The judge who presided over Alex Murdaugh‘s murder trial ‘felt sorry’ for the disgraced lawyer who killed his wife and son, and says he’ll never ‘sleep peacefully’ after knowing what he did.
Judge Clifton Newman sentenced Murdaugh, 54, to two consecutive life sentences in March for killing his wife Maggie, 52, and younger son Paul, 22, at the family’s sprawling hunting estate on the night of June 7, 2021.
Newman spoke to ‘TODAY’ on Wednesday and said he is ‘sure’ Murdaugh would not do the crime again if given the opportunity.
‘I felt sorry for him,’ said Newman, who plans to retire this fall. ‘I felt that he was just in a position where he could not, where if there’s a hole that he could go into, he would dive in that hole and keep going to the lowest depths.’
Newman said he felt sorry for Murdaugh, who he believed would be haunted by the murders of his wife and son.
Judge Cliton Newman joined ‘TODAY’ on Wednesday, and said he ‘felt sorry’ for convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh that he sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in March for killing his wife and son
Alex Murdaugh with wife Maggie and their sons Buster (left) and Paul (right)
‘I cannot imagine him having a peaceful night, knowing what he did,’ he said. ‘I’m sure if he had an opportunity to do it over again, he’d never do it.’
‘And I wasn’t trying to pull him out of that hole, but I wanted to give him an opportunity to say something,’ the judge said, referring to the moment he gave Murdaugh one last opportunity to come clean, but the convicted killer continued to maintain his innocence.
Murdaugh, was a personal injury lawyer and former part-time prosecutor before being disbarred last summer before his murder trial.
The Murdaugh family was so prominent in South Carolina, that a portrait of Alex’s late grandfather, Randolph ‘Buster’ Murdaugh Jr., had to be removed from a wall of the courtroom during his sentencing trial.
Newman said he knew the Murdaugh family personally – but claimed his personal connection to Alex wouldn’t impact his sentencing.
Newman argued that there was probably not a single judge in the entire state that didn’t know Murdaugh, confidently assuring the public in his ability to remain impartial, according to WCBD.
The two have practiced law together and attended the same events for year, according to Newman.
While sentencing Murdaugh to two consecutive life sentences in March, Newman said the case ‘has been one of the most troubling.’
‘Not just for me as a judge, for the state, for the defense team, but for all of the citizens in this community and state,’ he said.
Newman was grappling with his own personal tragedy at the time – after his youngest son, Brian Newman, died unexpectedly just two weeks before the trial started in January.
Newman insisted on continuing with the trial despite officials offering a delay.
‘Your family has been prosecuting people here in this courtroom and many have received the death penalty, probably for lesser conduct,’ Newman told Murdaugh.
Murdaugh, shackled and dressed in a tan jail jumpsuit still denied any guilt and said: ‘I respect this court, but I’m innocent.’
Judge Clifton Newman gave a searing assessment of Murdaugh’s ‘duplicitous’; character
Alex Murdaugh in a mugshot with his head shaved and wearing a yellow jumpsuit after being booked into South Carolina’s Kirkland Reception and Evaluation Center
“I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the nighttime when you’re attempting to go to sleep … and reflect on the last time they looked you in the eyes,” he told Murdaugh at the time.
‘I would never under any circumstances hurt my wife, Maggie, and I would never under any circumstances hurt my son, Paw Paw,’ he said.
‘It might not have been you,’ Newman had responded at the time. ‘It might have been the monster you’ve become when you take 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 opioid pills. Maybe you become another person. I’ve seen that before. The person standing before me was not the person who committed the crime, though is the same individual.’
The judge made similar remarks about Murdaugh when he spoke out for the first time following the trial.
He spoke at his alma mater, Cleveland State University, where he discussed insights about his approach to the trial and his feelings toward Murdaugh.
He said he had ‘no doubt’ the legal scion loved his wife and son – but says he’ll never ‘sleep peacefully’ after killing them.
‘I don’t believe that he hates his wife and certainly I do not believe that he did not love his son, but he committed an unforgivable, unimaginable crime, and there’s no way that he’ll be able to sleep peacefully,’ the judge said.
Newman also shrugged off the international attention he gain during the trial.
‘I was simply a judge in a trial doing my job, as I’ve done repeatedly over the years,’ he said.
Murdaugh was accused of shooting his 52-year-old wife four or five times with a rifle and his 22-year-old son twice with a shotgun outside of the kennels on their property in June 2021.
The brutal slayings set off a shocking chain of events that captured the public, including Murdaugh hiring a man to kill him so his older son could collect on his life insurance policy, and dozens of charges accusing Murdaugh of financial crimes.
The double murder trial began in January and after about six weeks of testimony, Murdaugh was found guilty of murder in the deaths of his wife and son.
As Murdaugh sits in his cell, he is still dealing with legal troubles, specifically his financial charges against him.
His lawyers told an insurer looking to force him to repay $3.4 million it awarded in a wrongful death settlement over Murdaugh’s housekeeper that he lied about the circumstances of her death.
DailyMail
