Attorneys for Alex Murdaugh have filed a motion alleging that the lead investigator in his double murder case presented fabricated evidence and offered perjurious testimony to the grand jury. The motion, filed on August 7, seeks to dismiss the indictments against Murdaugh, who was convicted in March 2023 of murdering his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.
Murdaugh's legal team contends that David Owen, the lead agent from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), testified before the Colleton County Grand Jury with evidence that he later admitted was false and which the defense has proven was fabricated by law enforcement. According to the motion, Owen's conduct constitutes prosecutorial misconduct.
The attorneys stated that further details regarding this alleged misconduct would be provided in a subsequent filing. They claim that Owen presented physical evidence directly implicating Murdaugh to the grand jury, which the agent has reportedly admitted was false and proven to be fabricated.
In addition to the motion to dismiss, Murdaugh's attorneys have also filed a motion to transfer the venue of his new murder trial to Charleston County. They argue that the intense publicity surrounding the case makes it impossible to find an impartial jury in Colleton County, asserting that the "prosecution has generated publicity without precedent in the history of this State." A change of venue to Charleston County, they believe, would "preserve the values of a local trial while curing the local prejudice."
These filings come ahead of a pretrial hearing scheduled for Friday. Murdaugh, a former prominent attorney from an influential legal family in the Lowcountry, was found guilty of the June 2021 shooting deaths of his wife and son at their hunting estate. The South Carolina Supreme Court previously overturned his convictions and ordered a new trial, citing allegations of jury tampering by County Clerk Becky Hill. While prosecutors maintained that Murdaugh received a fair trial, the state's highest court's decision has paved the way for a retrial.
Murdaugh is currently serving a sentence for a separate conviction related to stealing from 18 clients, a case for which he faced sentencing in November 2023.