The State Attorney General's office is ordered to hand over evidence it plans to use in the double-murder trial of Alex Murdaugh to the disgraced lawyer's defense team, and for both sides to keep it under wraps.
Repeating his accusation of media leaks by the state attorney general's office, Murdaugh defender Dick Harpootlian asked Colleton County Judge Clifton Newman to appoint a "special master" to oversee handing of the prosecution's evidence. The Columbia Lawyer and State Senatore said "I don't trust the state to honor the rules of evidence...they haven't so far and I don't think they intend to." Harpootlian described the case as "unprecedented in state history."
Prosecutor Creighton Waters repeated the state's request for a gag order on all involved commenting that some of the evidence would be, his words, "worth six to seven figures" if it's sold for publication.
The judge denied both requests, then ruled that the evidence must be given to Murdaugh's defense and he issued a temporary protective order sealing it, along with the SLED's search warrant affidavits. Murdaugh's trial for the murders of his wife and younger son is tentatively set for January.
