COLUMBIA, S.C.—A federal court has rejected Alex Murdaugh’s request to throw out his 40-year sentence for stealing from clients and his law firm. The disgraced South Carolina lawyer said his punishment is a decade longer than what prosecutors recommended.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel said in April that he chose a harsher prison sentence because Murdaugh stole from “the most needy, vulnerable people,” clients who were maimed in wrecks or lost loved ones and had placed all their problems and all their hopes with the now disbarred attorney.
The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Tuesday to dismiss the appeal, saying in a two-page ruling that when Murdaugh agreed to plead guilty, he waived his right to appeal except in extraordinary circumstances, and a harsher-than-expected sentence didn’t count….