Nov. 13 (UPI) — Alex Murdaugh, a South Carolina man convicted of murdering his wife and son, was expected in court Friday to argue that the indictments against him in his case should be thrown out because investigators allegedly showed false evidence to the grand jury.

Alex Murdaugh, 58, is scheduled go before Judge Debra McCaslin at the Lexington County Courthouse in Columbia, S.C. It’s the final pre-trial hearing before the case moves to Sumter County, where Murdaugh’s retrial is set to begin in April.

Alex Murdaugh, 58, was convicted in 2023 of the murder of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and youngest son, Paul Murdaugh, 22. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

In May, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that the first trial was tainted by improper contact between Becky Hill, the county’s clerk of courts, and members of the jury. It tossed the conviction.

In a separate case, Alex Murdaugh pleaded guilty to dozens of financial crimes and is serving a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.

On Oct. 30, Alex Murdaugh’s defense team filed a motion alleging the prosecution knowingly presented fabricated blood-spatter evidence and false testimony about shotgun ammunition to the Colleton County grand jury that indicted him in 2022, WLTX reported.

Prosecutors denied the allegations in a response filed on Nov. 6. They said prosecutors had enough evidence to establish probable cause without the disputed testimony.

The defense argues that a white T-shirt that Alex Murdaugh wore when investigators arrived at the property in Moselle, S.C., in June 2021, had no human blood on it. They say prosecutors withheld that fact from the blood-spatter expert who testified that Alex Murdaugh had been near the victims when they were shot.

Prosecutors argue that while they initially didn’t tell the expert, it was accidental and they later told him and he conducted additional analysis and stood by his opinion.

They also allege that South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agent David Owen gave false testimony about shotgun ammunition found on the property. In his trial testimony, Owen admitted his statements to the grand jury were inaccurate and corrected himself. Prosecutors contend that Owen made a mistake, and it wasn’t deliberate.

The hearing was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Friday.