Evidence dispute spills into public in Alex Murdaugh case

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Attorneys for disbarred South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh say prosecutors are taking too long to share their evidence alleging the disbarred attorney killed his wife and so n, unfairly making it tougher to defend him at his upcoming trial. It’s a technical legal dispute that precedes many trials, but because of overwhelming public attention on Murdaugh’s case, attorney Dick Harpootlian called a news conference Wednesday that drew a dozen cameras at which he declared prosecutors want a “trial by ambush.” Prosecutors shot back. “This manufactured drama is just a well-known part of defense counsel’s playbook,” the state Attorney General’s Office responded in legal papers. That deadline was Monday and defense lawyers said prosecutors didn’t provide the evidence because they wanted a judge to decide whether to require a protective order limiting who the defense can show the evidence to and how it handles documents, photos and recordings. The defense said it is waiting for the evidence so it can hire experts to review GPS data that authorities might say linked Murdaugh to the shooting scene or physical evidence like blood and DNA that investigators might say show he fired one of the two guns they said were used in the killings.