Alex Murdaugh Gets Life in Prison for Murdering His Wife and Son

thewrap.com:

convicted of murdering his wife and son in 2021.Murdaugh, 54, who had to trade his dress shirt and sport coat for a beige jail uniform following the verdict, maintained his innocence when addressing the judge before sentencing, The Associated Press reported. “I would never hurt my wife Maggie and I would never hurt my son Paul,” he said.The disgraced lawyer was found guilty of two charges of first degree murder Thursday after a month-long trial and just three hours of jury deliberation.

More than 70 witnesses testified as the prosecution built the case showing that Murdaugh, the head of a prominent, powerful family in their small county, shot his son Paul and wife, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, at a family property in Islandton, South Carolina, in June 2021.The high-profile double murder was covered in Netflix’s 2023 docuseries “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal” and HBO Max’s 2022 docuseries “Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty.”The prosecutor, Creighton Waters, said in court Friday that no members of Murdaugh’s family, nor the parents and relatives of his wife, wished to enter victim’s statements before sentencing.“The depravity, the callousness, the selfishness of these crimes are stunning,” Waters said. “The lack of remorse and the effortless way in which he is, including here, sitting right over there in this witness stand — your honor, a man like that, a man like this man, should never be allowed to be among free, law abiding citizens,” The AP reported.Murdaugh learned his fate in the same courtroom where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather tried cases as the elected prosecutor for more than 80 years, The AP noted.