On Friday, notorious ex-South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of double murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release.
Judge Clifton Newman handed down Murdaugh’s punishment in the Colleton County Courthouse the day after he was found guilty of killing his wife and kid. Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were shot and killed in June of 2021 while tending to their hunting dogs in a kennel at their house in Islandton, South Carolina.
According to the AP, Murdaugh maintained his innocence until the verdict was read.
For the umpteenth time, let me say how much I value and appreciate this organization. But I didn’t do anything wrong. My family, including Maggie and Paul-Paul, would never be a target of mine “Sayings of his.
Maybe it wasn’t you, but it might have been anybody else. Perhaps the monstrosity you develop as a result of your drug abuse, Newman suggested. To support his drug habit, Muradaugh allegedly stole $1 million from his clients.
The Murdaugh family has a long history of power in Colleton County, and Newman boasted that they “dominated justice in this town for a century,” according to the South Carolina Post and Courier.
As both of Murdaugh’s grandfathers and his father served for decades as South Carolina’s 14th circuit solicitor, WJCL reports that the family has significant ties to the area. The counties of Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper make up South Carolina’s 14th Judicial Circuit.
According to the Post and Courier, the judge “indicated he had to order a portrait of Murdaugh’s granddad be removed from where it hung in the rear of the courtroom” to guarantee a fair trial.
Murdaugh’s lawyer reportedly said in closing arguments that law enforcement “failed badly” during the inquiry, as reported by Breitbart News.
Our research demonstrates that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division botched their investigation of this case “Murdaugh’s lawyer, James Griffin, issued the following statement. Adding insult to injury, “had they done a reasonable job, Alex would have been eliminated from that circle (of suspects) a year or two ago,” as the saying goes.
After then, prosecutor John Meadors turned the conversation back to Griffin.
“The defense is arguing law enforcement didn’t do its job,” Meadors said. In any case, “he is hiding and obstructing justice by not recognizing ‘I was down at the kennels,'” Meadors said.
CBS News reports that among almost a hundred other financial crime-related charges, Murdaugh is accused of stealing over $8 million and attempting to pay a guy to assassinate him in a $10 million life insurance fraud.