Somto BisinaAlex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison for murdering his wife Maggie Murdaugh and son Paul Murdaugh at the family hunting estate in 2021.
The former South Carolina lawyer, who was recently found guilty of murdering his wife and son, received consecutive life sentences for his crimes, judge Clifton Newman declared on March 3.
The sentencing comes a day after a jury found that Murdaugh was guilty on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon while committing a violent crime of murder against, wife Maggie, and son Paul, at their Moselle estate on June 7, 2021.
READ ALSO:Alex Murdaugh Found Guilty Of Murdering Wife And Son
During the hearing on March 3, judge Newman sentenced Murdaugh, for murder of Maggie, to the State Dept of Corrections “for term of the rest of your natural life.” For the murder of Paul, Newman sentenced Murdaugh “to prison for murdering him for the rest of your natural life.”
Judge Clifton Newton on Friday suggested Murdaugh’s opioid addiction may have made him “a monster” and that “the person standing before me was not the person who committed the crime, though it’s the same person.”
Newton said the murders qualified for the death penalty, but he did not “question at all” the prosecutors’ decision to not pursue that option.
Murdaugh maintained his innocence before sentencing. “I respect this court, but I am innocent, and I would never under any circumstances hurt my wife, Maggie, and I would never under any circumstances hurt my son Paw-Paw,” he said, using a nickname he used for his son Paul.
Murdaugh is part of a legal dynasty. He was sentenced in the same courtroom on the circuit where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather tried cases as elected prosecutors for more than 80 years. His grandfather’s portrait hung in the back of the room until the judge ordered it taken down for the trial.
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