Enlarge image
Alex Murdaugh in court: "I'm innocent"
Photo: Andrew J. Whitaker / dpa
Ex-lawyer Alex Murdaugh has been sentenced to life imprisonment in a sensational double murder trial.
It was one of the most disturbing cases he has ever witnessed, Judge Clifton Newman said in the courtroom in Walterboro, South Carolina.
A grand jury on Thursday found Murdaugh, 54, guilty of murdering his 52-year-old wife and their 22-year-old son.
Both were found dead on the family property in June 2021.
Murdaugh repeatedly protested his innocence in court.
Also on Friday he told Judge Newman: "I am innocent." He could never have harmed his wife or his son.
Newman said, "You can convince yourself of that, but obviously you are in no position to convince anyone else."
Murdaugh himself called the police after the crime and said he had found the bodies.
Later, however, he became a suspect - and was finally accused of double murder.
Murdaugh had previously stolen millions of dollars from his law firm, clients and even the family of a former domestic worker who had collected insurance money after the woman's death in a fall.
Among other things, he needed the money to finance his opioid addiction.
Transmission from the courtroom
According to the prosecution, Murdaugh feared in the summer of 2021 that he would soon be exposed – and wanted to prevent this by killing his wife and son and buying himself time.
Then, a few months after the double murder, he paid a man to kill him and his other son collected $10 million in life insurance.
Murdaugh was only injured by the shot and survived.
In conversation with investigators, he admitted to having paid the perpetrator.
The trial against the lawyer, which started in January, triggered enormous media interest in the USA.
Just recently, the streaming service Netflix released a widely watched series entitled »The Murdaugh Murders: Scandal in the Southern States«.
The questioning of the accused was broadcast live on television for days.
bbr/dpa/AFP
