COLUMBIA, S.C. — Attorneys on both sides of the Alex Murdaugh case got some of what they asked for from a South Carolina judge Monday after a few fiery courtroom clashes.
Judge Clifton Newman ordered prosecutors Monday to provide evidence to the disbarred attorney’s defense team, while at the same time issuing a temporary protective order restricting how that information can be shared. Newman said he will issue a more formal order soon.
Autopsy photos and “dumps” from private cellphone numbers, for example, will not be able to be shared.
But the judge delayed ruling Monday on such issues as exactly how defense lawyers can handle evidence showing where prosecutors eliminated other suspects in the murder case.
The roughly 50-minute drama-filled courtroom battles over evidence Monday portends how hard fought Murdaugh’s upcoming double murder trial will be in the June 2021 shooting deaths of his wife and youngest son.
Murdaugh, 54, a once prominent and now disbarred attorney from a long line of respected Lowcountry solicitors, is charged with the murders of his wife Maggie, 51, and son Paul, 22. Their bodies were found on the family’s 1,700-acre estate the night of June 7, 2021, in Colleton County, shot to death by two different guns.
Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty and wants an early trial. Attorneys on both sides have asked for a January date.
The judge’s Monday order will restrict the defense team of Jim Griffin and state Sen. Dick Harpootlian from revealing much of the information turned over by the state, some of which prosecutors described as highly sensitive and potentially valuable.
Some evidence is worth “over a million dollars to an unscrupulous hand,” attorney general’s office prosecutor Creighton Waters told Newman, explaining why evidence in the case should be closely guarded.
“This case is unique. It’s unprecedented in South Carolina history, inasmuch as it combines violent crime with alleged corruption of someone’s law license on a scale that’s never been seen before,” Waters said. “And, your honor, if not this case, in what case would a protective order be appropriate?”
Last week, Harpootlian and Griffin filed a motion alleging Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office was behind leaks of confidential information to news outlets in an effort to hurt Murdaugh in his upcoming murder trial.
They also subpoenaed four State Law Enforcement Division agents, who came to court and remained seated during Monday’s hearing. Newman rejected Harpootlian’s efforts to have at least one SLED agent take the witness stand.
Harpootlian’s aim, according to a motion he filed just before the hearing, was to show that SLED agents did not leak sensitive details about the case to a media outlet but that — by a process of elimination — the attorney general’s office did.
In response, the attorney general’s office called defense attorneys’ actions a “manufactured public drama” looking to “create an unnecessary controversy.”
Looking at Waters, Harpootlian said Murdaugh is entitled to a public trial and that prosecutors are trying to make the case “a star chamber event” — a reference to secretive English court proceedings centuries ago.
“The state wants nothing more than to have a fair trial in this case,” Waters said. “I don’t want to have to try this case more than once. I want to do it right the first time.”
Murdaugh, dressed in a plaid red buttoned long-sleeved shirt, black slacks and black shoes, sat between his lawyers in court Monday, with his shaved head down much of the time.
On a rear courtroom wall hung an oil portrait of Murdaugh’s late grandfather, the legendary Buster Murdaugh, who was solicitor from 1940 to 1987.
Murdaugh did not speak during the hearing.
From its outset, the hearing was punctuated by emotional outbursts from Harpootlian, who at one point threw his pen down on the table in front of the judge, and Waters as they strove to make points to the judge.
Within seconds of Waters’ starting to ask the judge for a temporary order protecting evidence in the case, Harpootlian jumped up and objected.
”I object to the state trying to hijack this proceeding,” Harpootlian said, his voice raising. “We made the motion!”
Harpootlian told the judge the hearing is about the state’s refusal to turn over evidence — a refusal that violates longstanding court rules — so defense attorneys can begin to prepare their case.
Evidence should have been turned over on Aug. 15, according to defense filings.
Harpootlian twice interrupted Waters as Waters tried to explain why a protective order was necessary.
“If I could be heard ... and not be interrupted by the state as they continue to hijack this case!” Harpootlian said. “I am sorry if you are upset, but I can tell you, that every time we turn around, they are trying to hide something.”
Another time, Harpootlian said, “I know you (Waters) are head of the statewide grand jury. I know you are a very important guy. But my client has right to a fair trial, and a fair trial means, a motion to compel to find out (evidence)."
Newman, staring at both attorneys, finally asked Waters to be seated.
“I will not have counsel arguing with each other,” he said.
Harpootlian also expressed outrage Monday about prosecution statements that investigation into the murders was still continuing.
Murdaugh was indicted in mid-July. The murders occurred in June 2021.
“They charged him with murder, but said today they’re still investigating it. They didn’t have enough when they charged him? This is not a game,” Harpootlian told the judge.
At another point, looking for peace, Harpootlian and Waters both said they had worked with each other for many years and they both trusted each other.
“I trust Mr. Waters. I do not trust the rest of his office,” Harpootlian told the judge.
Waters, sitting next to prosecutor Don Zelenka, did admit in court that there had been two leaks from his office, but that was early on, and since there have been no other leaks that he knows of.
Wilson, the attorney general, did not appear in court Monday.
In addition to murder, Murdaugh also faces various fraud charges by the state grand jury alleging he stolen more than $8.7 million from his law firm, fellow lawyers, clients and associates. He has since been fired by his former law firm, now under a different name, and was disbarred by the state Supreme Court.
Since October, Murdaugh has been jailed at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County.
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