Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh sentenced in state financial crimes case

BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. – (WIS) Disgraced former Lowcountry attorney and convicted killer Alex Murdaugh has been sentenced to 27 years in state prison for more than a decade of financial crimes.

The sentencing comes a little more than a week after he pleaded guilty to the state charges stemming from the theft of millions from both clients and his law firm through a negotiated plea deal.

Murdaugh is currently serving two consecutive life sentences for the brutal slayings of his wife Maggie and son Paul.

He was convicted of the killings on March 2, after a six-week trial that captivated the nation.

Prior to the plea, Murdaugh was facing more than 100 state charges related to his financial misdeeds, the facts of which he largely admitted to while taking the stand in his own defense during the double murder trial.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters with the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office said the state chose to resolve all of these charges with this agreement because it “provides a level of accountability solely for the white collar crimes unlike anything we’ve ever seen.”

Murdaugh must serve at least 85 percent of the negotiated plea deal, and Waters said that sentence is appropriate to account for the “wreckage” he brought to the state’s legal system.

Judge Clifton Newman, in brief remarks to Murdaugh, said he is an enigma.

“I don’t know if you understand yourself,” he said.

Waters, in remarks to the press following the sentencing, said it is a “great day for justice.”

Newman was chosen to handle all Murdaugh-related matters in 2021, and is set to retire at the end of the year.

“After imposing this sentence, your life will continue,” he told Murdaugh, shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit. “I will turn the page and leave you behind.”

The judge told Murdaugh that he was cold, heartless and empty.

Throughout his decades-long career on the bench, Newman said the only other defendant that comes to mind when he looks at Murdaugh is a young man he sentenced to death for murdering a police officer and setting his body on fire.

“You’ll have to suffer the consequences of your acts, continue to suffer the consequences, and hopefully some good will come out of you as you move forward,” he said.

During the proceeding, several of Murdaugh’s victims turned to address him, forgiving him for what he has done but saying they will never forget the pain he has caused them and their families.

The family of Gloria Satterfield was among them.

Gloria, who was beloved by the Murdaugh family, was their longtime housekeeper, and died in a slip and fall accident at the Murdaugh estate in 2018.

Murdaugh stole millions in settlement money owed to the family.

“You lied, you cheated, you stole, you betrayed me and my family and everybody else,” Tony Satterfield, Gloria’s son, said.

Ginger Hadwin, Gloria’s sister, said the family is ready to put this chapter behind them, and get back to their quiet Lowcountry lives.

She questioned whether the man standing before her had a soul.

“You are not the person that I thought I knew,” Hadwin said. “And you come from a good family, but you wasted your life, and I hate you did your family the way you did because you do come from a good family. And I’m sorry you threw your life away.”

Eric Bland, who represents the Satterfield family, said Murdaugh was a “unicorn” who deserved a spot on the “Mt. Rushmore” of criminals, having tarnished the legal profession and the state.

His law partner Ronnie Richter said their clients are “the best of us,” and they are not victims.

They were prey hunted by their predator, he argued.

Another victim, Jordan Jinks, tearfully recalled the betrayal of someone he considered a good friend.

He said had Murdaugh merely asked him for money instead of stealing it, he would have given it to him.

“I’m not crying because of what he stole from me,” Jinks said. “I’m crying for what he did to everybody in the suit. These kids, these people dying. I didn’t want to come up here and bash you, but I have to ask you, what kind of animal are you?”

Murdaugh addressed his victims for over an hour, issuing apology after apology, saying how much he cared about them, and pleading with them to take him at his word.

“I hope that seeing me punished will help each of you heal, and begin to be able to put this behind you because I can see it,” he said. “I mean I can see, I can feel. I know what you’ve been through. I don’t know it, but I sense it. And I am so sorry.”

He also took the opportunity to apologize to his family for “destroying” their reputation, and urged anyone struggling with an addiction to get help.

“I’m not sure how I let myself get to where I did,” he said.

Murdaugh also maintained his innocence in the murders of his wife and son.

His defense team is appealing that conviction, and has filed a motion for a new trial based on allegations that the Becky Hill, the clerk of court, tampered with the jury.

She has denied those allegations.

His attorneys suggested that they believe their client will be granted a new trial, and could be released from prison after completing the sentence for the financial crimes.

Justin Bamberg, an attorney for some of Murdaugh’s victims, compared him to a dragon.

Waters, furthering the analogy, said the Attorney General’s Office can now turn its attention to other dragons that need slaying.

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