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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Andrea Blanco

Judge tells Alex Murdaugh his wife and son will ‘visit him every night’ in searing sentencing remarks

Screenshot/Independent

A South Carolina judge told convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh that his slain wife and son will ‘visit him every night’ as he spends the rest of his life in prison.

The disgraced legal scion was led into Colleton County Courthouse on Friday morning where he was sentenced to life in jail for the murders of his wife Maggie Murdaugh and son Paul Murdaugh in 2021. Judge Clifton Newman said that the evidence against Murdaugh was “overwhelming”.

“I know you have to see Paul and Maggie at nighttime when you are attempting to go to sleep,” Judge Newman told the court before delivering the sentencing. “I’m sure they come and visit you ... They will continue to do so and will reflect on the last time they looked you in the eyes.”

Mr Murdaugh, who continued to insist on his innocence before the court, said that he saw Maggie and Paul “all day and every night.”

The sentencing hearing began at 9.30am ET, with prosecutor Creighton Waters offering his condolences to the Murdaugh family for the deaths of Maggie and Paul and asking the judge to hand down the harshest possible sentence of two consecutive life sentences.

The judge said that the murder trial had shed light on the many victims associated with Mr Murdaugh, including former clients who he admitted deceiving and stealing millions of dollars from when he took the stand in his defence last week.

Murdaugh told the court on Friday that “he would never hurt Maggie and Paul,” prompting Judge Newman to respond that he could continue to maintain his innocence, fruitlessly and from a Department of Corrections prison, but he was not convincing anyone else.

“But amazingly, to have you come and testify that it was just another ordinary day, that, ‘My wife and son and I were just enjoying life.’ Not credible, not believable,” Judge Cliffman said. “You can convince yourself about it, but obviously, you are unable to convince anyone else.”

“It might not have been you. It might have been the monster you’ve become. If you take 20, 40, 50, 60 opioid pills, you become a different person.”

Judge Newman also spoke about how “heartbreaking” it was to see Mr Murdaugh go from being portrayed as a grieving father and husband in the media to being indicted and convicted of murder.

“You’ve practised law before me, and we’ve seen each other on various occasions throughout the years,” the judge recounted. “Over the past century, your family, including yourself, have been prosecuting people here in this courtroom, and many have received the death penalty, probably for lesser conduct.”

The judge also brought up Mr Murdaugh’s compulsive lying in the aftermath of the murders,

“The question is, when will it end? When will it end?” Judge Newman asked.

The court was expecting to hear victim impact statements but prosecutor Creighton Waters revealed that none of the victims wished to speak at this time. Mr Waters called Murdaugh a cunning manipulator and somebody who “placed himself above all others” and had violated the trust of his loved ones.

While he gave Murdaugh the chance to finally tell the truth once and for all, the judge admitted he “would not expect a confession of any kind”. The judge admonished Murdaugh for continuing with his lies in the courtroom – after he took the stand, changed his alibi and continued to deny killing his wife and son.

But the disgraced attorney and serial liar reiterated his statement of innocence.

“I’m innocent. I would never hurt My wife Maggie and I would never hurt my son PawPaw,” he told the court.

Mr Waters said that Maggie and Paul “like everyone else were unaware of who he really was... no one knew who he really was and that’s chilling”.

Over the course of the investigation and the trial, the lead prosecutor said he had discovered who the real Alex Murdaugh really was.

“I’ve looked in his eyes. He liked to stare me down as he walked by me during this trial. And I could see the real Alex Murdaugh,” he said.

Prosecutors said that Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his string of financial crimes – at a time when his multi-million-dollar fraud scheme was on the brink of being exposed. Jurors were told that on the day of the murders, Murdaugh was confronted by his law firm CFO about missing money that he had stolen.

Three days after the murders, a hearing was also slated to take place in a lawsuit over a fatal boat crash Paul was involved in.

Then, on 4 September 2021 – one day after he was ousted by his law firm for stealing funds – Murdaugh claimed he was the victim of a drive-by shooting.

He kept up the story for days, with jurors being shown a police sketch of an imaginary man he claimed ambushed him.

Days later, he confessed that he had orchestrated the plot claiming he had asked his alleged drug dealer and distant cousin Curtis Eddie Smith to shoot him in the head so his surviving son Buster would get a $12m life insurance windfall.

As well as the boat crash case, the fraud scheme and the botched hitman plot, there are at least two other unexplained deaths with some tie to Murdaugh.

Days on from the murders, an investigation was reopened into the 2015 death of Stephen Smith, who was found dead in the middle of the road in Hampton County.

The openly gay 19-year-old had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and his death was officially ruled a hit-and-run. But the victim’s family have long doubted this version of events, with the Murdaugh name cropping up in several police tips and community rumours.

An investigation was also reopened into another mystery death connected to the Murdaugh family – that of their longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield.

She died in 2018 in a mystery trip and fall accident at the family home. Murdaugh then allegedly stole around $4m in a wrongful death settlement from her sons.

Murdaugh is now also facing around 100 charges over the multi-million-dollar fraud scheme and roadside shooting cases.

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