Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison on Friday in South Carolina for the 2021 murders of his wife and son. Observers argue Murdaugh, who is white, was able to avoid the death penalty because of his wealth, race, and family background, coming from a line of lawyers and prosecutors who presided in Hampton County for generations.
“It is hard to ignore the fact that that the decision provided yet another example of racial and class privilege in the death penalty system,” Austin Sarat, a death penalty expert and jurisprudence professor at Amherst College, wrote in USA Today.
