{"id":4584,"date":"2026-08-12T22:37:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T22:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=4584"},"modified":"2026-08-12T22:37:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T22:37:39","slug":"dna-prior-testimony-fridays-alex-murdaugh-hearing-to-air-swarm-of-contested-issues-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=4584","title":{"rendered":"DNA, prior testimony? Friday\u2019s Alex Murdaugh hearing to air swarm of contested issues"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s pretrial hearing for the upcoming second murder trial of Alex Murdaugh is set to feature a host of contentious issues and opposing arguments by prosecution and defense attorneys.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Ridiculous.\u2019 Governor critical of SC agency plan to charge man $2.4M for records<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One divisive issue was settled Monday \u2014 state Judge Debra McCaslin ruled Murdaugh will be allowed to wear civilian clothes and be unshackled. McCaslin found that the defendants in criminal cases have the presumption of innocence and that requiring Murdaugh to wear prison garb and be shackled in televised pretrial hearings interfere with that right.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no justifiable reason to require Defendant to appear in prison clothes and shackles,\u201d McCaslin wrote. However, she addressed prosecution concerns about security, adding that \u201cless visible security measures are available that adequately protect public safety and courtroom order.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Otherwise, McCaslin \u2014 who has a reputation for efficiency in dealing with complex issues \u2014 will have her hands full.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

She is scheduled to possibly hear spirited arguments as state Attorney General\u2019s prosecutors and defense attorneys clash on subjects as varied as DNA, Murdaugh\u2019s previous financial fraud convictions, Murdaugh\u2019s phone records and whether Murdaugh\u2019s testimony from his first murder trial can be introduced at his second trial, according to court filings.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A possible change of venue from the historic 206-year-old Colleton County courthouse to another locale could also be discussed.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The defense prefers Charleston. Prosecutors assert for numerous reasons including downtown congestion and not enough parking, that Charleston pose the most problems of any other county in the state.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

However, it may not be possible to air and settle every issue that may potentially arise Friday.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The hearing will begin at 10 am Friday, Aug. 14, in the Lexington County courthouse.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

At the last hearing, June 29, as might be expected for one of America\u2019s highest-profile criminal cases, more than 40 media people from print, broadcast, documentary and social media were among the audience in the nearly packed fourth floor main courtroom. Court TV broadcast nationwide the first hearing and will do the same for this hearing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

More than 20 books have been written on the case, in which Murdaugh, a once-successful fourth-generation lawyer from a prominent legal and political family, is accused of murder in the 2021 execution-style killings of his wife, Maggie, and his son Paul. In 2023, he was convicted of the murders by a Colleton County jury. He has also been disbarred from practicing law.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In May, Murdaugh\u2019s murder convictions were overturned by the S.C. Supreme Court, whose five justices unanimously cited jury tampering by former Colleton Clerk of Court Becky Hill as their reason. Justices ruled her tampering denied Murdaugh the right to a fair trial, a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A new murder trial is tentatively set for April 5, 2027. Murdaugh, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence on numerous fraud convictions, has admitted his thefts, which involved stealing from his law firm and embezzling millions from clients who had earned big settlements in legal cases.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But he denies killing his wife and son.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Detailed filings in the Colleton County clerk of court\u2019s office show issues possibly on tap for Friday include:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Phone digital evidence<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

Prosecutors led by senior assistant attorney general Creighton Waters are seeking to conduct a fresh review of evidence on Murdaugh\u2019s cell phone. Although prosecutors reviewed Murdaugh\u2019s phone evidence in 2021, since then \u201cthere have been developments that permit a more careful review,\u201d Waters wrote in a motion filed Friday.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Prosecutors will also seek a ruling from the judge to compel defense attorneys to turn over phone digital evidence that they collected during the defense investigation of the case.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defense has and has always had more of the phones than the investigators and prosecutors on the case do, including unredacted phone dumps with thousands of messages from the phones (that) the State does not,\u201d Waters motion said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cMoreover … the defense has a phone extraction from (Murdaugh) taken near the murders for which the State seeks it to produce,\u201d Waters\u2019 motion said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Defense attorneys are expected to oppose the prosecution\u2019s effort.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Murdaugh\u2019s prior testimony \u2014 admissible?<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

Prosecutors are seeking a ruling from the judge to let them use the testimony Murdaugh gave at his first trial.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In that trial, Murdaugh waived his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and took the stand, admitting at length how he \u201clied repeatedly to law enforcement, his family, his friends … and about his whereabouts during a crucial period on the night of the murders.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Murdaugh spent more than a day on the witness stand, undergoing emotional direct examination by his attorney Jim Griffin and then a grueling cross-examination by Waters.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

During his testimony, Murdaugh also admitted to stealing from clients and his law firm.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If the judge does decide to admit portions of Murdaugh\u2019s testimony, she will have another decision to make: whether to allow the jury to see video or hear audio of Murdaugh\u2019s testimony or have a transcript read to the jury.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dismiss murder indictments?<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

In a filing Monday, Aug. 10, Murdaugh\u2019s attorneys moved to dismiss the murder indictments on the alleged grounds that a former South Carolina Law Enforcement agent admitted \u2014 following Murdaugh\u2019s 2023 murder trial \u2014 that he gave false testimony to a Colleton County grand jury in 2021 that led to Murdaugh\u2019s murder indictments.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The filing said that more details will be presented in a future memorandum to the court elaborating on how former SLED agent David Owen allegedly admitted during the first trial that he presented false physical evidence the grand jury that indicted Murdaugh.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The attorney general\u2019s office is expected to contest the significance of any alleged false testimony by Owen.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Prosecutors have not yet replied to that motion.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Evidence of Murdaugh\u2019s motive<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

In Murdaugh\u2019s first trial, prosecutors were successfully able to introduce evidence of financial pressures on Murdaugh they said led him to kill his wife and son.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To do so, they put up numerous witnesses who testified that Murdaugh was on the verge of being discovered for using his job in his law firm to steal from clients and law firm over a 10-year period.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

They want to put up the same kind of evidence at Murdaugh\u2019s second trial.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In a Monday, Aug. 10, filing, prosecutors wrote, \u201cMurdaugh has been charged with murdering his wife and son \u2014 two integral members of his own immediate family. Since people are naturally expected to love their wives and sons instead of brutally gunning them down, why<\/i> Murdaugh did what he is accused of doing will unquestionably weigh on any rational juror\u2019s mind when deciding whether the state met its burden of proof.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Moreover, prosecutors wrote, Murdaugh himself brought up the idea of motive when he told the first law officer who arrived on the scene that whoever killed Maggie and Paul may have been seeking revenge for a 2019 fatal boat crash Paul Murdaugh was involved in.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the Supreme Court\u2019s May 13 decision that overturned Murdaugh\u2019s convictions, justices wrote that the trial judge had let the jury hear more than 12 hours of evidence about Murdaugh\u2019s financial crimes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That amount of testimony was too much, wrote the Supreme Court, advising that the testimony could have presented \u201cin a fraction of that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It will be up to Judge McCaslin to make a decision on how much financial crimes testimony will be presented to the jury, and in what form.<\/p>\n

Read more Ex-federal corrections officer indicted in $60k bribery scheme, prosecutors say<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Change of venue<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

At the June pretrial hearing, McCaslin asked each side for suggestions on where a new trial should be held. Colleton County, the site of the first trial, has not been ruled out.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On Friday, defense attorneys filed a 29-page motion urging McCaslin to transfer the case to Charleston County, where the main courthouse building sits in his historic downtown section across from the federal courthouse and city hall.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Citing a tsunami of publicity, defense attorneys said, \u201cThis prosecution has generated publicity without precedent in the history of this State \u2014 no fewer than seven television documentary series, films and dramatizations distributed on the Nation\u2019s largest platforms; a podcast that attained the No. 1 ranking in the world; gavel-to-gavel live broadcast of the first trial; and new productions released to the present day.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

All that publicity has \u201csaturated\u201d the five counties of the 14th Judicial Circuit, which includes Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper, defense attorneys said. And the 14th Circuit is a venue where Murdaugh\u2019s family occupied the solicitor\u2019s post (circuit prosecutor) for \u201cthe better part of a century,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Moreover, of the 76 witnesses who testified in Murdaugh\u2019s first trial, roughly half were 14th Circuit government and law enforcement officials, and many of the jurors and witnesses knew each other and were \u201cone another\u2019s neighbors, relatives, customers and co-parishoners,\u201d defense attorneys wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The saturation of such a small venue by prejudicial publicity gives rise to a presumption of prejudice,\u201d defense attorneys wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Nearby Charleston County is a fit place to secure an impartial jury, defense attorneys wrote. It is just 50 miles from the Colleton County courthouse in Walterboro, its population is 11 times that of Colleton County, and it has \u201ca demonstrated record of impaneling impartial juries in causes of national prominence,\u201d defense attorneys wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Charleston would also impose \u201cthe least travel burden\u201d on witnesses of any suitable county outside the 14th Circuit, defense attorneys wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say no to Charleston<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, prosecutors filed a 10-page response to defense lawyers, outlining in detail their objections to Charleston, saying it is the \u201cmost logistically challenging county of the entire state of South Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Charleston is of course the State\u2019s oldest city and one of the premiere cities in the nation for industry, business, the arts and tourism. But considering logistics and expense, the \u2018Holy City\u2019 makes Charleston the most difficult county in the State to handle this particular matter,\u201d prosecutors wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The downtown area is beautiful and historic, but traffic and parking there are already extremely difficult on a normal business day without the massive influx of jurors, witnesses, attorneys, staff, media and onlookers that this case would bring,\u201d prosecutors wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The retrial is now set to begin in the spring, and Charleston\u2019s \u201cspring tourist season is already the busiest time of the year\u201d in that city, prosecutors wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cA review of hotel rates indicates the expense of staying in Charleston reasonably close to the courthouse would be more than double or triple the costs of comparable areas,\u201d prosecutors wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, heavy spring storms and king tides can and all too often do completely paralyze the already heavily congested downtown area with flooding,\u201d prosecutors wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

n Murdaugh\u2019s first trial, it only took two days to pick a jury in Colleton County, prosecutors wrote. \u201cAnd frankly, the publicity then was as much, if not more so, than now,\u201d prosecutors wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the modern era of the internet, publicity is pervasive and the true test of picking an impartial jury will be if the juror can set aside their own opinions and be fair and impartial jurors, prosecutors wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said they were open to discussing an alternate location and named Spartanburg, Newberry, Lancaster, York or Florence courthouses as alternate locations. Richland, Lexington and Aiken would be difficult venues because Master\u2019s golf tournament is being held in the first part of April, prosecutors wrote.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

DNA evidence<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

A potentially contentious issue is whether the defense can have DNA from underneath one of Maggie Murdaugh\u2019s fingernails analyzed by a private lab. The DNA is from an unknown and unrelated male and is not consistent with DNA from any known party, including her husband or sons, defense Murdaugh\u2019s attorneys have told the judge.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Such evidence would indicate that someone other than Alex Murdaugh was close enough to her to have participated in her killing, defense attorneys contend.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Defense attorneys also contend that SLED has already examined the DNA sample and it is time for the defense experts, who use a different method of testing, to do their own examination.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the first trial, SLED was unable to analyze the DNA, but science has made significant advances in the technology since then, defense attorneys assert.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In an Aug. 7 filing, prosecutors made these points about the DNA sample:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n