Alex Murdaugh trial: How long are two life sentences?
The disgraced former lawyer, Alex Murdaugh, was found guilty of double murder and given two consecutive life sentences, but how long must he stay in jail?
The jury in the Alex Murdaugh murder trial took just three hours to come to the verdict of guilty, deeming him the person behind the killing of his wife and son. Less than 24 hours after that decision, Judge Clifton Newman sentenced the disgraced South Carolina lawyer from a prominent legal dynasty in the state to two consecutive life sentences.
While his crimes met the legal standard for the death penalty, the prosecution did not seek the ultimate punishment. Instead, the former lawyer will spend the rest of his natural life in jail with no chance for parole. “”A man like this man should never be allowed to be among free, law-abiding citizens again,” prosecutor Creighton Waters said before asking the court to give the convicted defendant the maximum punishment, of two consecutive life sentences.
Even if he had received the minimum thirty-year sentence for each count, he would still most likely live out the rest of his life in prison. According to South Carolina law, in both instances the state does not allow for early release or parole before the mandatory portion of imprisonment is served. Two consecutive minimum sentences would have meant at least sixty years behind bars for Murdaugh.
No one wanted to give a victim impact statement
Judge Newman began the court proceedings Friday morning saying that he would hand down his sentencing decision after hearing victim impact statements. However, Waters informed the judge that the state did not have anyone who wanted to deliver a victim statement, including his surviving son Buster.
Not that it would have matter in the opinion of Jim Griffin, one of the attorneys defending Murdaugh. “We could have had Mother Teresa up there speaking on behalf of Alex at sentencing. I mean, he was getting a double life sentence. That was expected,” Griffin told reporters.
Griffin and his other attorney Dick Harpootlian plan to appeal the verdict, vowing to take it all the way to the US Supreme Court if necessary. “We believe he has a very strong appeal, and we plan to continue fighting because I for one and I think Dick for another and a lot of people who know him much better than we do believe in his innocence,” Griffin told CBS News correspondent Nikki Battiste. He feels that the motive presented by the prosecution in court was a complete fabrication.