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Murdaugh's defense team calling for evidence to be thrown out

Murdaugh
USATI

Alex Murdaugh's defense team is asking the judge to quash a key item of prosecution evidence against the accused double murderer. The dispute centers on the shirt Murdaugh was wearing the night he called 9-1-1, saying he'd found the bodies of his wife and younger son on the family's Colleton County hunting estate.

The white cotton tee-shirt was smeared with blood from both victims. Murdaugh's lawyers conceded that bloodstains and the victims' DNA would naturally have been acquired as he frantically checked the two for any signs of life.


However, SLED agents said some of the stains were consistent with spatters typically resulting from gunshots at close range. So, it was agreed in pretrial motions that the shirt would undergo independent lab tests. However Murdaugh's lead lawyer, Dick Harpootlian, says the has come back with patches of fabric removed and discolored by chemicals.

He's accusing the state of destroying evidence; wants any prepared testimony by SLED's experts to be thrown out, and a separate pretrial hearing scheduled so technicians who conducted the tests can be questioned under oath.