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Former Beaufort attorney gets more prison time for helping friend Alex Murdaugh steal

Former South Carolina attorney Cory Fleming awaits his sentencing in Beaufort, S.C. on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023. Fleming, an old college friend to Alex Murdaugh,pleaded guilty last month to 23 state chargesthat he helped Murdaugh steal millions of dollars in legal settlements. (AP Photo/James Pollard)
James Pollard/AP
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AP
Former South Carolina attorney Cory Fleming awaits his sentencing in Beaufort, S.C. on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023. Fleming, an old college friend to Alex Murdaugh,pleaded guilty last month to 23 state chargesthat he helped Murdaugh steal millions of dollars in legal settlements. (AP Photo/James Pollard)

Cory Fleming was sentenced Thursday in state court to 20 years behind bars in addition to 46-month federal sentencing.

Alex Murdaugh’s longtime friend and former Beaufort attorney Cory Fleming, who’s already serving time for helping the convicted killer steal millions, has been sentenced to more time behind bars, much more.

Dressed in grey, striped prison garb and wearing tortoise shell glasses, Fleming stood before Judge Clifton Newman as he was sentenced to 20-years in prison; 10 for stealing money meant for the family of Murdaugh’s late housekeeper and another 10 for swindling a former client whose family was gravely injured in a car wreck.

Fleming pleaded guilty in federal court earlier this year and was sentenced to 46 months in prison. U.S. Judge Richard Gergel said then the sentence was intended to cover Fleming’s wrongdoings in both federal and state court.

But Judge Newman made in clear he did not have to follow a federal judge and hadn’t even read the court’s decision. He called the crimes unprecedented and unimaginable

“This is, I think the greatest crime for a lawyer in the history of the state of South Carolina,” Judge Newman said.

Before sentencing, several people offered victim impact testimony while others asked the judge for leniency, describing Fleming as a good man. Fleming also threw himself at the court’s mercy.

“Today, I offer this court no excuses. There are no excuses,” Fleming said.

Judge Newman said leniency is not his job.

Victoria Hansen is our Lowcountry connection covering the Charleston community, a city she knows well. She grew up in newspaper newsrooms and has worked as a broadcast journalist for more than 20 years. Her first reporting job brought her to Charleston where she covered local and national stories like the Susan Smith murder trial and the arrival of the Citadel’s first female cadet.