Alex Murdaugh

The 54-year-old disbarred South Carolina lawyer faces a sentence of 30 years to life in prison for each murder conviction.

"This defendant has fooled everyone — everyone who thought they were close to him," Waters told the jury in his closing argument. He was facing a financial reckoning, they said, that also included his liability in a court case over a fatal 2019 boating accident in which Paul, then 19, was said to be driving. Prosecutors never produced the two murder weapons used to kill Maggie and Paul, and there were no eyewitnesses. But after witnesses identified Murdaugh's voice in a cellphone video taken by Paul at the kennel around 8:45 p.m. Newman had said he would render his sentence after any victim impact statements, but prosecutor Creighton Waters began his remarks by saying the state did not have anyone who wanted to deliver a victim statement. "It's so unfortunate, because you had such a lovely family of such friendly people — including you," the judge told Murdaugh. The sentencing closes a six-week-long trial that charted Murdaugh's fall from grace. Murdaugh said repeatedly that he didn't go with his wife and son to the dog kennels where they were shot and killed, saying that he stayed in the house, and took a nap before leaving to see his ailing mother. The court session began shortly after 9:30 a.m. Thank you." "Good morning, your honor. Newman told Murdaugh that each of the punishments apply to "the rest of your natural life," adding that the sentences are consecutive.

Sentencing came little more than 12 hours after South Carolina attorney was found guilty of murder.

Newman – who also spoke about the many times he had encountered Murdaugh as a lawyer in the After the murders, Murdaugh portrayed the killings as an act of retribution by unknown assassins. “It doesn’t matter who your family is,” Waters said. It doesn’t matter … I am sure they come and visit you,” he said. The small town of Walterboro has been turned into a media circus for the trial’s duration.

Scion of South Carolina legal dynasty maintains his innocence during sentencing, still faces more than 100 criminal charges for alleged financial and drug ...

After sentencing, Murdaugh’s lawyers reiterated that they would appeal the case, and admitted that Murdaugh, a now-former lawyer, sensed the guilty verdict was inevitable. In total, Murdaugh still faces about a dozen lawsuits and more than 100 criminal charges for alleged financial and drug violations; as noted during sentencing, Judge Newman from Murdaugh’s murder trial will also preside over those pending charges. Throughout the trial, the prosecution argued that Murdaugh murdered his wife and son Paul on June 7, 2021, at the family’s hunting estate in an attempt to evade accountability for a string of alleged financial crimes. Despite the Murdaugh family’s centuries-old legal hold over the Lowcountry, the jury needed less than three hours to convict Alex on the four charges. Prosecutors previously announced that they would seek two consecutive life in prison sentences without the possibility of parole against Murdaugh, sparring him the death penalty. The prosecutors, meanwhile, called Alex a “cunning manipulator, a man who placed himself above all others, including his family” before sentencing.

The disgraced former attorney was convicted Thursday on four counts: the 2021 murder of his wife Maggie Murdaugh, the murder of his son Paul Murdaugh, and two ...

"I'm sure they come and visit you." "I mean, he was getting a double life sentence. I'm sorry, I'm an old guy — crippled people who had just done horrible, despicable things, and he had to try to push back on that," Harpootlian said during a press conference. "It's ended already for the jury because they've concluded that you continued to lie and lie throughout your testimony." Attorney Jim Griffin said the defense team will appeal all the way to the U.S. But his testimony also included admissions that he had lied to investigators, and evidence presented by the prosecution placed him at the scene on the night of the murders. Prosecutors argued Murdaugh carried out the killings to gain sympathy before the allegations came out. "I respect this court, but I'm innocent," Murdaugh told the judge. The convicted former attorney and the judge exchanged words a few times during Friday's brief hearing. "And it might not have been you," Newman responded. [Alex Murdaugh](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alex-murdaugh-trial-verdict-reached-murder-case/) was sentenced to life in prison Friday morning in South Carolina, and his attorneys said they plan to appeal his conviction in the high-profile double murder trial. Murdaugh, 54, wasn't sentenced for the other charges because of the life sentence.

Sara Azari, a criminal trial attorney, told News Nation, the case was “cloaked in doubt,” until Murdaugh testified, which “sealed the deal” for the jury, who ...

For five weeks Murdaugh was on trial for the June 2021 murder of his wife, Maggie, and his 22-year-old son Paul. [Alex Murdaugh Found Guilty Of Murdering Wife And Son](https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2023/03/02/alex-murdaugh-found-guilty-in-murder-of-wife-and-son/?sh=2f0daa902674) (Forbes) [How Alex Murdaugh Opened The Door For Convictions On Financial And Tax Crime Charges](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2023/03/01/how-alex-murdaugh-opened-the-door-for-convictions-on-financial-and-tax-crime-charges/?sh=2e7edf5172ed) (Forbes) [Juror Removed From Alex Murdaugh Murder Trial For Discussing Case Outside Courtroom](https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/03/02/juror-removed-from-alex-murdaugh-murder-trial-for-discussing-case-outside-courtroom/?sh=535db4534247) (Forbes) [Alex Murdaugh Murder Trial Jurors Make Rare Visit To South Carolina Crime Scene](https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/03/01/alex-murdaugh-murder-trial-jurors-make-rare-visit-to-south-carolina-crime-scene/?sh=7d1dcd391ccb) (Forbes) [Levinson](https://www.cbsnews.com/live/video/20230303030321-legal-experts-examine-alex-murdaugh-murder-verdict/#x) said. [told](https://www.newsnationnow.com/crime/murdaugh-murder-trial/alex-murdaugh-verdict-watch-jury/) News Nation, the case was “cloaked in doubt,” until Murdaugh testified, which “sealed the deal” for the jury, who Azari said didn’t care about why Murdaugh committed these crimes but instead focused on the big “lie.” [told](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCOLlbBtj_E%5C) the Associated Press. When Alex Murdaugh—who was found guilty Thursday of murdering his wife and son in June 2021 and sentenced Friday to life in prison—took the stand to explain his side of the story, he backed himself into a corner, admitted to other crimes and ultimately made himself unreliable, which legal experts say lead to his guilty verdict.

The South Carolina lawyer faces a minimum of 30 years in prison for each murder.

They called Judge Newman's decision to allow evidence related to Murdaugh's financial crimes to be included in the murder trial "erroneous". Murdaugh had been cast as a "despicable human being", he said. He stared ahead and did not react as his sentence was read. "I would never hurt my wife and I would never hurt my son," he said in brief remarks at the hearing. Judge Clifton Newman called the case "one of the most troubling" he had seen and noted Murdaugh's past "as a well-known member of the legal community". Disgraced ex-lawyer Alex Murdaugh has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering his wife and son in a case that shocked the US.

Former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murder in the deaths of his wife and son.

Waters said Murdaugh, a member of a [prominent legal dynasty](https://bit.ly/3KROCEA) that ran a prosecutor's office in Hampton County for more than 80 years, killed his family to prevent his alleged financial crimes from being exposed and ruining his family's legacy and his successful law practice. Murdaugh initially told police he was not at the family's dog kennels before finding the bodies there, but his voice was captured on [a video taken on his son’s cellphone](http://bit.ly/41ASJLd) minutes before prosecutors believe the killings happened. [Murdaugh addresses the court: 'I'm innocent'] [None of Maggie or Paul's family members delivered a victim impact statement, but Murdaugh briefly addressed the court before he was sentenced.] ["I'm innocent. [tax evasion,](http://bit.ly/3CZRISg) and [drug trafficking](http://bit.ly/3JkNoRB) which [ could carry a penalty of more than seven centuries of prison time. [Judge Clifton Newman criticizes Murdaugh's testimony as not credible] [Newman said he could imagine the "looming storm" lead prosecutor Creighton Waters described Murdaugh faced the day of the murders. "In the murder of your wife Maggie Murdaugh, I sentence you for a term for the rest of your natural life," Newman said. “And it might not have been you," Newman said. "But once that information was in, I mean he had to take the stand to explain the kennel video, the lie, if you will." He added the evidence that Murdaugh stole and lied wasn't about motive but Murdaugh's character. When asked why Murdaugh's son Buster did not speak during sentencing, Griffin said it would not have made a difference in Murdaugh's sentence. The attorneys said the strongest grounds for appeal are the judge's decision to admit evidence related to Murdaugh's alleged financial crimes.] Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, were killed near dog kennels at the family's home in June 2021.

In a remarkable courtroom moment, the judge in Alex Murdaugh's murder trial spoke in stark and personal terms ahead of the disgraced lawyer's sentencing ...

That is the sentence of the court and you are remanded to the state Department of Corrections. For the murder of Paul Murdaugh, whom you probably loved so much, I sentence you to prison for murdering him for the rest of your natural life. I sentence you for the term of the rest of your natural life. Murdaugh, I sentence you to the state Department of Corrections on each of the murder indictments. And then that necessitated more lies and continued to lie, and I say when will it end, it has already ended for many who have heard you and concluded that it will never end. “It might have been the monster you become when you take 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 opioid pills, and maybe you become another person. I have not been able to get anyone, any defendant, even those who have confessed to being guilty to go back and explain to me what happened at that moment in time when they opted to pull the trigger, when they opted to commit the most heinous crime known to man.” I don’t question at all the decision of the state not to pursue the death penalty. And reflect on the last time they looked you in the eyes, as you looked the jury in the eyes.” “This has been perhaps one of the most troubling cases not just for me as a judge, for the state, for the defense team, but for all of the citizens in this community, all the citizens in this state, as we have seen based on the media coverage throughout the nation,” Newman said. A lawyer, a person from the respected family who has controlled justice in this community for over a century, a person whose grandfather’s portrait hang at the back of the courthouse that I had to have ordered removed in order to ensure that a fair trial was had by both the state and the defense. In fact, as I have presided over murder cases over the past 22 years, I have yet to find a defendant who could go there, who could go back to that moment in time when they decided to pull the trigger or to otherwise murder someone.

Law enforcement officials built their double-murder case against Alex Murdaugh using a wealth of data to track his movements around the time of the ...

9:10: Alex Murdaugh calls Buster Murdaugh, his older son, and they speak for one minute. The car does not slow down. Buster Murdaugh testified that his father called to say that he was driving to check on his ailing mother, and that he sounded normal on the phone. 9:06: Alex Murdaugh calls Maggie Murdaugh again. As they built their case against Alex Murdaugh, law enforcement officials used a wealth of data to detail the key moments on the night his younger son, Paul Murdaugh, and his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, were murdered. Law enforcement officials built their double-murder case against Alex Murdaugh using a wealth of data to track his movements around the time of the killings.

People have been sentenced to death for less than this double murder, the judge told the convicted killer.

"I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the night times when you are attempting to go to sleep," he said. In this case, death penalty would have been a "reach", he said. And he revealed nothing about his own family tragedy - the death of his 40-year-old son, Brian - that occurred just weeks before he assumed control of the Murdaugh case. "Your case qualifies under our death penalty statute," he said on Friday. and reflect on the fact that over the past century your family, including you, have been prosecuting people in this courtroom and many have received the death penalty, probably for lesser conduct." At one point, midway through proceedings, he gently chastised defence attorney Jim Griffin for re-tweeting an article that was critical of the prosecution.

The disgraced former attorney spoke briefly before the sentence was handed down and denied that he had ever hurt his wife or son.

"I'm sure they come and visit you." "I mean, he was getting a double life sentence. I'm sorry, I'm an old guy — crippled people who had just done horrible, despicable things, and he had to try to push back on that," Harpootlian said during a press conference. "It's ended already for the jury because they've concluded that you continued to lie and lie throughout your testimony." Attorney Jim Griffin said the defense team will appeal all the way to the U.S. But his testimony also included admissions that he had lied to investigators, and evidence presented by the prosecution placed him at the scene on the night of the murders. Prosecutors argued Murdaugh carried out the killings to gain sympathy before the allegations came out. "I respect this court, but I'm innocent," Murdaugh told the judge. The convicted former attorney and the judge exchanged words a few times during Friday's brief hearing. "And it might not have been you," Newman responded. [Alex Murdaugh](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alex-murdaugh-trial-verdict-reached-murder-case/) was sentenced to life in prison Friday morning in South Carolina, and his attorneys said they plan to appeal his conviction in the high-profile double murder trial. Murdaugh, 54, wasn't sentenced for the other charges because of the life sentence.

The sentence was the maximum that the judge could hand down for the murders of Alex Murdaugh's wife and son, given that prosecutors had not sought the death ...

“I’m somebody that’s prosecuted and defended a bunch of death penalty cases, and you never do it in a circumstantial case, because 99 times out of 100, a jury’s not going to sentence someone to death without an ‘I saw him do it,’ ‘He confessed,’ or great, great forensic evidence, at the minimum,” Mr. Prosecutors said a range of factors led them to decide, a month before trial, not to pursue the death penalty in Mr. At a news conference in front of the Colleton County Courthouse on Friday, Mr. Mr. Murdaugh was built largely on circumstantial evidence and the crime had gone unsolved for more than a year, a sign that it was far from an open-and-shut prosecution. [newly created firing squad](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/us/south-carolina-firing-squad-moore.html) — [were unconstitutional](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/07/us/south-carolina-unconstitutional-executions.html), and an appeal of that decision is currently before the State Supreme Court. Some lawyers said the decision had been a wise legal move and could have been motivated by an issue that prosecutors may have been hesitant to say out loud: The case against Mr. Murdaugh as a man who viewed himself as above the law, driving around with blue lights installed in his car and leaving a badge from the prosecutor’s office — where he volunteered on a handful of cases over two decades — on the dashboard. Murdaugh had been able to exercise the privilege of his station. Murdaugh, 54, maintained his innocence as he stood in handcuffs and a tan jail jumpsuit in place of the blazers and dress shirts he had worn during the six-week trial. [The Post and Courier reported](https://www.postandcourier.com/murdaugh-updates/murdaugh-prosecutors-wont-seek-death-penalty-in-january-double-murder-trial/article_da7a21de-7fb9-11ed-b689-0f6e2ac0d595.html) that the three Murdaugh patriarchs who served as top prosecutors had sought the death penalty against more than 30 people during their reign, which stretched from 1920 to 2006. “I would never hurt my wife, Maggie, and I would never hurt my son, Paul-Paul,” he said, using a nickname for his slain son.