Alex Murdaugh Retrial Judge Slams Lawyers Over Bitter Evidence Fight
Andrew Powell · Oct 16, 2026 · 2 min read
The judge overseeing Alex Murdaugh’s upcoming double-murder retrial delivered a sharp warning to both sides Friday as attorneys clashed over evidence, telling them she would not allow the case to turn into a “circus.”
Judge Debra McCaslin issued several rulings during the tense hearing, giving Murdaugh’s defense permission to conduct additional DNA testing while rejecting a broader request involving ballistic evidence, per Fox News.
Murdaugh’s attorneys sought to test swabs collected from his late wife Maggie Murdaugh’s cellphone. Prosecutors objected because the testing could use up the remaining material available for analysis.
McCaslin sided with the defense, citing Murdaugh’s constitutional right to a “full and complete defense.” His attorneys said the testing is expected to take about 90 days.
The judge also ruled that the defense does not have to provide prosecutors with the DNA results unless attorneys decide to introduce the findings at trial.
The defense did not receive the same treatment on its request for extensive ballistic information. McCaslin rejected a demand for records involving every crime in the 2nd and 14th judicial circuits since 2021 involving .300 Blackout ammunition, along with information on firearms and shell casings connected to those cases.
She found the defense theory that the Murdaugh murder weapon could be connected to another unsolved crime too speculative, noting that the request was based largely on media reports. She also said the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division did not maintain the requested list and that manually reviewing the records would be overly burdensome.
McCaslin declined to allow a defense expert to test shell casings recovered from the crime scene in person but ordered prosecutors to provide the defense with the raw data.
The judge also directed the state to turn over 3D crime-scene scan data by Monday and warned that discovery materials would not repeatedly be produced.
Murdaugh’s attorney Dick Harpootlian was corrected by the judge concerning a polygraph claim he made in August. Harpootlian had said Murdaugh passed a test “with flying colors.”
McCaslin said Friday that Murdaugh actually failed a polygraph concerning whether he concealed financial assets. She clarified that he has never taken a polygraph about the killings of Maggie and Paul.
The judge acknowledged Harpootlian had apologized for the confusion before reminding both sides that “candor with the court is not optional.”
Murdaugh was convicted in 2023 of killing his wife and son at the family’s Moselle property. The South Carolina Supreme Court later overturned those convictions after finding former Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill improperly influenced jurors.
His retrial is scheduled to begin April 5, 2027. Murdaugh continues to maintain his innocence in the killings.