WALTERBORO, SC – One of the last pieces of a legal dynasty that doled out justice in rural South Carolina for decades crumbled Friday as prominent lawyer Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of his wife and son at their sprawling estate.
The Murdaugh trial was long and complicated, lasting 28 days.
However, a merely 50 second Snapchat video became one of the most influential pieces of evidence.
While these types of videos appear to go away after a short time – this proves some live on.
The clip may not seem like much, it’s just video from dog kennels on the Murdaugh property, but you can hear the defendant’s wife Maggie and 22-year-old son Paul just minutes before they were shot and killed.
Prosecutors said there’s also the voice of Alex Murdaugh, who without knowing about the video told police he wasn’t there. Therefore, this clip blew his alibi. A juror told ABC News it was a major piece to the puzzle.
“His responses, how quick he was with the defense and his lies, steady lies,” said juror Craig Moyer, referring to how he didn’t believe Murdaugh’s attempt at innocence. “A good liar, but not good enough.”
Gene Nichols, a Jacksonville defense attorney not affiliated with the case, said it might have been the turning point.
“It is difficult to defend when you have lies upon lies upon lies,” he said. “You can put a client on the stand in a lot of defensive cases and deal with a lot. When you have so many, so many people accusing you so much, and become so much more difficult.”.
Many people believe that apps like Snapchat delete videos after they’ve been sent. Nichols said that’s not necessarily the case.
“You’re fooling yourself if you believe that Internet companies such a Snapchat do not store data. Everybody believes there is no data. You also fooled to believe that if you think you delete something from your telephone that you can’t subsequently get it.”
Law enforcement agencies regularly subpoena phone and Internet data, and while it can take months to return, big tech companies like Google, Apple, Meta, Snapchat, and Instagram, do store a lot of content which is quite often used in criminal and civil cases.
“You can expect that law enforcement is going to get it if you put it out there,” Nichols added.