Alex Murdaugh, a disgraced ex-South Carolina attorney was sentenced on Friday to life imprisonment without parole after he was convicted of double murder.
Murdaugh was sentenced by Judge Clifton Newman at the Colleton County Courthouse, just days after he had been convicted of the murders of his wife and son. Paul and Maggie Murdaugh were shot to death near their hunting lodge in Islandton in South Carolina in June 2021.
According to the Associated Press, Murdaugh maintained his innocence even before the verdict was rendered.
“As you can see, I respect the court. But I am innocent. He said, “I would never in any circumstance hurt Maggie or my son Paul-Paul.”
It might not have been you. Newman retorted that it might have been you. Muradaugh claimed he took millions from his clients in order to finance the addiction.
Newman stressed the influence of the Murdaugh family in Colleton County. He claimed they “controlled justice for more than a century in this community,” according to the South Carolina Post and Courier.
WJCL pointed out that Murdaugh’s grandfather and father were both 14th circuit solicitors in South Carolina. The 14th circuit encompasses Allendale, Beaufort and Colleton counties, as well as Hampton and Jasper.
The Post and Courier reported that the judge had ordered Murdaugh’s grandfather’s portrait to be taken from the back of the courtroom to ensure fair trials.
After being found guilty of all four charges, Alex Murdaugh enters the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro on Friday, March 3rd 2023. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier via AP, Pool).
As Breitbart News reported, Murdaugh’s lawyer claimed that law enforcement had “failed miserably” in the investigation during closing arguments.
Murdaugh attorney Jim Griffin stated that “we believe that we have shown conclusively (the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s) failure miserably in investigating the case.” “And if they had done a competent job Alex would have been expelled from that (circle) of suspects a year or two years ago.”
John Meadors, the prosecutor, took offense at Griffin’s comments and countered them.
Meadors stated, “I find it offensive… that the defense… is accusing law enforcement of not doing their job, while withholding and obstructing Justice by not saying ‘I was down at kennels,’”
CBS News reported that Murdaugh faces almost 100 financial crime-related accusations. He is accused of trying to get a man involved in a $10 million life assurance scheme to shoot him and stealing more than $8million.