Plea deal reached in Alex Murdaugh’s financial crimes case days before trial

BEAUFORT, S.C. — A plea deal was struck Friday in the state of South Carolina’s case against convicted killer Alex Murdaugh, reached days before the start of his trial on dozens of alleged financial crimes.

Murdaugh, 55, appeared in Beaufort County Court before Circuit Court Judge Clifton Newman and agreed to plead guilty to various counts, including in a case that he was accused of siphoning off insurance settlement funds in the death of the Murdaughs’ longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield.