Convicted murderer Twitchell files appeal
Mark Twitchell, the man at the centre of Edmonton's most lurid trial in recent memory, has filed a notice to appeal his first-degree murder conviction.
Twitchell, 31, was found guilty by a jury on April 12 in the October 2008 slaying of Johnny Altinger. He is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Altinger, 38, was lured to a southeast Edmonton garage by an ad on an internet dating site. He was bludgeoned and dismembered.
Twitchell filed the handwritten appeal from the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert without the help of a lawyer, and is appealing both his conviction and the length of his sentence.
Twitchell lists a number of points of contention with how his case was heard, including the publicity around the proceedings.
"The media attention surrounding my case was so extensive, so blatant and so overtly sensationalized that it is unreasonable to expect any unsequestered jury to have remained uninfluenced by it, regardless of judges instructions in the charge," Twitchell writes in the appeal.
He adds that he believes his lawyer did not "adequately and satisfactorily address key points on state-of-mind and credibility."
Those points include his "advanced knowledge of computers" which "undermines the implication I would use a computer to carry out a crime."
Twitchell also takes issue with how the Crown presented evidence where he lied to his former girlfriend, his wife and police.
"This led the jury to make an inappropriate and skewed character judgment — concluding that I'm a lifetime liar."
Twitchell also indicated on the form that he does not want a jury if a trial is held again.
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| Det. Bill Clark speaks to Mark Twitchell during an interview in the early hours of Oct. 20, 2008. (Edmonton Police Service ) |
Mark Twitchell, the man at the centre of Edmonton's most lurid trial in recent memory, has filed a notice to appeal his first-degree murder conviction.
Twitchell, 31, was found guilty by a jury on April 12 in the October 2008 slaying of Johnny Altinger. He is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Altinger, 38, was lured to a southeast Edmonton garage by an ad on an internet dating site. He was bludgeoned and dismembered.
Twitchell filed the handwritten appeal from the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert without the help of a lawyer, and is appealing both his conviction and the length of his sentence.
Twitchell lists a number of points of contention with how his case was heard, including the publicity around the proceedings.
"The media attention surrounding my case was so extensive, so blatant and so overtly sensationalized that it is unreasonable to expect any unsequestered jury to have remained uninfluenced by it, regardless of judges instructions in the charge," Twitchell writes in the appeal.
He adds that he believes his lawyer did not "adequately and satisfactorily address key points on state-of-mind and credibility."
Those points include his "advanced knowledge of computers" which "undermines the implication I would use a computer to carry out a crime."
Twitchell also takes issue with how the Crown presented evidence where he lied to his former girlfriend, his wife and police.
"This led the jury to make an inappropriate and skewed character judgment — concluding that I'm a lifetime liar."
Twitchell also indicated on the form that he does not want a jury if a trial is held again.
