Lawyer’s fall from grace ends with life sentence
Murdaugh maintains innocence as judge notes drug use, lies
WALTERBORO, S.C. — In the culmination of the once-prominent lawyer’s fall from grace, Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday after being convicted of murdering his wife and son.
Judge Clifton Newman asked Murdaugh if he had anything he wanted to say before sentencing him to two consecutive life terms, and the South Carolina attorney maintained his innocence.
“As I tell you again, I respect this court. But I am innocent. I would never under any circumstances hurt my wife, Maggie, and I would never under any circumstances hurt my son Paul-Paul,” Murdaugh responded.
“And it might not have been you. It might have been the monster you become when you take 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 opioid pills. Maybe you become another person,” Newman replied, noting Murdaugh’s decadeslong addiction to painkillers.
In lengthy comments, Newman asked Murdaugh what he meant when he said “oh, what a tangled web we weave” while on the stand in his own defense, when he admitted lying to investigators about being at the kennels where Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were killed.
“I meant when I lied, I continued to lie,” Murdaugh replied.
“And the question is when will it end? You continued to lie and lie throughout your testimony,” Newman said.
Newman also touched on the Murdaugh family’s history as they stood in a courtroom on the circuit where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather tried cases as the elected prosecutor for more than 80 years.
“A lawyer, a person from a respected family who has controlled justice in this community for over a century. A person whose grandfather’s portrait hangs at the back of the courthouse that I had to have ordered removed in order to ensure a fair trial,” Newman said.