Attorneys representing Alex Murdaugh filed a motion on Friday urging a judge to dismiss the original murder indictments related to the killings of his wife and son, alleging that the lead investigator in the case provided false testimony to the grand jury.
Murdaugh is currently awaiting a retrial on the murder charges following the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision to overturn his convictions and life sentence. The court determined that a court clerk had improperly influenced jurors during his 2023 trial.
Even if the motion to dismiss the indictments is granted, it may not necessarily halt or delay the scheduled April retrial for the disgraced attorney. Prosecutors retain the authority to seek a new set of grand jury indictments, a course of action that defense attorneys have indicated they will not contest.
Judge ends hearing with interesting question
Judge Debra McCaslin did not issue an immediate ruling on the defense’s request, stating that a written decision would be delivered the following week. However, one of her final remarks during the hearing may have offered an indication of her likely direction.
“If you had to go back to the grand jury, could you have it all done and ready to go by April 5th?” she asked prosecutor Creighton Waters.
“Your honor, I’m always working ahead,” Waters responded.
Throwing out indictments could be another rebuke of agent on case
A ruling in favor of dismissing the indictments would represent yet another significant rebuke of the case’s chief investigator, State Law Enforcement Division agent David Owen.
A judge previously dismissed a separate murder case in which Owen had been involved, after it was revealed that the deceased woman’s mother had informed the agent of a suicide threat her daughter made just days before her death , information Owen never disclosed to either prosecutors or defense attorneys. The woman was subsequently found dead by the same method she had described to her mother.
Owen abruptly retired in 2024, shortly after having been honored as State Law Enforcement Officer of the Year.
Prosecutors noted that while Owen stands accused of concealing or failing to disclose evidence in that separate case, all matters pertaining to the Murdaugh case involved evidence and reports that were available to the defense during the original trial.
The grand jury heard several questionable assertions
Prosecutors allege that Murdaugh, 58, murdered his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, on their expansive property in the South Carolina Lowcountry in 2021. Murdaugh is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence for stealing millions of dollars from clients and has acknowledged in court that he is a thief, an insurance fraudster, a negligent attorney, and a long-term opioid addict. Nevertheless, he continues to deny any involvement in the killings.
Defense attorneys contended that, in the course of seeking the indictments, Owen informed the Colleton County grand jury that blood spatter had been discovered on a T-shirt Murdaugh was wearing on the night of the murders. An earlier report compiled by state agents indicated that no blood stains had been found, and no such evidence was ever introduced at trial.
Owen further told grand jurors that the same combination of ammunition , buckshot in one chamber and large birdshot in the other , used in Paul Murdaugh’s killing had been found loaded in firearms throughout the Murdaugh property, a claim that proved to be inaccurate.
The grand jury was also presented with a substantial body of other evidence, including a video recorded by Paul Murdaugh in which Alex Murdaugh’s voice can be heard at the scene, directly contradicting his assertion that he had not been near the kennels , the location where his wife and son were killed , at any point close to the time of their deaths.
Defense attorney Jim Griffin, however, argued that the false claim regarding the presence of his son’s blood on Murdaugh was the only piece of testimony capable of placing him at the scene at the time of the killings.
“A phone call doesn’t put him there. The video doesn’t put him there,” Griffin said. “The blood from his murdered son sprang through the air , it’s raining back on him , puts him there.”
Prosecutors call it a mistake, cite other evidence against Murdaugh
Prosecutors maintained that they possessed ample additional evidence to support the murder charges, asserting in court documents that “a single mistake is not bad faith.”
In addition to the kennel video, Owen presented the grand jury with information regarding the family’s mounting financial debts, firearms missing from the property that matched the type potentially used in the killings, and the fact that Murdaugh’s schemes to defraud clients and his law firm were on the verge of being uncovered.
“This is what the agent understood at the time. And it’s ultimately not something that would cause a substantial effect on the grand jury or cast grave doubt when we look at all the other evidence that was presented,” Waters said.
Prosecutors have maintained that Murdaugh killed his wife and son in the belief that the public sympathy generated by the deaths would afford him additional time to conceal his financial crimes.
Murdaugh’s legal team has consistently emphasized the limited physical evidence available to prosecutors. No DNA or blood was detected on Murdaugh or any of his clothing, despite the fact that the killings were carried out at close range using powerful weapons that have never been recovered.
“What we’re asking, your honor, is to reboot , go back to square one,” Griffin said.
Despite the overturning of his original convictions, Murdaugh remains incarcerated on separate sentences related to financial crimes. The outcome of the murder case will have no bearing on the timeline for his potential release.
