State prosecutors will not seek the death penalty for Alex Murdaugh when the disbarred attorney appears in court next month for a double murder trial that has drawn international attention.

“After carefully reviewing this case and all the surrounding facts, we have decided to seek life without parole for Alex Murdaugh,” South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a statement.

The charges come down a month before he is set to go on trial for the shooting deaths of his wife Maggie and son Paul at their family home.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced on Friday nine counts of tax evasion for failing to report $6,954,639 of illegally earned income between 2011 and 2019.

Graeme Massie has the details.

A banker charged with helping disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh take money from the legal settlements of clients was found guilty late Tuesday of wire and bank fraud charges in South Carolina.

Former Palmetto State Bank CEO Russell Laffitte was allowed to remain free on bail as he awaits sentencing at a later date. Each of the six charges he was convicted of in federal court carry a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

It was the first trial related to the sprawling Murdaugh legal drama that has captivated true-crime audiences.

A judge revoked house arrest Thursday for the man authorities say agreed to kill disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh so he could get a life insurance settlement for Murdaugh's son but ended up just grazing his head with a bullet.

The decision by Circuit Judge Clifton Newman revoking bond and requiring Curtis “Eddie" Smith to await trial in jail involves a new set of charges linked to Murdaugh — allegations that Smith helped the disbarred attorney with a drug and $2.4 million money laundering ring.

Alex Murdaugh’s wife texted a friend to say that her husband was “up to something” hours before she and her son were found slain at the family’s South Carolina compound, according to a report.

Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and her son Paul, 22, were killed at the 1,770-acre estate after Mr Murdaugh called her and asked her to go and see his ill 81-year-old father.

Ms Murdaugh was living separately from her husband at their beach house on Edisto Island and said she would meet him at the hospital. But law enforcement sources told People that he insisted they meet at the compound for her to follow him to the hospital.

Graeme Massie has the story.

Prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, who faces more than 70 criminal charges after police scrutinized his finances in the aftermath of the unsolved shooting deaths of his wife and son last year, is likely going to permanently lose his law license.

The South Carolina Supreme Court said Murdaugh’s attorneys said Tuesday they would not contest any arguments scheduled for a disbarment hearing Wednesday. As a result, the justices canceled the proceedings.

Disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh is facing yet another lawsuit as the ex-girlfriend of his deceased son, Paul, blames the family for her “disfigurement” in a boat crash.

Lawyers for Morgan Doughty, who was dating Paul Murdaugh at the time of the accident, filed the lawsuit on Monday. They say Paul, then 19, was “grossly intoxicated” as he drove his parents’ boat in February 2019, crashing it into a bridge over Archer’s Creek, South Carolina.

The crash killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach, who was among several passengers on the boat that night. Meanwhile, Ms Doughty, the lawsuit says, “suffered injuries to her hand, finger and other parts of her body,” and “permanent scarring and disfigurement.”

Nathan Place has the story.

A judge refused on Tuesday to lower the $7 million bail for a prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh who is charged with stealing millions of dollars from vulnerable clients.

Murdaugh’s lawyers had unsuccessfully argued that the high amount was like no bail at all, saying their client was so broke he was unable even to pay his phone bill.

The murdered wife of disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh left everything to her husband in her will, it has been revealed.

Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, 52, and her son Paul Murdaugh, 22, were shot and killed at the family’s sprawling hunting lodge in Islandton, South Carolina, on 7 June.

Rachel Sharp reports.

Court adjourns for the day as the cross-examination of Capt Chapman concludes with a series of objections over the lines of questioning regarding the shoe prints observed near the scene.

The trial will resume tomorrow at 9.30am.

One frustrating aspect of today was the restrictions regarding the body camera footage. The attorneys have now agreed to release redacted versions of all the bodycam videos. They should be available to media either tonight or tomorrow.