Murdaugh judge warns attorneys against ‘theatrics’ as sparring over evidence continues

A Lexington judge scolded prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Murdaugh murder case for their monthslong wrangling over evidence, saying the court will not be used for “publicity or theatrics.”

Judge Debra McCaslin issued the reprimand Friday, Oct. 16, after ruling on evidentiary requests such as DNA and ballistics related to the attorneys’ written and spoken complaints that the other side was hindering the process.

Alex Murdaugh is preparing for a new trial on charges that he fatally shot his wife, Maggie, and younger son Paul at the family’s Islandton estate in 2021 to distract from investigations into his financial crimes. 

Murdaugh, 58, was found guilty of murder and firearm offenses in 2023, but the S.C. Supreme Court tossed his convictions in May due to jury interference. 

The state attorney general’s office and Murdaugh’s attorneys are currently exchanging evidence ahead of his retrial in Sumter County next April.

“I will not allow these proceedings to become a circus,” McCaslin said, “and I will not permit anyone involved in this case to use this courtroom as a platform for publicity or theatrics.”

Toward the end of the two-hour hearing at the Lexington County courthouse, McCaslin noted that defense attorney Dick Harpootlian had apologized for saying in court that Murdaugh had passed a polygraph with “flying colors.”

Harpootlian’s written apology came after the lead prosecutor, Deputy Attorney General Creighton Waters, had responded in court papers that Murdaugh was never polygraphed about his wife and son’s murders. Instead, Waters said, Murdaugh was given a polygraph on his alleged financial crimes and failed the test.

“When you make a representation to this court, I expect it to be truthful and accurate,” McCaslin said at the October hearing. “If you do not know something, say you don't know it. But do not tell this court something that is not true.”

The defense team earlier scored a win when McCaslin allowed its experts to test fingernail clippings collected from Maggie Murdaugh’s body. Prosecutors had opposed the DNA testing by a private lab, worried the process would use up the evidence.

State lab testing years earlier found DNA under Maggie Murdaugh’s nails that belonged to an unknown man. Defense attorneys want to conduct a different test in the hopes of identifying the DNA’s origin, which could bolster its theory that someone else killed Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22.

To mount a strong defense, McCaslin said, Murdaugh had “every right” to test the fingernail clippings.

The judge, however, denied the defense team’s request to obtain wide-ranging police records in shootings that involved .300-caliber Blackout ammunition, similar to the bullets that killed Maggie Murdaugh.  

The guns used in her and her son’s slayings have not been recovered. Defense attorneys believe the police records could help exonerate Murdaugh. 

McCaslin ruled that the defense request — which included examining ballistics evidence in other cases — was not material to Murdaugh’s case since it was speculative. The state’s ballistics database, she said, has not flagged a match with the Murdaugh shell casings, as the system is designed to do.

Murdaugh, a former attorney, maintains his innocence of the homicide charges. But he remains in a South Carolina prison after pleading guilty to state and federal financial crimes, admitting to having stolen millions of dollars from the legal settlements of his vulnerable clients.

The Supreme Court threw out his double-murder convictions after finding that the Colleton County clerk of court during his trial, Becky Hill, had prejudiced the jury with her comments. 

Hill resigned in 2024 and pleaded guilty last year to showing a reporter sealed court exhibits in the Murdaugh murders and then lying about it. She was sentenced to probation.

The Sumter County clerk of court, James Campbell, attended the most recent hearing. He appeared alongside Gary Hale, his counterpart in Colleton County, who will be present at the hearings since the Murdaugh case belongs to that county.

Another pretrial hearing is set for Lexington on Nov. 13. The succeeding ones, from January onward, will be held in Sumter.

Tiffany Tan has been a journalist in the U.S. and abroad for more than 20 years. Contact her on Facebook at Reporter Tiffany Tan or 839-223-4652 on mobile/Signal/WhatsApp.