Disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to 2 consecutive life sentences after being discovered responsible of murdering of his spouse and son.
Murdaugh appeared earlier than Decide Clifton Newton handcuffed and carrying a tan jail jail uniform. Earlier than his sentencing, he made a closing assertion earlier than the court docket:
‘I’m harmless. I might by no means harm my spouse Maggie. I might by no means harm my son Paul-Paul. Thanks.’
Prosecutor Creighton Waters requested the decide to present the convicted lawyer the utmost sentence: life in jail.
‘The depravity, the callousness, the selfishness of these crimes are stunning,’ Waters stated. ‘Your honor, a man like that, a man like this man, should never be allowed to be among free, law abiding citizens.’
‘This has been one of the most troubling cases, not just for me as a judge,’ Newton stated earlier than handing down his sentence.
‘You have a wife who has been killed, murdered, a son savagely murdered. A lawyer, a person from a respected family, who has controlled justice in this community for over a century. A person who’s grandfather’s portrait hangs behind the courthouse that I needed to have ordered eliminated so as to be certain that a good trial was had.’
Murdaugh is a member of a distinguished South Carolina authorized dynasty that included a number of former prosecutors who tried circumstances within the courtroom he was ultimately discovered responsible in.
State prosecutors had no bodily proof or witnesses tying Murdaugh to the crime, however they did accumulate circumstantial proof towards him – together with a video discovered on his son Paul’s cellphone exhibiting the disbarred lawyer on the crime scene quarter-hour earlier than each victims stopped utilizing their cell telephones.
Probably the most second that sealed Murdaugh’s destiny almost certainly got here when he took the witness stand himself and admitted to mendacity to investigators, prosecutors, and the decide about being on the crime scene earlier than discovering his spouse and son’s our bodies.
Newton echoed Murdaugh’s personal phrases again to him: ‘oh what tangled webs we weave. What did you mean by that?’ the decide requested the ex-lawyer.
‘I meant when I lied, I continued to lie,’ Murdaugh stated.
‘And the question is when will it end?’ Newton responded. ‘It has ended already for the jury. They have concluded that you continued to lie and lie throughout your testimony.’
Newton questioned why Murdaugh continued to lie about being current on the crime scene for 20 months – even in entrance of him throughout a pretrial listening to.
‘At the last minute, you switched courses and admitted to being there. And that necessitated more lies, and you continued to lie,’ Newton stated.
The decide continued: ‘Within your own soul, you have to deal with that. And I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the night time when you’re making an attempt to fall asleep. I’m positive they arrive and go to you.’
‘All day and every night,’ Murdaugh replied.
Nonetheless, the convicted lawyer nonetheless continued to insist on his innocence:
‘I’ll let you know once more. I respect this court docket, however I’m harmless. I might by no means, below any circumstances, harm my spouse Maggie. And I might by no means below any circumstances harm my son Paul-Paul.’
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