Alex Murdaugh attorneys seek subpoena power to get documents quickly in double 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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Defense lawyers for accused killer and disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh are seeking authority from a judge that will allow them to issue subpoenas to require parties connected to the case to produce documents that could be used as evidence to help their client.
State prosecutors are already required to turn over potential evidence to defense attorneys, but this would be an additional authority to allow defense lawyers to obtain in timely fashion documents that might include, for example, cellphone records from various parties with a connection to the case.
The request by attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin was made Friday to Judge Clifton Newman, the presiding judge in the case, according to a court filing.
A spokesman for the South Carolina Attorney General’s office declined comment, saying they do not comment on pending cases.
The type of subpoena power sought by the lawyers is called “forthwith,” meaning lawyers are asking people to produce records within a few days of receiving the subpoena.
“This is a mechanism where they can get documents well before trial and study them,” said veteran Columbia defense attorney Jack Swerling, who said he has asked for this authority numerous times.
The usual subpoena, Swerling said, asks people to produce records at a trial or hearing and so there’s not much time to study them, Swerling said.
In July, a Colleton County jury indicted Murdaugh for the June 2021 double homicide of his son Paul and wife Maggie, whose bodies were found on the grounds of the Murdaugh family estate. Paul was shot with a shotgun and Maggie with a rifle.
Murdaugh has pleaded innocent.
His attorneys are seeking a trial in early January, but no decision has been made on a trial date.
The request for subpoena power asked Newman to give Murdaugh’s lawyers broad authority to issue subpoenas and also to keep them nonpublic. Making public what the defense seeks could unnecessarily “expose the defense’s trial strategy,” the motion said.
The motion also asked Newman to write a court order that lawyers would use to accompany the issuance of subpoenas. The motion also asserted that state prosecutors continue to investigate the murders and obtain search warrants in the case.
This story was originally published September 24, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
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