Judge limits how Alex Murdaugh reviews evidence before trial

By JEFFREY COLLINS
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina judge has sided with prosecutors who asked him to put strict controls on how Alex Murdaugh’s defense can review evidence before the disgraced lawyer’s murder trial in the deaths of his wife and son. Monday’s hearing was contentious. It started with one of Murdaugh’s lawyers interrupting Deputy Attorney General Creighton Waters less than 30 seconds after he started speaking. But Circuit Judge Clifton Newman sided with prosecutors and their desire for the rules to make sure evidence isn’t released until Murdaugh’s January trial for the 2021 shootings of his wife and son. Murdaugh’s lawyers say the rules will prevent them from properly reviewing evidence and prosecutors have already been leaking it.