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by JENN WOOD
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The first formal hearing in advance of South Carolina’s ‘Retrial of the Century’ is officially on the calendar.
According to a newly published court roster, a status conference in the case of the State of South Carolina versus Richard Alexander Murdaugh has been scheduled for Monday, June 29, 2026 before S.C. circuit court judge Debra McCaslin at the Lexington County, S.C. judicial center in Lexington, S.C.
The proceeding is listed as a scheduling conference only – and is not expected feature any arguments on pending motions or substantive evidentiary issues. Instead, McCaslin and attorneys for both sides are expected to discuss logistical matters – including deadlines for future motions, pre-trial discovery and a potential timeline for Murdaugh’s retrial.
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The hearing comes just weeks after the S.C. supreme court emphatically reversed Murdaugh’s 2023 double murder convictions – concluding former Colleton County clerk of court Rebecca “Becky” Hill improperly influenced jurors during deliberations and finding the state failed to overcome the presumption of prejudice created by her conduct.
Court records also revealed that a new motion was filed on Wednesday afternoon (June 17, 2026) by Murdaugh’s defense team. While the filing has not yet been publicly posted, sources familiar with the matter told FITSNews the motion seeks permission for Murdaugh to appear at his second double homicide trial in street clothes and without shackles in the presence of jurors – as he did during his initial trial.
The issue of Murdaugh’s appearance before the jury was litigated extensively prior to his first trial. In December 2022, defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian, Jim Griffin, Phil Barber and Maggie Fox argued that requiring Murdaugh to appear in restraints would undermine the presumption of innocence and prejudice potential jurors. Former circuit court judge Clifton Newman agreed – ultimately allowing Murdaugh to wear civilian clothing and remain unshackled during the six-week proceedings.
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The newly filed motion could also signal the beginning of broader efforts by the defense to revisit unresolved pretrial issues from the original prosecution. Among those issues is a still-pending sanctions motion challenging disputed blood spatter evidence – and the conduct of investigators during the forensic review process. That motion that was never formally ruled upon prior to Murdaugh’s first trial – and prosecutors never sought to introduce the blood spatter evidence. As FITSNews previously reported, that filing accused investigators of improperly influencing forensic analyst Tom Bevel and raised questions about the handling of key evidence.
Sources familiar with the retrial preparations indicated additional filings or addendums related to previously unresolved motions could be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.
For now, however, the upcoming hearing appears focused on one thing: establishing a roadmap for Murdaugh’s second trial – which is expected to generate as much (if not more) publicity than his first trial.
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MOTION FOR DEFENDANT TO BE UNSHACKLED
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
As a private investigator turned journalist, Jenn Wood brings a unique skill set to FITSNews as its research director. Known for her meticulous sourcing and victim-centered approach, she helps shape the newsroom’s most complex investigative stories while producing the FITSFiles and Cheer Incorporated podcasts. Jenn lives in South Carolina with her family, where her work continues to spotlight truth, accountability, and justice.
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5 comments
Lexingtonians are already planning to attend the hearings
And wouldn’t you know it? The prejudicial pre-retrial publicity restarts.
Queue-in the usual loud throats with new antics on new venues.
At minutes 13:33, 16:19, 18:29, 19:58, AND 20:01, Ever-Bluffing Eric Bland (“EBEB”) utters the judge’s name WRONG. FIVE times EBEB calls her “Judge McClasin.” She is Deborah Relova McCaslin, FKA Debbie Chapman. Not only does it show disrespect for the judge to not bother to learn her name correctly, it shows EBEB’s arrogance in thinking no one will bother to correct him or check behind him.
And perhaps EBEB’s saturation of the internet with bluffs and lies intimidates people to the point of this Bottom-of-the-Barrel-Brueski (“BBB”) not daring correct EBEB on something so clear as the judge’s name.
This is not trivial because EBEB fills this and other appearances with falsehoods.
Just for ONE example, Maggie was NOT “living at Edisto” but at Moselle.
She had ONLY traveled to EDISTO in the morning of her last day to supervise some house repainting/renovation and had every plan to return to her home at Moselle once the house work at Edisto was done. PROOF: Blanca worked for Maggie at Moselle, NOT at Edisto, AND cooked dinner for the threesome and left it on the stove AT MOSELLE, not at Edisto.
EBEB’s other key bluff is ridiculing the two-shooter self-evidence by claiming it means vigilantes descended on Moselle UNARMED, hoping to steal some Murdaugh guns for the deed.
Even assuming arguendo, but only arguendo, that those were indeed Murdaugh family guns, they could, and most likely were, pre-stolen.
The list of EBEB’s other bluffs and lies is too long to post only, or first, on BBB’s podcast; but BBB’s and EBEB’s gloating on the possibility of Alex succumbing to the atrocious prison conditions, even if he were ACTUALLY INNOCENT of the shootings of Paul and Maggie, is INDECENT, frighteningly indecent.
As other outlets solicit readers’ opinion, here is my response to them:
The system which STILL punishes ME for my PROVEN innocence will NEVER admit it wrongly convicted Alex Murdaugh.
Perjury and subornation of perjury ARE “true crimes” and may take the lives of their victims without a PHYSICAL weapon.
What “still gives [ME] the chills” is how cold-blooded my attempted framers were and are and how indifferent ALL judges were to those true crimes committed in their own courts and under their own eyes.
My attempted framers ARE Alex Murdaugh’s attempted framers, NOT people like them or people who know them. The SAME people: John Meadors, Donald Zelenka, David Amadeo Fernandez, Johnny James, etc. And these are only the lawyers. The so-called “victims advocate” should be called “victim framers,” too.
And the Indifferent-in-Chief is Judge Clifton Newman, to whom I presented an annotated transcript of my 22-26 February 2010 jury trial over which he presided, at the end of which a hopelessly dead-locked jury forced the judge to declare a mistrial.
Immediately after the mistrial, I did extensive research and compiled OBJECTIVE evidence of the perjuries, forgeries, and fabrications, deployed against me in that trial and presented my DOCUMENTATION to officials, including Judge Clifton Newman, who shrugged it off as “not my lane.”
WHOSE “lane” is it, then?
That is NOT a rhetorical question; nor am I seeking legal advice. After all, thank God, I exonerated myself WITHOUT A LAWYER.
Likely that is why most, if not all, South Carolina lawyers, specially CRIMINAL defense lawyers hate me and want to discredit me, even as the borrow VERBATIM parts of my closing argument to my jury, including my brilliant analogy of reasonable doubt to fuzzy “use-by” dates on food items.
I have not YET thought about giving you, Anne Emerson, an alliterative title because I see you as a working girl trying to make a living on the fringes of journalism.
But I came up with “Bottom-of-the-Barrel Brueski” (“BBB”) for your competitor on Hidden Killers, who is also soliciting his meager audience’s ideas.
Here is my response to BBB, which MIGHT also move YOU, Working Annie:
?Before I give you my records-supported theories on who the real shooters are, or the shooting FEMALE cabal is, I need to emphasize what is ACTUALLY KNOWN about the LIKELY time of end of Paul’s and Maggie’s lives.
I also do NOT apologize for, only explain, why I nick-named you “Bottom-of-the-Barrel Brueski”: your unseemly gloating over Alex Murdaugh disproportionately long sentence and atrocious prison conditions.
Otherwise, I do not know what YOUR AUDIENCE watched; but I know what I watched AND read in the OFFICIAL complete transcript filed in the OFFICIAL Record on Appeal with SC’s Supreme Court and available to the public FOR FREE on that court’s website.
I also know what I LIVED through: a 22-26 February 2010 General Sessions jury trial presided-over by none other than Judge Clifton Newman. Thank God and WITHOUT A LAWYER, I thwarted the evil scheme of THAT SAME JOHN MEADORS and his underlings to frame ME for harassment and, through peculiarities of penalty enhancements in SC’s harassment statute, put ME in prison for 36 years, YES, thirty-six.
I know FIRST-HAND their tactics and their limitless cold-blooded willingness to frame the victim instead of going after the real perpetrators.
And I am NOT the only one.
Again, a Justin Mallory was attempted to be framed by THAT SAME JOHN MEADORS for the murder of Justin’s wife, Nakia. Justin’s jury, like mine, deadlocked in the first trial. Justin and my paths after the mistrial differ but separately end in Justin’s and my UNEQUIVOCAL eventual acquittal DESPITE John Meadors’ doing everything available, but not necessarily ethical, for him to block and delay Justin Mallory’s and my separate AND LONG paths to acquittal.
Lest you think I am avoiding your specific MISTATEMENTS about Paul’s and Maggie’s time of end of life: what expired ONLY 22 minutes after Paul’s and Maggie’s KNOWN large, and relatively fatty, last meal with Alex at the house at Moselle were THE BATTERY charges on Paul’s and Maggie’s cell phones, NOT Paul or Maggie themselves.
For the nth time, the food in Paul’s and Maggie’s stomachs AT AUTOPSY was too little and TOO DIGESTED for them to have expired ONLY 22 minutes after that last meal.
Look up the Dutch Brothers Coffee murder case in Oregon to understand the importance of stomach contents at autopsy in Forensic Medicine.
As other outlets solicit readers’ opinion, here is my response to them:
The system which STILL punishes ME for my PROVEN innocence will NEVER admit it wrongly convicted Alex Murdaugh.
Perjury and subornation of perjury ARE “true crimes” and may take the lives of their victims without a PHYSICAL weapon.
What “still gives [ME] the chills” is how cold-blooded my attempted framers were and are and how indifferent ALL judges were to those true crimes committed in their own courts and under their own eyes.
My attempted framers ARE Alex Murdaugh’s attempted framers, NOT people like them or people who know them. The SAME people: John Meadors, Donald Zelenka, David Amadeo Fernandez, Johnny James, etc. And these are only the lawyers. The so-called “victims advocate” should be called “victim framers,” too.
And the Indifferent-in-Chief is Judge Clifton Newman, to whom I presented an annotated transcript of my 22-26 February 2010 jury trial over which he presided, at the end of which a hopelessly dead-locked jury forced the judge to declare a mistrial.
Immediately after the mistrial, I did extensive research and compiled OBJECTIVE evidence of the perjuries, forgeries, and fabrications, deployed against me in that trial and presented my DOCUMENTATION to officials, including Judge Clifton Newman, who shrugged it off as “not my lane.”
WHOSE “lane” is it, then?
That is NOT a rhetorical question; nor am I seeking legal advice. After all, thank God, I exonerated myself WITHOUT A LAWYER.
Likely that is why most, if not all, South Carolina lawyers, specially CRIMINAL defense lawyers hate me and want to discredit me, even as the borrow VERBATIM parts of my closing argument to my jury, including my brilliant analogy of reasonable doubt to fuzzy “use-by” dates on food items.
I have not YET thought about giving you, Anne Emerson, an alliterative title because I see you as a working girl trying to make a living on the fringes of journalism.
But I came up with “Bottom-of-the-Barrel Brueski” (“BBB”) for your competitor on Hidden Killers, who is also soliciting his meager audience’s ideas.
Here is my response to BBB, which MIGHT also move YOU, Working Annie:
?Before I give you my records-supported theories on who the real shooters are, or the shooting FEMALE cabal is, I need to emphasize what is ACTUALLY KNOWN about the LIKELY time of end of Paul’s and Maggie’s lives.
I also do NOT apologize for, only explain, why I nick-named you “Bottom-of-the-Barrel Brueski”: your unseemly gloating over Alex Murdaugh disproportionately long sentence and atrocious prison conditions.
Otherwise, I do not know what YOUR AUDIENCE watched; but I know what I watched AND read in the OFFICIAL complete transcript filed in the OFFICIAL Record on Appeal with SC’s Supreme Court and available to the public FOR FREE on that court’s website.
I also know what I LIVED through: a 22-26 February 2010 General Sessions jury trial presided-over by none other than Judge Clifton Newman. Thank God and WITHOUT A LAWYER, I thwarted the evil scheme of THAT SAME JOHN MEADORS and his underlings to frame ME for harassment and, through peculiarities of penalty enhancements in SC’s harassment statute, put ME in prison for 36 years, YES, thirty-six.
I know FIRST-HAND their tactics and their limitless cold-blooded willingness to frame the victim instead of going after the real perpetrators.
And I am NOT the only one.
Again, a Justin Mallory was attempted to be framed by THAT SAME JOHN MEADORS for the murder of Justin’s wife, Nakia. Justin’s jury, like mine, deadlocked in the first trial. Justin and my paths after the mistrial differ but separately end in Justin’s and my UNEQUIVOCAL eventual acquittal DESPITE John Meadors’ doing everything available, but not necessarily ethical, for him to block and delay Justin Mallory’s and my separate AND LONG paths to acquittal.
Lest you think I am avoiding your specific MISTATEMENTS about Paul’s and Maggie’s time of end of life: what expired ONLY 22 minutes after Paul’s and Maggie’s KNOWN large, and relatively fatty, last meal with Alex at the house at Moselle were THE BATTERY charges on Paul’s and Maggie’s cell phones, NOT Paul or Maggie themselves.
For the nth time, the food in Paul’s and Maggie’s stomachs AT AUTOPSY was too little and TOO DIGESTED for them to have expired ONLY 22 minutes after that last meal.
Look up the Dutch Brothers Coffee murder case in Oregon to understand the importance of stomach contents at autopsy in Forensic Medicine.
Just a thought, admittedly with LESS objective documentation than I usually present; but a plausible thought nonetheless.
First, the available OBJECTIVE documentation, which comes from THE TRANSCRIPT of former FITSNews employee Callie Lyons, a deposition taken by the excellent Debbie Barbier in the SECOND Beach et al v. Parker et al case.
Unquestionably, Callie Lyons testified that the FALSE blood spatter evidence was leaked from SCAG’s office to Malicious Mandy Matney (“MMM”), also a former FITSNews employee.
And Callie Lyons was NOT speculating about that: she found an ACTUAL text or email or something to MMM from SCAG about the blood spatter evidence.
But SCAG does not itself test shirts. SLED does.
And MMM all but admits in her book that she regularly close-to-prostituted herself to get her “journalistic” scoops.
Could it be that MMM got that blood spatter “scoop” in return for sexual favors to that Kelly, whose termination remains unexplained?
Again, just a thought; but a plausible one nonetheless.