Alex Murdaugh defense team lied about polygraph results, prosecutors allege in new filing

A new court filing reveals the defense team for Alex Murdaugh, who was previously convicted of murdering his wife and son, may have lied about his polygraph test results.The Wednesday filing in Colleton County, South Carolina, details state prosecutors' allegations against Murdaugh's attorney, Dick Harpootlian.Murdaugh was convicted of the murders and sentenced to two consecutive life terms in 2023; those convictions were overturned in May of this year after a court clerk named Becky Hill was found to have improperly influenced jurors.ALEX MURDAUGH MOVES FOR NEW HOME FOR DOUBLE-MURDER RETRIALAlex Murdaugh attends a judicial hearing on June 29, 2026, at the Marc H.Westbrook Judicial Center in Lexington, South Carolina.
Murdaugh will be retried in the June 7, 2021, shooting deaths of his wife and son, after his original conviction was overturned due to jury tampering.(Tracy Glantz/The State via Pool)During an Aug.
14 hearing, Harpootlian said, "Mr.Murdaugh passed a polygraph.
Flying colors.Same polygrapher.
It may play a role in this trial."FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON XProsecutors argue that when Murdaugh was initially tried in 2023, he never took a polygraph, or lie-detector, test.The time that he did in fact take a lie-detector test was after the trial in the fall of 2023.He took the test with the FBI when he was under investigation for serious financial crimes.SIGN UP TO GET THE LATEST TRUE CRIME NEWSDefense attorney Dick Harpootlian represents his client, Alex Murdaugh, on June 29, 2026, at a status hearing in Lexington, South Carolina.
(Tracy Glantz/The State via Pool)The new document says:"Defense council’s claim on the record at the hearing that defendant Alex Murdaugh passed a SLED [South Carolina Law Enforcement Division] polygraph as to the murders, much less than any governmental polygraph on any subject, is categorically false, and clearly said for no other reason that an attempt to prejudice this court and the public."Read the filing below.In...