Judge makes multiple rulings ahead of Alex Murdaugh retrial
LEXINGTON, SC (WOLO) — Alex Murdaugh was back in court on Friday for a hearing ahead of his April 5th retrial.
Ahead of Friday’s hearing, the judge determined Murdaugh is now allowed to wear personal clothing while in court — instead of the previous orange jumpsuit and shackles.
Beginning the hearing, Defense Attorney Jim Griffin explained that the local media station Fits News had made a report regarding SLED and a murder in Allendale County having shell casings that matched the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh. “Either the test is bad, or someone is out there murdering other people,” says Griffin.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters then rebutted, “That’s the first I’ve heard of that.” (Later in the hearing, Waters received word from his team, who had simultaneously checked on the accusation, and told the judge that SLED had confirmed with his team there had been no leads or ties with the Allendale murder to the Murdaugh murders)
Judge Debra McCaslin then made several important ruling, starting with polygraph examinations were next — with McCaslin saying they are not permissible.
“And I’m going to tell you now — there is to be no mention of a polygraph before the jury,” she says.
Next, the judge ruled that Murdaugh’s testimony from the first trial can be used in the retrial under certain conditions.
Regarding DNA found under Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernails, defense attorneys then argued for samples to be tested by the independent company Othram, out of Texas. That DNA was initially dismissed because Maggie had visited a nail salon the day she was murdered. Attorneys say samples would be compared within a criminal database and within a genealogical one — similar to “23 and me.”
“Othram can test that y chromosome, and depending on how much it is, they can go back to origin. Is it an Asian? Is it a white male? They have so much more capacity than the SLED lab,” says Defense Attorney Jim Griffin.
Prosecutors also want to allow SLED to retest DNA. Defense Attorney Dick Harpootlian pushed back on SLED — accusing the agency of “violating every rule known to man.”
“I don’t have any faith they won’t screw this up! But whether you have faith in them or not, why don’t we have an independent right to examine the untested DNA? Why don’t we have that?” asked Harpootlian. Judge McCaslin then ruled in their favor to allow both tests to be done.
Finally, the retrial’s location was discussed, with Harpootlian asking that it be held in Charleston instead of returning to Colleton County.
“And so Colleton County is poison. The courthouse is the scene of the crime, so we can’t go back there,” says Harpootlian, continuing with, “And so he’s vilified. He’s convicted of murdering his wife and child. Horrendous. Stealing $12 million. Horrendous. But he’s entitled to a jury that can put all that aside and base their verdict on what you tell them and what the witnesses say.”
Prosecutor Creighton Waters disagrees on Charleston being a viable choice, saying, ” I’m always happy to have a reasonable discussion, what I can’t do is have the defense dictate the most expensive and most logistically county in the state, that’s the point that we’re making.
The next hearing is scheduled for Friday November 13th at 10 a.m.
