the looming exposure of his financial crimes.
Murdaugh currently faces 99 different charges across 19 different indictments. As well as his two murder charges, the disgraced former Hampton County attorney faces a battery of charges for alleged financial crimes. He is accused of stealing millions of dollars from his own clients as well as the law firm founded by his family.
In a Dec. 8 filing in Colleton County, Waters and fellow prosecutor Donald Zelenka argued that they had sufficient evidence of financial wrongdoing to imprison Murdaugh for life. In a footnote to the filing, prosecutors said “the state has informally notified the defense of its intent to seek Murdaugh’s incarceration for the remainder of his life ... in addition to whatever punishment may result from the pending indictments for the murders.”
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