Alex Murdaugh’s lawyers claim critical evidence was ‘destroyed’ by South Carolina cops
COLLETON COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA: According to Alex Murdaugh's attorneys, law enforcement "destroyed" critical evidence that might have exonerated him for the killings of his wife and son in the high-profile case that has enmeshed one of the most powerful families in South Carolina. The claims were reportedly made in a 96-page filing by Murdaugh's attorneys in Collecton County Court on Wednesday, November 23. The disgraced South Carolina legal scion was charged on July 14, 2022, for double homicide.
The filing claims that the white T-shirt Murdaugh was wearing the night he discovered the bodies of Paul, 22, and Maggie, 52, in dog kennels on the family's hunting estate was destroyed by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). The Law enforcement has claimed that the shirt bore evidence of "high-velocity impact spatter" that definitively placed Murdaugh at the scene at the time of the murders, reported the Daily Mail.
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The filing also alleged that the government was “engaged in a campaign of selective and deceptive leaks to news media" to convince the public that Murdaugh is guilty before he is tried. “The defense is entitled to a pretrial hearing where counsel can question the lab analysts and others who test the shirt under oath to determine why particular tests were performed,” Murdaugh’s lawyers noted as the Daily Beast reported.
On two counts of murder and two counts of having a weapon on one's person while committing a violent crime, Murdaugh has entered a not guilty plea in relation to the deaths of his 52-year-old wife Maggie and their 22-year-old son Paul. The former attorney is also charged with more than 80 offenses for allegedly defrauding his former clients and law firm of millions of dollars. He is also accused of trying to stage his own death so that his only living son, Buster, would inherit a $10 million life insurance policy.
Authorities claim that around 10.07 pm on the evening of the double homicide, Murdaugh dialed 911 and reported finding his wife and son close to the dog kennels on their 1,770-acre Colleton County estate. Murdaugh is heard telling a dispatcher in the seven-minute 911 call that his, "wife and child have been shot” and not breathing. “I’ve been up to it now. It’s bad,” Murdaugh said on the call, as per the report.
Defense attorneys point out that SLED investigators ultimately tested Murdaugh's shirt for blood and even removed a portion of it for the test. According to the report from the cut portion, Paul was excluded as a possible DNA contributor but the position for DNA from Maggie was confirmed, the report mentioned. However, the shirt was destroyed during testing, turning "completely blue" with stains from the testing solution, so Murdaugh's defense was unable to test the shirt themselves.