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Murdaugh retrial hearing

True crime · Heat 2.1 / 10 · 2 shows · 55m airtime

Alex Murdaugh appeared at a pre-trial hearing in his retrial on October 15 and did not speak. The defense says unknown male DNA is under both of Maggie Murdaugh's hands and on her phone, with twice as much under the untested hand as under item 70. Ryan Spencer North's statement, given three days before the first trial, ties Eddie Smith to a $165,000 drug debt. The state says SLED has entered 720 300 Blackout cartridge cases into IBIS since January 2021, including evidence from this case, and the judge said Murdaugh failed his polygraph on financial matters and was never polygraphed about the murders. The judge let the defense test the DNA without automatically sharing results, and that testing uses…

How 2 podcasts covered it

  1. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-20 (2:12 to 3:35)
    Previews the hearing and the DNA thread
    Opens the episode by framing the pre-trial hearing in Murdaugh's retrial: he was in court but silent, and the panel plans to sort what helps him from what hurts him. It previews the DNA thread rather than reporting new developments.
    New angle: Alex Murdaugh attended a pre-trial retrial hearing and did not speak.
  2. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-20 (3:16 to 8:27)
    Reads the DNA claims from the hearing
    Reads from the retrial hearing on the defense's DNA claims: unknown male DNA under both of Maggie Murdaugh's hands, twice as much under the untested hand as under item 70, and a contributor not present in Alex Murdaugh on the roadside phone swab. The panel is skeptical but says it should be run down.
    New angle: The defense says unknown male DNA is under both of Maggie Murdaugh's hands and on her phone, with twice as much under the untested hand as under item 70.
  3. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-20 (8:27 to 9:40)
    Reacts to the defense DNA motion
    Reaction to the defense's DNA motion from the retrial hearing: Coffindaffer calls the sample too small and too mixed to identify and the motion mud thrown at the wall, and the panel praises the judge for calling it out. Opinion on the hearing, no new development.
  4. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-20 (10:06 to 13:31)
    Picks up the North statement and the drug debt
    Picks up a statement discussed at the retrial hearing: federal prisoner Ryan Spencer North claims $15,000 to $20,000 a week in pill sales to the Murdaugh family and firm, and ties Eddie Smith to a $165,000 debt to a gang called the Cowboys. The panel argues the murder does not fit the group's record.
    New angle: Ryan Spencer North's statement, given three days before the first trial, ties Eddie Smith to a $165,000 drug debt.
  5. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-20 (13:31 to 16:13)
    Calls the North statement hearsay upon hearsay
    Panel discussion of the North statement's credibility, with Coffindaffer calling it hearsay upon hearsay that could never be allowed in court. Stays inside the defense-theory debate already on the record, adding only the Cowboys' criminal history.
  6. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-21 (3:16 to 9:28)
    Weighs the defense DNA claims against touch DNA
    Recaps the defense's DNA claims from the pre-trial hearing - unknown male DNA under both of Maggie Murdaugh's hands and on the thrown cell phone, with the trial's partial-profile result on the phone swab. Coffindaffer and Drake argue it is likely touch DNA with no timeline and does not fit a long-gun killing, while agreeing it should have been run…
  7. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-21 (9:32 to 18:57)
    Knocks down the drug-gang theory as hearsay
    Recaps the North statement and the drug-gang theory - the pill sales, the $165,000 debt, the Cowboys - and has Coffindaffer and Drake knock it down as hearsay upon hearsay with no murder-for-hire history. Stays inside the hearing coverage.
  8. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-21 (18:57 to 26:43)
    Adds the discovery fight and IBIS testimony
    Moves from the DNA fight to the rest of the same pre-trial hearing: the two-hour discovery dispute over gigabytes of files dumped days before the first trial, and the defense challenge to the state expert's scarcity testimony on 300 Blackout rounds. It reads the state's response into the record.
    New angle: The state says SLED has entered 720 300 Blackout cartridge cases into IBIS since January 2021, including evidence from this case.
  9. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-21 (26:43 to 32:40)
    Plays the judge's polygraph rebuke
    Plays the judge's rebuke of Harpootlian over the polygraph representation and records her statement that Murdaugh failed the polygraph on financial matters and was never polygraphed about the murders. The rest is demeanor talk and speculation about his reactions.
    New angle: The judge said Murdaugh failed his polygraph on financial matters and was never polygraphed about the murders.
  10. Dateline NBC, 2026-10-22 (26:21 to 29:41)
    Reports the DNA ruling and the retrial dates
    Reports from the pre-retrial evidence hearing: the judge let the defense run its own DNA testing without automatically sharing results, and Harpootlian pressed for the original FaroScan data. Adds the next hearing date and the retrial date.
    New angle: The judge let the defense test the DNA without automatically sharing results; the next hearing is November 13 and retrial April 5.
  11. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-24 (2:18 to 3:33)
    Adds the sample running out after testing
    Opens on the October pre-trial hearing itself: Murdaugh in a dark suit, a two-hour session, and the DNA testing win. Adds that the testing will consume the last of the sample, a constraint not yet on the record.
    New angle: Testing the fingernail and phone DNA now uses up the last of the evidence sample.
  12. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-24 (3:15 to 8:37)
    Debates the DNA testing ruling and odds
    Weighs the ruling letting the defense test the unknown male DNA under both of Maggie Murdaugh's hands and on her phone. Faddis says a match would support an alternative-suspect defense; Drake argues the odds favor a benign source like a nail salon worker and doubts any tie to the killer.
  13. Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski, 2026-10-24 (11:34 to 13:18)
    Recaps the polygraph claims from the hearing
    Recaps the polygraph exchange from the October 15 hearing, adding that Harpootlian and Griffin claimed on camera in August that Murdaugh passed with flying colors. Faddis walks through the duty of candor and possible ethics consequences; the substance stays inside the hearing's record.
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