Sentence of the Court
53 linesFRIDAY, MARCH 3, 2023
(Court resumed at 9:42 a.m.)
JUDGE NEWMAN: Good morning. Are the parties ready to proceed?
MR. WATERS: The State is ready, Your Honor.
MR. HARPOOTLIAN: Defense is ready, Your Honor.
JUDGE NEWMAN: And for the State. Mr. Waters?
MR. WATERS: Thank you, Your Honor. We're obviously here in the sentencing for The State v. Richard Alexander Murdaugh. Your Honor, I have prepared the sentencing sheets, signed up. If I can hand those up to the clerk? Your Honor, very quickly, the defendant has no prior record and the State has no victim impact people who want to speak at this time, but I will address the Court briefly. And I don't need, Your Honor, to repeat the evidence that Your Honor just heard for the past six weeks, but it is overwhelming and it shows this man to be a cunning manipulator. A man who placed himself above all others, including his family. A man who violated the trust of so many, including his friends, his family, his partners, his profession, but most of all Maggie and Paul. This is a very complicated situation, and I want to offer my condolences to the family that has suffered here.
We have tried very hard to be respectful and sensitive regardless of what position any person took because this family has suffered, and they've had to suffer in the public eye, and I want to offer my condolences to this family. I want to offer it for Maggie and Paul, and Mr. Randolph, too, who I had the pleasure of working with on one occasion. But the reality remains is that despite all of this attention, this case is about Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh, and I'm so thankful that the jurors gave them a voice. You've heard about Paul. Obviously there was the boat case, but you also heard him described as a fun-loving young man, a person who loved life, a person who would do anything for his friends, for anyone, and he's cut down as he was just starting to live his life. You heard about Maggie. You heard how sweet she was.
You heard that she was a girl's girl who adapted to the outdoorsman life of her sons, how much she loved her sister, and her brother-in-law, and their children, and she was cut down in the prime of her life. Both of them, like everyone else, was unaware of who he really was. No one who thought they knew this man, no one who thought they were close to this man knew who he really was, and Your Honor, that's chilling. And I've looked in his eyes. He liked to stare me down as he would walk by me during this trial, and I could see the real Alex Murdaugh when he looked at me. The depravity, the callousness, the selfishness of these crimes are stunning, the lack of remorse, and the effortless way in which he lies, 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 again, and I would submit to you that the only just sentence here to give justice for Maggie and Paul is the maximum, and that would be two consecutive life sentences. Thank you, Your Honor.
JUDGE NEWMAN: You indicated that no one, no victim would like to speak at this time. Would any victim like to speak at any time during these proceedings?
MR. WATERS: Your Honor, one of the things we did and we did early on -- obviously, as I just said, it's a very complicated situation, but we made the decision early on -- and we've had our victim advocate here who's been doing a wonderful job, regardless of the view points of any individual family member, to provide aid and service to them, and we made that decision. I'm informed by our victim advocate that none of them wish to speak. The defense can certainly address that, but that's what I am informed, but they certainly were offered the opportunity, as is required. And I want to commend our victim advocate on the excellent job she did in handling this complex situation. We wanted to be sensitive, too, because again, I am not -- none of us are not mindful of the fact of the suffering of this family.
JUDGE NEWMAN: I know SLED Chief Mark Keel is here. Would you like to address the Court in any matters, Chief?
MARK KEEL: No, sir. I just want to say again I'm very proud of our agents and the work they've done. I am proud of the partnership that we've had with the Attorney General's Office that we've had for many years. And, again, we're here to see that justice is served and we believe that it has been. Thank you.
JUDGE NEWMAN: Thank you. For the defense?
MR. HARPOOTLIAN: Your Honor, Mr. Griffin and I would have no comments. The defendant would like to address the Court, though.
JUDGE NEWMAN: All right. Mr. Murdaugh?
ALEX MURDAUGH: Good morning, Your Honor.
JUDGE NEWMAN: Good morning.
ALEX MURDAUGH: I am innocent. I would never hurt my wife, Maggie, and I would never hurt my son, Paul-Paul.
MR. HARPOOTLIAN: Thank you, Your Honor.
ALEX MURDAUGH: Thank you.
JUDGE NEWMAN: Anything further?
MR. WATERS: I don't think further comment is necessary, Your Honor. Thank you.
JUDGE NEWMAN: All right. Mr. Murdaugh, if you would come before the Court for sentencing. This has been perhaps one of the most troubling cases not just for me as a judge, for the State, the defense team, but for all of the citizens in this community, all the citizens in this state, and as we've seen, based on the media coverage, throughout the nation. You have a wife who has been killed, murdered. A son savagely murdered. A lawyer, a person from a respected family who has controlled justice in this community for over a century, a person whose grandfather's portrait hangs at the back of the courthouse that I had to have ordered removed in order to ensure that a fair trial was had by both the State and the defense. And I've sat through the trial, not only having sat through the trial but also as the presiding judge of the State Grand Jury, and sat through and participated in the issuance of search warrants of various sorts, bond hearings, and I've had to consider many things. And we have this case, and I'm also assigned to preside over -- There's ninety-nine others?
MR. WATERS: Yes, sir, Your Honor.
JUDGE NEWMAN: The ninety-nine other cases. And though testimony has come up regarding many of those other cases, I will not make any comment with regard to any other pending matter as I have been assigned those cases as well. It's also particularly troubling, Mr. Murdaugh, because as a member of the legal community, and a well known member of the legal community, you've practiced law before me and we've seen each other at various occasions throughout the years. And it was especially heartbreaking for me to see you, to go in the media from being a grieving father who lost a wife and a son to being the person indicted and convicted of killing them. And you've engaged in such duplicitous conduct here in the courtroom, here on the witness stand, and as was established by the testimony throughout the time leading from the time of the indictment and prior to the indictment throughout the trial to this moment in time.
Certainly you have no obligation to say anything other than saying not guilty, and obviously, as appeals are probably expected or absolutely expected, I would not expect a confession of any kind. In fact, as I presided over murder cases over the past twenty-two years, I have yet to find a defendant who could go there, who could go back to that moment in time when they decided to pull the trigger or to otherwise murder someone. I have not been able to get anyone, any defendant, even those who have confessed to being guilty, to go back and explain to me what happened at that moment in time when they opted to pull the trigger and they opted to commit the most heinous crime known to man. And this case qualifies under our Death Penalty Statute based on the statutory aggravating circumstances of two or more people being murdered by the defendant, by one act, or pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct. I don't question at all the decision of the State not to pursue the death penalty, but as I sit here in this courtroom and look around the many portraits of judges and other court officials and reflect on the fact that over the past century, your family, including you, have been prosecuting people here in this courtroom, and many have received the death penalty, probably for lesser conduct. Remind me of the expression you gave on the witness stand. Was it a tangled web --
MR. GRIFFIN: A tangled web we weave.
JUDGE NEWMAN: Oh what a tangled web we weave. What did you mean by that?
ALEX MURDAUGH: I meant when I lied, I continued to lie.
JUDGE NEWMAN: Okay, and the question is when will it end? When will it end? And it has ended already for the jury because they've concluded that you continued to lie and lie throughout your testimony. And perhaps with all of the people here, they for the most part all believe, or 80 or 90 percent -- 99 percent believe that you continued to lie now with your statement of denial to the Court. Perhaps you believe that it does not matter, that there is nothing that could mitigate a sentence, given the crimes that were committed. You know, a notice of alibi was filed in this case by counsel in November and we conducted a hearing, a pretrial hearing in which you claimed to have been some place else at the time the crime was committed. And then after all of the witnesses placed you at the scene of the crime, at the last minute, the last minutes or days you switched courses and admitted to being there. And then that necessitated more lies, and you continued to lie. I said where will it end. It's already ended for many who have heard you and conclude that it will never end, but within your own soul, you have to deal with that. And I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the nighttime when you're attempting to go to sleep. I'm sure they come and visit you. I'm sure.
ALEX MURDAUGH: All day and every night.
JUDGE NEWMAN: I'm sure. And they will continue to do so and reflect on the last time they looked you in the eyes, and you looked the jury in the eyes. I don't know how a person who's always been such a gregarious, friendly person could cause life to be tangled in such a weaved web, such a situation that yours has spun into. And it's so unfortunate because you had such a lovely family of such friendly people, including you, and to go from that to this. You know, your license to practice law has been stripped away from you, turned from lawyer to witness. And now you have an opportunity to make your final appeal as an ex-lawyer and it's almost -- it's really surprising that you're waiving this right at this time. And if you opt to do so, that's on you. You're not compelled to say anything, but you have the opportunity to do so.
ALEX MURDAUGH: Judge, I tell you again, I will state to this Court that I'm innocent. I would never under any circumstances hurt my wife, Maggie, and I would never under any circumstances hurt my son, Paul-Paul.
JUDGE NEWMAN: And it might not have been you. It might have been the monster that you become when you take 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 opioid pills. Maybe you become another person. I've seen that before. The person standing before me is not the person who committed the crime, though it is the same individual. We'll leave that at that. Before announcing sentence on these cases, with regard to all of the other pending cases, are any of them here in Colleton or -- I'm sure some of them are.
MR. WATERS: Yes, sir.
JUDGE NEWMAN: Half of them or --
MR. WATERS: I don't have that in front of me, but there are a substantial number of charges here. There are some in Hampton, Orangeburg, Beaufort, Allendale. There may be others that I can't think of right now.
JUDGE NEWMAN: We might have worn out our welcome here in Colleton.
MR. WATERS: Colleton has been great, Your Honor.
JUDGE NEWMAN: They have been. And I will take this opportunity to thank Sheriff Hill and all of the court officials, and really everyone I have met and dealt with while here in Colleton County has just been great. But without any delay, we're going to schedule some of the other matters.
MR. WATERS: Yes, sir, Your Honor.
JUDGE NEWMAN: I know Mr. Harpootlian's schedule is complicated. You sacrificed quite a bit to be able to be here defending Mr. Murdaugh, as well as the Attorney General's Office with all of the other many, many things and obligations you have. To be able to have the Attorney General here, Alan Wilson, for a period of time that he's devoted to being here along with everyone else, it's been quite a sacrifice, but there are other victims whose cases deserve to be heard. And this case has jumped some of those other cases, perhaps jumped it because of the -- this case resulting in an assault on the integrity of the judicial system in our state and law enforcement in our state. Even during this trial, the law enforcement has been maligned for the past five or six weeks by one who had access to the wheels of justice to be able to deflect the investigation. And as the evidence has pointed out in this case, the looming storm that Mr.
Waters talked about, I can just imagine on that day, June 7th, when a lawyer is confronted and confesses to having stolen over a half a million dollars from a client, and he has a tiger like Mark Tinsley on his tail pursuing discovery in the case involving the death of Mallory Beach, and having a father for the most part on his death bed, I can imagine -- I really can't imagine. I know there had to have been quite a bit going through your mind on that day. But amazingly, to have you come and testify that it was just another ordinary day, that my wife and son and I were out just enjoying life, not credible. Not believable. You can convince yourself about it, but obviously you have the inability to convince anyone else about that. So, if you made any such arguments as a lawyer, you would lose every case like that, cases you will have -- never have the opportunity to argue anymore except perhaps your own as you sit in the Department of Corrections. Anything further?
MR. HARPOOTLIAN: No, sir.
SENTENCE OF THE COURT
JUDGE NEWMAN: All right, Mr. Murdaugh, I sentence you to the State Department of Corrections on each of the murder indictments. In the murder of your wife, Maggie Murdaugh, I sentence you for a term of the rest of your natural life. For the murder of Paul Murdaugh, whom you probably loved so much, I sentence you to prison for murdering him for the rest of your natural life. Those sentences will run consecutively. Under the statute involving possession of a weapon during a violent crime, there is no sentence where a life sentence is imposed on the other indictments. That is the sentence of the Court, and you are remanded to the State Department of Corrections, and officers may carry forth on the --
MR. HARPOOTLIAN: Your Honor --
JUDGE NEWMAN: Yes, sir.
MR. HARPOOTLIAN: May we approach?
JUDGE NEWMAN: Yes.
(A bench conference was held.)
JUDGE NEWMAN: Before we adjourn, an order was entered concerning maintaining the jurors' identity being anonymous. That order was issued and for the most part it has been complied with except for the jury leaving the courtroom yesterday -- not the jury, but the defendant leaving the courtroom while the jury was still seated. Protecting the identity of the jurors is certainly extremely important during the course of a trial to ensure that no one makes contact with the jury or attempts to influence the jury. Jurors have a right to continue that privacy beyond their jury service, but they're not obligated to do so. And it would not surprise me if those -- if jurors choose to come forward and to speak, and they're encouraged to do so if that is their desire. I have no problem whatsoever with the jurors unmasking themselves and speaking freely with the media because they have undergone a life-changing experience as it relates to many of them. But -- and some of them are here now, and I want them to know that should anyone attempt to harass them or annoy them, please let me know and I will address the issue. Secondly, there's a complaint now regarding the posting of autopsy photographs or photos that came from within the courtroom. Based on the direction of the photographs, that does not come from the audience. It came somehow from within the well of the Court. The parties have requested an investigation of that. I have my hands full doing my job. I don't attempt to conduct any investigations beyond the conducting of a trial, but to the extent that law enforcement decides to review that, that will be the responsibility of law enforcement.
MR. WATERS: We will, Your Honor.
JUDGE NEWMAN: And, of course, one of the reasons we sought to seal graphic photos is because the parties have a right to privacy and a right to those matters not being publicly disclosed. If anyone has heard about the recent settlement that Kobe Bryant -- another sports analogy -- Kobe Bryant's wife just made with Los Angeles County and others out there over certain disclosures of information involving the death of Kobe Bryant, liability can be substantial, and it's a risk for the most part of not -- that's not worth taking, so we'll let everyone judge themselves accordingly in that regard. Aside from all of that, our business is done here in Colleton County, and I get to use my gavel, one of the few times during this trial, and order that court be adjourned, sine die.
(End of trial proceedings.)
--- END OF TRANSCRIPT OF RECORD ---