The Lyin' Scion

Lies, drugs and kennel videos: An in-depth look at the trial and conviction of Alex Murdaugh

De: Todd McGee

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

The trial of Alex Murdaugh for murdering his wife and youngest son captured international attention. Reporters from around the globe flocked to tiny Colleton County, South Carolina, to see if a jury would convict the scion of a prominent Southern legal dynasty of slaughtering his own flesh and blood.

The trial lasted six weeks. The prosecution introduced evidence and witnesses at a dizzying rate. Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian lampooned their theories while waddling around the courtroom like The Penguin. He said he was honored to defend Murdaugh and portrayed him as a loving family man, albeit one who bilked clients out of millions of dollars, was addicted to pain pills, faked his own suicide attempt and lied extensively about being at the scene of a gruesome double murder. Nobody’s perfect, right?

The prosecution had a ton of circumstantial evidence but no eyewitnesses to the actual crime, and its DNA evidence, which helps decide so many murder cases, was weak. The defense cast enough shade on SLED’s investigation to envelop the Lowcountry in darkness for a millennium and brought in a truckload of highly paid witnesses to tout one ridiculous theory after another. Their goal was to plant one tiny seed of doubt in the mind of one juror. They failed, but not for lack of trying.

This day-by-day look at the witnesses and evidence presented takes you through the trial as it occurred, analyzing the pieces of the puzzle put together by the prosecution. Each day's report ends with a summary of key points and a guilty-meter showing which side moved the needle, if any.

Written from the perspective of a juror, this account only considers information presented to the jury. Go through the evidence, read what the witnesses said and saw, and make your own determination. What missteps did the prosecution or defense make? Which witnesses resonated with the jury? Decide for yourself if the jury got it right.

The book contains a few instances of adult language. They are included as spoken for context.

The revised edition (published Oct. 24, 2023) includes a few non-grisly crime scene photographs from the Colleton County Sheriff's Office and a new section on the two-gunman theory.

Praise for The Lyin' Scion from verified purchasers on Amazon:

Todd McGee perfects the art of trial summary in this book. His editing is spot on as he captures the essence of each day in this incredible murder trial. With a straightforward style, he quotes the highlights of each testimony and provides just enough color to bring the readers straight into the courtroom, while allowing us plenty of room to reach our own conclusions. Each day is a chapter and each chapter end with a bulleted overview and analysis, as well as McGee's own scoring system. It's an utterly brilliant template filled with crisp, impactful writing.

Wonderful summary

Virtual voice does a nice job. The book is a captivating read and is an accurate description of the trial.

Did Not Quite Deliver What Was Promised

The premise of this book was that it would be an account of the Murdaugh Murders as seen through the eyes of a juror seated at Alex Murdaugh's trial. The finished product did not quite deliver on that promise.

As someone who has read and followed this case for years, I did not expect to learn anything new from this book. I was hoping to get a filtered version that would have mirrored what the jury heard (the stated purpose of the book). While that was delivered as far as it went, there were also many editorial comments, factoids and historical perspectives that were not strictly related to the courtroom, which really made this book no different than any other book about this infamous case.

The Virtual Voice narration, while greatly improved since its inception, still has glaring issues that remind the listener that a real person is not reading this book aloud. From non-contextual mispronunciation of words, to inconsistent pacing, it is evident that AI voice narration is not quite ready to replace human beings.