Alex Murdaugh judge warns against courtroom circus as defense wins DNA fight, loses ballistics bid

LEXINGTON, SC — The judge overseeing Alex Murdaugh’s double-murder retrial rebuked both sides Friday over their bitter evidence fights, warning she “will not allow these proceedings to become a circus.”During the tense hearing, Judge Debra McCaslin handed the defense a win on their DNA testing request but rejected its broader request for ballistic data. McCaslin also corrected the record on a polygraph claim that Murdaugh attorney Dick Harpootlian made in August, which he said Murdaugh passed with “flying colors.” The judge said Friday that Murdaugh actually failed that test, which was related to his financial crimes, not the murder case.Murdaugh was convicted in 2023 of murdering his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, at the family’s Moselle property in Colleton County.The South Carolina Supreme Court later overturned the convictions after finding that former Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill improperly influenced the jury.His retrial is scheduled to begin April 5, 2027.Murdaugh has maintained his innocence in the killings.McCaslin sided with the defense over prosecutors’ objections on DNA samples of swabs from Maggie Murdaugh’s phone, even though the analysis will likely consume the last testable samples.She cited due process and the right to a “full and complete defense.” Murdaugh’s defense team said the testing will likely take about 90 days.The judge said defense attorneys don’t have to share results of the DNA tests with prosecutors unless they plan to use them at trial.McCaslin denied Murdaugh’s request for a list of every crime in the 2nd and 14th judicial circuits since 2021 involving .300 Blackout ammunition, for every such firearm recovered, and for casings from other shootings.She found the theory that the murder weapon is tied to an unsolved crime speculative and was based solely on news reports, adding that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division doesn’t have a list like that, and a manual review would be too much ...