Alex Murdaugh double murder retrial to take place next year, SC judge decides

COLUMBIA — Alex Murdaugh’s second double murder trial is slated for April, guaranteeing a new attorney general will oversee the prosecution.

The state Supreme Court last month overturned Murdaugh’s 2023 conviction and life sentence on charges of killing his wife and son two years prior, pointing to jury interference from the court’s clerk.

During a wide-ranging Monday hearing, the first ahead of the new trial, Judge Debra McCaslin set the retrial date for April 5, 2027.

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That could change depending on the timing of an enhanced DNA test Murdaugh’s attorneys want to run, though McCaslin told attorneys to anticipate selecting a jury as close to that date as possible.

“Please do not think that this case is going to be tried a year later, because it’s not,” McCaslin told a crowded Lexington County courtroom. “We’re going forward.”

Murdaugh remains in prison after pleading guilty to stealing about $12 million from his legal clients in a separate case. He is serving a 40-year federal sentence and a 27-year state sentence for those charges.

A new attorney general

The April retrial date will give whoever voters choose as the state’s next attorney general about four months to get familiar with the inner workings of the state’s highest-profile case in years, McCaslin said.

“That would give the new attorney general time to look at his case in case he’s going to be here and join us,” McCaslin said.

Voters will decide in November between 8th Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo, who won the GOP nod, and Charleston attorney Richard Hricik, who ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

The winner will take office in January, when Attorney General Alan Wilson’s term ends.

Hricik told the SC Daily Gazette he would trust the attorneys who have spent years working on the case to move ahead with the trial.

As far as specifics go, Hricik said he’d need to review the files, though he has “full confidence” in the legal team on the case, especially considering they already secured a conviction once, he said.

“It’s always easy to judge a case from afar, but I’m not in the case,” Hricik said. “I don’t have the knowledge, nor do I pretend to. It would be irresponsible for me to sit here and tell them how to do their jobs.”

Stumbo, the winner of last week’s GOP runoff, did not immediately respond to a call requesting comment Monday.

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During a debate in May ahead of the three-way GOP primary, he said he believed the team in charge of the case did a great job and would be ready for the retrial right away.

“I don’t need a tutorial on how to try a murder case,” Stumbo said at the time. “I’ve done dozens of them throughout my career, and I’ll be ready to walk into that office and try the Murdaugh case day one.”

Wilson, who spent about two of his more than 15 years in office with his attorneys on the case, previously vowed to aggressively retry the case if round two happened under his watch.

Wilson sought the governor’s office this year instead of re-election to a fifth term as chief prosecutor. His pledge to “seek justice” came a month before the GOP gubernatorial primary. He ultimately won the Republican nomination in a runoff last week. In November, Wilson will face Democrat Jermaine Johnson, a state representative from Richland County.

Location and DNA testing

McCaslin proposed when the trial would take place, but she didn’t suggest where.

The first trial occurred in Colleton County, home to the family’s sprawling estate where Murdaugh is accused of shooting and killing his wife, Maggie, and their 22-year-old son, Paul, in the dog kennels.

Murdaugh’s attorneys have requested to hold the second trial outside the 14th Circuit, which includes Allendale, Beaufort, Hampton and Jasper counties along with Colleton.

Finding a jury in a tight-knit part of the state for such a high-profile case, which spawned books, documentaries and a TV dramatization, could prove extremely difficult, Murdaugh’s attorneys wrote in court filings.

McCaslin asked attorneys on both sides to discuss potential locations. If they can agree on a spot, she’ll take that under consideration, she said. If not, she’ll choose for them.

Monday’s hearing involved lots of procedural issues, including how Murdaugh can prepare and what he can wear during the trial.

McCaslin decided Murdaugh can’t have unsupervised access to a laptop, as his attorneys had requested, because of security concerns, though he will be allowed to use a computer to review electronic case files as long as an attorney or paralegal is present.

She didn’t decide whether he can forego his prison-issued jumpsuit and the shackles around his waist, wrists and ankles, which he wore to court Monday. Murdaugh’s attorneys argued the getup communicates guilt to the jury, while prosecutors said the outfit is standard for any inmate serving time.

Also in question is whether Murdaugh’s defense attorneys can run another test on DNA found under Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernails.

The State Law Enforcement Division tested the DNA ahead of the first trial but found the evidence inconclusive, determining only that the person was a man unrelated to her.

“In 2021, genetic genealogy was just on the ground floor,” said Jim Griffin, one of Murdaugh’s defense attorneys. “In 2026, we are light years ahead. So, what we’re asking for didn’t really exist in 2021.”

A more advanced test of the DNA could help bolster the defense’s case that someone else was responsible for the killings, said Griffin and fellow defense attorney Dick Harpootlian.

The state’s attorney called more testing “an unnecessary boondoggle.”

That’s “more made for public consumption than to uncover viable evidence,” lead prosecutor Creighton Waters wrote in a court filing. SLED already determined the evidence inconclusive, and Maggie Murdaugh had no defensive wounds that would suggest she fended off an attacker, filings read.

McCaslin will decide on that issue after Murdaugh’s next pretrial hearing, which is scheduled for Aug. 14 in Lexington County.

She asked attorneys to come ready with a timeline for the testing.