Alex Murdaugh’s defense team asked a judge Friday to throw out the murder indictments against him, claiming the lead investigator lied to the grand jury.
The disgraced attorney, 58, appeared at a pretrial hearing before Judge Debra McCaslin as his lawyers targeted State Law Enforcement Division agent David Owen with explosive allegations of misconduct. Murdaugh is facing a retrial for the 2021 killings of his wife Maggie and younger son Paul on their South Carolina Lowcountry property after the state Supreme Court overturned his 2023 convictions and life sentence.
Defense attorneys told the court that Owen misled the Colleton County grand jury about key physical evidence as prosecutors sought indictments. They said Owen claimed blood spatter was found on a T-shirt Murdaugh wore the night of the killings, contradicting an earlier state agent report that found no blood stains. No such evidence was introduced at trial.
Owen also allegedly told grand jurors that the same unusual ammunition load used to kill Paul Murdaugh — buckshot in one chamber and large birdshot in the other — was loaded in weapons found all over the Murdaugh property. That wasn’t true, defense lawyers said.
Prosecutors pushed back in court filings, writing that “a single mistake is not bad faith.” They maintained they had plenty of other evidence supporting the murder charges and could seek new grand jury indictments as soon as next month if the original ones were dismissed.
The hearing marked another chapter in the unraveling credibility of Owen, who abruptly retired in 2024 despite being honored as State Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. A judge had already thrown out a different murder case Owen worked because he failed to relay a suicide threat the dead woman’s mother disclosed to him — information he never shared with prosecutors or defense attorneys.
Murdaugh’s lawyers have repeatedly highlighted the lack of physical evidence in the case. No DNA or blood was found on Murdaugh or his clothes despite the close-range killings with powerful weapons that were never recovered.
Owen did present other evidence to the grand jury that prosecutors stand by. He told jurors about a video Paul Murdaugh recorded capturing Alex Murdaugh’s voice at the scene, directly contradicting his denials of being there. Owen also detailed the family’s crushing debts and how Murdaugh’s schemes to steal from clients and his law firm were on the verge of exposure.
Prosecutors have long argued that Murdaugh killed his wife and son to generate sympathy and buy time to cover up his thefts. Murdaugh is already serving decades in prison for stealing millions from clients, and has admitted in court to being a thief, insurance cheat, bad lawyer, and longtime opioid addict.
Defense attorneys said they would not oppose prosecutors seeking fresh indictments if the judge grants their dismissal request. Even a favorable ruling for Murdaugh may not delay the April retrial prosecutors have scheduled.
The South Carolina Supreme Court threw out Murdaugh’s convictions last year after finding that court clerk Becky Hill improperly influenced jurors against him during his 2023 trial through placenta book promotion efforts and private conversations. That ruling wiped away his life sentence and mandated a new trial with a different jury.
Murdaugh’s sprawling legal saga has captivated national attention since the June 2021 night when Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22, were found shot dead at the family’s 1,700-acre Moselle estate. The case exploded across headlines as investigators peeled back layers of the prominent legal dynasty’s secrets, revealing financial crimes, a bizarre roadside shooting scheme, and allegations of drug trafficking tied to Murdaugh’s opioid addiction.