Judge sets 2027 retrial date in Alex Murdaugh murder case

Judge Debra R. McCaslin set a tentative retrial date of April 5, 2027, in Lexington County as Alex Murdaugh’s lawyers pushed to reopen the DNA fight. The hourlong pretrial hearing on June 29 was Murdaugh’s first court appearance since his 2023 murder convictions were overturned, and the defense also renewed its bid to move the case out of Colleton County.

Murdaugh had been convicted in March 2023 after a six-week trial in the killings of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, and jurors returned guilty verdicts on two counts of murder before he received two life sentences on March 3, 2023. The South Carolina Supreme Court unanimously reversed those convictions on May 13, 2026, finding that former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill’s conduct amounted to improper jury interference and that prejudice had to be presumed.

Evidence collected from under Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernails after the June 2021 killings on the family’s property is at the center of the retrial push. Defense attorney Jim Griffin told the court the sample may have come from an unknown and unrelated male, and said the team wants independent DNA analysis that was not pursued further at the first trial. Griffin also said the defense has been in contact with Othram and argued that technology and AI-assisted tools now make testing possible in ways that were not available in 2021.

McCaslin said she did not want the case dragged out for years, but the defense is still seeking broader forensic review before retrial. Lawyers for Murdaugh are also asking for the case to be moved out of the Fourteenth Judicial District, which includes Allendale, Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties, arguing that the region’s small, interconnected population has been saturated by documentaries, books and films, and that the Murdaugh name has been tied to the local legal system for nearly a century.

He pleaded guilty in September 2023 to 22 federal financial crimes and was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison, and federal judges dismissed his appeal of that sentence on Oct. 1, 2024.