Murdaugh seeks dismissal of murder indictments over investigator’s grand jury testimony

Alex Murdaugh’s attorneys are expected to ask a judge on Friday, November 13, to dismiss the original indictments accusing him of murdering his wife and son. The defense alleges that the investigation’s lead agent lied to the grand jury about evidence used to support the charges.

The hearing before Judge Debra McCaslin comes as Murdaugh awaits a new murder trial in April. The South Carolina Supreme Court overturned his convictions and life sentence after finding that a court clerk improperly influenced jurors against him during his 2023 trial. Even if McCaslin dismisses the indictments, prosecutors could obtain new ones as early as next month. Defense attorneys have said they would not oppose that step, meaning a favorable ruling might neither prevent nor postpone the retrial.

At the center of the defense challenge is testimony by David Owen, a State Law Enforcement Division agent who led the investigation. Murdaugh’s lawyers say Owen told the Colleton County grand jury that blood spatter had been detected on the T-shirt Murdaugh wore on the night of the killings. An earlier report by state agents said there were no blood stains, and prosecutors presented no such evidence at trial.

Owen also told the grand jury that weapons throughout the Murdaugh property contained the same ammunition arrangement used to kill Paul Murdaugh: buckshot in one chamber and large birdshot in the other. That description was inaccurate. Prosecutors maintain that other evidence amply supported the murder charges and have rejected the argument that a mistake established bad faith.

Among the other evidence Owen described was a video recorded by Paul in which Alex Murdaugh’s voice could be heard at the scene, contradicting his denials. Owen also discussed the family’s growing debts and the approaching discovery of Murdaugh’s thefts from clients and his law firm. Prosecutors contend that he killed his wife and son because he believed the resulting sympathy would give him time to conceal those thefts.

The defense has repeatedly emphasized the limited physical evidence linking Murdaugh to the shootings. No DNA or blood spatter was found on him or his clothing, despite the victims being shot at close range with powerful weapons. The weapons were never recovered.

Owen’s handling of another murder investigation drew judicial criticism last year, when a judge dismissed that case. The dead woman’s mother had told Owen that her daughter threatened suicide days before her death, but he did not pass that information to prosecutors or defense lawyers. Owen abruptly retired in 2024, shortly after receiving the State Law Enforcement Officer of the Year honor.

Murdaugh, 58, denies killing his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, at their South Carolina Lowcountry property in 2021. He is serving decades in prison for stealing millions of dollars from clients. In court, he has acknowledged theft, insurance cheating, professional failings and a longstanding opioid addiction, while maintaining his innocence of murder.