The Lyin' Scion

Lies, drugs and kennel videos: An in-depth look at the trial and conviction of Alex Murdaugh

By: Todd McGee

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The trial of Alex Murdaugh for murdering his wife and youngest son captured international attention. Reporters from around the globe flocked to tiny Colleton County, South Carolina, to see if a jury would convict the scion of a prominent Southern legal dynasty of slaughtering his own flesh and blood.

The trial lasted six weeks. The prosecution introduced evidence and witnesses at a dizzying rate. Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian lampooned their theories while waddling around the courtroom like The Penguin. He said he was honored to defend Murdaugh and portrayed him as a loving family man, albeit one who bilked clients out of millions of dollars, was addicted to pain pills, faked his own suicide attempt and lied extensively about being at the scene of a gruesome double murder. Nobody’s perfect, right?

The prosecution had a ton of circumstantial evidence but no eyewitnesses to the actual crime, and its DNA evidence, which helps decide so many murder cases, was weak. The defense cast enough shade on SLED’s investigation to envelop the Lowcountry in darkness for a millennium and brought in a truckload of highly paid witnesses to tout one ridiculous theory after another. Their goal was to plant one tiny seed of doubt in the mind of one juror. They failed, but not for lack of trying.

This day-by-day look at the witnesses and evidence presented takes you through the trial as it occurred, analyzing the pieces of the puzzle put together by the prosecution. Each day's report ends with a summary of key points and a guilty-meter showing which side moved the needle, if any.

Written from the perspective of a juror, this account only considers information presented to the jury. Go through the evidence, read what the witnesses said and saw, and make your own determination. What missteps did the prosecution or defense make? Which witnesses resonated with the jury? Decide for yourself if the jury got it right.

The book contains a few instances of adult language. They are included as spoken for context.

The revised edition (published Oct. 24, 2023) includes a few non-grisly crime scene photographs from the Colleton County Sheriff's Office and a new section on the two-gunman theory.

Coming soon: An in-depth look at the trial of Karen Read, a successful businesswoman accused of running over her policeman boyfriend and leaving him by the side of the road to die in a blizzard.

Wonderful summary

Virtual voice does a nice job. The book is a captivating read and is an accurate description of the trial.