Joe Harker
A lawyer facing allegations of hiring a hitman to kill him is on trial for the murder of his wife and son.
Back in September 2021, a hitman was arrested after a South Carolina lawyer was shot in the head but not killed while changing a tyre by the roadside.
Alex Murdaugh managed to survive being shot in the head and the attempt on his life came after his wife and son had been gunned down in June of that same year at the family home.
However, Murdaugh later admitted that he'd put the hit out on himself and said he'd fessed up to it so police would be freed from having to solve the 'fake crime' and have more time to find who killed his wife and son.
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A year later and law enforcement believed they had their prime suspect in the murders of Murdaugh's wife and son: Murdaugh himself.
In 2022, the lawyer was charged with the murders of his wife and youngest son, he claims he is innocent of these crimes.
He is today (23 January) going on trial for the deaths of his 52-year-old wife Maggie and 22-year-old son Paul, who were shot dead outside their home on 7 June 2021.
Officials have said that Maggie appeared to have been shot with a rifle, while Paul had been killed by a shotgun, with both having been shot multiple times.
Murdaugh said on the day of their deaths he had left the house for about an hour to visit his parents and told police he'd discovered their bodies upon returning home.
He has said he is innocent of the killings of his wife and son, insisting he loved them 'more than anything in the world'.
Prosecutors claim that the killings of Murdaugh's wife and son brought him sympathy, and are claiming that their deaths afforded the lawyer more time to cover up money he is charged with stealing from the settlement fees of his clients.
Murdaugh's own former law firm has accused him of stealing millions of dollars, leading him to face dozens of other criminal charges.
The prosecution is not seeking the death penalty for the lawyer if he is found guilty of murder, but they are aiming for life imprisonment without parole, meaning the 54-year-old would likely be behind bars for the rest of his life.
A period of three weeks has been set aside for the trial, with selecting a jury to judge Murdaugh's case the first thing on the agenda.