Alex Murdaugh, the highly disgraced Souther Carolina attorney, has expressed his intent to quickly appeal the recent conviction he has received for the murder of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, as well as his life sentence.
Late last week, Murdaugh filed a notice which stated that he would be appealing the convictions and the subsequent sentence, though the notice contains absolutely zero arguments, as reported by NBC News. The legal team for Murgaugh had previously made the argument at trial that investigators did not, at the time, secure the crime scene in a proper manner, seemingly suggesting that they only put focus on Murdaugh for the crimes and did not look into any other possibilities.
Murdaugh was officially found guilty near the start of the month for the murders of both his youngest son and his wife in an alleged attempt to distract from a large number of financial crimes that he was still being prosecuted for. The choice came after just a scant few hours of deliberation and a six-week trial where well over 70 witnesses were brought in to testify.
Creighton Water, the lead prosecutor for the case, expressed to Judge Clifton Newman while sentencing was happening that the evidence for the trial “shows [Alex] to be a cunning manipulator, a man who placed himself above all others, including his family, a man who violated the trust of so many – including his friends, his family, his partners, his profession, but most of all Maggie and Paul.”
Waters issued a request for consecutive life sentences, claiming that Murdaught’s family, “like everyone else, was unaware of who he really was.”
The legal team for Murdaugh officially declined to issue comments throughout the hearing, but Murdaugh himself once again exclaimed his innocence.
“I’m innocent. I would never hurt my wife, Maggie, and I would never hurt my son Paul,” stated Murdaugh, as stated by the chief investigative reporter for the Post and Courier, Avery Wilks.
Judge Newman excoriated Murdaugh for his insane number of lies, including his insistence that he was never even present at the dog kennels — the location where both Paul and Maggie were murdered — the day the crime took place. Evidence discovered in cell phones proved that such a statement was entirely a lie, and Murdaugh openly admitted to his lie while testifying as part of his own defense throughout the trial.
In the wake of the sentencing, Alex’s older brother Randy expressed to The New York Times that while Murdaugh did end up lying to the police and stole money from clients to the tune of several million dollars, he was not sure that Alex actually committed the murders of his wife and kid.