Murdaugh trial to start April 5, but location undetermined

MORNING HEADLINES | Convicted felon Alex Murdaugh’s second murder trial will start April 5, but it’s not clear where it will be.

It won’t, however, be in Colleton County or nearby counties of the 14th Judicial Circuit, S.C. Circuit Court Judge Debra McCaslin said at a lengthy pre-trial hearing on Friday in Lexington County. Why? Because Murdaugh, subject more more than a dozen books and massive media attention, wouldn’t be able to get a fair trial in Walterboro or Beaufort, Hampton, Allendale or Jasper counties, she said.

Murdaugh will be back on trial in April after the state Supreme Court overturned his 2023 conviction and life sentence for killing his wife and younger son were overturned in May. The court ruled then that a Colleton County court clerk may have influenced the jury.

Meanwhile according to media reports, “McCaslin said she will be issuing a detailed ruling explaining why he can’t get a fair trial and naming the new county where the trial will take place. Besides Charleston, which the defense wants and the prosecution doesn’t, top places being discussed for such a high profile trial are Florence, Lexington and Richland.”

Also at the hearing, the judge didn’t decide on a defense request “to throw out the whole case because Murdaugh’s lawyers said the chief state investigator lied to the grand jury that indicted their client in 2022 and another main investigator was fired for misconduct after taking a job at a different agency,” according to the S.C. Public Radio.

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