WALTERSBORO, S.C. (Court TV) — Attorneys for Alex Murdaugh claim the lead agent in his case lied to the grand jury and have asked a judge to dismiss the indictments.
Alex Murdaugh appears in court. (Court TV)
Alex Murdaugh, 58, was sentenced to two life terms after a jury convicted him of murder in the deaths of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and son, Paul Murdaugh. The South Carolina Supreme Court overturned those convictions and his sentence after finding that inappropriate comments from the clerk of court had tainted the jury.
As he prepares for his second trial, Murdaugh’s attorneys filed a motion seeking to dismiss the indictments on Monday, alleging that the lead case agent for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) “testified that he presented physical evidence directly inculpating the Defendant to the Colleton County Grand Jury that he had admitted was false and which the Defendant has proven was fabricated by law enforcement.” The filing included no further details, but said more information would follow in a supporting memorandum.
Prosecutors filed several motions on Monday, including one seeking permission to conduct a “fresh review” of digital evidence in the case. “Defense has and has always had more of the phones than the investigators and the prosecutors on the case do, including unredacted phone dumps with thousands of messages the State does not.”
Murdaugh’s status as a well-known attorney complicated the case from the start. Investigators had to assemble a taint team to review his phone’s contents before prosecutors could see them, because of the risk that messages might be covered by attorney-client privilege. But in the years since Murdaugh’s arrest, he admitted to stealing millions of dollars from his law firm and clients; to date, more than 10 of his former clients have signed documents waiving their privilege, prosecutors said. Because of those developments, prosecutors asked that a judge allow a new taint team to review the full phone extraction to determine whether there is additional data the state could access.
Prosecutors also filed a motion opposing Murdaugh’s request for access to DNA evidence in the case, dismissing the significance of unidentified DNA found under one of the victims’ fingernails. “The existence of this extremely partial profile in a not unexpected mixture was well-known to the defense since 2022,” prosecutors said in their motion. “Its significance — or, frankly, lack thereof — was litigated during the first trial.”
Referencing the first trial, prosecutors filed documents on Monday renewing several motions from the 2023 trial, including a motion to exclude evidence that the defendant took a polygraph test and to exclude evidence of third-party guilt.
When Murdaugh returns to court, he will be in street clothes and without shackles, Judge Debra McCaslin ordered on Monday. Prosecutors had opposed the defense’s request that he appear unrestrained and without prison garb. “The Court has considered Defendant’s SCDC citations for using another inmate’s pin, abuse of privileges, and a contraband warrant for a book,” McCaslin said in her order. “These do not amount to a genuine concern for escape or security risk.”
Murdaugh’s retrial is tentatively scheduled for spring 2027.
