Attorneys for Alex Murdaugh filed a motion Friday that seeks to throw out the double-murder indictments against him.
Defense argues the state fabricated evidence
The 33-page motion details arguments that the lead investigator in the murders of Murdaugh's wife and son, Maggie and Paul, lied under oath to grand juries in order to secure an indictment.
Attorney Jim Griffin accused the state of lying about forensic evidence found on Murdaugh at the time of the crime.
The motion reads that the state testified "that an expert had found the victims’ blood spatter on the shirt Mr. Murdaugh was wearing when he found the bodies of his wife and son, even though the State’s laboratory had confirmed, eleven months before the agent testified, that there was no human blood on the shirt.”
Additionally, Murdaugh's attorneys claim lead South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Agent David Owen swore to grand jurors that shotguns found inside the family home were loaded with similar ammunition combinations used to kill Paul. The motion cites Owen later admitted during the original 2023 trial that his grand jury statements were "not accurate" and that he had used "trickery".
The defense argues the alleged fabrications led to Murdaugh being wrongfully indicted for the murders.
Next steps
The next pretrial hearing is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 13, at the Lexington County courthouse in front of Judge Debra McCaslin. Should McCaslin grant the defense its motion and dismiss the indictments without prejudice, then the state would have to re-indict him with new evidence.
The retrial is scheduled to begin April 5 in Sumter County.
