Alex Murdaugh from Netflix's "Murdaugh Murders" sentenced to life for killing wife, son

Richard “Alex” Murdaugh, a solicitor from the controversial Murdaugh law family of South Carolina, will serve two life sentences with no possibility of parole for the high-profile killing of his wife and son.

A jury found Alex guilty of both murders, and he was also charged with two counts of possessing a weapon during a violent crime. Judge Clifton Newman presided over the case and announced the double-term sentence in the courtroom on March 3 at around 10 am.

He said the evidence of guilt was “overwhelming,” shutting down any motions for a mistrial from the defending party.

“In the murder of your wife Maggie Murdaugh, I sentence you for a term for the rest of your natural life. For the murder of Paul Murdaugh, who you probably loved so much, I sentence you to prison for murdering him, for the rest of your natural life.” — Judge Newman

Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, were found dead at their hunting lodge on June 7, 2021. The scene was grisly and bloody. Both members of the family had been shot several times.

Alex was considered a person of interest by South Carolina law enforcement. He had an alibi — he was with his ill, elderly parents at the time of the killings. An investigation ensued, and it has since been deemed a shoddy one by those following the case.

“I’m innocent. I would never hurt my wife, Maggie, and I would never hurt my son Paw Paw (Paul),” he said in the courtroom on Friday.

The Murdaughs’ mucky background

Earlier this year, Netflix released a three-part series titled Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal on the family’s sketchy history, which has been marred by several murder investigations for nearly a decade.

In late February, Alex also admitted to his financial crimes, where he stole millions of dollars from his own clients. He has also been involved in insurance fraud and drug-use investigations and has a mounting list of allegations against himself.

“There are a lot of conversations I had where I misled my clients, and I stole their money,” he said, according to the Post and Courier, and he blamed the crimes on his opioid addiction.

In early 2019, Paul was hit with three counts of felony in the death of his friend Mallory Beach, which occurred on the family’s boat while Paul was inebriated. The first episode of Murdaugh Murders features this case heavily.

His brother Randolph aka Buster was also implicated in the bludgeoning death of teenager Stephen Smith in 2015 after rumours about the two having an intimate relationship began making rounds.

In the middle of these deaths, the Murdaugh family’s housekeeper Gloria Satterfield also suspiciously died just weeks after falling down the stairs and hitting her head. Though the 2016 death was blamed on “natural causes,” investigators were not satisfied. According to an ABC News report from 2021, a coroner said Satterfield’s death was “improperly described as ‘natural.'”

Law enforcement said in June last year that Satterfield’s body will be exhumed for further investigation, but that hasn’t happened yet.

In 2021, a suicidal Alex attempted to stage an attack on himself by having a former client shoot him in the head next to his vehicle on a countryside road. He survived with superficial wounds and admitted to premeditating the attack in order to leave his son, Buster, with millions in life insurance money.

For more details on the Murdaugh family’s many criminal cases, watch Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal on Netflix.