A newly submitted court document suggests attorneys for Alex Murdaugh, the former South Carolina lawyer whose murder convictions were recently tossed out, may have misrepresented the results of a polygraph examination.
The filing, entered Wednesday in Colleton County, South Carolina, lays out claims from state prosecutors targeting comments made by Murdaugh’s defense attorney, Dick Harpootlian.
Murdaugh was found guilty in 2023 of killing his wife and son and received two consecutive life sentences. But in May, those convictions were overturned after former court clerk Becky Hill was found to have improperly influenced jurors during the high-profile murder trial.
Alex Murdaugh appears at a court hearing on June 29, 2026, at the Marc H. Westbrook Judicial Center in Lexington, South Carolina. Murdaugh is set to face a new trial in the June 7, 2021, shooting deaths of his wife and son after his original conviction was thrown out over jury tampering concerns. (Tracy Glantz/The State via Pool)
At an Aug. 14 hearing, Harpootlian told the court, “Mr. Murdaugh passed a polygraph. Flying colors. Same polygrapher. It may play a role in this trial.”
Prosecutors now contend that statement is misleading, arguing that Murdaugh did not take any polygraph, commonly known as a lie-detector test, during his original 2023 murder trial.
According to the state, the only time Murdaugh actually underwent a lie-detector exam was after that trial, in the fall of 2023, when the FBI tested him as part of a separate investigation into major financial crimes.
Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian represents Alex Murdaugh during a June 29, 2026, status hearing in Lexington, South Carolina. (Tracy Glantz/The State via Pool)
The new document says:
“Defense council’s claim on the record at the hearing that defendant Alex Murdaugh passed a SLED [South Carolina Law Enforcement Division] polygraph as to the murders, much less than any governmental polygraph on any subject, is categorically false, and clearly said for no other reason that an attempt to prejudice this court and the public.”
Read the filing below.
In response to the state’s filing, Harpootlian emailed a letter to Judge Debra McCaslin on Thursday saying that he incorrectly stated in court that Murdaugh had taken a polygraph and passed “with flying colors, saying he had mistakenly conflated several facts.
Harpootlian said, “I want to offer my apology to both the court and state for any confusion I may have caused.”
Here is the letter:
Murdaugh is scheduled for his new trial in April of next year. That trial will not take place in Colleton County.
Judge Debra McCaslin oversees a judicial hearing on June 29, 2026, at the Marc H. Westbrook Judicial Center in Lexington, South Carolina. (Tracy Glantz/The State via Pool)
On Friday, McCaslin ruled the retrial must move out of Colleton County, but she did not yet mention a new location.
It’s possible the retrial could be in Richland County, as Murdaugh’s defense recently pressed to move it – arguing the possibility of a larger jury pool in a new location.
