When Alex Murdaugh was convicted three years ago of murdering his wife and son, the prosecution argued he acted alone. They said he took the murder weapons with him that night to his mother’s house and they were never found.
Now, as his defense team prepares for a retrial, attorneys want to know more about an alleged cover-up involving those weapons as well as bloody clothing.
In a motion filed late Wednesday, Murdaugh’s defense attorneys say they’re aware of a grand jury investigation into the allegations and they want prosecutors to share what they know.
“The defense should not have to learn the state’s evidence from the press,” defense attorneys wrote in their latest filing.
The attorneys cite media reports that a grand jury is investigating at least two Lowcountry law enforcement officers for taking the murder weapons and bloody clothing from the crime scene. South Carolina Public Radio is not naming the officers or other officials because they have not been charged.
But two media outlets have reported that an officer provided clean clothes for Murdaugh to change into shortly after the murders and confiscated weapons.
If true, the defense says that raises significant questions about the integrity of the crime scene and “impeaches every witness who testified that a solo actor committed the murders and disposed of the murder weapons.”
The motion also questions whether prosecutors are trying to use the grand jury “to develop evidence for the retrial of this case, out of the view of the defendant and this court.”
The state says it will respond to the motion in court filings. The judge presiding over the retrial next April in Sumter has scheduled a new status conference for Oct. 16 in Lexington County.