Disgraced former lawyer Alex Murdaugh, who’s currently serving life sentences without parole for killing his wife and younger son, has been sentenced to an additional 27 years in prison.
The sentencing came down on Tuesday, after Murdaugh pleaded guilty to nearly two dozen state financial crimes that included money laundering, breach of trust, conspiracy, forgery and tax evasion.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters of the South Carolina attorney general’s office told CNN the sentence would be independent of the two sentences of life without parole Murdaugh is already serving and that he must serve at least 85% of that time, per the plea deal.
Prior to the sentencing on Tuesday, Murdaugh faced many former clients and their representatives in court as they accused him of exploiting them in an effort to steal money.
“You lied, you cheated, you stole, you betrayed me and my family and everybody else. And you did it at the cost of my mom’s death,” said Tony Satterfield, son of Gloria Satterfield, in court.
Gloria Satterfield had been the Murdaugh family’s longtime housekeeper before dying from a fall at the family’s home. After her death, Murdaugh worked with the Satterfield family to sue himself and seek an insurance settlement for Satterfield’s family, according to affidavits released by state authorities. The family never saw any of that money, which Murdaugh used to pay off various credit cards and loans.
In December 2021, Murdaugh reached an eye-watering $4.3 million settlement with Satterfield’s family.
Of the sentencing, attorney Eric “EB” Bland, who represents many of Murdaugh’s victims alongside his partner Ronnie Richter, said he was “very satisfied that this is a very, very strong sentence that has been agreed to by the parties”.
“It sends a clarion bell signal to not only attorneys, but to anybody who wants to victimize the vulnerable,” he continued, according to CNN.
For years, Murdaugh looked his anguished clients in the eyes and promised to help them with their medical bills, their suffering or simply to survive. Then he stole most, if not all, of what he won for many of them.
On Tuesday, those folks looked right back at Murdaugh, in a prison jumpsuit, and told him whatever they wanted.
The courtroom drama marked yet another step in the fall of a powerful and respected attorney whose family name dominated the legal scene in Hampton county for generations, and whose alleged crimes have been a perennial favorite of podcasts, books and online discussions.
Murdaugh is already serving a life term without parole after a jury found him guilty of killing his wife, Maggie, with a rifle, and younger son, Paul, with a shotgun in June 2021.
But Murdaugh adamantly denies killing them. His lawyers are seeking a new trial, citing allegations that the court clerk tampered with the jury. A different judge will decide whether to grant Murdaugh a hearing in which jurors, the clerk and maybe Judge Clifton Newman would be questioned under oath.
The financial crimes are a different story.
“I agree that I wrongly took all of that money, your honor, and did all of those crimes,” Murdaugh told Newman earlier this month as the parameters of the plea deal were worked out.
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Murdaugh had “an insatiable need for money”, said prosecutor Creighton Waters of the state attorney general’s office.
Newman, who presided over the murder trial and sentencing, said earlier this month that he was inclined to agree to the plea deal for the financial crimes.
The 27-year sentence is an insurance policy for prosecutors in case his murder conviction is overturned on appeal. Under South Carolina law, Murdaugh will have to serve almost 23 years of the sentence, even if he is a model prisoner. He would be 76 before he could be released.
Prosecutors initially charged Murdaugh with 101 financial crimes, including breach of trust, money laundering and tax evasion, involving 18 victims.
Under the plea deal, the number was reduced to 22 crimes against each of his clients.
His victims include the mother of Hakeem Pinckney, a deaf man who became quadriplegic after a 2009 car crash. Murdaugh acknowledged taking most of a $309,000 settlement and then an additional $89,000 payment after Pinckney died in a nursing home.
State trooper Tommy Moore went to Murdaugh after his patrol car was hit by a driver who lost control in the snow, leaving him with a neck injury. Murdaugh admitted he stole $100,000 of the $125,000 settlement.
Even Murdaugh’s brother, who worked in the family law firm, said Murdaugh took a $121,000 check meant for the brother and cashed it, prosecutors said.
Tuesday’s hearing is not the end of Murdaugh’s legal problems. He also is awaiting sentencing on federal financial crime charges, and still faces insurance fraud and other local charges after asking a friend to kill him in September 2021 so his surviving son could get $10m in life insurance.
The shot only grazed Murdaugh’s head.
