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Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of murdering his wife, Maggie, and their son, Paul, on March 2, 2023.
In the wake of the verdict, Murdaugh's defense lawyer, Jim Griffin, said that he believed his client was guilty of white-collar crimes and drug abuse. However, Griffin added that he still believed that he was innocent of the double homicide that took place in June 2021.
Jim said that since he realized the jury would most likely be convinced that Alex Murdaugh had killed his wife and son, he made the decision to put Alex on the stand as a last resort.
He said that the former attorney "was so beat up at that point" that the team decided to "throw a Hail Mary" by putting him up on the stand to explain his lie. Jim said that they wanted Murdaugh to explain that he lied, cheated and stole because of his drug addiction.
Alex Murdaugh received two consecutive life sentences. He was convicted of two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
Alex Murdaugh's attorney has a career spanning nearly 30 years
According to Fox News, before emerging in the spotlight for representing Alex Murdaugh, Jim Griffin played a role in several other high-profile murder cases. The defense attorney has a career that has lasted almost three decades.
Jim Griffin has been involved in both civil and criminal courts. As per his firm's website, Griffin Davis Law, he also has experience with cases in the healthcare sphere. He has represented physicians and doctors who were under investigation by federal authorities.
In 2018, Jim Griffin was commended for his achievements as a legal professional, receiving the award 'Trial Lawyer of the Year.'
According to Fox News, Griffin earned his undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University before receiving his law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law. The attorney has previously worked as a law clerk for a US District Court Judge and as an assistant US Attorney for the District of South Carolina.
Griffin's statement on the verdict of Alex Murdaugh
While Griffin noted that he understood why the evidence against Murdaugh seemed extensive, he was concerned as the jury had come to a conclusion in less than an hour.
He said that he hoped jurors would understand that since Murdaugh was a drug addict, there would be various holes in his story. Jim thought, however, that this may have led them to unfairly be convinced that he would be capable of killing his family members.
He said that the team had hoped that the jurors had experience with drug addicts and would have known how they lie, cheat, and steal. However, he noted that it didn't work in their favor.
Griffin claimed that otherwise, there was little concrete evidence to show that Alex Murdaugh had killed Paul and Maggie.
He said:
“There was so little evidence on the actual murders — there’s no murder weapons, there’s no bloody clothes, there’s no motive to the murder. So, we thought the jury would have to work through a lot of that. To say we were disappointed is a tremendous understatement.”
According to News Nation, Murdaugh's defense team plans to appeal on the grounds that the trial should not have mentioned their client's financial crimes.
