South Carolina prosecutors have filed a motion this week to debunk the defense’s claim that critical cellphone evidence was never delivered to Alex Murdaugh’s legal team. The motion, filed on Tuesday, cites a trove of emails, discovery receipts, and file‑folder screenshots that show the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) supplied raw extraction files, password logs, key‑chain data and related reports to the defense as early as October 2022.
Evidence already in the defense’s hands
The state’s filing highlights more than 40 pages of documentation spanning late 2022 to early 2023. Among the records are signed discovery receipts confirming that SLED investigators handed over unredacted raw extractions and associated logs to Murdaugh’s experts. Additionally, emails dated January 20, 2023—just three days before jury selection for the first trial—show the defense requesting a duplicate copy of the phone extraction because the original had been misplaced.
Prosecutors argue that the defense’s September motion, which alleged the state “withheld critical raw cellphone evidence,” is “false,” “manufactured,” and directly contradicted by the defense’s own correspondence. The motion states, “The State will be glad to send the cell phone evidence to the defense yet one more time if they have somehow messed up or lost their copies again.”
Background of the case
Alex Murdaugh was convicted in March 2023 of the 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, receiving two life sentences. In May 2026, the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned that conviction, finding that former Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca “Becky” Hill had improperly influenced jurors. A new trial is scheduled for April 2027.
Throughout the original proceedings, the defense repeatedly claimed that the prosecution had failed to provide essential digital evidence from seized smartphones. The latest state filing seeks to put the record straight before the upcoming retrial, emphasizing that the defense already possessed the data in question.
Implications for the upcoming retrial
By establishing that the defense was never denied access to the raw cellphone files, prosecutors aim to eliminate a recurring point of contention that could distract from the substantive issues of the case. The clarification also underscores the thoroughness of the state’s discovery process, reinforcing confidence that the upcoming trial will proceed on a factual basis rather than procedural disputes.
Fox News Digital reached out to Murdaugh’s defense team for comment but has not yet received a response.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
