WALTERBORO, S.C. – On Thursday a South Carolina jury convicted Alex Murdaugh of murdering his wife and son. The jury took only three hours to come to the conclusion following a six week trial. The convicted killer was sentenced Friday morning to two consecutive life sentences by the judge.
Murdaugh, 54, returned to the Colleton County Courthouse to face Judge Clifton Newman after a panel of 12 jurors delivered a guilty verdict the day before. He stood before the court and continued to proclaim his innocence.
However, Judge Newman rebuked Murdaugh, saying that no one believed his tangled web of lies and deceit as it was a “most troubling case.”
“You’ve engaged in duplicitous conduct,” Newman told Murdaugh. “This case qualifies under our statute for the death penalty.”
Finally, after addressing the sorrowful murders of Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, the judge sentenced Alex Murdaugh to consecutive life sentences.
The disgraced and disbarred attorney was standing and stoically heard his fate after he was found guilty of two counts each of murder and possession of a weapon in the commission of a violent crime.
Murdaugh took the stand in his own defense last week and admitted to several things, including an opioid addiction, lying to investigators, lying to law partners and clients, stealing large sums of money from clients, but not murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul.
Murdaugh used a shotgun to kill Paul inside a feed room attached to the dog kennels at the family’s hunting estate, known as Moselle, and a rifle to execute his wife, Maggie on June 7, 2021, as his prominent life crumbled around him, according to prosecutors.
The jury’s decision was reached at 6:41 p.m. Thursday following a lengthy six-week trial that saw testimony from 76 witnesses. Murdaugh’s living son, Buster Murdaugh, shook his head and wiped his face with his hand, as the clerk polled each juror.
In swiftly coming to a conclusion about Murdaugh’s guilt, the jury did not pose a single question to the judge during the deliberations.
After the judge imposed the sentence Friday morning, Murdaugh was shackled and led from the courtroom in a jail jumpsuit, his new attire for the rest of his life.
