Judge Clifton Newman has handed down two consecutive life sentences to Alex Murdaugh for the murder of his wife and son.
"Your family, including you, have been prosecuting people here in this courtroom, and many have received the death penalty, probably for lesser conduct," the South Carolina Circuit Court judge said.
On the day of his conviction, Mudaugh was also found guilty on two weapons charges. The jury deliberated for several hours and took into account the testimony of 70 witnesses over six weeks. They even visited the 1,700-acre crime scene the day before sentencing.
The verdict came after a six-week trial that dealt with brutal murders, telephone forensics, a mysterious blue tarp, major financial irregularities, and the defendant's own lies.
Lawyers for the defendant said they plan to challenge the decision within 10 days.
Murdaugh had previously been a successful lawyer himself until his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul, were found dead in 2021. In July 2022, Murdaugh was accused of "shooting" two members of his family on their 1,700-acre Moselle farm in Islandton, South Carolina. He pleaded not guilty.
His fate was sealed by a video his murdered son had made moments before his death. The video, taken by Paul on the night of 7 June 2021, captured his father Alex Murdaugh, mother Maggie and himself altogether. This video placed Murdaugh at the crime scene around the time of the murder.
In a separate case yet to go to trial, Murdaugh also faces 99 separate charges stemming from a host of alleged financial crimes, including defrauding his clients, a former law firm and the government of about $9 million. The prosecution argued that the motive for Murdaugh's murders was to distract and delay the investigation into his financial misdeeds.