WARWICK TOWNSHIP, LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa — A state appellate court has denied David G. Ludwig’s request for relief, saying the convicted killer filed too late.
Ludwig, 29, is facing two consecutive life prison sentences for the 2005 killing of Michael and Cathryn Borden in their home after they forbid Ludwig from seeing their 14 year-old daughter. After shooting the couple in the head, Ludwig and their 14 year-old daughter fled and were found a day later in Indiana.
According to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s office, Ludwig’s latest appeal includes a request that he be treated as a juvenile killer serving a life sentence. Ludwig was 18 at the time of the killing. The supreme court ruling Ludwig cited, made it unconstitutional for juvenile defendants to serve life sentences. Ludwig also points towards ineffective assistance towards his previous lawyer.
In 2016, Ludwig pleaded guilty to two counts of first degree murder, statutory sexual assault and related charges in exchange for a sentence of two consecutive life terms and a consecutive term of 9 ½ to 19 years in prison.
Lancaster County Judge David Ashworth found the appeal to be untimely and without merit. In Judge Ashworth’s denial of relief, he addressed part of Ludwig’s claims stating is he not due the same consideration as juveniles because he was 18 ½ at the time of the murders.
Ludwig is currently in Luzerne Count Prison, and will turn 30 in April.
