Alex Murdaugh trial judge speaks for the first time after sentencing

The judge who presided over the Alex Murdaugh double murder trial has spoken publicly about the case for the first time, saying he had ‘no doubt’ that Murdaugh loved his family despite committing “an unforgivable and unimaginable crime”.

“In my mind, there’s no doubt he loved his family. I don’t believe he hated his wife, and certainly I don’t believe he didn’t love his son, but he did commit a unforgivable, unimaginable crime, and there is no way he can sleep peacefully given these facts,” Judge Clifton Newman told a panel at the Cleveland State University College of Law on Tuesday.

Murdaugh, 54, was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month for the murders of his wife, Maggie, 52, and son, Paul, 22. The six-week trial in South Carolina captured national attention and was the subject of numerous podcasts and television documentaries. due to the legal power of the Murdaugh family in the area.

Judge Clifton Newman presides over the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, South Carolina on January 26, 2023.

Grace Beahm Alford/The Post and Courier via AP, Pool

“All the judges, all the judges in the state, knew him or knew him,” Newman said of Murdaugh, who was a fourth-generation attorney before his disbarment. “It didn’t affect me in terms of the sentencing that I gave.”

Newman, who was lightly billed at his former law school as “the best-known judge in the world right now,” said he was surprised at the attention the trial received.

“I have received letters from all over the world about this case. It’s really, really amazing,” he said.

Although Newman said he was still unable to speak freely about the case, and in particular his opinion on it, he pointed to certain interviews several jurors gave in the days that followed.

Some jurors said they hadn’t seen any real tears from Murdaugh, who dramatically wept on the stand as he pleaded innocence, and that his testimony showed “he couldn’t be trusted with anything.” he said or did,” Newman said.

“Genuine remorse usually has an impact,” the judge said later when asked about the defendants speaking in their own defense.

Alex Murdaugh appears for his sentencing hearing on March 3. The former lawyer was sentenced to life in prison after his double conviction for murder.

Murdaugh’s lawyers had advised him not to testify, but Murdaugh felt he should try to explain some issues that arose during the trial, Newman said.

A major bombshell that emerged during Murdaugh’s testimony was his admission on the stand that he lied to investigators about his whereabouts when his wife and son were shot in 2021. Murdaugh had previously claimed that he was never at the kennel where the two were killed, but later said he lied about it because he was drugged and paranoid.

Newman said one thing about the trial that has continued to resonate with him is how unpredictable people are.

“It’s hard to predict what a human being might do, especially when involved with drugs. It’s just a reality that we all have to face,” he said.

As for the conclusion of the case, Newman, who has presided over hundreds of trials, said he was not surprised that the jury reached a verdict in just three hours, saying “it’s about almost normal, as far as I’m concerned”.

The 12 jurors — whittled down from an initial pool of 750 potential jurors in just three days — had been presented with more than 800 pieces of evidence and more than 75 witnesses, Newman said. After weeks of trial, the judge said he believed they would neither want nor need to review all the evidence again.

What surprised Newman, he said, was how quickly Murdaugh was sentenced, with defense and prosecution lawyers saying they would be ready to go the day after his sentencing. The lawyers also did not ask to make any statements or present anything before Newman announced his sentence.

All of the lawyers in the case lived elsewhere and had to travel to the trial, so “I think they were all ready to finish the case,” he said.

With the attorneys unwilling to make statements, Newman said he asked Murdaugh if he had anything to say.

“He’s standing in front of me to be sentenced, having been convicted of a double murder, and basically he told me he had nothing to say either, other than, ‘That wasn’t me,’” Newman said.

Murdaugh received two consecutive life sentences for the murders. His lawyers filed a notice of appeal.

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