COLUMBIA, S.C. — Attorneys for accused double murderer Alex Murdaugh have asked a state judge to prohibit testimony at trial about “blood spatter patterns” on Murdaugh’s T-shirt and want to get copies of all communications published between the state and one of its witnesses.
In a 96-page motion, filed Wednesday in Colleton County criminal court, attorneys Dick Harpootlin and Jim Griffin contend that an April leak purportedly from a state’s scientific witness about “high-velocity impact spatter” was improperly shared with news website FitsNews.
The motion also contends that “the State,” meaning prosecutors or investigators, “destroyed in bad faith” evidence that defense argue would have helped prove Murdaugh’s innocence.
The state attorney general’s office, whose prosecutors are handling the murder case, said later Wednesday, “We will file our reply with the Court next week.”
“We are reviewing the motion and will respond at the appropriate time,” said Chief Mark Keel, of the State Law Enforcement Division, or SLED.
The “leaked” evidence contained in news reports quoting sources, Harpootlian and Griffin say, came from Tom Bevel, a retired Oklahoma City police officer who runs Bevel, Gardner & Associates Inc.
Bevel, the attorneys write, has a “degree in administration of criminal justice but no academic credentials in any scientific discipline.”
“The State retained Mr. Bevel to opine that the white cotton T-shirt Mr. Murdaugh wore the night Maggie and Paul were murdered is stained with high-velocity blood spatter, most likely resulting from shooting Paul,” the attorneys write.
However, they argue, SLED’s “confirmatory blood testing results were negative for human blood in the areas of the shirt where Mr. Bevel opines blood spatter is present,” they say in their motion.
Further, SLED’s DNA reports on the shirt do not identify Paul’s DNA on the shirt, and, the motion argues, excludes “Paul as a contributor of DNA found on two such sections of the shirt.”
“Neither the defense nor Mr. Bevel have been able to perform any tests on the shirt because the State destroyed it,” the motion says. “Mr. Bevels first report to the State emphatically said the shirt contained no stains consistent with back spatter resulting from a gunshot.
“Yet for some reason, without any additional evidence he changed his opinion entirely after an in-person visit from lead SLED investigator David Owen, and now opines that the shirt has over 100 stains consistent with back spatter from a gunshot.”
Harpootlian, reached Wednesday, declined to comment on the motion.
Murdaugh is accused of killing his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, on the family’s 1,700-acre Colleton County estate, known as Moselle, the night of June 7, 2021. Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains in the Richland County jail.
He is scheduled to go to trial in Colleton County on Jan. 23 to Feb. 10.
State Judge Clifton Newman is expected to preside over the trial.
A battle over different kinds of scientific evidence, from blood spatter to cellphone location data, is expected to be a major part of the upcoming trial, since there are no eyewitnesses or video of the killings.
Murdaugh, in a motion filed Nov. 17, said he was not home at the time of the murders.
The state attorney general’s office has said in court filings the murders took place after 8:30 p.m. and before 10:06 p.m.
Murdaugh’s alibi says he was on the Moselle property from 8:30 p.m. to shortly after 9 p.m., but left to visit his mother, who has dementia, in nearby Varnville. At the time he left, he asserts, his wife and son were alive.
The motion says that on his 20-minute drive to Varnville, Murdaugh had cellphone conversations with his son Buster; his brother, John Marvin Murdaugh; and his sister-in-law, Liz Murdaugh. The alibi also states he spoke to Chris Wilson, a longtime friend and lawyer, and C.B. Rowe.
Shortly after 9:20 p.m., Murdaugh arrived at his mother’s home, the alibi says, adding, he visited with his mother and a nurse’s aid, Muschelle “Shelly” Smith. The alibi says he stayed at the home until 9:45 p.m. and, while on the trip back to Mosselle, spoke to Wilson again.
Murdaugh’s alibi says he returned to the property shortly around 10 p.m. and discovered Maggie and Paul’s bodies approximately five minutes later.
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