Alex Murdaugh’s desperate confession at the murder trial likely sentenced him to an additional 700 years in prison

Alex Murdaugh has no escape from life behind bars after admitting under oath to a series of financial crimes at his murder trial.

Murdaugh was found guilty of the murder of his wife Maggie and son Paul at the Moselle family’s $4 million Islandton estate and was sentenced to life in South Carolina.

Despite his conviction, Murdaugh continues to maintain his innocence – even as he is given the last chance to confess at his pre-trial hearing.

His legal team, consisting of State Senator Dick Harpootlian and friend Jim Griffin, has already vowed to challenge the guilty verdict by taking the case all the way to the US Supreme Court.

But, as prominent attorney Duncan Levin said The Independent this week it won’t make a difference.

For one, Mr. Levin doubted that an appeal would be successful.

“I see no basis for an appeal. When he took the stand, he erased any real possibility of error, as he said in his own words,” said the former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan Attorney’s Office and prominent criminal defense attorney at Levin & Associates, who serves clients like Harvey Weinstein and represented by Anna Delvey.

And second, even if an appeal were successful, Mr. Levin said Murdaugh sentenced himself to life in prison after involving himself in a series of financial fraud crimes.

“He’s going to spend the rest of his life in prison – there’s no escape at this point,” he said.

“Not only was he convicted of two heinous murders, but he also engaged in financial crimes to earn himself a life sentence.”

Aside from the murder case, Murdaugh faces a staggering 99 charges, punishable by up to 700 years in prison, for stealing at least $8.7 million in settlements from dozens of attorneys he represents through his law firm PMPED.

The alleged plans date back to 2011. They are listed in a collection of 19 separate indictments in cases that have yet to go to trial but the crimes emerged as a motive during his double murder trial.

Prosecutors said Murdaugh killed his wife and son to distract from his financial crimes, which were about to be exposed.

When Murdaugh then took the stand to testify in his own defense, he confessed to robbing PMPED and at least 18 clients from a law firm.

These confessions – while testifying under oath – are now likely to have a major impact on the fraud cases.

“He had to admit to other crimes in his testimony and that is part of the problem with his testimony,” Mr Levin said.

“By this point, he’s already facing two life sentences.”

Mr Levin, who has worked as a defense attorney on numerous high-profile cases, said it was certainly “unusual” to see a defendant confess to other crimes on the witness stand.

“But most people aren’t involved with pervasive crime their whole lives, so it’s an unusual situation where he faces not only double murder charges but also a lifelong series of financial crimes,” he said he.

“So unusual [to confess to other crimes on the stand] but everything about this case is unusual.”

Self-incrimination for a string of financial fraud offenses is not the only reason Murdaugh’s decision to testify was a “colossal error,” the legal expert said.

Mr. Levin described Murdaugh’s step in taking the stand as if he were walking through “a field of landmines” in the face of the other crimes and lies he faced under cross-examination.

“I thought it was a colossal mistake that he took a stand on this case,” he said.

“First of all, he had to admit that he lied to investigators about his whereabouts on the night of the murders.

“He has also had to admit years of deception and lies to his clients from whom he has stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“He looked them in the eye the way he looked the jury in the eye and lied to them to take their money … he had to look the jury in the eye and say I’ve lied to so many people so many times, but for once, you should trust me to tell the truth.”

Mr Levin added: “His testimony was an abomination and he actually helped prosecutors convict him.”

Taking the stand, Murdaugh admitted to lying about his alibi on the night of the murders.

For the past 20 months, he had claimed he never went to the kennel with his wife and son that night.

But he had to admit he lied after the jury was shown a damning cellphone video taken by Paul that Murdaugh placed at the scene minutes before the murders.

Despite the “abomination” that his testimony was, Mr Levin said he doubted the verdict would have been any different even if he had not taken the stand, as “all the evidence pointed to” Murdaugh as the killer.

In fact, Mr. Levin said he was surprised it took the jury so long to convict him.

The jury spent less than three hours deliberating before returning a unanimous guilty verdict – a timeframe that has led to speculation on some social media that the panel did not spend enough time reviewing the evidence.

“I’m surprised it took three hours. I actually predicted an hour,” said Mr. Levin.

“There is no magic time,” he said, defending how long it took the jury.

“The jury has followed the trial closely over the many weeks. They didn’t just have a few hours to review the evidence — they actually thought about it and thought about it and thought about it for weeks.”