McDaniel’s Attorneys Request Evidence be Withheld from Trial

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The group of lawyers representing Stephen McDaniel filed more than two dozen motions Friday. McDaniel is accused of killing and dismembering Mercer Law Graduate Lauren Giddings in 2011.

McDaniel’s attorney’s Floyd Buford and Franklin Hogue expect to add additional motions.

For now, the defense has requested that any evidence obtained using cadaver dogs be prohibited, saying use of this technique “has not reached a scientific stage of verifiable certainty.”

They have also requested that any evidence gathered by law enforcement during a warrantless search of McDaniel’s apartment be thrown out. His team has asked that any electronic evidence found on a digital storage device not be held against him. The lawyers argue that search of McDaniel’s storage devices violated his privacy.

McDaniel’s attorneys also want the DNA discovered on a hacksaw to be excluded from trial – stating “since there is a 7 in 10 chance that the DNA belongs to somebody else.”

According to Prosecutor Nancy Scott Malcor, no hearings have been set yet in the Giddings murder trial.