Alex Murdaugh's attorney tells jury that police investigation 'failed miserably'

During the defense’s closing statement in Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial, defense attorney Jim Griffin slammed law enforcement as incompetent and biased, Law&Crime reported.

“We’ve shown conclusively that SLED (South Carolina Law Enforcement) failed miserably in investigating this case, and had they done a competent job, Alex would have been excluded from that circle a year ago, two years ago,” Griffin said. “But he would have been excluded.”

The state’s own witnesses have testified that the crime scene. was mismanaged. As Law&Crime's report points out, one witness testified that tire tracks at the scene were destroyed by law enforcement, with another witness backing up that claim. A third law enforcement witness testified about various sets of tire tracks that investigators did not consider or preserve at all.

“Why did they never take DNA samples off of Maggie’s clothes?” Griffin asked. “Why did they never take DNA samples off Paul’s clothes? They never did. They never did. It was never done.”

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“There was only one reason" for police only taking DNA samples off of the defendant’s clothes, Griffin said. “They had decided, unless we find somebody else, it’s gonna be Alex.”

Griffin discussed the discovery and preservation of location data from Maggie Murdaugh’s cellphone, as well as Alex Murdaugh numerous inquiries to SLED lead investigator David Owen about what the data shows.

“There is sufficient evidence in the record that shows Alex Murdaugh was not driving down the road–Moselle Road–with Maggie’s phone in the car and tossed it at whatever time,” Griffin said.

Read the full report over at Law&Crime.