Mark Twitchell, the man at the centre of one of Edmonton's most lurid homicide trials, has dropped his appeal of his first-degree murder conviction.

Filmmaker and convicted killer Mark Twitchell has dropped his legal appeal. (Facebook)

Alberta Justice confirmed Twitchell abandoned his appeal and filed notice to that effect on Feb. 15.

Twitchell, 31, was found guilty by a jury last 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's fondness for the television show Dexter was well documented during the trial, and he had a Facebook profile under the name of protagonist Dexter Morgan, a vigilante serial killer who masters the perfect crime.

Twitchell filed a handwritten appeal of his both his conviction and his sentence from the Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert without the help of a lawyer.

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 wrote.

He added he believed his lawyer did not "adequately and satisfactorily address key points on state-of-mind and credibility."

Twitchell also took issue with how the Crown presented evidence that 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."