SC judge sets Thursday hearing as lawyers in Murdaugh murder trial continue to spar

Following allegations that the South Carolina Attorney General’s office has withheld evidence from the defense in Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial, a judge has scheduled a Thursday hearing to sort out differences.

The discovery material that the prosecution is not turning over to defense attorneys, Murdaugh’s legal team says, includes forensics, cellphone information and a polygraph test taken by Eddie “Curtis” Smith that purportedly shows Smith lied to investigators when asked about the June 2021 murders of Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul.

Smith “failed a polygraph” when investigators asked him if he knew who killed Maggie and Paul on June 7, 2021, the defense motion says. And the reason Smith failed the test is because “he did in fact commit these heinous crimes,” the defense motion adds.

Under a U.S. Supreme Court decision called Brady v. Maryland, prosecutors are supposed to turn over all evidence that might be favorable to the accused.

Judge Clifton Newman has scheduled a 10:30 a.m. Thursday hearing in Florence.

Attorney General prosecutor Creighton Waters is expected to argue against any motion that defense lawyers Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin bring before the judge.

Murdaugh is scheduled to go on trial for the double homicide on Jan. 23 in Walterboro in Colleton County. He is the only named defendant in the case and prosecutors have said he is the only suspect.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Harpootlian and Griffin allege that Smith is a key suspect in Maggie and Paul’s murders and that prosecutors know that but are keeping it a secret and are wrongly concentrating on Murdaugh as the sole suspect. The pair also charge, in their latest motion filed Tuesday, that prosecutors are refusing to say the exact times of Maggie and Paul’s deaths and the reason is that perhaps they don’t know when they were killed.

The Attorney General’s office has not filed written responses to defense motions made since last week.

Last week, spokesman Robert Kittle said, “We will address these issues in our pleadings and in the courtroom and will not try this case outside the courtroom.”