Alex Murdaugh faces state pushback on Maggie DNA testing and prison laptop request

FIRST ON FOX – South Carolina prosecutors are trying to shut down Alex Murdaugh’s latest push for a new look at evidence in the murders of his wife and son, which includes DNA found under Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernails.

In new court filings, the state opposed two defense motions from the disgraced former attorney: one seeking independent DNA testing tied to Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernails and another asking for Murdaugh to be allowed to review case materials electronically while behind bars.

The filings come as Murdaugh’s defense team prepares for a retrial after the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned his murder convictions in May after finding that former Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca "Becky" Hill’s conduct had tainted the jury.

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The DNA fight centers on SLED Item No. 70, identified in court filings as left fingernail clippings from Margaret "Maggie" Murdaugh.

Murdaugh’s attorneys have argued the sample contained DNA from an unknown, unrelated male and asked that it be sent to Othram Inc., a forensic genetic genealogy company, for additional testing at Murdaugh’s expense.

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Othram Inc. is a renowned Houston-based lab which gained notoriety by helping authorities identify Bryan Kohberger as the suspect in the 2022 quadruple homicide of four University of Idaho students.

Prosecutors pushed back hard, saying the evidence has already been tested by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and produced only a mixture of Maggie Murdaugh’s DNA and what the state described as a "very partial and incomplete" profile from another contributor.

The unknown profile, prosecutors said, did not contain enough identifying information to be submitted to CODIS, the national DNA database.

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The state also sought to undercut the defense theory that the DNA could point to an unknown suspect, arguing that trace DNA under fingernails does not automatically suggest a struggle with an assailant.

Prosecutors said so-called touch DNA can be transferred through casual contact, objects or the environment. They also noted that Maggie Murdaugh had her nails done the day she and her son, Paul, were killed.

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Prosecutors said Murdaugh’s attorneys have not shown whether the remaining sample is suitable for the testing they want, what an outside lab could do that SLED could not, or how further testing would likely produce useful evidence.

The state characterized the request as unsupported and aimed more at "public consumption" than viable forensic evidence.

During Murdaugh’s first status hearing on Monday, Judge Debra McCaslin did not rule on the DNA evidence, telling defense attorneys to clarify if the sample was viable.

Murdaugh’s team is also fighting for easier access to the massive trove of case materials as it prepares for another courtroom battle. His attorneys had proposed allowing him to use a secure laptop in prison with an encrypted, password-protected hard drive, no internet access and no cellular capabilities.

But prosecutors said Murdaugh should not be trusted with unsupervised electronic access in prison, citing prior South Carolina Department of Corrections disciplinary issues involving his misuse of a prison tablet and unauthorized use of another inmate’s PIN. They also pointed to a previous contraband issue during trial involving a book that was allegedly passed to Murdaugh through defense staff and later recovered from his cell.

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Judge McCaslin weighed in on the laptop issue during Monday's hearing, saying that the prison warden would not allow Murdaugh to keep a laptop in his cell due to safety concerns. She suggested that defense attorneys could bring a laptop and review materials within a conference room, but someone must be with him.

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She is expected to decide on the issue at the next pretrial hearing, set for August 14. Fox News Digital has reached out to Murdaugh's defense team for comment.