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    Alleghany County Sheriff Hall gives press release on the disappearance of Donald Wayne Kelley (Photo by P.E. Marshall)

    Sheriff Hall provides update on the disappearance of Donald Wayne Kelley

    The Rockbridge Bull & Oyster Fest returns to the Virginia Horse Center

    Hulls drive-in opens this weekend

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    Tour Lexington in a horse-drawn carriage

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    “Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in VA” draws a large crowd

    SJU students, Program Managers, Facilitators, Mentors, and Committee Members at Loving Life Community Outreach (P.E. Marshall photo)

    APEX returns to the Alleghany Highlands

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    Twice the prize! Covington man wins $300,000 with two winning Powerball tickets in the same drawing

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      Sixth District Perspectives with Congressman Ben Cline: Getting Our Fiscal House In Order

      Agenda Set For Iron Gate Town Council Meeting

      Agenda Set For Iron Gate Town Council Meeting

      Congressman Griffith’s Weekly E-Newsletter: Santa Through the Years

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      Sixth District Perspectives with Congressman Ben Cline: Crisis at the Border, a Lost Agent, and an Administration in Denial

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        Halen Lowman (21) struck out 11 in the Mountaineers win over Rockbridge County (Photo by Cary Linkswiler)

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        Zamera Hayslett

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          Alleghany County Sheriff Hall gives press release on the disappearance of Donald Wayne Kelley (Photo by P.E. Marshall)

          Sheriff Hall provides update on the disappearance of Donald Wayne Kelley

          The Rockbridge Bull & Oyster Fest returns to the Virginia Horse Center

          Hulls drive-in opens this weekend

          Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park celebrates Mardi Gras

          Horse-drawn carriage ride through downtown Lexington (Lexington Carriage Co. photo)

          Tour Lexington in a horse-drawn carriage

          Parade Marshal Allen Hickman leading the parade (P.E. Marshall photo)

          “Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in VA” draws a large crowd

          SJU students, Program Managers, Facilitators, Mentors, and Committee Members at Loving Life Community Outreach (P.E. Marshall photo)

          APEX returns to the Alleghany Highlands

          Ben Baker (left) receives his check from Virginia Lottery Executive Director Kelly T. Gee (right) (Virginia Lottery photo)
 

          Twice the prize! Covington man wins $300,000 with two winning Powerball tickets in the same drawing

          Pictured here is Robert Floyd, owner of Commonwealth Arms, presenting a donation to Douthat SPEED members Dave Pack and Ray Keen. (Photo courtesy Ray Keen)

          Douthat car show sponsor

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            Sixth District Perspectives with Congressman Ben Cline: Getting Our Fiscal House In Order

            Agenda Set For Iron Gate Town Council Meeting

            Agenda Set For Iron Gate Town Council Meeting

            Congressman Griffith’s Weekly E-Newsletter: Santa Through the Years

            Congressman Griffith’s Weekly E-Newsletter: Santa Through the Years

            Sixth District Perspectives with Congressman Ben Cline: Remembering a Public Servant

            Sixth District Perspectives with Congressman Ben Cline: Remembering a Public Servant

            Congressman Griffith’s Weekly E-Newsletter: Say What?

            Congressman Griffith’s Weekly E-Newsletter: Say What?

            Sixth District Perspectives with Congressman Ben Cline: Crisis at the Border, a Lost Agent, and an Administration in Denial

            Sixth District Perspectives with Congressman Ben Cline: Crisis at the Border, a Lost Agent, and an Administration in Denial

            Congressman Griffith’s Weekly E-Newsletter: The IRS and Big Tech are Watching You

            Congressman Griffith’s Weekly E-Newsletter: The IRS and Big Tech are Watching You

            Sixth District Perspectives with Congressman Ben Cline: Connecting with Constituents, Bringing Their Voices to Washington

            Sixth District Perspectives with Congressman Ben Cline: Connecting with Constituents, Bringing Their Voices to Washington

            Congressman Griffith's Weekly E-Newsletter 3.24.22

            Congressman Griffith’s Weekly E-Newsletter: Return to the Basics

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              Halen Lowman (21) struck out 11 in the Mountaineers win over Rockbridge County (Photo by Cary Linkswiler)

              Mounties Remain Unbeaten; Lowman Strikes out 11

              Zamera Hayslett

              Through sports, Zamera Hayslett has friends for life

              14th Annual Triathalon

              Paige Webb (back) greeted by teammates after her homerun (Photo by Lynette Huffman)

              Lady Mountaineers JV softball defeats Riverheads

              Holly Stayton Photo

              Action from Covington Softball vs. Riverheads

              Garrett Carper (Photo by Lori Conner)

              Covington Goes Down 10-0 to Riverheads

              Eli Dressler batting (Photo by Lori Conner)

              Cougars Drop 10-1 Decision to Riverheads

              Mountain Gateway Track and Field team L-R Jacob Ivins, Eli Harvey and Ben Bailey 

              Mountain Gateway Track and Field team to start this weekend

              Covington Varsity cheerleaders
Front L-R: Kirsten Weinger, Faith Holt, and Kaitlyn Petrero 
Back L-R: Sarah Akerson, Alyssa Allard, Cheyenne Craft, and Kathryn Johnson (Photo by Shannon Fogus)

              Recognizing the 2022-23 Covington cheerleaders

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              Halen Lowman (21) struck out 11 in the Mountaineers win over Rockbridge County (Photo by Cary Linkswiler)

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              Through sports, Zamera Hayslett has friends for life

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              Paige Webb (back) greeted by teammates after her homerun (Photo by Lynette Huffman)

              Lady Mountaineers JV softball defeats Riverheads

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              March 22, 2023

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              Jury quickly finds Murdaugh guilty of murdering wife, son

              APbyAP
              in National News
              March 6, 2023
              Reading Time: 6 mins read
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              Alex Murdaugh is led outside the Colleton County Courthouse by sheriff's deputies after being convicted of two counts of murder Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Walterboro, S.C., in the June 7, 2021, shooting deaths of Murdaugh's wife and son. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

              Alex Murdaugh is led outside the Colleton County Courthouse by sheriff's deputies after being convicted of two counts of murder Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Walterboro, S.C., in the June 7, 2021, shooting deaths of Murdaugh's wife and son. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

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              WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was convicted of murder Thursday in the shooting deaths of his wife and son in a case that chronicled the unraveling of a powerful Southern family with tales of privilege, greed and addiction. The jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder at the end of a six-week trial that pulled back the curtain on the once-prominent lawyer’s fall from grace. Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison without parole for each murder charge when court is scheduled to reconvene for sentencing at 9:30 a.m. Friday. After the verdict was read, Judge Clifton Newman denied a defense motion to declare a mistrial, saying “the evidence of guilt is overwhelming.” Murdaugh, who wore a dress shirt and jacket, appeared stoic with a slight grimace as the verdict was read. Once the hearing ended, Murdaugh was handcuffed and led out of the courtroom by two sheriff’s deputies. His 52-year-old wife, Maggie, was shot four or five times with a rifle and their 22-year-old son Paul was shot twice with a shotgun at the kennels near their rural Colleton County home on June 7, 2021. Prosecutors didn’t have the weapons used to kill the Murdaughs or other direct evidence like confessions or blood spatter. But they had a mountain of circumstantial evidence, led by a video locked on the son’s cellphone for more than a year — video shot minutes before the killings that witnesses testified captured the voices of all three Murdaughs. Defense attorney Jim Griffin told reporters the Murdaugh team was disappointed in the outcome but had no further comment until sentencing. The state’s legal team emerged from the courthouse to a celebratory atmosphere. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson thanked the prosecution for the past six weeks of late nights spent at a local hotel. “It was all worth it. Because we got to bring justice and be a voice for Maggie and Paul Murdaugh,” Wilson said. “Today’s verdict proved that no one — no matter who you are in society — is above the law,” he added, a line met with applause from spectators. Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence, jurors heard about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaugh’s failed attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme, a fatal boat crash in which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home, the grisly scene of the killings and Bubba, the chicken-snatching dog. In the end, Murdaugh’s fate appeared sealed by the cellphone video taken by his son Paul, who he called “Little Detective” for his knack for finding bottles of painkillers in his father’s belongings after the lawyer had sworn off the pills. Testimony culminated in Murdaugh’s appearance on the witness stand, when he admitted stealing millions from clients and lying to investigators about being at the dog kennels where the shootings took place but steadfastly maintained his innocence in the deaths of his wife and son. “I did not kill Maggie, and I did not kill Paul. I would never hurt Maggie, and I would never hurt Paul — ever — under any circumstances,” Murdaugh said. Murdaugh had told police repeatedly after the killings that he was not at the kennels and was instead napping before he went to visit his ailing mother that night. Murdaugh called 911 and said he discovered the bodies when he returned home. But in his testimony, Murdaugh admitted joining Maggie and Paul at the kennels, where he said he took a chicken away from a rowdy yellow Labrador named Bubba — whose name Murdaugh can be heard saying on the video — before heading back to the house shortly ahead of the fatal shootings. Murdaugh lied about being at the kennels for 20 months before taking the stand on the 23rd day of his trial. He blamed his decadeslong addiction to opioids for making him paranoid, creating a distrust of police. He said that once he went down that path, he felt trapped in the lie. “Oh, what a tangled web we weave. Once I told a lie — I told my family — I had to keep lying,” he testified. Prosecutor Creighton Waters grilled Murdaugh about what he repeatedly called the lawyer’s “new story” of what happened at the kennels, walking him moment by moment through the timeline and assailing his “fuzzy” memory of certain details, like his last words to his wife and son. A state agent also testified that markings on spent cartridges found around Maggie Murdaugh’s body matched markings on fired cartridges at a shooting range elsewhere on the property, though the defense said that kind of matching is an inexact science. Alex Murdaugh comes from a family that dominated the local legal scene for decades. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were the area’s elected prosecutors for more than 80 years and his family law firm grew to dozens of lawyers by suing railroads, corporations and other big businesses. The now-disbarred attorney admitted stealing millions of dollars from the family firm and clients, saying he needed the money to fund his drug habit. Before he was charged with murder, Murdaugh was in jail awaiting trial on about 100 other charges ranging from insurance fraud to tax evasion. Prosecutors told jurors that Murdaugh was afraid all of his misdeeds were about to be discovered, so he killed his wife and son to gain sympathy to buy time to cover his tracks. Waters commended the jurors for seeing through what he described as more lies by Murdaugh. “We had no doubt that when we had a chance to present our case in the court of law that they would see through the one last con that Alex Murdaugh was trying to pull. And they did,” Waters said after the verdict. Murdaugh’s lawyers will almost certainly appeal the conviction based on the judge allowing evidence of the financial crimes, which they contend were unrelated to the killings and were used by prosecutors to smear Murdaugh’s reputation.

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