Lawyers for accused murderer Alex Murdaugh try to block blood spatter t-shirt

South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, the man who is accused of murdering his wife and son, began his trial Monday with lawyers pleading with the judge not to talk about "blood spatter" evidence in the case.

The Daily Beast reported that, just before jury selection started, the defense told the judge it wanted to bar the discussion of “blood spatter on a white T-shirt Murdaugh wore the night his wife and son were killed in June 2021.

Orangeburg County Chief Deputy Kenneth Lee Kinsey should be blocked from testifying because he confessed in his report that he couldn't form an opinion about whether or not there was blood spatter on the shirt., the defense said. The shirt was later destroyed during forensic tests.

The legal team also opposed former police officer Tom Bevel from testifying because it said his research is based on an “at-home ‘science fair’ experiment” conducted in his “garage or kitchen or wherever.”

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Defense lawyer Jose Baez suggested to the Daily Beast that the shirt is a major piece of physical evidence for prosecutors and if it didn't follow the rules of "scientific principles" then it was effectively "junk."

Murdaugh is charged with murdering his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul.

He also faces charges involving a fraud investigation in which he is alleged to have taken millions from clients to keep his “fantasy persona of wealth, respectability, and prominence alive.” Another plot that he is facing charges over is an alleged attempt to stage his own murder for insurance money.

The Daily Beast report also revealed that the motion revealed more details about the way in which Murdaugh's wife and son were killed.

"Reports by the state’s crime scene expert concluded that 22-year-old Paul was standing in the feed room of the dog kennels when he was shot in the chest and head, stumbling forward before he was shot a second time in the head. His 52-year-old mother, however, suffered five bullet gunshot wounds, including a fatal gunshot wound to the head," the piece described. "Based on bullet casing patterns and other analyses, the crime scene expert concluded that Maggie and the shooter were moving when the shots were fired. The expert added that Maggie was shot six times."

“SLED retained Mr. Bevel to opine that the T-shirt is stained with high-velocity blood spatter that could only come from being in proximity with them at the time of their murders,” the motion says. “It did so even though the State knew on August 10, 2021—almost six weeks before first reaching out to Mr. Bevel on September 21st—that confirmatory blood test results were definitively negative for human blood in all areas of the shirt where purported spatter is present.”

The shirt was then destroyed in July 2021 after the defense said they used an “unnecessary application of an oxidizing chemical stain” used to detect bloodstains. Meanwhile, the South Carolina Enforcement Division’s HemaTrace conducted their own tests showing that the stains were "not human blood."

Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty.

Read the full report on the motion at the Daily Beast.