Murdaugh Pretrial Hearing Addresses Venue and Motions

Alex Murdaugh, the disbarred South Carolina attorney convicted of murdering his wife and son, is scheduled to appear in a Lexington County courtroom on Friday, August 14, 2026, for a pretrial hearing that will address a series of critical motions ahead of his retrial. The hearing, set for 10 a.m. before Circuit Judge Debra McCaslin, comes after the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned Murdaugh's 2023 murder convictions in May and ordered a new trial. The retrial is currently scheduled to begin on April 5, 2027.

The central dispute heading into Friday's hearing is the location of the retrial. The defense has requested a change of venue from Colleton County, where the killings occurred and the first trial was held, to adjacent Charleston County. In a court filing last week, Murdaugh's attorneys argued that Charleston's larger population would make it easier to find an impartial jury, citing extensive case publicity and the Murdaugh family's deep ties to the local legal system in the 14th Judicial Circuit. Prosecutors, however, oppose Charleston, arguing in a Wednesday filing that it would be prohibitively expensive and logistically challenging. They noted the trial's start...