Alex Murdaugh returns to a South Carolina courtroom to settle pretrial issues ahead of his April 2027 retrial for the murders of his wife and son, after the state Supreme Court threw out his original convictions over juror tampering by a court clerk. Judge Debra McCaslin must decide the retrial's location, admissible evidence, and how much of Murdaugh's original trial testimony prosecutors can use.
Murdaugh is seeking dismissal entirely, alleging misconduct by the lead investigator, and argues his family's decades-long dominance of the local legal system makes a fair trial impossible in some counties. He remains imprisoned regardless, serving 27 years on state and 40 years on federal charges for unrelated financial crimes, to which he pleaded guilty.
His $600,000 civil suit against the clerk whose tampering triggered the retrial was dismissed this month.
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