For possibly the final time, Alex Murdaugh, in a jail jumpsuit and shackles as an alternative of the go well with the lawyer used to put on, will shuffle right into a courtroom in South Carolina and look ahead to a choose to punish him.
Murdaugh is scheduled to be sentenced Monday morning in federal court docket for stealing from purchasers and his legislation agency. The 55-year-old disbarred lawyer is already serving a life sentence with out parole in a state jail for killing his spouse and son.
A report by federal brokers recommends a jail sentence between 17 and 22 years for Murdaugh. It is insurance coverage on prime of insurance coverage. Together with the life sentence, Murdaugh pleaded responsible and was ordered to spend 27 years in jail in state court docket on monetary crime expenses — time he should serve if each his homicide convictions are overturned on enchantment.
The 22 federal counts contained in a plea deal are the ultimate expenses excellent for Murdaugh, who three years in the past was a longtime lawyer negotiating multimillion-dollar settlements in tiny Hampton County, the place members of his household served as elected prosecutors and ran the realm’s premier legislation agency for almost a century.
However now his life is summed up by prosecutors in a court docket submitting asking a choose to revoke their plea take care of Murdaugh and provides him a harsher sentence as a result of FBI brokers assume he’s not telling the entire fact about what occurred to $6 million he stole and whether or not a so-far unnamed lawyer helped his felony schemes.
Murdaugh “spent most of his profession deceiving everybody in his private {and professional} circles — unburdened by his personal conscience. The scope and pervasiveness of Murdaugh’s deceit is staggering. He ranks as some of the prolific fraudsters this state has ever seen. When the home of playing cards started to fall, Murdaugh murdered his spouse and son,” prosecutors wrote.
Murdaugh stole from purchasers, together with the sons of his longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield. She died in a fall on the household residence. Murdaugh promised to care for Satterfield’s household, then labored with a lawyer pal who pleaded responsible on a scheme to steal $4 million in a wrongful dying settlement with the household’s insurer.
Murdaugh additionally took cash meant to look after a consumer who turned a quadriplegic after a crash and a state trooper injured on the job.
In all, Murdaugh took settlement cash from or inflated charges or bills for almost two dozen purchasers. Prosecutors stated the FBI discovered 11 extra victims than the state investigation discovered and that Murdaugh stole almost $1.3 million from them.
Murdaugh was convicted a 12 months in the past of killing his youthful son Paul with a shotgun and his spouse, Maggie, with a rifle. Whereas he has pleaded responsible to dozens of economic crimes, he adamantly denies he killed them and testified in his personal protection. There might be years of appeals within the homicide instances.
The case has captivated true crime followers, spawning dozens of podcast episodes and hundreds of social media posts. It continued its odd twists within the days earlier than Monday’s sentencing listening to.
Attorneys for Murdaugh stated an FBI agent who carried out a polygraph check requested Murdaugh if he might preserve a secret, then confided he had simply examined infamous Dutch killer Joran van der Sloot.
Murdaugh flunked that polygraph check, in line with prosecutors who need to revoke the plea settlement, paving the way in which for a harsher sentence. Every of the 22 counts Murdaugh pleaded responsible to in federal court docket carries a most of 20 years in jail. Some carry a 30-year most.
The protection stated the alleged odd habits and weird questions from a FBI agent brought on Murdaugh to fail the check. They requested the court docket to launch all his statements to the FBI.
A choose will take up that concern throughout Monday’s sentencing listening to.
Prosecutors need to preserve lots of the FBI statements secret, saying they’re nonetheless investigating the lacking cash and who may need helped Murdaugh steal. They are saying making the data public would jeopardize an ongoing grand jury investigation.