On March 3, 2023, before Judge Clifton Newman handed down his sentence against Alex Murdaugh, the defendant made a brief statement. “Good morning, your honor. I am innocent,” Murdaugh said, according to NPR. “I would never hurt my wife Maggie, and I would never hurt my son, Paw-Paw [his nickname for Paul]. Thank you.” Prosector Creighton Waters asked the judge to sentence the defendant to life in prison without parole. “The depravity, the callousness, the selfishness of these crimes are stunning,” Waters said.
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The judge pointed out that the state didn’t ask for the death penalty, a sharp contrast to the many prosecutions by the Murdaugh family over the years that led to the death penalty for defendants for less serious crimes. Successive generations of the Murdaugh family controlled the local prosecutor’s office, determining who would face justice and who wouldn’t. “In the murder of your wife Maggie Murdaugh, I sentence you for a term for the rest of your natural life,” Newman said, per USA Today. “For the murder of Paul Murdaugh, who you probably loved so much, I sentence you to prison for murdering him, for the rest of your natural life.” The judge strongly urged Murdaugh to confess his crimes, but the defendant refused. “I respect this court, but I’m innocent,” Murdaugh told the judge, according to NPR.
