Overview
- Defense attorneys filed a memorandum on July 30 asking a judge to release reserve samples from beneath Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernails to Othram for SNP-based genetic genealogy testing before the State Law Enforcement Division runs any further STR retesting.
- Prosecutors disclosed for the first time that reserve samples from Items 70 and 71 remain unprocessed, a development the defense cited to press for immediate independent analysis.
- The defense says SNP testing can identify unknown contributors from degraded or limited DNA whereas STR testing is meant to match samples to known profiles in law enforcement databases.
- The defense warns that additional STR tests by SLED could consume or degrade the limited material and pointed to earlier disputed SLED forensic work, including contested blood evidence interpretation on a T-shirt, as grounds for independent review.
- A hearing is set for August 14 to resolve the dispute ahead of an April 2027 retrial and the defense says Othram could finish SNP analysis in about 60 to 90 days at its expense if the court allows testing first.