Alex Murdaugh found guilty and sentenced, highlights from the SAG Awards, and more top stories from the week

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From full coverage of the Alex Murdaugh trial, to photos and recaps of the SAG Awards, here are the top national stories from the past week.

Alex Murdaugh sentenced to life in prison for murders of wife, son

WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday, a day after he was convicted of murder in the shooting deaths of his wife and son.

Murdaugh maintained his innocence when addressing the judge before sentencing.

“I would never hurt my wife Maggie and I would never hurt my son Paul Paul,” he said.

Keep scrolling for a collection of photos from the trial

Prosecutor Creighton Waters said none of the victims of the crime — members of Murdaugh’s family and the parents and relatives of his wife — wished to speak on behalf of the prosecution before sentencing.

“The depravity, the callousness, the selfishness of these crimes are stunning. The lack of remorse and the effortless way in which he is, including here, sitting right over there in this witness stand — your honor, a man like that, a man like this man, should never be allowed to be among free, law abiding citizens,” Waters said.

Prosecutors asked for a life sentence to hold Murdaugh responsible for what they say are decades of lying, stealing and using his family's considerable clout in their tiny county to his advantage. Any sentence would have no chance of parole.

As Murdaugh stood before the judge to learn his fate, he was in the same courtroom on the circuit where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather tried cases as the elected prosecutor for more than 80 years. His grandfather’s portrait hung in the back of the room until the judge ordered it taken down for the trial.

Instead of the dress shirt and sport coat he wore through the six-week trial, the attorney who made millions suing big companies on behalf of people injured in wrecks arrived at court in a jail jumpsuit the day after he was convicted of two counts of murder.

Photos: Scenes from the Alex Murdaugh murder trial

Murdaugh Killings — Alex Murdaugh, right, speaks to his attorney Jim Griffin during his double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023, in Walterboro, S.C. Murdaugh is standing trial on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife and son at their Colleton County home and hunting lodge on June 7, 2021. (Joshua Boucher/The State via AP, Pool)
Joshua Boucher

APTOPIX Murdaugh Killings — Alex Murdaugh cries while listening to his son Buster Murdaugh testify during Alex Murdaugh's trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. The 54-year-old attorney is standing trial on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife and son at their Colleton County, S.C., home and hunting lodge on June 7, 2021. (Jeff Blake/The State via AP, Pool)
Jeff Blake

2023 SAG Awards: The list of winners, the highlights, and scenes from the red carpet

The unlikely awards season juggernaut “Everything Everywhere All at Once” marched on at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, and even gathered steam with wins not just for best ensemble, Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan but also for Jamie Lee Curtis.

The SAG Awards, often an Oscars preview, threw some curve balls into the Oscars race in a ceremony streamed live on Netflix's YouTube page from Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

But the clearest result of the SAG Awards was the overwhelming success of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's madcap multiverse tale, which has now used its hotdog fingers to snag top honors from the acting, directing and producing guilds. Only one film ("Apollo 13") had won all three and not gone on to win best picture at the Oscars. Read the full story here:

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THE WINNERS

List of winners at the 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards, held Sunday in Los Angeles:

FILM

Ensemble: “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Male actor in a leading role: Brendan Fraser, “The Whale.”

Female actor in a leading role: Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Male actor in a supporting role: Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Female actor in a supporting role: Jamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Stunt Ensemble: “Top Gun: Maverick”

TELEVISION

Drama ensemble: “The White Lotus.”

Comedy ensemble: “Abbott Elementary."

Female actor in a drama series: Jennifer Coolidge, “The White Lotus.”

Male actor in a drama series: Jason Bateman, “Ozark.”

Female actor in a comedy series: Jean Smart, “Hacks.”

Male actor in a comedy series: Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear.”

Male actor in a TV limited series or movie: Sam Elliott, “1883.”

Female actor in a TV limited series or movie: Jessica Chastain, “George & Tammy.”

Stunt ensemble: “Stranger Things”

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SCENES FROM THE SHOW

Photos: Top pics from the 29th annual SAG Awards

APTOPIX 29th Annual SAG Awards — Sally Field accepts the life achievement award at the 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023, at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Chris Pizzello

29th Annual SAG Awards - Show — Michelle Yeoh accepts the award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" at the 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023, at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Chris Pizzello

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SCENES FROM THE RED CARPET

Photos from the red carpet at the 29th annual SAG Awards

29th Annual SAG Awards - Arrivals — Keltie Knight arrives at the 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023, at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Jordan Strauss

Disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh found guilty of murder in 2021 shootings of his wife, son

WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) — Disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was convicted of murder Thursday in the shooting deaths of his wife and son in a case that chronicled the unraveling of a powerful Southern family with tales of privilege, greed and addiction.

The jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Murdaugh guilty of two counts of murder at the end of a six-week trial that pulled back the curtain on the once-prominent lawyer's fall from grace.

Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison without parole when he is sentenced, which in South Carolina is typically right after the verdict but can be delayed if a judge chooses.

Through more than 75 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence, jurors heard about betrayed friends and clients, Murdaugh's failed attempt to stage his own death in an insurance fraud scheme, a fatal boat crash in which his son was implicated, the housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home, the grisly scene of the killings and Bubba, the chicken-snatching dog.

Pictures of the Week-North America-Photo Gallery — Alex Murdaugh listens as prosecutor Creighton Waters makes closing arguments during his double murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse on Wednesday, March 1, in Walterboro, S.C.
Joshua Boucher/The State via AP, Pool

In the end, Murdaugh's fate appeared sealed by cellphone video taken by his son, who he called "Little Detective" for his knack for finding bottles of painkillers in his father's belongings after the lawyer had sworn off the pills.

Testimony culminated in Murdaugh's appearance on the witness stand, when he admitted stealing millions from clients and lying to investigators about being at the dog kennels where the shootings took place but steadfastly maintained his innocence in the deaths of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

"I did not kill Maggie, and I did not kill Paul. I would never hurt Maggie, and I would never hurt Paul — ever — under any circumstances," Murdaugh said.

Murdaugh's 52-year-old wife was shot four or five times with a rifle and their 22-year-old son was shot twice with a shotgun at the kennels near at their rural Colleton County home on June 7, 2021. Read the full story here:

Photos: Scenes from the Alex Murdaugh murder trial

Photos from the red carpet at the 29th annual SAG Awards

Here's a look at fashion from the red carpet at the 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

Woman reported missing 31 years ago and declared dead has been found alive in Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A Pennsylvania woman who went missing more than 30 years ago in a case that stumped authorities who later declared her legally dead has been found living in a nursing home in Puerto Rico.

Patricia Kopta left behind a husband and siblings and meandered through northern Puerto Rico for a while before she was taken as a person "in need" to the adult care home in 1999, according to details announced at a news conference this week in Ross Township, where she once lived.

Kopta, once known as a street preacher in her home town, initially kept her past secret while in Puerto Rico. But she began to divulge details as she suffered progressively from dementia, Ross Township Deputy Police Chief Brian Kohlhepp said.

By last year, a social worker at the home had enough information to alert authorities back home about the now-83-year-old woman. A DNA test has confirmed her identity, Kohlhepp said.

Her husband, Bob Kopta, and her surviving sister, 78-year-old Gloria Smith, filled in details of Kopta's life at the news conference and in telephone interviews Friday with The Associated Press.

Patricia Kopta had been nicknamed "The Sparrow" because of her slight build, and often frequented parking lots and busy roads in the largely residential community of about 31,000 north of Pittsburgh, where she would caution passersby and motorists about the end of the world.

But before she began preaching, Kopta was a straight-A student who became a model and dance instructor. After graduating high school, she worked in finance at a Pittsburgh plate glass company and would attend ballroom dancing events weekly, according to her family.

She would vacation often in Puerto Rico with her friends before she got married, Smith recalled.

"She just loved the ocean, the beach, the warm sunshine," Smith told the AP.

Smith said her sister quit her job at the glass company after 10 years because of migraines that doctors blamed on stress. She then got a job as an elevator operator at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

That's when family members noticed a change in her.

"She said something about seeing an angel there," Smith recalled.

Shortly afterward, Kopta began preaching and was briefly institutionalized after doctors diagnosed her with "delusions of grandeur" and said she had signs of schizophrenia. Upon her release, she kept preaching until she vanished in 1992.

"I come home one night, and she's just gone," Bob Kopta told the AP.

They had been married for 20 years.

Kopta, now 86, recalled how they met near a river in Pittsburgh where he had a boat. He gave her and her friends a ride and fell in love. In 1972, they married.

The disappearance stumped authorities and family alike. Police went as far as to consult a psychic, while Kopta recalled his wife once mentioned she would like to go to Puerto Rico because of its balmy weather. So he published ads in Puerto Rican newspapers, but never got a response.

Years went by with no sign of her. He obtained a death declaration about seven years after her disappearance.

"I went through a lot," said Bob Kopta, a retired truck driver. "Every time they'd find a body somewhere (I wondered), 'Is it Patricia? Is it Patricia?'"

Meanwhile, Patricia Kopta apparently was wandering the island's northern towns of Naranjito, Corozal and Toa Alta, located just southwest of the capital of San Juan. When she first was taken in at the adult home, she had hinted that she had arrived in Puerto Rico via a cruise ship from Europe, Kohlhepp said.

After a social worker contacted police in Pennsylvania, it took almost a year for DNA samples to confirm that the woman was indeed Patricia Kopta.

"It's a sad thing, but it's a relief off my mind," her husband said. "When your wife goes missing, you're a suspect."

Bob Kopta, who did not remarry, said he doesn't plan to visit, and that he's now trying to forget the past, though he's glad to know she's being taken care of.

Smith, on the other hand, wants to go to the island to see her older sister. She says she's been unable to speak to the elder sibling on the phone because she cannot hold a conversation given her dementia. A twin sister of Patricia Kopta died without knowing her fellow twin was still alive.

"Whether she knows me or not, I still want to see her and give her a hug and tell her I love her," Smith said. "I thought maybe she had died."

National Park Service encourages folks to ‘never push a slower friend down’ in bear encounters

Spring is fast approaching and that means the bears will be back out and about, and with that in mind the National Park Service issued some important advice this week.

“If you come across a bear, never push a slower friend down … even if you feel the friendship has run its course,” the service tweeted from its official account.

Got that?

If a bear attacks you out in the wild, don’t try to feed your friend to it.

“If not friend, why friend shaped?” the service tweeted in a follow-up. “What about your other friend? Seeing a bear in the wild is a special treat for any visitor to a national park. While it is an exciting moment, it is important to remember that bears in national parks are wild and can be dangerous.

Hunting Grizzlies — In this July 6, 2011, file photo, a grizzly bear roams near Beaver Lake in Yellowstone National Park, Wyo.
AP Photo/Jim Urquhart, File

“When spring arrives and the snow begins to melt, many bears become more active,” it added with a link to bear safety tips.

A follower smartly asked, “What if you’re the slower friend?”

“Check in on the friendship before you head into the woods,” the service replied.

Here are the bear safety tips that the service shared. Be sure you read them so, maybe, you can avoid having to decide whether or not to sacrifice your friend … or before your friend has to decide whether or not to sacrifice you.