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Alex Murdaugh to be Sentenced Today; Sentencing of Alex Murdaugh. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 03, 2023 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[09:31:43]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Any moment now a judge will sentence Alex Murdaugh, now a convicted murderer, after a jury found him guilty last night of killing his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul. They deliberated for less than three hours. He is now facing a sentence, including the possibility of life in prison without parole.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: CNN national correspondent Dianne Gallagher has been covering this from the very beginning. She's outside the courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina. And I know, Dianne, you were just able to speak with the South

Carolina attorney general as you're out there seeing people arrive. What did the AG tell you?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erica, Jim, I also just saw Defense Attorney Jim Griffin arrive as well. So, proceedings are supposed to be getting underway any moment now. We do know the attorneys are here. So, that's usually a good sign that things are going in the right direction for them to begin.

I spoke with Attorney General Alan Wilson, who was not the lead prosecutor on this case, even though it was his office. That was Creighton Waters. But Attorney General Alan Wilson did do some cross- examination during this, and he said that he was happy to allow Creighton Waters to do this. He had been diligent about this case for more than a year. He described to me sort of staying at the same hotel in Walterboro that all of us are staying at right now, this Hampton Inn, calling it almost like a dorm room life where they were all staying up to midnight, going over the case, revising how they were going to do things.

And he said that - you know, he acknowledged, as they have the entire time, the defense trying to create this idea that there would be too much reasonable doubt because much of the case was built on circumstantial evidence. But Attorney General Wilson says that even though there were circumstantial evidence, Alex Murdaugh choosing to get on the stand, coupled with that video found on Paul's phone with Alex's voice putting him at the kennels minutes before the state says Paul and Maggie were murdered, is what he believes got them this guilty verdict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALAN WILSON, SOUTH CAROLINA ATTORNEY GENERAL: This was a circumstantial evidence case, but we -- what people have to understand, circumstantial evidence is just as powerful as direct evidence.

You know, as you've heard, I think the kennel video hung him. And I think when he took the stand and they heard his voice and they heard him try to manipulate them -- remember, Alex Murdaugh is someone who is a master manipulator and liar and he had spent his career being very theatrical in front of juries, giving closing arguments and getting great verdicts for his clients. This was his closing - this is his closing argument in his own murder trial. And I think the jury saw what he was -- how he was trying to manipulate them, saw how he was lying, and they read through it, and they heard the kennel video and they made the right decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: So, let's talk about how this is going to happen here this morning. Judge Clifton Newman will bring them into the courtroom. There is no jury anymore. Their job is done. The judge released them. Although the jurors, he told them, they could come back and watch this if they wanted to, to sort of see this to completion as members of the gallery.

We're going to hear from the attorneys themselves. We are also going to hear potentially those victim impact statements. And, you know, Jim, Erica, this is - this is a verdict, this is a guilty verdict, a conviction of a man for killing his wife and his son. So, we have this unfortunate overlap of those people who may be with the defendant and those who are also the victims in this case.

Buster Murdaugh, for example, lost his mother and his brother and now his father potentially could go to jail for the rest -- prison for the rest of his life.

[09:35:07]

And so there are many people we could potentially hear from, Marian Proctor, the sister of Maggie Murdaugh, who testified for the state about her feelings and some strangeness she felt. She said that Alex Murdaugh asked Maggie to go to Moselle that day that she was murdered. That she hadn't planned to go there. Of course, Alex Murdaugh testified differently on the stand. But she is also a potential that we could maybe hear from. And maybe even Maggie Murdaugh's parents. We haven't heard from them yet. They were on a witness list. They were never called. But we're not sure, again, who we are going to hear from.

But then Alex Murdaugh, he will be in a jumpsuit, potentially shackled, as he is in the custody right now. He'll then go through the custody of the Department of Corrections after conviction.

SCIUTTO: Dianne Gallagher, outside the courthouse, thanks so much.

Let's bring back Joey Jackson and Sarah Ford as we await the judge to enter the courtroom.

Sarah, I do want to go to you because there's a broader issue here, the influence that the Murdaugh family had in these counties for more than 100 years. Former U.S. attorney for South Carolina, Bill Nettles, he said last night that with this case you have an example perhaps of the end of a situation where there were, in his words, no checks or balances on unbridled power. He described it as taking the foot of justice off the throat of those counties there.

Can you explain that broader context? I mean did the Murdaugh family highly involved in this county for so many years with great influence on how the law was applied and here him facing justice.

SARAH FORD, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Well, I think it's the ultimate fall that we could possibly imagine. You know, from a family that were elected prosecutors for decades, a century, and then their son, their grandson, potentially being sentenced to life in prison today. It's tremendous.

You know, it also goes to show how power and privilege, they're no longer unchecked in Colleton County and in South Carolina. And so often we see how folks with power and privilege are able to avoid justice, but I'm very pleased to see the result of this jury, how they listened diligently to all of the evidence and how they weren't influenced by the prestige and the power that the Murdaugh family held over Colleton county and the low county of South Carolina anymore.

HILL: Yes. So - and so - that is such an interesting part of this story and I think part of what drew so many people around the country to it as well as they tried to wrap their heads around that.

Sarah, Joey, stay with us.

We are, of course, waiting on this sentencing. So, stick with us for that. We're going to bring it to you as soon as it does begin.

We're going to fit in a quick break here. We'll see you on the other side.

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[09:42:16]

SCIUTTO: Live pictures from the courtroom. They have just reconvened. Judge Clifton Newman speaking now as he prepares to sentence Alex Murdaugh, pictured there, live following his conviction last night on double murder.

Let's listen in.

CREIGHTON WATERS, PROSECUTOR: 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 - 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 this attention this case is about Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh. And I'm so thankful that the jurors gave them a voice.

You 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 and 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.

[09:45:06]

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 CLIFTON NEWMAN, SOUTH CAROLINA CIRCUIT COURT: You indicate that no one -- no victim would like to speak at this time --

HILL: So, you've just been listening there to prosecutor Creighton Waters.

We are going to take a quick break here. Stay with us as we continue with our coverage of the sentencing of Alex Murdaugh. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Back live to the courtroom. We're hearing now from Alex Murdaugh, speaking before a judge delivers his sentence.

Let's listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, your honor.

ALEX MURDAUGH, CONVICTED OF MURDERING WIFE AND SON: Thank you.

NEWMAN: Anything further?

WATERS (ph): I don't think further comment is necessary, your honor. Thank you.

NEWMAN: All right, Mr. Murdaugh, if you'll come before (ph) the court for sentencing.

This has been perhaps one of the most troubling cases, not just for me as a judge, for the state, and for the defense team, but for all of the citizens and this community, all of the citizens in this state. And as we have seen, based on the media coverage, they're -- throughout the nation.

You have a wife who's 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 hang 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 have sat through the trial. Not only having sat through the trial, but also as the presiding judge of the state grand jury sat through and participated in the issuance of the search warrants of various sorts, bond hearings and have had to consider many things.

[09:50:17]

And we had this case. And I'm also assigned to preside over 99 others at least, 99 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 have 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 go on -- 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 established by the testimony, throughout the time leading from the time of the indictment and prior to the indictment, throughout the trail, 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 have presided over murder cases over the past 22 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 the 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, when they opted to commit the most heinous crime known to man.

In this case, it qualifies under our death penalty statue, 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.

[09:55:09]

Remind me of the expression you gave on the witness stand. Was it tangled -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tangled web we weave.

NEWMAN: Yes. Oh, what tangled web we weave. What did you mean by that?

ALEX MURDAUGH: Meant when I lied, I continued to lie.

NEWMAN: And the question is, when will it end? When will it end? And it's ended already for the jury because they've concluded that you concluded to lie and lie throughout your testimony. And perhaps with all the throng of people here, they, for the most part, all believe, or 80 percent, 90 percent, 99 percent believe that you continue to lie now when you -- your statement of denial to the court.

Perhaps you believe that it does not matter that there's nothing that can mitigate a sentence given the crime -- crimes that were committed.

You know, a notice of alibi was filed in this case by council in November. And we conducted a hearing, a pretrial hearing, in which you claimed to have been someplace else at the time the crime was committed. Then, after all of the witnesses placed you at the scene of the crime, at the last minutes, or last minutes or days you switched courses and admitted to being there. And then that necessitated more lies and continued to lie.

And - and I said where will it end. It's already ended for many who have heard you and concluded 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.

MURDAUGH: All day and every night.

NEWMAN: Yes, I'm sure. And they will continue to do so. And reflect on the last time they looked you in the eyes, as you looked the jury in the eyes. I don't know a person who's always been such a gregarious, friendly person and cause your life to be tangled in such a weaved web, such a situation that you - yours have 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. You turned from lawyer to witness. And now have an opportunity to make your final appeal as an ex-lawyer. And it's almost - it's really surprising that you are waiving this right at this time. And if you opt to do so, it's on you. I - you're not compelled to say anything. But you have the opportunity to do so.

MURDAUGH: But I tell you again, I respect this court. But I'm innocent. I would never, under any circumstances, hurt my wife Maggie. And I would never, under any circumstances, hurt my son Paw-paw (ph).

[10:00:02]

NEWMAN: Well, and it might not have been you.