DOJ asks court to toss Alex Murdaugh appeal on federal financial crimes

Federal prosecutors have asked a court to toss Alex Murdaugh’s appeal on federal financial crimes as the convicted killer and fraudster seeks a sentence reduction, according to court documents.

They argued that he signed away his right to appeal the sentence as part of his plea deal, when he admitted to scamming 27 victims and his own law firm out of nearly $11 million over the course of years.

“For more than 15 years, he spun a complex web of exploitation, manipulation and deceit, preying on highly vulnerable victims in pursuit of his own financial gain,” federal prosecutors wrote in a motion to dismiss the appeal filed in federal court Thursday.

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Murdaugh stole a total of $10,901,547.32 from his own clients and legal partners, routing settlement money to his own bank accounts and later laundering more than half of it, prosecutors wrote. He pleaded guilty to 22 federal financial crimes in September 2023.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel handed down a sentence of 40 years in prison for multiple crimes – four sentences of 30 years and four of 20 to run concurrently, plus another 10 years on 14 money laundering counts. Prosecutors had asked for 30 years.

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In the court filings, prosecutors noted that Murdaugh’s plea deal included a partial waiver of his right to appeal – limiting him to raise only a handful of issues: prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective counsel or future changes in the law that would impact his sentence. He accepted the deal “of his own free will because he is guilty.”

Read the motion to dismiss

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Yet his appeal, according to prosecutors, hinged on two complaints – that the court imposed a “de facto” life sentence without proper review, and that his sentence was “grossly disproportionate” to the crimes.

“Both are barred by the appeal waiver,” prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina wrote to the court.

Alex Murdaugh, right, is shown here with his family in an undated family photo. Jurors found him guilty of killing his wife, Maggie, second from left, and younger son Paul, second from right. (Fox News)

As a result, they argued, the judge should dismiss his appeal.

“If the Court holds that his claims can move forward simply because he couched them in Eighth Amendment terms, every defendant discontent with his sentence could evade his binding and valid appeal waiver just by calling the sentence ‘disproportional,’” prosecutors wrote. “The exception would swallow the rule, and appeal waivers would become meaningless. Murdaugh’s appeal must be dismissed.”

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Attorney Eric Bland, right, standing with members of the Satterfield family, addresses the court during Alex Murdaugh’s sentencing for stealing from 18 clients, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023, at the Beaufort County Courthouse in Beaufort, S.C. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool)

Murdaugh is serving a life sentence for killing his wife Maggie, 52, and 22-year-old son, Paul Murdaugh, in June 2021 at the family’s former Moselle estate in Colleton County. He is appealing that conviction and has denied harming his wife or son.

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He pleaded guilty to dozens of financial crimes, however. He also received a 27-year sentence on state charges relating to the fraud and theft.

More than $4 million in Murdaugh’s stolen funds was owed to the family of Gloria Satterfield, a former housekeeper for the disgraced lawyer. He urged her sons to sue his own homeowner’s insurance after she died in his house in February 2018.

He helped negotiate the settlement and then kept it for himself – never telling her sons the matter had been resolved.