{"id":269814,"date":"2023-03-03T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=269814"},"modified":"2023-03-03T10:47:02","modified_gmt":"2023-03-03T16:47:02","slug":"alex-murdaugh-faces-30-yrs-to-life-for-murder-of-wife-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=269814","title":{"rendered":"Alex Murdaugh Gets Life in Prison in Murder of Wife, Son"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) \u2014 In the culmination of the once-prominent lawyer\u2019s fall from grace, Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday after being convicted of murdering<\/a> his wife and son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judge Clifton Newman asked Murdaugh if he had anything he wanted to say before sentencing him to two consecutive life terms, and the South Carolina attorney maintained his innocence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs 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,\u201d Murdaugh responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd it might not have been you. It might have been the monster you become when you take 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 opioid pills. Maybe you become another person,\u201d Newman replied, noting Murdaugh’s decadeslong addiction to painkillers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In lengthy comments, Newman asked Murdaugh what he meant when he said \u201coh, what a tangled web we weave\u201d while on the stand in his own defense, when he admitting lying to investigators about being at the kennels where Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI meant when I lied, I continued to lie,\u201d Murdaugh replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd the question is when will it end? You continued to lie and lie throughout your testimony,\u201d Newman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newman also touched on the Murdaugh family’s history as they stood in a courtroom on the circuit where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather tried cases as the elected prosecutor for more than 80 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lawyer, a person from a respected family who has controlled justice in this community for over a century. A person whose grandfather\u2019s portrait hangs at the back of the courthouse that I had to have ordered removed in order to insure a fair trial,\u201d Newman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutor Creighton Waters said none of the victims of the crime \u2014 members of Murdaugh\u2019s family and the parents and relatives of his wife \u2014 wished to speak on behalf of the prosecution before sentencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe depravity, the callousness, the selfishness of these crimes are stunning. The lack of remorse and the effortless way in which he is, including here, sitting right over there in this witness stand \u2014 your honor, a man like that, a man like this man, should never be allowed to be among free, law abiding citizens,\u201d Waters said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside the courthouse Friday, Tracy Kinsinger, 58, had one goal: to ensure that Murdaugh saw his homemade sign reading \u201cMurderer\u201d that he made after a \u201cmad dash\u201d to Walmart for crafting supplies. For Kinsinger, who came from Beaufort, South Carolina, the outcome was a vindication of the legal system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe truth is he brought shame upon himself, his family, the community, his profession,\u201d Kinsinger said. \u201cIt\u2019s disgraceful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors asked for a life sentence to hold Murdaugh responsible for what they say are decades of lying, stealing and using his family’s considerable clout in their tiny county<\/a> to his advantage. The Colleton County jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Murdaugh guilty of killing<\/a> his 22-year-old son with a shotgun and his 52-year-old wife with a rifle on June 7, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juror Craig Moyer told ABC News<\/a> that when deliberations began, the jury immediately took a poll that came back with nine guilty votes. It didn’t take long to convince the other three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The juror agreed with prosecutors that the key piece of evidence was a video<\/a> locked on his son\u2019s cellphone for a year \u2014 video shot minutes before the killings at the same kennels near where the bodies would be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The voices of all three Murdaughs can be heard on the video, though Alex Murdaugh had insisted for 20 months that he hadn’t been at the kennels that night. When he took the stand in his own defense, the first thing he did was admit he had lied to investigators about being at the kennels, saying he was paranoid of law enforcement because he was addicted to opioids and had pills in his pocket the night of the killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA good liar. But not good enough,\u201d Moyer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors didn\u2019t 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<\/a>, including the video putting Murdaugh at the scene of the killings five minutes before his wife and son stopped using their cellphones forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence, jurors heard about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaugh\u2019s failed attempt to stage his own death<\/a> in an insurance fraud scheme<\/a>, a fatal boat crash<\/a> in which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall<\/a> in the Murdaugh home and the grisly scene of the killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The now-disbarred attorney admitted stealing millions of dollars<\/a> 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<\/a> ranging from insurance fraud to tax evasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a news conference after the sentencing, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel said the case serves as a notice to anyone who aided in Murdaugh\u2019s dozens of other alleged crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday is not the end. It\u2019s the next step in the long road to justice for every person who has been victimized by Alex Murdaugh,\u201d Keel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) \u2014 South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh will be back in a courtroom Friday, this time facing the judge as a convicted murderer<\/a> looking at 30 years to life in prison for killing his wife and son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors indicated in earlier court filings that they will ask for a life sentence to finally hold Murdaugh responsible for what they say are decades of lying, stealing and using his family’s considerable clout in their tiny county<\/a> to his advantage. Any sentence would have no chance of parole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Alex Murdaugh stands before a judge to learn his fate, he\u2019ll be in same courtroom on the circuit his father, grandfather and great-grandfather tried cases as the elected prosecutor for more than 80 years. His grandfather\u2019s portrait hung in the back of the room until the judge ordered it taken down for the trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of the dress shirt and sport coat he wore through the six-week trial, the attorney who made millions suing big companies on behalf of people injured in wrecks arrived at court in a jail jumpsuit the day after he was convicted of two counts of murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Colleton County jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Murdaugh guilty of killing<\/a> his 22-year-old son Paul with a shotgun and his 52-year-old wife Maggie with a rifle on June 7, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juror Craig Moyer told ABC News<\/a> that when deliberations began, the jury immediately took a poll and there were nine guilty votes. It didn’t take long to convince the other three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The juror agreed with prosecutors that the key piece of evidence was a video<\/a> locked on his son\u2019s cellphone for a year \u2014 video shot minutes before the killings at the same kennels near where the bodies would be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The voices of all three Murdaughs can be heard on the video, though Alex Murdaugh had insisted for 20 months that he hadn’t been at the kennels that night. When he took the stand in his own defense, the first thing he did was admit he had lied to investigators about being at the kennels, saying he was paranoid of law enforcement because he was an opioid addict with pills in his pocket the night of the killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA good liar. But not good enough,\u201d Moyer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors didn\u2019t 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<\/a>, including the video putting Murdaugh at the scene of the killings five minutes before his wife and son stopped using their cellphones forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s unclear who will speak at Friday’s sentencing hearing. Murdaugh’s surviving son, Buster, and one of his brothers testified for the defense and have been behind him every day of the trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murdaugh’s sister-in-law testified they were all close. Alex Murdaugh went on vacation with them in the months after the killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence, jurors heard about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaugh\u2019s failed attempt to stage his own death<\/a> in an insurance fraud scheme<\/a>, a fatal boat crash<\/a> in which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall<\/a> in the Murdaugh home and the grisly scene of the killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The now-disbarred attorney admitted stealing millions of dollars<\/a> 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<\/a> ranging from insurance fraud to tax evasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Murdaughs dominated the legal scene in neighboring Hampton County for a century. Another brother remains in the large law firm the family founded a century ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he took the stand last week, Murdaugh appeared to cry as he denied again and again that he killed his wife. But juror Moyer said he saw through yet another lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe never cried. All he did was blow snot,” Moyer said. “No tears. I saw his eyes. I was this close to him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) \u2014 In the culmination of the once-prominent lawyer\u2019s fall from grace, Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday after being convicted of murdering his wife and son. Judge Clifton Newman asked Murdaugh if he had anything he wanted to say before sentencing him to two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":269830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=269814"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":269832,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269814\/revisions\/269832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/269830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=269814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=269814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=269814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}