LEXINGTON, S.C. — South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Debra McCaslin denied Alex Murdaugh’s request for more ballistics reports tied to a specific type of ammunition used to kill his wife, Maggie, but asked prosecutors to turn over the “raw data” used for crime scene comparisons.
“I do not believe the defense has established that the requested information was material to the preparation of the defense, or that it could be disclosed,” she said. “SLED has conducted testing and, at this time, no ballistic matches have been identified linking the evidence in question to any other weapon, crime, or other investigation.”
She said earlier in the hearing that the motion sounded like a “fishing expedition.” Murdaugh’s defense countered that .300 Blackout cartridges are the second most popular type of ammunition in the country for certain rifles.
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“It may very well have been a fishing expedition, but when their witness indicated that the Blackout cartridge was rarely used, and downplayed because they were at that time trying to prove that it was a family gun, very rare, we think it’s used a lot more in this area, especially where people use it to hunt hogs,” defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said. “I don’t understand what the objection is.”
He said that based on Brady and Giglio precedent, the defense should have access to ballistics regarding more cases in the area that used .300 Blackout ammunition, which killed Maggie Murdaugh.
The defense wanted records of other crimes involving .300 Blackout to be reviewed by a defense expert.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters countered that there had been no tool marks consistent with evidence collected at the crime scene, even though the same brand of ammunition had been used in other crimes.
The popularity of the .300 Blackout has also increased over the past five years, he said.
Waters said a manual and machine-assisted examination found that shell casings from around Murdaugh’s former estate matched those found at the crime scene.
Harpootlian requested that a defense expert perform the same type of analysis.
“Very good,” the judge said. “I’m going to order you to get Mr. Harpootlian, all the raw data you have, and then Mr. Harpootlian, after review by your expert, if you need anything else you can let me know.”
Adam Sabes and Samantha Daigle of Fox News contributed to this report.
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