Alex Murdaugh attorneys question SLED blood DNA evidence in SC double murder case

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 scientific 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 that they will file a reply with the court next week.

State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel said, “We are reviewing the motion and will respond at the appropriate time.”

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 in their motion, 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.”

Further, SLED’s DNA reports on the shirt do not identify Paul’s DNA on the shirt, and, the motion argues, it 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.”

The motion adds, “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.”

Griffin and Harpootlian, reached Wednesday, declined to comment on the motion, which included a list of evidence taken by SLED and photos of the white T-shirt Murdaugh was wearing the night his wife and son were shot to death with two different weapons, a rifle and a shotgun.

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.

Murdaugh 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.

Evidence in the double murder case

A battle over different kinds of scientific evidence, from blood spatter to cell phone location data, is expected to be a major part of the upcoming trial, since there are no eyewitnesses or video of the killings.

Attachments to the defense motion gives additional information, generated by the Bevel firm, such as:

▪ Paul was shot with birdshot, tiny metal balls and the smallest kind of pellet used in shotgun shells. Forty-eight bird shot pellets were removed from Paul’s left shoulder and head. Birdshot is generally not fatal, except at close range.

▪ Five expended cartridge cases of .300 AAC BLK rifle bullets were recovered, including two on the dirt by Maggie’s right side.

The defense motion also gives a brief narration of Murdaugh’s version of events, saying he drove to the dog kennel on his property where he found his wife and son shot and non-responsive.

Murdaugh “touched both victims in checking them for life signs. Alec (sic) stated he tried to roll Paul but could not,” the motion says. “He called 911 to report the deaths and drove to his house to get a shotgun for protection and drove back to the scene to wait for first responders to arrive.”

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 oldest 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 Moselle, 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.