The sentencing is taking place in front of U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel at federal court in Charleston.
Murdaugh’s sentencing follows a plea agreement signed last September with prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for South Carolina. Murdaugh, a fourth generation descendant of a powerful legal and political dynasty in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, pleaded guilty to 22 charges, among them wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.
Federal prosecutors allege that Murdaugh abused his position of power to use the courts and South Carolina’s banking system to steal almost $11 million from more than 20 victims since 2005. Murdaugh is serving two consecutive life sentences after being found guilty of murdering his wife, Maggie, and son Paul. Last November, he was also sentenced to 27 years in prison after pleading guilty to state financial crime charges.
9:48 A.M. — Alex Murdaugh arrives in federal court
Alex Murdaugh was led into the courtroom surrounded by U.S. Marshals, shackled and wearing an orange South Carolina Department of Corrections jumpsuit
Sentencings are often an emotional affair, with testimony from victims and attorneys about the impact of the crimes. During Murdaugh’s last sentencing on state financial crimes, many, some of whom considered Murdaugh a close friend, described the pain of discovering that this trusted attorney and friend from a prominent family had callously stolen from them.
But today’s sentencing has an added layer of drama, as federal prosecutors last week attempted to back out of the plea deal, which called for Murdaugh’s federal sentence to be served concurrently with the state financial sentence.
In filings, they claimed Murdaugh was not truthful during a polygraph exam when asked about the location of $6 million in missing money. In response, Murdaugh’s attorneys — Jim Griffin, Dick Harpootlian, Phil Barber and Maggie Fox — have filed motions asking for summaries of the interviews to be released and for prosecutors to turn over data from the polygraph exams.