A prominent US lawyer has been found guilty of murdering his wife and son.

Alex Murdaugh, 54, fatally shot his wife Margaret, 52, four or five times with a rifle outside dog kennels on their rural Colleton County property on 7 June 2021.

On the same day, he shot his 22-year-old son Paul twice with a shotgun.

Prosecutors had said the lawyer, from a well-known and wealthy family, carried out the killings after he was caught stealing from the family law firm.

The jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder at the end of the six-week trial.

He will be sentenced later and faces 30 years to life in prison without parole.

The story features in a Netflix documentary series – Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal. In it, residents in their hometown of Hampton County question the family’s influence, historically, over local law enforcement.