Tuesday headlines: Jurors say they didn't believe Murdaugh's testimony, tears

Three jurors said disbarred lawyer Alex Murdaugh didn’t help his case when he took the stand last week before he was found guilty of murdering his wife and son in 2021. Murdaugh’s testimony, they said, cemented what they were already thinking — that he easily lied to authorities and could turn his tears on and off.

According to a report from South Carolina Public Radio, the jurors said the main piece of evidence in finding the former lawyer guilty was a video on his son’s cell phone that was shot minutes before the killings at the kennels near where the bodies were found. Murdaugh’s voice could be heard on the video, and when he took the stand, admitted he had lied to investigators about being near the kennels.

S.C. Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman sentenced Murdaugh on Friday to life in prison for the murders. Meanwhile, Murdaugh’s surviving son Buster has also filed a police report claiming he is being stalked after the sentencing of his father. In other news, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ruled Monday that ex-bank CEO and former Alex Murdaugh associate Russell Laffitte is not entitled to a new trial.

CP OPINION, Martin: Remembering Judge Richard Fields

“Before the Civil Rights movement opened doors to Black lawyers in the South, Judge Fields was already ingrained in a legal community dominated by lawyers whose offices lined Broad Street. Veteran lawyers, protective of their traditions and customs, were curious about this young Black lawyer who seemed not at all intimidated by the local racial and judicial hierarchy.”

In other headlines:

James Island convent to turn into state park, event venue. The May Forest Convent will soon become the centerpiece of a new state park on the edge of Charleston Harbor. The 23-acre waterfront parcel was bought by the state in 2021 for $23.25 million

Folly Beach short-term renters find ways to keep license. Dozens of short-term rental property owners met Monday night on Folly Beach to discuss how to maintain both their property’s value and short-term rental license after the city capped the number of short-term rentals on Folly Beach at 800.

N. Charleston council members tour campuses to prove disparities. Members of North Charleston City Council spent the day touring city schools in the Charleston County School District to look at the disparities between schools in their city and other cities like Mount Pleasant, Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island.

Former Charleston Naval Base the focus of a national urban planning competition. Four teams of graduate students from Harvard University, University of Virginia and University of California, Berkeley, have been selected as finalists for the Urban Land Institute’s Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition to create a vision for a mixed-income, mixed-use community of the former North Charleston Naval Base, which shuttered in 1996.

FBI called in after death of Carnival passenger who sailed from Charleston. The FBI is investigating the death of a passenger who was touring on the Carnival cruise ship Sunshine. The ship returned March 4 and authorities say the death of the victim is suspicious.

Charleston solar energy firm raises $150M. Palmetto Clean Technology Inc. has raised $150 million from an investment group to further its goal of increasing the use of solar power across the country by expanding its software and services platform to more commercial and residential users.