Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced heir to a once-formidable legal dynasty, appeared visibly uneasy as he returned to court for the first time since his murder convictions were thrown out and a new trial was ordered in the killings of his wife and son.
In a Lexington County, South Carolina, courtroom on Monday, the former attorney — tall, shackled and wearing bright orange prison clothing — followed the proceedings closely as prosecutors and defense lawyers clashed over evidence and the schedule for his second double-murder trial was revealed.
Judge Debra McCaslin scheduled the retrial for April 5, 2027, making clear to both sides that any request to push it back would need to be backed by “a real good reason.”
The hearing drew a crowd of reporters and true-crime followers to the courthouse, while attorneys battled over a range of issues, including DNA evidence, where the retrial should be held, whether Murdaugh can use a laptop, and what he will be permitted to wear in court.
Murdaugh’s 2023 murder trial marked the dramatic culmination of his collapse from prominence as a member of a powerful family that had held sway over South Carolina’s 14th Judicial Circuit for nearly 100 years.
On June 7, 2021, his wife, Maggie, 52, and younger son, Paul, 22, were gunned down near the dog kennels at the family’s vast 1,700-acre Moselle property in Islandton, South Carolina.
The killings set off intense scrutiny that uncovered a widening trail of alleged crimes and scandals surrounding the now-58-year-old former lawyer, including multimillion-dollar fraud schemes, a failed hired-killer plot and connections to several other unexplained deaths.
Murdaugh was later charged in the deaths of Maggie and Paul and stood trial in spring 2023.
For six weeks, the Lowcountry’s so-called ‘trial of the century’ transfixed the nation, with thousands of spectators flocking to the small courthouse in Colleton County while the rest of the nation tuned in to watch proceedings gavel-to-gavel live on TV.
Disgraced legal dynasty heir Alex Murdaugh looked nervous as he appeared in court for the first time since his murder convictions were overturned
From left: Buster, Maggie, Paul and Murdaugh in a photo posted by Maggie for Father’s Day in 2020
Murdaugh was convicted of the murders but continues to claim his innocence to this day.
In May, the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned his convictions and ordered a second trial, after finding that Murdaugh’s right to a fair trial was violated because then-Colleton County Court Clerk Becky Hill tampered with the jury.
During Monday’s hearing, the judge heard arguments regarding multiple motions that the defense had filed in recent days, including seeking the testing of DNA evidence found under Maggie’s fingernails and requesting a change in venue for his second trial.
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Defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin claim that DNA from an unknown, unrelated man was found under Maggie’s left-hand fingernails but was never tested during the original investigation.
Griffin said that the DNA is ‘positively not Alex Murdaugh’s or any other folks who they took buccal swabs from.’
The defense needs the DNA evidence so it can be sent to genetic genealogy lab Othram for testing. Such testing by the private lab can take ‘considerable time,’ the defense has argued, meaning a rush order is needed to get the process in motion.
Griffin said the DNA technology they are seeking ‘didn’t exist in 2021’ and explained how Othram famously identified Bryan Kohberger as the perpetrator of the University of Idaho murders.
Prosecutor Creighton Waters didn’t oppose the testing but branded the DNA evidence a ‘red herring.’
‘There’s absolutely no evidence that Maggie Murdaugh was in a struggle with anyone, that she had any sort of defensive wounds, that she was scratched from any sort of attacker,’ he said.
He also pointed out that it is ‘very common to have touch DNA’ on the hands from general day-to-day interactions.
Griffin pushed back, saying that there was a shell casing under Maggie’s body and her cell phone was missing – signs that he claimed could suggest some sort of struggle.
‘We don’t think it’s a red herring. We think it’s very important,’ Griffin said.
The defense team also said that they can’t be sure if they have received all the evidence in the case due to potential issues with evidence collected at the scene.
‘We don’t know what we don’t know,’ Harpootlian said. ‘We don’t have what we don’t have.’
Alex Murdaugh was granted a new trial after he was found guilty of two murders in 2023
The dog kennels on the Murdaugh family’s Moselle estate where Maggie and Paul were murdered
Harpootlian also pointed to interviews some members of law enforcement had given in the aftermath of Murdaugh’s conviction and sentencing, arguing it differed to what they testified to at trial and raising questions about the strength of the investigation.
In particular, he pointed to comments speculating that Murdaugh ‘had some help’ cleaning up and disposing of evidence after the shootings.
He also revealed that a number of people have approached the defense team with information about the case, including what he described as ‘extraordinary evidence’ linking Paul’s murder and the murder of Stephen Smith. Nursing student Smith was found dead by the side of a road in Hampton County – close to the Murdaugh estate – in 2015. His murder remains unsolved.
The state and defense also argued about Murdaugh’s request to appear unshackled and in civilian clothes at his upcoming court dates and trial.
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Murdaugh’s lawyers had filed a motion on the matter last week, before swiftly withdrawing it when the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office fired back that Murdaugh ‘thinks he is special’ but should be treated the same as any other convicted felon on trial.
During the hearing, Murdaugh’s defense revived their request for him to wear civilian clothes, accusing the state of ‘parading him around in a jumpsuit and shackles like an animal.’
Asking Murdaugh to stand up in the courtroom to show off his attire, Harpootlian pointed out that he is chained around the waist, hands and feet and argued he is not a dangerous serial killer. ‘This is not Ted Bundy,’ he said.
Waters said it is policy in South Carolina for a convicted inmate to appear in court in prison clothing and shackles, reminding the court that he is serving a 27-year state sentence for financial crimes.
The judge will rule on this at a later date, she said.
There was also debate around Murdaugh’s request to have a laptop inside the prison so that the former attorney can review the evidence in his case.
The Murdaugh family’s 1,700-acre Moselle estate where Maggie and Paul were shot dead
Waters pointed out that the South Carolina Department of Corrections does not allow inmates to have devices in prison. Not only is it a security risk, he said, but Murdaugh has already been reprimanded for breaking rules while behind bars.
Murdaugh rocked in his chair and muttered something to Griffin at Waters’s remarks.
Despite the defense’s claims that Murdaugh is facing ‘prejudice’ from the state, the judge said that Murdaugh cannot have a laptop in his prison cell. But she said she had arranged with the prison that Murdaugh can have access to a conference room to review the discovery in the presence of his team.
‘I want him to have all his discovery. He’s entitled to it. It’s safety concerns,’ the judge said.
One thing the two sides did appear to come to some common ground on was discussions around moving the trial to another location.
The defense wants it to be moved far away from Colleton County where Murdaugh’s first trial took place – and where Hill, the person whose actions prompted the retrial, worked as the elected clerk of court.
Murdaugh’s attorneys argued that the intense spotlight on the case in the local areas means that he would not be able to receive a fair and impartial trial there.
As well as Colleton County, Murdaugh’s team also want to exclude the other four counties that make up South Carolina’s 14th Judicial Circuit – Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper – ‘where the Murdaugh name has been synonymous with the local legal system for nearly a century.’
The Murdaugh family including his surviving son Buster (second left) put on a united front during the trial
Three generations of the Murdaugh family held the position of elected 14th Circuit Solicitor for 86 years from 1920 until 2006, when his father Randy stood down from the role.
The defense and prosecution said that they are discussing together a potential course of action for the trial location.
While some of those matters will be decided at a later date, Murdaugh’s second trial is already shaping up to look somewhat different to the first.
As part of the state Supreme Court’s ruling, the justices ruled that the scope of evidence related to Murdaugh’s financial crimes should be more limited a second time around.
During the first trial, jurors had heard from multiple law firm colleagues, clients and close friends of Murdaugh who testified that he had stolen millions of dollars from them.
He would later plead guilty to a string of state and federal financial crimes and was handed 27-year and 40-year sentences.
This financial crime evidence played a crucial part in laying out the prosecution’s motive for the double homicide.
Prosecutors argued that Murdaugh’s financial crimes were on the brink of being exposed and so he murdered his wife and son to distract from his growing problems.
His law firm partners had confronted him about missing money on the morning of the murders. And his finances were coming under intense scrutiny in a lawsuit brought by the family of Mallory Beach, a 19-year-old girl killed in a boat crash caused by Paul.
A hearing in the suit was set for three days after the murders.
From left, Buster, Maggie, Paul and Murdaugh. On June 7, 2021, Maggie and Paul were shot dead at the family estate
The case became known as the Lowcountry’s trial of the century with coverage watched gavel-to-gavel across the country
A damning cell phone video captured by Paul moments before his death and car data were also key evidence in the state’s case – used to prove that Murdaugh lied about his alibi and that he was at the crime scene around the time the murders took place.
Following the murders, other mysterious deaths tied to the prominent family also fell under the spotlight.
In 2019, Paul was charged with causing a boat crash that resulted in the death of his friend, 19-year-old Mallory Beach, and was awaiting trial at the time of his murder.
Prior to this, the family’s housekeeper Gloria Satterfield died in a mysterious trip-and-fall accident at the Murdaugh estate.
The family’s name was also linked, without any evidence, to an unsolved homicide of gay teen Stephen Smith in 2015.
Three months after the murders, Murdaugh then allegedly tried to hire a hitman, his distant cousin, Curtis ‘Cousin Eddie’ Smith, to stage his own botched shooting in order to secure a life insurance windfall for his surviving son Buster.
Murdaugh remains behind bars in a maximum security prison in South Carolina where he is serving his sentences for his financial crimes.
Murdaugh will return to court in Lexington County on August 14 for his next pre-trial hearing.
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