A South Carolina judge had to order prosecutors to let Alex Murdaugh’s defense team test unidentified male DNA found under his murdered wife’s fingernails — evidence that should have been tested years ago instead of hoarded by the state. The fact that basic forensic testing required a court order tells ordinary Americans everything about who the system serves when truth competes with narrative.
Judge Debra McCaslin ruled Friday that the defense can send the DNA samples to a private lab for independent analysis, citing due process and the right to a “full and complete defense,” according to the New York Post. The testing will likely consume the last testable samples, which makes the delay even more damning — if prosecutors had prioritized evidence over conviction, this work could have been done properly years ago.
The DNA belonged to a male who was not a member of the Murdaugh family, and investigators never found a match. Arkansas Online reports that this evidence didn’t feature prominently in the first trial. The defense now wants to find out who it belongs to — a question the state apparently had no interest in answering.
McCaslin denied the defense’s broader request for ballistic data from shootings across eight counties involving the same type of weapon used in the killings, calling it a “fishing expedition.” She did order the state to hand over all raw ballistic data and 3D crime scene scans, and cellphone extraction data from the victims’ phones.
The judge also corrected a claim by defense attorney Dick Harpootlian, who said in August that Murdaugh passed a polygraph “with flying colors.” McCaslin said Murdaugh actually failed a polygraph related to concealed assets in his financial crimes, and has never taken one related to the killings, the Post reported. She cautioned that “candor with the court is not optional.”
McCaslin ended the hearing by warning both sides: “I will not allow these proceedings to become a circus.” She told the lawyers, “Y’all need to stop this, OK?”
Murdaugh’s 2023 murder convictions for the shootings of his wife Maggie and son Paul were overturned by the South Carolina Supreme Court earlier this year after the court found that former Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill improperly influenced jurors. His retrial is set for April 2027.
Notably absent from Friday’s hearing: any discussion of the defense’s request to learn whether prosecutors have convened a grand jury to investigate a police officer who was friends with Murdaugh. Arkansas Online reports the defense says prosecutors suggested this officer arrived at the Murdaugh home before other law enforcement and could have helped hide bloody clothes or weapons. No clothing or guns from the killings have ever been found.
Murdaugh will stay in prison regardless — he’s already serving time for stealing millions from clients. Prosecutors argued he killed his family to buy sympathy and cover his financial crimes.
The question that lingers: why does a defendant need a judge’s order to test evidence the state couldn’t be bothered to explain? When prosecutors fight to keep evidence untested, they aren’t seeking justice — they’re protecting a verdict.
