WALTERSBORO, S.C. (Court TV) — Prosecutors have accused Alex Murdaugh‘s defense of trying to intentionally mislead the court and the public at a pretrial hearing with inaccurate statements about polygraph testing.
Alex Murdaugh smiles in court on Aug. 14, 2026. (Tracy Glantz/The State, Henry Taylor/The Post and Courier)
Murdaugh is preparing for a second trial on charges that he murdered his wife and son after the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned his conviction and life sentences due to inappropriate comments by the clerk of court during his trial.
Prosecutors have filed a formal motion seeking to correct the record after they say Murdaugh’s defense made “categorically false” statements at an Aug. 14 pretrial hearing, “clearly said for no other reason than an attempt to prejudice this Court and the public.”
The issue of polygraph testing came up at the hearing because prosecutors had filed a motion seeking to exclude any mention of the testing at Murdaugh’s retrial. Typically, courts consider polygraph testing unreliable and inadmissible. Murdaugh’s defense opposed the motion, citing a polygraph allegedly given to co-defendant Eddie Smith before the first trial. Prosecutors quoted Murdaugh’s attorney, Dick Harpootlian, as saying at the hearing, “I will tell you Mr. Murdaugh passed a polygraph, flying colors. So, um, the same polygrapher. So, it may play a role in this trial.”
Prosecutors said that when Harpootlian made the comment, “defense co-counsel can be observed to look at each other in a way that can only be called incredulous, and then start to whisper to one another.”
The filing says that Murdaugh never submitted to a polygraph with South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) agents before or after his trial and that the polygraphers who examined Smith never examined Murdaugh “at any time on any subject.”
Murdaugh did sit down for a polygraph with the FBI in October 2023 after the first trial, prosecutors said, but that was done without the involvement of any state-level agencies, and the FBI first provided the results to prosecutors on Aug. 19, 2026 — days after the court hearing where it was discussed. That polygraph also focused only on financial issues, not the murders, prosecutors said. “Despite that, Murdaugh failed the FBI polygraph on financial matters with results showing Defendant was trying to use possible countermeasures against the test.”
In a letter to the judge one day after the prosecution’s filing, Harpootlian acknowledged his mistake and apologized. “I realize I mistakenly conflated several facts and my statement was incorrect.” He did not reveal what those facts were, writing, “I am not permitted to disclose any further details regarding any polygraph testing related to Mr. Murdaugh.”
At the Aug. 14 hearing, Judge Debra McCaslin ruled that no mention of any polygraph would be allowed at the retrial.
