Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to 2 consecutive life phrases in jail on Friday, a day after the once-prominent lawyer was discovered responsible of murdering his spouse and son.
Decide Clifton Newman handed down the ruling after a jury convicted Murdaugh on two counts of homicide for capturing his spouse, Maggie, and son Paul in 2021 on the household’s looking property in Islandton, South Carolina. Prosecutors mentioned Murdaugh killed his members of the family in an try to realize sympathy and preserve a bevy of monetary crimes from being uncovered.
Murdaugh spoke briefly earlier than his sentencing, saying, “I’m harmless. I might by no means damage my spouse Maggie, and I might by no means damage my son [Paul].”
He had maintained his innocence all through the trial, however prosecutors confirmed he had lied about being on the scene of the crime simply minutes earlier than his spouse and son have been killed. Murdaugh admitted he lied about being at his property’s canine kennels, the place the shootings happened, however mentioned he left the pair and returned to seek out them lifeless.
The jury rejected that declare, reaching a responsible verdict on each counts of homicide and two counts of possessing a lethal weapon in the course of the fee of a violent crime.
The six-week trial rocked the state. The highly effective Murdaugh household has been a authorized dynasty within the Deep South for generations, with members controlling a regional prosecutor’s workplace for greater than 80 years and working a robust legislation agency within the space.
“Immediately’s verdict proves that nobody, nobody — irrespective of who you're in society — is above the legislation,” South Carolina Lawyer Basic Alan Wilson mentioned after the decision was delivered Thursday.
The minimal sentence for homicide in South Carolina is 30 years in jail. Prosecutors had mentioned they'd search a sentence of life in jail with out the opportunity of parole earlier than Newman’s resolution was rendered.
Murdaugh can attraction the ruling.
He's nonetheless awaiting trial for a collection of monetary crimes he admitted to whereas on the stand in his homicide case, in addition to costs of insurance coverage fraud, tax evasion and cash laundering.
Murdaugh was disbarred final summer time. Prosecutors have charged him with stealing practically $9 million.
CORRECTION: A earlier model of this story mentioned Murdaugh was sentenced to concurrent phrases; the phrases are consecutive.
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