Alex Murdaugh’s Federal Sentencing Appeal Shot Down

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Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh’s bid to reduce his lengthy federal prison sentence was rejected this week by a three-judge panel of the U.S. fourth circuit court of appeals – which concluded the disgraced, disbarred attorney forfeited his right to challenge his term of imprisonment when he entered into a plea agreement with the government over a host of financial crimes.

“Upon review of the record and the parties’ submissions, we conclude that Murdaugh knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to appeal,” the panel ruled. “Accordingly, we grant the government’s motion and dismiss the appeal.”

Murdaugh signed a plea deal with prosecutors related to his federal financial offenses in September of 2023, but this agreement nearly collapsed when they accused him of failing to fully disclose “hidden assets” while under polygraph examination. This alleged failure resulted in a prosecutorial motion to revoke Murdaugh’s plea deal.

Eventually, the two sides came back to the table…

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On April 1, 2024, U.S. district court judge Richard Gergel sentenced Murdaugh to forty years in prison for nearly two dozen financial crimes – and ordered him to pay restitution in the amount of $8.8 million to victims. This federal sentence is running concurrent with the life imprisonment Murdaugh received in March 2023 for the murders of his wife, 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh, and their younger son, 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh. Additionally, Murdaugh is serving a negotiated sentence of 27 years in the S.C. Department of Corrections (SCDC) as part of a plea agreement with state prosecutors for his myriad financial crimes.

As of this writing, he remains in the protective custody of SCDC.

Murdaugh’s attorneys appealed Gergel’s sentence, arguing it violated his Eighth Amendment rights. Federal prosecutors in the office of U.S. attorney Adair Ford Boroughs fired back, arguing that Eighth Amendment claims were “not exempt from the waiver” and that Murdaugh “knowingly and intelligently waived the right to challenge his sentence.”

Those arguments won the day…

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Boroughs’ office declined comment on the decision, referring back to its filings in support of the court’s decision to uphold Murdaugh’s sentence.

Murduagh’s federal case was managed by attorneys Emily Limehouse, Winston Holliday and Kathleen Stoughton – the same prosecutorial team which successfully tried convicted fraudster Russell Laffitte in November 2022.

Laffitte – a key cog in Murdaugh’s admitted financial scams – is currently appealing his convictions, arguing last-minute jury maneuvering by Gergel violated his Sixth Amendment rights.

Meanwhile, Murdaugh is currently pushing to have his two murder convictions vacated due to jury tampering allegations against a former clerk of court, a disgraced official whom many believe was part of an alleged conspiracy to rig his double homicide trial last winter.

Keep it tuned to this media outlet as we track all of these appeals…

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THE RULING…

(U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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