Judge in Alex Murdaugh’s retrial insists case will not ‘become a circus’ as parties clash over evidence

By Nicki Brown, Dianne Gallagher, Devon M. Sayers, CNN

Lexington, South Carolina (CNN) — The judge overseeing Alex Murdaugh’s highly anticipated retrial for the murders of his wife and son insisted the case would proceed to trial in six months and chastised the parties for squabbling over evidence during a two-hour hearing Friday.

“I’m gonna tell y’all – this trial’s going April the fifth, whether you like it or not,” South Carolina Judge Debra McCaslin said. “We’re going to go through this and if something comes up missing at the last time, please do not ask for a continuance. It’s not going to happen.”

McCaslin scolded the attorneys several times, prompting gasps and giggles from the courtroom gallery. The judge closed the court appearance with a warning to both sides:

“This case will be tried in a courtroom, under the rules of evidence and the law – not in the press and not in the court of public opinion,” she said. “I will not allow these proceedings to become a circus, and I will not permit anyone involved in this case to use this courtroom as a platform for publicity or theatrics.”

The judge’s sharp comments Friday came as the parties addressed a flurry of motions Murdaugh’s attorneys filed in recent weeks seeking information they say could be crucial to his defense at the upcoming double-murder trial.

His lawyers requested further DNA testing on certain pieces of evidence, state data on other shootings and information about reports that local police may have handled the murder weapons hours after Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, and their 22-year-old son Paul were fatally shot at the family’s estate, Moselle, in 2021. The murder weapons have never been found.

Murdaugh, a prominent former personal injury attorney, is set to stand trial for the murders a second time after his convictions were overturned by the state supreme court earlier this year.

During the first trial, prosecutors painted him as a fraudster who killed his wife and son as a desperate attempt to distract from investigations into his vast financial crimes.

Across two days of dramatic testimony, Murdaugh denied shooting the two, though he admitted lying to investigators about his whereabouts the night of the murders. The jury convicted Murdaugh of all counts.

But the state supreme court overturned Murdaugh’s 2023 convictions in May after finding the trial was tainted by the county clerk’s “improper” influence on the jury. The decision was a shocking twist in the high-profile case, which has gripped the public for years and sparked several true crime podcasts, books and documentaries.

In its ruling, the court vacated the two life sentences Murdaugh received for the murder charges, though he remains behind bars on concurrent state and federal sentences of 27 and 40 years for dozens of financial crimes.

Defense says local news reports undercut prosecution’s case

At the hearing Friday, McCaslin briefly addressed a defense motion which referenced reports that local police handled the murder weapons shortly after Maggie and Paul were fatally shot – but she did not order prosecutors to immediately turn over information about the allegations, as the defense requested.

At trial, prosecutors argued Murdaugh alone killed Maggie and Paul with two of their family’s guns – a shotgun and a .300 Blackout assault rifle. They theorized he later transported the weapons to his mother’s home in Almeda and disposed of them.

But in a court filing on September 30, the defense said recent local news reports challenge this theory. Citing The Post & Courier, the defense claimed a Lowcountry official told state investigators months after Murdaugh’s conviction in 2023 that a local police chief had spoken of arriving to the scene early and providing the defendant a change of clothes. This official also believed the weapons were taken to the police station and stored there temporarily, The Post & Courier reported.

The allegation, defense attorney Richard Harpootlian wrote, undermines the state’s case and would support arguments that more than one person was involved in the killings of Murdaugh’s wife and son.

“It is exculpatory of the theory that the State tried: if the weapons and the clothing left the scene in the hands of law enforcement officers, they did not leave in Defendant Murdaugh’s hands, and they did not go to Almeda,” Harpootlian wrote.

A South Carolina grand jury heard testimony regarding the allegations last month, the defense said, citing an article from FITSNews.

“Witnesses have testified that the Chief of Police of the Town of Yemassee, Greg Alexander, was seen with the murder weapons in the immediate aftermath of the June 7, 2021, killings, and that a second Yemassee officer is under investigation for transporting and concealing weapons and clothing,” the defense wrote.

An attorney for Alexander confirmed his client received a subpoena but said he ultimately did not testify in front of the grand jury. Joe McCulloch told CNN prior to Friday’s hearing the police chief did not improperly remove any evidence, saying he responded to the scene after scores of other officers, leaving him “no opportunity” to surreptitiously transport evidence.

“Mr. Alexander had nothing to do with taking evidence or concealing it,” McCulloch said. “Friday’s hearing will demonstrate the lack of substance to these despicable rumors.”

In his motion, Harpootlian demanded the state turn over information about the allegations, saying prosecutors have withheld it from the defense for years, if the reports are accurate.

In their own filing, prosecutors wrote Alexander and Murdaugh are “extremely close,” but did not substantially address the allegations, noting grand jury proceedings are secret.

“The State cannot prematurely confirm or deny the contents of any State Grand Jury investigation until when appropriate,” Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Creighton Waters, the lead prosecutor, wrote.

In court Friday, McCaslin said she believed Waters was “completely correct,” but reminded the prosecutor he must turn over any information once required under Brady obligations, which compel prosecutors to share information with the defense.

“It could be nothing, it could be Brady, it could be very, very damning to Mr. Murdaugh about one of his ride-or-die friends,” Waters said.

Judge allows defense to conduct further DNA testing

Murdaugh’s attorneys also requested information they believe could point to another perpetrator, including further DNA testing on a few pieces of evidence and state information regarding crimes committed with the same kind of assault rifle used in Maggie’s killing.

The judge said Friday Murdaugh’s attorneys had “every right” to conduct further DNA testing on three samples – two taken from Maggie’s fingernails and one from her cell phone – that contain male DNA, overruling prosecutors’ concerns the samples would be destroyed.

The evidence, McCaslin said, “has the potential to identify individuals connected to the offense, or at least say somebody was not tied to the cell phone and also the fingernails.”

“I think that’s relevant to the defense and their case.”

Murdaugh’s legal team also asked for South Carolina Law Enforcement Division data about other crimes involving .300 Blackout ammunition – the same bullets used to fatally shoot Maggie – and requested their own expert be able to analyze cartridge cases used in some of those shootings.

“Evidence that the same weapon, or the same ammunition, has been used in other shootings in the same two circuits is evidence tending to point to another person as the perpetrator,” Harpootlian said in his filing.

But prosecutors insisted state investigators had already analyzed the specific shootings referenced in the defense motion, and the results did not return potential matches to Murdaugh’s case.

“It would be one thing if they had some sort of connection between these crimes other than the mere fact that the same caliber of commonly-available ammunition was used in a geographic region that’s over 5,600 square miles where over half a million people live over a six-year period,” Waters said. “That’s just not sufficient, that’s completely speculative.”

The judge seemed to agree, saying the defense’s request sounded like a “fishing expedition” and would impose a substantial burden on state investigators.

“SLED has conducted testing and at this time no ballistic matches have been identified linking the evidence at issue to another weapon, crime or investigation,” McCaslin said. “The defense’s contention that the weapon might be connected to an unsolved crime I believe is speculative and is not supported by reasonable factual basis, beyond the cited news reporting.”

She noted the defense could question witnesses about the commonality of the ammunition during cross-examination at trial and the state could share raw data on shell casings relevant to Murdaugh’s case.

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CNN’s Nicki Brown reported and wrote this story in New York, while Dianne Gallagher and Devon Sayers reported from Lexington, South Carolina.