Alex Murdaugh’s lawyers want state’s evidence turned over in murder case
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Alex Murdaugh Coverage
The Murdaugh family saga has dominated the news after another shooting, a resignation and criminal accusations — with Alex Murdaugh at the center of it all. Here are the latest updates on Alex Murdaugh.
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Alex Murdaugh’s attorneys representing the disabarred lawyer in a murder case are alleging that the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office has withheld discovery.
Murdaugh’s defense attorney Dick Harpootlian will hold a press conference Wednesday morning to discuss his “recent motion asking a court to order the State of South Carolina to comply with their obligations under court rules and case law to furnish discovery material,” according to a brief press release issued by Harpootlian late Tuesday.
“We are planning on following the rules and turning over everything we are supposed to,” Attorney General spokesman Robert Kittle told The State Tuesday afternoon.
Sometimes, Kittle added, there may be matters “that we are waiting for” that affect the timetable of turning over evidence.
Rules of South Carolina trial procedure require prosecutors to turn over state’s evidence within 30 days after the material is requested, said Jack Swerling, a veteran Columbia defense attorney. Swerling said the rules also give the trial judge the discretion to set another time frame for prosecutors to turn over evidence.
A landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case, Brady vs. Maryland, requires prosecutors to turn over to defense lawyers all evidence that might be favorable to a defendant.
Murdaugh, a disbarred attorney, was indicted five weeks ago — on July 14 — for the June 2021 murders of his wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, at their Colleton County hunting lodge estate of Moselle.
Indictments in the case accuse Murdaugh of killing Maggie with a rifle and Paul with a shotgun. The indictments gave no motive. The lack of detailed information underscores the puzzling unknowns that have been part of the case since the killings.
Murdaugh’s trial on murder charges, which could begin as early as January, is expected to be one of the most widely-watched trials in the state and nation in recent years.
However, the longer that defense attorneys have to wait for evidence to be turned over, the less time they have to prepare for a January trial date.
The disbarred attorney also is charged in more than a dozen indictments with an array of financial theft crimes that allege he stole some $8.4 million from friends, associates, fellow lawyers and clients and laundered the stolen money through various bank accounts. He also is alleged to have used his stolen cash to set up a drug pipeline to buy drugs through intermediaries.
This story was originally published August 16, 2022 at 5:32 PM.
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