Prosecutors have accused Alex Murdaugh's defense team of lying about polygraph test results in a new court filing, alleging that the attorney for the convicted murderer misrepresented information about a lie detector test during a recent hearing.
In a filing in Colleton County, South Carolina, state prosecutors claim that defense attorney Dick Harpootlian falsely stated that Murdaugh had passed a polygraph test. According to the filing, Murdaugh never took a polygraph test during his 2023 trial for the murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul. The test in question, prosecutors allege, was taken by Murdaugh in the fall of 2023 with the FBI while he was under investigation for financial crimes, after his initial convictions.
During a hearing on Aug. 14, Harpootlian reportedly told Judge Debra McCaslin that Murdaugh had passed a polygraph "flying colors" and that it "may play a role in this trial." Prosecutors argue that this claim was "categorically false" and intended to prejudice the court and the public.
Murdaugh was convicted of the murders and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in 2023. However, these convictions were overturned in May of this year due to allegations of jury tampering by a court clerk. A retrial is scheduled for April of next year, but it will not take place in Colleton County. Judge McCaslin ruled on Friday that the trial must be moved, though a new location has not yet been determined. Richland County has been suggested as a possibility, as the defense has argued for a larger jury pool in a new venue.
Following the prosecution's allegations, Harpootlian sent a letter to Judge McCaslin on Thursday. In the letter, he apologized for any confusion, stating that he had mistakenly conflated several facts and incorrectly claimed Murdaugh had taken and passed a polygraph test "with flying colors." He acknowledged that he had "inaccurately stated in court that Mr. Murdaugh had taken a polygraph test and passed with flying colors."