Alex Murdaugh returns to court for hearing on what evidence can be used in retrial
The South Carolina Supreme Court overturned Alex Murdaugh's convictions in the murders of his wife and youngest son earlier this year, clearing the way for a second trial where the defense wants to introduce more evidence.
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Judge denies Murdaugh's request for more ballistics evidence, calls it 'fishing expedition'
LEXINGTON, S.C. — South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Debra McCaslin denied Alex Murdaugh's request for more ballistics reports connected to a specific type of ammunition used to kill his wife, Maggie, but told prosecutors to hand over the "raw data" used for crime scene comparison.
"I don't believe that the defense has established that the requested information is material for the preparation of the defense, or otherwise subject to disclosure," she said. "SLED has conducted testing, and at this time, no ballistic matches have been identified linking the evidence at issue to another weapon, crime or investigation."
She said earlier in the hearing that the motion sounded like a "fishing expedition." Murdaugh's defense countered that .300 Blackout rounds are the second-most popular type of ammunition in the country for some rifles.
"It may very well be a fishing expedition, but we when their witness indicated that Blackout was rarely used, that Blackout cartridge, and minimized because they were trying at that point to prove it was a family weapon, very rare — we believe it's got much more, use in that area, especially where people use it to hunt hogs," said defense attorney Dick Harpootlian. "I don't understand what the objection is."
He said under Brady and Giglio precedents, the defense should be allowed access to ballistics regarding more cases in the area that used .300 Blackout ammunition, which is what killed Maggie Murdaugh.
The defense had wanted casings from other crimes involving .300 Blackout examined by a defense expert.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters countered that there have been no tool mark hits consistent with the evidence collected from the crime scene, even if the same brand of ammunition was used in other crimes.
The popularity of .300 Blackout has also increased in popularity over the last five years, he said.
Waters said that a manual and machine-assisted examinations found that shell casings from around Murdaugh's former estate were consistent with those recovered at the crime scene.
Harpootlian asked for a chance to have a defense expert conduct the same kind of analysis.
"All right," the judge said. "I'm going to order that you get Mr. Harpootlian, all the raw data that you have, and then Mr. Harpootlian, after your expert looks at, if you need anything else, you can let me know."
Fox News' Adam Sabes and Samantha Daigle contributed to this report.
Alex Murdaugh defense attorney addresses judge's last-minute criticism outside the courthouse
Asked about some critical remarks directed at him from the judge to close out Alex Murdaugh's hearing Friday, his lead defense lawyer Dick Harpootlian said he agreed with her assessment.
"She's 100% right," he told reporters outside the courthouse Friday. "I made a statement, which, not intentionally, wasn't true, and she was right to call me on it."
At the end of a pretrial hearing Friday, Judge Debra McCaslin granted a prosecution motion to correct the record regarding a claim Harpootlian made in August.
"The state has made a motion to correct the record concerning Mr. Hartpootlian's statements concerning the defendant passing a polygraph 'with flying colors,'" McCaslin said. "This statement was made at the Aug. 14 pretrial conference. It is the court's understanding that Mr. Murdaugh was polygraphed as to whether he had hidden other assets. He failed this test."
He did not take a polygraph related to the murders, she said.
She told counsel in the courtroom to be careful to only speak truthfully going forward and to be forthright when they don't know the answer to something.
Alex Murdaugh failed a polygraph test before lawyer claimed he passed with 'flying colors': Judge
Judge Debra McCaslin ended by chiding the sides again, telling them the retrial will take place inside the courtroom, under the rules of evidence, and not elsewhere.
"I will not allow these proceedings to become a circus, and I will not permit anyone involved in this case to use this courtroom as a platform for publicity or theatrics."
The remarks came as she granted a prosecution request to correct the record over defense attorney Dick Harpootlian's characterization of a lie detector test Alex Murdaugh had taken related to his financial crimes — not the murders of his wife and youngest son.
Prosecutors disputed this claim back in August.
"The state has made a motion to correct the record concerning Mr. Hartpootlian's statements concerning the defendant passing a polygraph 'with flying colors,'" McCaslin said. "This statement was made at the Aug. 14 pretrial conference. It is the court's understanding that Mr. Murdaugh was polygraphed as to whether he had hidden other assets. He failed this test."
He did not take a polygraph related to the murders, she said.
"Therefore, the record will reflect that the defendant failed his polygraph as to financial matters, and he has never been polygraph concerning the murders of Maggie and Paul," the judge added.
She told the sides that she expects further statements made before the court to be "truthful and accurate."
Murdaugh's next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 13.
Fox News' Adam Sabes and Kelsie Cairns contributed to this report.
Judge chides counsel on both sides over 'tit for tat' back-and-forth in courtroom
LEXINGTON, S.C. — The judge briefly interrupted the hearing when defense lawyer Dick Harpootlian asked prosecutor Creighton Waters to "sit down for just a minute" while he was speaking about alleged delays from the state in the discovery process.
"Y'all need to stop this, OK?" Judge Debra McCaslin interrupted. "I'm gonna talk to y'all before we leave here today, but this has got to stop. I don't want this tit for tat back between y'all. lawyers...professionals."
"This is court," she added. "This isn't a soundbite."
They hearing has moved on to a motion from the defense seeking access to crime-scene laser mapping known as FARO scans.
Alex Murdaugh appeared to be listening intently, from his seat at the defense table, with one arm propped up under his chin, taking notes with his other hand.
McCaslin later said she expected prosecutors to hand over the FARO scan by Monday.
Fox News' Samantha Daigle contributed to this report.
Judge rules defendant is entitled to independent DNA testing on Maggie Murdaugh swabs
LEXINGTON, S.C. — South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Debra McCaslin ruled that Alex Murdaugh is entitled to independent DNA testing on remaining samples recovered from under Maggie Murdaugh's fingernails and from her cellphone.
Prosecutors had wanted to have shared testing conducted due to the limited nature of remaining samples.
One of Murdaugh's defense attorneys, Phil Barber, said if there’s DNA on her phone, she’s not the last person to touch it.
And if it's not her husband's there’s a potential an unknown man was the last person to touch her phone.
Barber said that could be “highly material”. Barber said they could also obtain some ancestry information from testing the DNA evidence.
Alex Murdaugh defense fears shared DNA testing could be used against him
LEXINGTON, S.C. — As Alex Murdaugh's defense team pushes for more DNA testing on samples recovered from Maggie Murdaugh's fingernails and her cellphone, his lawyers are pushing back against a prosecution proposal to share access to testing on the same material because there's so little of it to work with.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters suggested submitting the limited samples to a single independent lab so both sides could share the findings.
Jim Griffin, one of Murdaugh's defense attorneys, countered that court rules don't allow prosecutors to use the independent testing of defense labs against them.
"Rule 5 doesn't allow them to use it against us, but Othram will hold it until the case is over," he said. "And then if they need it, for whatever reason they think they need it, then it would be available at that point in time. But what Rule 5 prevents is for us doing a test and then using it against us."
Judge Debra McCaslin previously said she was worried about the prosecution "hogging in" on the defense's right to independent testing.
"We absolutely agree the defense deserves a fair trial," said Waters. "But the case law also says, the state deserves a fair trial as well, and when we're talking about this untested evidence, there needs to be a commonality of approach."
Murdaugh arrives in court in suit and tie as hearing kicks off
LEXINGTON, S.C. — Convicted fraudster and accused murderer Alex Murdaugh arrived in court for Friday's hearing with his hands cuffed and wearing a dark suit and light blue tie at 10:02 a.m. and took a seat at the defense table.
South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Debra McCaslin called court to order moments later.
She said three issues would be the primary focus of today's hearing — DNA, ballistics and a 3D laser scan of the crime scene. She said some minor issues would be addressed at the end of the hearing.
Murdaugh was seen taking notes before prosecutor Creighton Waters explained the state's opposition to the defense's request for a Y-STR test on this evidence — also known as short tandem repeat testing focused on the Y-chromosome.
Waters said that due to a limited amount of available evidence, the state would be OK with taking the samples and having independent testing performed that both the state and defense could access.
McCaslin countered that the state could not "hog in" on the defense right to have independent testing.
What evidence is under debate at today's hearing for Alex Murdaugh?
LEXINGTON, S.C. — The disgraced former South Carolina attorney accused of gunning down his wife and youngest son in 2021 returns to court later this morning for an evidentiary hearing ahead of his retrial on murder charges.
Although Alex Murdaugh had been convicted back in 2023, the state Supreme Court overturned that earlier this year due to jury tampering.
Now, his defense team is preparing for a new trial with potentially different evidence admitted into court.
Friday's hearing will address some of it, including untested DNA evidence from under Maggie Murdaugh's fingernails, ballistics reports from other nearby cases involving the same type of gun as well as additional digital forensics.
Murdaugh's defense has previously accused state prosecutors of stalling discovery as they aim to prepare for his retrial, which is scheduled for next year.
"Every week the State withholds this material is a week taken from the preparation of the defense, and if the delay continues the defense may be forced to seek a continuance that Mr. Murdaugh does not want and that the Court has said it will not grant," his lawyers wrote to the court in September. "The State should not be permitted to create, through inaction, the very delay it would then oppose."
Murdaugh's defense wants to use the fingernail DNA for investigative genetic genealogy, which could potentially turn up alternate suspects.
The ballistics evidence in question relates to .300 Blackout ammunition — the same kind used to kill Maggie Murdaugh.
According to the defense, prosecutors called a law enforcement witness in Murdaugh's first trial whose testimony was intended “to persuade the jury that the .300 Blackout was uncommon enough that its appearance at Moselle (a former Murdaugh-owned estate) pointed to the household that owned three of them, and away from anyone else.”
But prosecutors later conceded the cartridge is the second-most popular rifle round in the country and South Carolina's State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) had recorded more than 700 cases involving the ammunition since 2021.
Separately, Murdaugh's defense has accused prosecutors of withholding a witness claim that Yemassee Police Chief Greg Alexander had been seen handling one of the suspected murder weapons after the killings. No suspected murder weapons have been recovered, however the claim surfaced in a Post and Courier story that reported an unnamed official told SLED agents "spoke of arriving early to the murder scene and talked about providing a change of clothes to Murdaugh."
Former prosecutor calls Alex Murdaugh's new evidence push a 'wild goose chase'
LEXINGTON, S.C. — A former prosecutor is warning that Alex Murdaugh’s hunt for new evidence may not pan out ahead of his retrial in the 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul.
"I don't see any reason for the judge to allow for this essentially wild goose chase in regards to an uncorroborated report about law enforcement perhaps being in possession of the murder weapon," said Josh Ritter, a former deputy district attorney in Los Angeles and a Fox News contributor.
Murdaugh was convicted in 2023, but the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned his convictions earlier this year due to jury tampering by a former Colleton County court clerk. A hearing is scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m. to discuss several evidentiary items as both the prosecution and Murdaugh's defense prepare for a retrial next year.
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