EDMONTON - Wannabe filmmaker Mark Twitchell plans to appeal his first degree-murder conviction in the dismemberment-slaying of John Altinger at a south Edmonton garage.
Twitchell - who is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years at a Saskatchewan prison - sent a hand-written notice of appeal that was filed Monday. In it, he blames the media for the jury's guilty verdict.
"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 (the) judge's instructions in the charge," writes Twitchell, 31.
Twitchell also says "sufficient evidence was presented to raise reasonable doubt on all required bases," but suggests his defence lawyer did not properly "address key points on state of mind and credibility."
He says those key points include his "advanced knowledge" of computers and "significant differences" between himself and a document found buried in the deleted files of his laptop called SKconfessions, which the Crown called his diary and he claimed was a work of fiction.
Twitchell claims his computer knowledge is "much more advanced" than the average user which undermines the implication he would use one to "carry out a crime" and "destroys" the suggestion he deleted SKconfessions to "hide or erase evidence" or thought it "unrecoverable."
He also claimed the "significant differences in the philosophical world view and individual search for meaning" between himself and SKconfessions was not discussed.
Twitchell also goes after Crown prosecutors for improperly using evidence, including his lying to his girlfriend, his wife and police, to take away his credibility.
"This led the jury to make an inappropriate and skewed character judgement, concluding I'm a lifetime liar," he said, claiming the evidence was only supposed to be used to determine the veracity of SKconfessions.
"The Crown's theory leans on too many fallacies of logic and contradictions in reasoning to make any sense," he concludes. "This must be corrected."
Twitchell was handed a life sentence on April 12 after a jury convicted him of the Oct. 10, 2008, killing of Altinger.
The Crown alleged Twitchell used an Internet dating service to lure Altinger, 38, to a rented garage on the pretext of a date or possible sexual encounter.
Once there, he hit him on the head with a pipe and used a hunting knife to stab him to death before dismembering his body and disposing of his remains down a city sewer.
During the three-week trial - which garnered international attention - the jury heard Twitchell, a married father, was an aspiring filmmaker who had a fascination with Star Wars, weapons and TV serial killer Dexter Morgan.
Court heard Twitchell juggled the life of being a young dad with having a girlfriend on the side and a female American online pal with whom he shared dark secrets.
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