Judge rules on DNA testing, denies ballistics request in Alex Murdaugh retrial hearing

LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C. (WTOC) - DNA evidence and unrelated shooting reports were spotlighted Friday in the case of Alex Murdaugh, as attorneys representing Murdaugh work to make sure they have everything they need ahead of the trial set for April.

Judge Debra McCaslin told attorneys once again Friday morning that she didn’t want this case to turn into a circus.

“I’m not going to make the state turn over stuff to you 3-4 times. If you can’t hold onto it then you got a problem,” McCaslin said.

Murdaugh’s team asked the judge to allow testing of some of the final remaining samples of DNA found on swabs of Maggie Murdaugh’s phone and under her fingernails, without the state getting a hold of the results.

This was some of the DNA found at the crime scene in Colleton County back in 2021, where investigators found the bodies of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh.

Murdaugh’s attorneys say some of the existing results show some of the DNA on the cell phone and under the fingernails is not Murdaugh’s and instead could be an unknown suspect. They want to test it to cover all of their bases, saying the tests would take about 90 days to conduct.

“It can exclude people, and what we have already excludes Mr. Murdaugh because it has DNA that’s not hers or his, but if we could match the three together, it would be highly material in this case,” Attorney for Murdaugh, Phillip Barber said.

The state says since it is state evidence, they should be able to see it. The state originally said they didn’t want it tested because it would use up the remaining samples held by SLED, but if the tests were done, they wanted to see the results.

“We absolutely agree the defense deserves a fair trial, but the case law says the state deserves a fair trial as well. When we are talking about this untested evidence, there needs to be a commonality of approach,” Lead prosecutor in the case, Creighton Waters, said.

Judge McCaslin ruled in favor of the defense, deciding the defense could test the remaining samples without having to tell the state about the findings.

The judge later denied a request to release SLED ballistic reports from 2021 unrelated shootings.

“The court finds no sufficient basis to require SLED to undertake such an unprecedented manual review of this evidence,” McCaslin said.

Murdaugh’s team wanted to look at shootings where.300 Blackout ammunition was used, the bullets that killed Maggie and Paul Murdaugh. Murdaugh’s team wanted their ballistics expert to examine evidence from the unrelated shootings if the request was approved.

The defense argued that it could help challenge the significance prosecutors placed on .300 Blackout evidence during the first trial.

“We should have the ability, I submit respectfully, to pursue what we think may be fruitful for our client,” Attorney for Murdaugh, Dick Harpootlian, said

But Judge McCaslin ruled the defense had not shown a sufficient connection between the Murdaugh evidence and other crimes. Prosecutors say SLED reports produced show no matches linking evidence from the Murdaugh killings to another weapon, crime or investigation.

“This is a speculative fishing expedition and the law would not allow such a thing where no connection has been made and the very system designed to show whether or not a connection exists has said there is none,” Waters said.

“We need this stuff, and we are five and a half months. At some point, with all to the court, we are going to have to make a motion to continue based on constitutional grounds,” Harpootlian said.

Judge McCaslin has told attorneys she will not continue this case and the April court date is set in stone.

Murdaugh will be back in court next month for his final appearance in Lexington County. Then the case will head to Sumter County.