Why Prosecutors Are Reaching Back To Alex Murdaugh's 2023

Two of the motions prosecutors just renewed in the Alex Murdaugh retrial are about what the jury will never hear. Tony Brueski takes the listener mail on them with Robin Dreeke, a retired FBI Special Agent who spent his career in behavioral analysis.

The first would exclude evidence of third-party guilt. The state won that fight before the 2023 trial. Winning it again means Murdaugh's lawyers cannot stand up and point at another person as the killer without clearing a bar the court sets.

The second would exclude any mention of a polygraph. That one has a history. In an October filing before the first trial, Murdaugh's own attorneys wrote that Curtis Eddie Smith failed a polygraph when he was questioned about whether he murdered Maggie and Paul. Smith has denied wrongdoing in the murders. Prosecutors argued then, and are arguing again, that juries give polygraphers more weight than the science supports.

Prosecutors are also asking the court to admit Murdaugh's 2023 testimony at the retrial, seeking a fresh review of digital evidence, and opposing the defense's bid for outside DNA testing.

The question listeners keep raising is worth taking seriously. An office that calls its evidence overwhelming is asking a judge to close two doors it already closed once. Prosecutors would say that is standard practice and that speculation is not evidence.

Maggie Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh were killed at the family's Colleton County property on June 7, 2021. Paul was twenty-two. Murdaugh has said he found their bodies.

Judge Debra McCaslin has tentatively set the retrial for April 5, 2027, and is handling pretrial proceedings in Lexington County.

With the verdicts vacated, Murdaugh stands as an untried defendant again, presumed innocent. Robin Dreeke takes the mailbag on what gets kept out and who it actually protects.

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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

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