Former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh’s defense team announced Thursday in a three-page court filing that he will appeal his convictions and sentences for the murders of his wife and son in 2021.
Murdaugh had 10 days following his conviction last week to file a notice of appeal, which his attorneys had indicated they intended to do.
“Today, (defense attorney Jim Griffin) and I filed our notice of appeal on behalf of Alex Murdaugh. “This is the next step in the legal process to fight for Alex’s constitutional right to a fair trial,” Murdaugh’s attorney, Dick Harpootlian, said on Twitter on Thursday.
Related: Alex Murdaugh was convicted guilty of murdering his wife and son, ending a dynasty
Murdaugh was convicted on March 2 of murder in the June 2021 shooting deaths of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul in South Carolina, following a weeks-long trial that included dozens of witnesses. He was also found guilty on two counts of possessing a weapon while committing a violent crime.
He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday.
Related: Alex Murdaugh Murder Trial Explained
Prosecutors claimed Murdaugh murdered his wife and son on their Islandton, South Carolina, property in order to distract and delay investigations into his alleged financial crimes.
They focused on his long history of deception, claiming he stole millions of dollars from his former clients and the law firm and lied repeatedly to cover his tracks.
Murdaugh admitted in court that he stole money and lied about it and that he lied to investigators about his whereabouts just before the killings due to drug-addiction paranoia. But he categorically denied murdering his wife and son.
Related: Judge sentences Murdaugh to life in prison for his ‘lies.’
The jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding the defendant guilty.
During his sentencing, Murdaugh maintained his innocence, telling the judge, “I would never, ever hurt my wife Maggie, and I would never, ever hurt my son.”
Murdaugh’s defense attorney, Harpootlian, told CNN last week that his client was “not happy” with the verdict but “expected it.”
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In a separate case that has yet to go to trial, Murdaugh faces 99 charges stemming from a slew of alleged financial crimes, including bilking his law firm, clients, and the government out of millions of dollars, according to prosecutors.
