Disgraced former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Friday following his double murder conviction.
Judge Clifton Newman imposed the sentence on Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse a day after he was convicted of murdering his wife and son. Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were fatally shot near the dog kennels at the family’s hunting lodge in Islandton, South Carolina, in June 2021.
Murdaugh insisted on his innocence before the verdict came down, the Associated Press reported.
“As I tell you again, I respect this court. But I am innocent. I would never under any circumstances hurt my wife Maggie and I would never under any circumstances hurt my son Paul-Paul,” he said.
“And it might not have been you. It might have been the monster you become,” from the opioid addiction, Newman fired back. Muradaugh said he stole million from his clients to finance the addiction.
Buster Murdaugh, the son of Alex Murdaugh, listens to prosecutor John Meadors give his closing arguments in Alex Murdaugh’s trial for murder, at the Colleton County Courthouse on Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Walterboro, South Carolina. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty)
Newman emphasized the influence that the Murdaugh family had in Colleton County, asserting they “controlled justice in this community for over a century,” as the South Carolina Post and Courier reported.
The family has deep roots in Colleton County as Murdaugh’s father and grandfather both served as the 14th circuit solicitor in South Carolina for decades, as WJCL noted. The 14th circuit includes Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper counties.
“The judge mentioned he had to order a portrait of Murdaugh’s grandfather be removed from where it hung in the back of the courtroom in order to ensure a fair trial,” the Post and Courier wrote.
Alex Murdaugh walks into the courthouse during his sentencing at the Colleton County…