(Trends Wide) — Former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh will appeal his convictions and sentences for the 2021 murders of his wife and son, his defense team said Thursday in a three-page court filing.

This is a planned action, as Murdaugh had 10 days to submit an appeal notice following his conviction last week, and his lawyers had indicated they planned to do so.

“Today (defense attorney Jim Griffin) and I filed our notice of appeal for Alex Murdaugh. This is the next step in the legal process to fight for Alex’s constitutional right to a fair trial,” one of Murdaugh’s attorneys, Dick Harpootlian, said on Twitter Thursday.

Murdaugh was convicted March 2 of the June 2021 murder in South Carolina of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul after a week-long trial that included dozens of witnesses. He was also found guilty of two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

He was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors argued that Murdaugh killed his wife and son at his property in Islandton, South Carolina, to distract and delay investigations into his Alleged Financial Crimes. They focused on a long history of deception, arguing that he stole millions of dollars from his former clients and law firm and repeatedly lied to cover his tracks.

Murdaugh admitted in court that he stole money and lied about it, and also that he lied to investigators about his whereabouts just before the murders due to paranoia stemming from his drug addiction. But he flatly denied killing his wife and son.

The jury deliberated less than three hours before returning the guilty verdict.

Murdaugh maintained his innocence during sentencing, telling the judge: “Under no circumstances would I hurt my wife Maggie and I would never hurt my son under any circumstances.”

Harpootlian, Murdaugh’s defense attorney, told Trends Wide in an interview last week that his client was “not happy” with the verdict but was “expecting it.”

In a separate case due to go to trial, Murdaugh faces 99 counts stemming from a series of alleged financial crimes, which prosecutors say involved defrauding his law firm, clients and the government out of millions of dollars.