NetFlix Series: ‘Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal’ - Update: Murdaugh sentenced to 27 more years for financial crimes

TV & Film TV & Film: In The News
, , , ,
1

Since 2014, a tight-knit South Carolina community has been living in the wake of a series of violent, deadly crimes — all of which seem to involve one family. The new true crime series ‘Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal’ shows how the prominent Murdaugh family purportedly used and abused their wealth and privilege to the extreme, and which family member is allegedly behind it all.

Where can I watch ‘Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal’?

The three-part docuseries from Fyre Fraud Emmy nominees Jenner Furst and Jennifer Willoughby Nason is available to stream now on Netflix.

Who is the Murdaugh family?

The Murdaughs were known for their century-old family law firm in Hampton, South Carolina. Before he resigned in 2021 amidst fund-misappropriation accusations, Alex Murdaugh was a powerful civil litigation lawyer well known across the Palmetto State. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all state prosecutors who, like Alex, maintained a ton of power and leverage with local authorities.

What is Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal about?

In South Carolina’s Lowcountry, the Murdaugh family dynasty began to crumble after a series of events over the course of six years caused the deaths of five people — Mallory Beach (a friend of Alex’s youngest son), Stephen Smith (a friend of Alex’s oldest son), Gloria Satterfield (Alex’s housekeeper), Paul Murdaugh (Alex’s youngest son), Maggie Murdaugh (Alex’s wife) — and the alleged attempted murder of Alex himself. And a lot of the evidence points to one man’s suspected involvement in either the deaths or the attempts to cover them up. ‘Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal’ tells the story of the Murdaugh family, their rise to power and sway with law enforcement, and details the suspicious deaths that have destroyed their family legacy.

Where is Alex Murdaugh now?

Alex Murdaugh currently stands trial for the murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.

I’d seen the Alex Murdaugh name while browsing the BBC News website but it didn’t make any impression on me so I ignored it.

However, while I was browsing the NetFlix website, the name cropped up again with an interesting sub-text - “Shocking tragedies shatter a tight-knit South Carolina community and expose the horrifying secrets of its most powerful family.”

Since the series was, allegedly, a documentary, I decided to try 10 minutes of the first episode and make a decision on watching the rest.

It didn’t take that long to decide that the series was a documentary well worth watching. For a start, there was no presenter - always a bonus for me. Secondly, many of the families affected by the “suspicious” deaths, especially that of teen Mallory Beach, killed by Paul, provided “alternative” versions of events which had been described in “stories” provided by Alex Murdaugh or suppressed by him.

Real-life appalling tragedies and dramas alongside, as it turns out, Alex Murdaugh’s embezzlement and drug addiction, made for compelling and, sometimes, distressing viewing.

I now know the trial of Alex Murdaugh has been in progress and is drawing to a conclusion:

The defence has rested its case in the high-profile US trial of a former lawyer who is accused of murdering his wife and son.

Alex Murdaugh, 54, a now-disbarred South Carolina attorney, has pleaded not guilty.

The trial, now in its sixth week, has heard claims of corruption, opioid abuse and a failed hitman suicide plot.

Jury deliberations are expected to begin later this week.

1 Like
2

image
image1200×800 81.7 KB

Mallory Beach (left) was killed when a drunken Paul Murdaugh crashed a speedboat into bridge after he’d verbally and physically abused his girlfriend Morgan Doughty (right)

The Murdaugh family:

image
image1000×750 47.7 KB

Richard (Buster), Maggie, Paul and Alex.

3

I have no idea if it’s connected but when I saw that photo on the BBC and the word ‘murder’ I immediately thought of the bad guy in a show called Banshee - he appears at 26 seconds in this trailer:

(Which is well worth a watch!)

4

image
image1200×720 43.1 KB

The jury returned with the verdict after three hours of deliberation. Murdaugh was judged guilty on two counts of murder and two weapons-related charges.

Murdaugh rocked slightly as the verdicts were read, and turned to his son Buster and nodded to him as he turned to be cuffed by sheriffs deputies.

“He may be taken away,” the judge, Clifton Newman, said as Murdaugh was led out. He will be returned to court on Friday for sentencing. Newman has discretion to pass a sentence of 30 years to life without parole for each of the murder convictions.

The case, the subject of a recent Netflix documentary, has been an opportunity to examine power and corruption in South Carolina’s low country, where the Murdaughs had established deep roots of power in the region as moonshiners during Prohibition.

Missteps by investigators at the murder scene, and evidence mishandling thereafter (1) , at times appeared to jeopardise a conviction. Defense lawyers repeatedly raised issues that they believed conferred reasonable doubt.

Not much doubt in the jury-room, then.

(1) Deliberate or incompetent?

The verdict does not resolve questions over at least two other deaths connected to Alex Murdaugh.

5

You have me intrigued, Omah. Just added the show to my Netflix list. Thanks.

1 Like
6

No doubt there will be more series to come … depending on the number of skeletons in Murdaugh’s closet … :skull:

:scream:

1 Like
7

I was reading this Reddit thread. Apparently there’s an HBO documentary that is more detailed than the Netflix one. Someone mentioned 100 more charges. I don’t know where they got that from.

1 Like
8

I’ll look out for it but I believe that it may be a documentary-drama, a format which, sometimes, I find unappealing … :thinking:

1 Like
9

I just cancelled my HBO subscription today so I can’t check it out but here’s what one article says about it.

Then there’s a CNN special and a Dateline special and a ton of podcasts about it in this article. No shortage of coverage about this.

1 Like
10

A multi-million dollar settlement has been reached in a fatal boat crash involving the family of disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh. Relatives of Mallory Beach, 19, who died when the vessel hit a bridge support, will receive $15m (£11.4m) under the agreement.

The boat belonged to convicted murderer and ex-attorney Murdaugh. Officials believe it was being driven by his drunk son, Paul, at the time of the February 2019 collision. The convenience store that sold Paul the alcohol and Alex Murdaugh were defendants in the wrongful death lawsuit.

All legal action connected to the crash was settled on Sunday, lawyers said.

A further $3m will be split between four other teenage passengers who were on the boat - Anthony Cook, Morgan Doughty, Miley Altman and Connor Cook - reports CBS 17.

The victims of the crash will also receive a share of the court-controlled assets of Alex Murdaugh, though that sum has not yet been determined, said the Beach family attorney.

Money won’t bring back Mallory but acceptance of responsibility will, hopefully, bring closure to the her family and the survivors of the crash.

11

Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced South Carolina lawyer serving a life sentence for murder, has lost his phone privileges in prison after speaking to the media without permission.

The 55-year-old’s lawyer recorded him reading his diary entries during a call in June, prison officials said. The audio was then allegedly given to the producers of a forthcoming Fox Nation documentary about his case.

Murdaugh was found to have violated two internal prison policies at a disciplinary hearing earlier this week. As well as his phone, he will lose access to a tablet computer and will not be able to buy items from the prison canteen for a month.

Murdaugh was investigated after staff became aware in August that a call with his lawyer had been used for media purposes, the spokesperson said. His phone privileges were suspended while the investigation took place, but he reportedly used another inmate’s phone to make a call during this time.

Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, were shot at close range on their family estate on 7 June 2021. Prosecutors argued that he killed them to divert attention from his financial crimes and gain sympathy.

Murdaugh was eventually sentenced to life in prison without parole.

He is expected to plead guilty in federal court next month to separate charges that he stole millions of dollars from clients, court records show.

A man with no morals … :face_with_monocle:

12

Quite the understatement.

I thought that criminals couldn’t profit from their crimes so why is a book being written?

1 Like
13

AFAIK, no book is being written. I’d guess that Murdaugh wanted to put across “his side of the story” … :thinking:

Prison policy prohibits inmates from talking to the media, a state prisons spokeswoman, Chrysti Shain, said in a statement. The call was for a Fox Nation documentary series called The Fall of the House of Murdaugh that is set to air on Thursday.

The media interview violation, along with another violation for using a different inmate’s password to make a telephone call, are prison discipline issues and not a crime, Shain said.

“SCDC’s interview policy is rooted in victims’ rights and is longstanding. The department believes that victims of crime should not have to see or hear the person who victimized them or their family member on the news,” the statement said. It added: “Inmates lose the privilege of speaking to the news media when they enter SCDC.’

1 Like
14

Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina lawyer convicted of murdering his wife and son, has filed an appeal against his conviction, alleging jury tampering during his trial.

Murdaugh attorneys Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian told a news conference on Tuesday they want a new trial because a county clerk pressured jurors to reach “a quick verdict” and told the panel “not to be fooled” by Murdaugh’s testimony. They say the clerk “betrayed her oath of office for money and fame”.

The lawyers spoke as they filed a motion with the South Carolina Court of Appeals, alleging that the Colleton County clerk of court, Rebecca Hill, had encouraged jurors not to be “misled” by Murdaugh.

The court papers - containing sworn statements from three of the jurors - allege that Ms Hill asked members of the panel for their opinions about Murdaugh’s guilt or innocence. The filing also says she “invented a story about a Facebook post to remove a juror she believed might not vote guilty”.

In July, Ms Hill published Behind the Doors of Justice: The Murdaugh Murders.

A twist to the tale … :open_mouth:

15

I just saw today that Netflix is showing that there’s a new season of this show available. It looks like 3 episodes of the trial.

16

Well spotted … :+1:

What happens in Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal Season 2?

Members of the Murdaugh family have been prosecuting murder cases for 100 years at the Colleton County Courthouse — the same location where, in 2023, Alex Murdaugh stood trial for the murder of his wife, Maggie, and his son Paul. Season 2 of Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal interviews those involved in the case — like jurors, prosecutors, witnesses, and former friends of the Murdaugh family — and gives an in-depth look at the trial, from the media circus that unraveled outside the courthouse to the circumstantial evidence that led to his conviction. The series shows footage that was key to the case against the defendant, like body-cam video from June 7, 2021, the night Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed on Alex Murdaugh’s property, and evidence photos from the night of the boat crash that killed Paul’s friend Mallory Beach in 2019.

Unfortunately, I cancelled my NetFlix subscription last month so I’ll have to wait for an alternative source … :neutral_face:

1 Like
17

He pleaded guilty to 22 counts earlier this month relating to fraud and money laundering.

Murdaugh is already serving two life sentences without parole for two murders.

State prosecutors say his plea agreement resolved 101 financial-related charges and a loss of $8.8m (£6.9m) among those affected by Murdaugh’s schemes.

Murdaugh also stole millions from his law firm and avoided paying hundreds of thousands in state income taxes. Much of the stolen money was used by Murdaugh to pay off personal expenses such as loans and credit card debt. In one case, he took a “luxury trip” and billed his client for the expense of it, prosecutors told the courtroom on Tuesday.

Several victims of Murdaugh’s financial deception appeared in court for his sentencing hearing in Beaufort, South Carolina.

They included family of the Murdaugh’s housekeeper, who died following a “trip and fall accident” at the Murdaugh home. Housekeeper Gloria Satterfield’s adult sons were supposed to receive life insurance money from the accident. Instead, prosecutors said Murdaugh had the roughly $3.5m from the claim directed to an account he used. Her family received nothing.

A truly abominable man.