Former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty Thursday of killing both his wife and son. Judge Clifton Newman in the Walterboro courtroom handing down the sentence this morning.

Murdaugh’s defense attorneys argued that there wasn’t enough evidence and called for a mistrial but the judge denied their request. Murdaugh spoke at prior to sentencing and maintained his innocence.

54 year-old Murdaugh will spend the rest of his life in prison for the June 7, 2021, shooting deaths of 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh and their youngest son, 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh.

Judge Clifton Newman sentenced Murdaugh to two life terms to be served consecutively. Chief Prosecutor Creighton Waters says he’s grateful the jurors gave a voice to the victims.

None of the family members wanted to give impact statements prior to sentencing.

Murdaugh, dressed in a prison uniform, denied the crimes, saying “I’m innocent. I would never hurt my wife Maggie and I would never hurt my son Paul Paul.”

The jury reached a verdict in less than three hours last night after being handed the case late yesterday afternoon.

Local volunteers needed to help track seasonal changes of trees 

 Great Smoky Mountains National Park is currently recruiting local volunteers to ‘Adopt-A-Plot’ and track the seasonal change of trees, also called phenology.   

Members of the public who visit the Smokies often are encouraged to sign up to adopt a plot of trees near the roadside at Kanati Fork, Newfound Gap, Kuwohi (Dome Rd.), and other locations in the park.  

Interested volunteers can attend a virtual orientation session on March 11, 2023, f 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST, and later field site orientations will follow. Volunteers can sign up to visit their “adopted” study plot weekly, and less during summer months, to monitor trees from the first bud in spring to the last leaf drop in fall.  Volunteers will monitor when trees develop buds, leaf out, produce flowers and fruit, and when leaves change color.  

Data collected by volunteers will be used in collective park-wide research to interpret how changing climate and length of day affect when seasonal changes occur. Researchers are noticing seasonal and annual shifts of the timing of phenophases, the stages of the life cycles of trees in the park. Early or late phenophases can affect entire forest ecosystems because all organisms are interconnected in the food web and depend on trees to survive.  

If you are interested in this exciting volunteer opportunity, please email Angel Chaffin at [email protected] to register for the virtual phenology orientation.  

For more information about phenology research efforts across the country, visit the National Phenology Network at  https://www.usanpn.org/.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation says a one mile evacuation of some Cocke County residents is ordered following an overturned propane truck that is leaking propane. Residents who have nowhere to go, can go to Parrottsville Elementary School

It has closed State Route 340 at Allen Chapel Road.

A medical helicopter has been called to the scene. The driver of the truck was injured during the crash. The driver was responsive at the hospital.

Two deputies were taken to the hospital for inhaling propane fumes.

Officials say it will be a long term closure.

A bill adding a firing squad as a means of execution for death row inmates in Tennessee passed the House Criminal Justice Committee and is now heading to the Finance, Ways, and Means Committee.

If the bill is passed, it would allow death row inmates to choose dying by a firing squad rather than lethal injection or electrocution.

Currently, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah and South Carolina allow death row inmates to die by firing squad.

Following this bill being discussed, State Representative Paul Sherrell is now apologizing after comments he made Tuesday suggesting Tennessee’s death row inmates be executed by “hanging by a tree.”

Sherrell’s comments took place during the House Criminal Justice Committee meeting.

Gloria Sweet-Love, President of the Tennessee State Conference of the NAACP responded to Sherrell’s comment:

“While debating the firing squad as a method of execution in the House of Representatives’ Criminal Justice Committee, Representative Paul Sherrell stated: “I think it’s a very good idea, and I was just wondering about, could I put an amendment on that it would include hanging by a tree, also?” Representative Sherrell’s comment is beyond disgusting. He is celebrating a particular form of execution used against African Americans in Tennessee and across the nation, including innocent and wrongfully convicted persons. In many parts of the South, lynchings took place in nearly every county as it exemplified racialized and anti-Black violence. We know from numerous research studies that Blacks are also disproportionately executed, especially when the alleged victim is White. Sherrell’s comment–with reference to the most detested form of racialized violence–appears to be tinged race. It is a sad day in Tennessee politics when a lawmaker publicly announces that he wants to resurrect the lynching tree. We demand an apology from Representative Sherrill and ask the House leadership to condemn statements advocating racialized violence.”

On Wednesday, a statement released from Sherrell:

“I regret that I used very poor judgment in voicing my support of a colleague’s bill in the Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday. My exaggerated comments were intended to convey my belief that for the cruelest and most heinous crimes, a just society requires the death penalty in kind. Although a victim’s family cannot be restored when an execution is carried out, a lesser punishment undermines the value we place on protecting life. My intention was to express my support of families who often wait decades for justice. I sincerely apologize to anyone who may have been hurt or offended.”

The amendment proposing execution by firing squad comes as the state is currently revising the protocol used by the Department of Correction to execute death row inmates. At this time, executions in Tennessee have been halted while investigations continue into previous methods not following protocol.

Story courtesy in part by WVLT

A Florida man indicted in Tennessee on murder charge in connection to the overdose death of his son.

The investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the White Pine Police Department began in September 2021, when they were looking into the death of then 39 year-old Jason Imler after he was found dead at a residence in the 1000 block of Rosella Drive.

His cause of death was determined to be an overdose caused by fentanyl toxicity. The investigation revealed that his father, 63 year-old Jeffrey Imler was responsible for giving him the drugs.

The Jefferson County Grand Jury returned indictments charging him with one count of Second Degree Murder and one count of Delivery of Schedule II – Fentanyl. He was arrested in Palm Beach County, Florida and brought back to Tennessee and booked into jail.