Former lawyer, Alex Murdaugh, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and their son, Paul Murdaugh.

South Carolina judge, Clifton Newman, pronounced the two consecutive life sentences on Friday after three hours of deliberation by the jury.

Mr Murdaugh, an influential lawyer from a prominent family of lawyers in South Carolina, was arrested in October 2021 following the murder of his wife and 22-year-old son in June 2021.

Mr Murdaugh was also accused of stealing clients’ money to support his opium addiction and extravagant lifestyle. He is facing charges of fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering.

Mr Murdaugh has, however, maintained his innocence saying he would not kill his wife and son under any circumstance and his lawyers believe that they have “very solid grounds” for appeal, citing the judge’s admittance of evidence of financial crimes.

“…they won this case the day the judge bought into letting them put every piece of stealing from kids who lost their mother, from somebody with pancreatic cancer, somebody that’s a paraplegic, all of that. Two and a half weeks. By the time they got done with it, it didn’t matter about final argument, it didn’t matter about what we put up. They would never, ever, ever acquit him after that.”

The prosecutors, however, argued that the motive behind the murder was sympathy, claiming that Mr Murdaugh killed his wife and son to gain sympathy and stop investigations into his financial crimes. Prosecutors also stated that they will not drop charges of financial crimes despite the fact that Mr Murdaugh has been convicted for murder.