A fresh court filing has surfaced, shedding new light on the defense strategy of Alex Murdaugh, who stands accused of having previously murdered his wife and son. This document suggests the defense might have misrepresented the results of his lie detector test.

Released on Wednesday in Colleton County, South Carolina, the filing accuses Murdaugh’s lawyer, Dick Harpootlian, of potentially misleading practices, as detailed by state prosecutors.

In 2023, Murdaugh was initially found guilty and condemned to two consecutive life sentences for these homicides. However, in a twist this past May, those verdicts were vacated after evidence emerged that court clerk Becky Hill had improperly swayed jury members.

In an August 14 hearing, Harpootlian asserted, “Mr. Murdaugh passed a polygraph with flying colors, using the same examiner. It might become relevant in this upcoming trial.”

Prosecutors argue that when Murdaugh was initially tried in 2023, he never took a polygraph, or lie-detector, test.

The time that he did in fact take a lie-detector test was after the trial in the fall of 2023. He took the test with the FBI when he was under investigation for serious financial crimes.

The new document says:

“Defense council’s claim on the record at the hearing that defendant Alex Murdaugh passed a SLED [South Carolina Law Enforcement Division] polygraph as to the murders, much less than any governmental polygraph on any subject, is categorically false, and clearly said for no other reason that an attempt to prejudice this court and the public.”

Read the filing below.

In response to the state’s filing, Harpootlian emailed a letter to Judge Debra McCaslin on Thursday saying that he incorrectly stated in court that Murdaugh had taken a polygraph and passed “with flying colors, saying he had mistakenly conflated several facts. 

Harpootlian said, “I want to offer my apology to both the court and state for any confusion I may have caused.”

Here is the letter:

Murdaugh is scheduled for his new trial in April of next year. That trial will not take place in Colleton County.

On Friday, McCaslin ruled the retrial must move out of Colleton County, but she did not yet mention a new location.

It’s possible the retrial could be in Richland County, as Murdaugh’s defense recently pressed to move it – arguing the possibility of a larger jury pool in a new location.

In a significant legal defeat, The New York Times has been ordered to compensate a former college basketball player for defamation, with damages amounting to millions, as decided on Thursday.

An Alabama jury concluded that the Times had defamed Kai Spears, who was just an 18-year-old freshman walk-on for the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide when he was wrongly implicated in a 2023 investigative piece regarding a fatal shooting incident.

After deliberating for nine days, the eight-person jury awarded Spears $9.25 million in damages, recognizing the significant impact of the fallacious report on his life.

In the contentious March 2023 article, authored by New York Times sports journalist Billy Witz, Spears was erroneously named.

The report inaccurately alleged that Spears had been a passenger in a vehicle at the scene of a January 2023 shooting, which tragically resulted in the death of 23-year-old Jamea Harris.

The Times issued a lengthy editor’s note to the report in June 2023, but only after Spears filed the defamation lawsuit at the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

“The original version of this article, published March 15, misidentified the person who was in the car with [Crimson Tide star player] Brandon Miller when the shooting occurred,” the note began. 

“Based on information from a person familiar with the case, the article erroneously identified that person as Kai Spears, a freshman basketball player. After the article was initially published, Alabama’s athletic director and Spears’s father denied that Spears was present. The Times included those responses and reviewed its reporting, but did not conclude that any other change to the article was warranted at that time.

“On Wednesday, Spears filed a defamation suit against The Times that included new details about the incident. Based on that information, editors assigned further reporting, which determined that the other person at the scene was not Spears but Cooper Lee, a student manager for the team. The Times regrets the error in the initial report.”

Witz, who began reporting for The Times in 2008, relied on one anonymous source who claimed Spears was at the site of the shooting.

Witz testified the source was a “high-level person, professional.”

“I think the way I was looking at it, Source A, by their job title and by virtue of their access to the transcript, videos and impound photos, was somebody who knew a lot about this case,” Witz said, according to a report from The Tuscaloosa Patch. 

“In my mind, the story had a focus, and this tragedy, as bad as it was, could have been much worse.”

A separate anonymous source had told Witz, “I can tell you it’s a White guy on the basketball team, I just don’t remember his name,” according to Witz’s testimony.

According to The Patch, Witz ultimately conceded from the witness stand, “Yes, [the story] had a mistake, no question.”

The Times noted in its own report about the verdict that it had not lost a defamation lawsuit brought in the United States over one of its articles in more than 50 years.

“We’re disappointed the jury found The Times liable for an honest mistake,” a Times spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “We thank the jury for its service, but believe the verdict and award of damages are contrary to law and not supported by the evidence. We are reviewing our legal options.”

Spears’ legal team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Reports suggest Canadian taxpayers might be footing the bill for Justin Trudeau’s security detail as he travels internationally with pop sensation Katy Perry.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau is reportedly accompanied by officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on his recent adventures with Perry, according to the Journal de Montréal.

A source claims that Trudeau, now 54, continues to utilize the RCMP for both personal and political journeys, treating them as a personal security team.

Although Trudeau stepped down from his role last March, his high-profile romance with Perry has kept him in the public eye this year.

Trudeau and Perry have been spotted enjoying themselves at Coachella and on multiple excursions across Europe, including stops in Greece, Italy, and Switzerland.

He would have been accompanied by the RCMP while spending time with the famous musician, according to the report.

The RCMP has not disclosed Trudeau’s security provisions, including the cost or their nature.

The agency stated that this was because of ‘the evolving threat environment and operational and security considerations related to police protection services,’ as information could ‘reveal or facilitate inferences about the protective measures taken for an individual,’ according to Le Journal.

Trudeau requires three or four federal officers at once, according to the outlet.

Taxpayers would cover their travel, lodging, meals, salaries and overtime pay as they ensure the former prime minister’s safety.

Former RCMP deputy commissioner Pierre-Yves Bourduas told the outlet that Trudeau’s ‘hectic love life’ could cause ‘headaches’ for the officers.

Bourduas added that the RCMP has ‘limited personnel,’ which meant that Trudeau’s needs could be putting a strain on the police force.

Perry has her own team of bodyguards, who have previously stepped in during potentially concerning situations at concerts.

However, Trudeau cannot be expected to rely on his girlfriend’s detail, according to Bourduas.

He explained that this was because Perry’s bodyguards had ‘a different mandate than that of the former prime minister’ and were not fully responsible for him.

Trudeau and Perry went public with their relationship on Instagram in December after the Daily Mail published exclusive photos of the couple embracing on a yacht two months before.

The former Canadian prime minister was married to Sophie Grégoire before they separated in August 2023 and he later started dating Perry.

Since then, the pair have been spotted on ritzy trips all over the world, sometimes sharing snaps of their time together.

Trudeau’s security cost Canadian taxpayers more than $30 million while he was prime minister, CBC previously reported.

That marked the highest of any leader in the country’s history, according to the outlet.

Trudeau’s father, former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau, was the first former leader of his country to be offered protective services after his time in office.

The elder Trudeau was offered security because his track record as prime minister could invite future threats against him, according to The Globe and Mail.

However, he did not face any ongoing threats at the time he left office, per the outlet.

Other Canadian PMs, such as Brian Mulroney, Jean Chrétien and Stephen Harper, have also accepted RCMP protection after departing their position.

The Daily Mail has reached out to the RCMP and representatives for Perry and Trudeau for comment.