Disgraced ex-lawyer Alex Murdaugh faces sentencing for murders

Disgraced former lawyer Alex Murdaugh is set to be sentenced on Friday, a day after a jury found him guilty of murdering his wife and son.

The jury deliberated for less than three hours before convicting Murdaugh, 54, of two counts of murder after a six-week trial.

His sentencing hearing in Walterboro, South Carolina, starts at 0930 local time (1430 GMT).

Murdaugh faces a minimum of 30 years in prison for each murder charge.

Prosecutors are seeking life in prison without parole for the former personal injury attorney.

Murdaugh's wife, Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, were shot at close range on their family estate on 7 June 2021.

The high-profile case captured national attention and featured allegations of corruption, drug abuse and a failed hitman suicide plot.

Murdaugh had pleaded not guilty in the murder case.

He is also accused of stealing millions of dollars from clients and colleagues, and admitted to committing wide-scale theft during the murder trial.

Prosecutors had alleged Murdaugh murdered his family members in an attempt to gain sympathy and stave off a reckoning over his financial crimes.