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Judge Clifton Newman

  • The Judge who sentenced Alex Murdaugh to life in prison will not hear motions in the convicted killer’s fight for a new trial. An order issued Thursday by the state Supreme Court reveals Judge Clifton Newman has asked that “a new judge be assigned."
  • Attorneys for Alex Murdaugh have asked the state Supreme Court to remove Judge Clifton Newman from the convicted murderer’s case as they fight for a new trial. They argue Murdaugh has a right to an impartial judge.
  • The judge who presided over Alex Murdaugh's murder trial in South Carolina told his law school he wasn't surprised the jury came back with a guilty verdict in three hours. Judge Clifton Newman returned to Cleveland State University on Tuesday to discuss his career and the topic on everyone's minds: the six-week trial that ended in Murdaugh's murder convictions for killing his wife and son. Newman says jurors who listen closely over a long trial don't want to go back over hundreds of exhibits. That's especially true if they feel they have a good handle on the case. Cleveland State's law school announced it will induct the 71-year-old Newman into its hall of fame in November.
  • The judge who sentenced Alex Murdaugh on Friday to life in prison for killing his wife and son has earned attention and plaudits for his even-handed demeanor throughout the trial and for his dressing-down of the once-prominent lawyer just before he sent him to prison. Judge Clifton Newman, a South Carolina native who attended racially segregated schools in the 1950s and 1960s, addressed Murdaugh directly during roughly 20 minutes of comments that ranged from invoking the memories of the defendant's slain son and wife to lamenting what he described as attacks on the credibility of the state's justice system during the trial.