The saga of Alex Murdaugh just won’t go away.
Now the convicted murderer’s legal team is arguing that his jail sentence may violate the Constitution.
According to a report from The Daily Wire, Murdaugh’s attorneys now argue that his 40-year sentence for financial crimes violates his Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment.
In April, Murdaugh pled guilty to 22 counts of fraud and other financial crimes after reaching a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Afterward, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison, even though he and prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel for a 30-year sentence to run concurrently with Murdaugh’s 27-year sentence for state financial crime and consecutive life sentences for the murders of his wife Maggie, and youngest son, Paul.
Murdaugh appealed the sentence, and his new filing argues that the lengthy sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and is effectively a life sentence, given Murdaugh’s age, local media affiliate WCSC reported. Murdaugh, who is 55, is required to serve at least 85% of his sentence, which amounts to 34 years.
But Murdaugh’s life expectancy is only another 24 years, according to the Social Security Administration.
Murdaugh’s filing says the state guidelines should have sentenced him between 17 and 22 years for the crimes and cites three similar cases with median sentences of 17.5 years.
Judge Gergel sentenced Murdaugh to the longer term, stating in his ruling that Murdaugh stole money from “the most needy, vulnerable people.” This included a client who was left without the use of his arms or legs after a crash and a trust fund for children whose parents had been killed in a car crash.
Murdaugh pleaded guilty to stealing millions of dollars from his previous law firm and its clients and, in addition to prison time, was ordered to pay more than $8 million in restitution to his victims.
The Murdaugh case was a high-profile, national story and was also featured in a Netflix series called “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.”