|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
by JENN WOOD
***
The retrial of accused killer Alex Murdaugh will be held in Sumter County after a South Carolina judge concluded the disgraced former attorney could no longer receive a fair and impartial trial in Colleton County.
In an eight-page order (.pdf) filed Tuesday (September 8, 2026), S.C. circuit court judge Debra McCaslin granted Murdaugh’s motion to transfer venue outside the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit.
McCaslin selected Sumter County after considering courthouses across the state — including locations in Richland and Charleston counties recommended by Murdaugh’s attorneys.
According to the order, Sumter County offers the courtroom space, security, technology and supporting infrastructure necessary to accommodate one of the most closely watched criminal retrials in South Carolina history.
The state ultimately agreed to leave the selection of a new venue to McCaslin.
Murdaugh’s retrial is currently scheduled to begin on April 5, 2027.
***
WHY THE TRIAL IS MOVING
The ruling rests on four primary considerations: the extraordinary number of prospective jurors disqualified before Murdaugh’s first trial, the Murdaugh family’s century-long connection to the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit, former Colleton County clerk of court Rebecca “Becky” Hill’s interference with the jury and the relentless publicity surrounding the case.
Unlike most venue disputes — which require judges to predict whether pretrial publicity has tainted a potential jury pool — McCaslin had the benefit of reviewing what actually happened during jury selection in January 2023.
Approximately 900 prospective jurors were summoned and provided detailed questionnaires ahead of the original trial. Only 123 were qualified to serve, and a final strike sheet of 80 potential jurors was assembled from that group.
In other words, fewer than one in seven prospective jurors qualified.
“That is not a prediction about jurors,” McCaslin wrote. “Instead, it is a fact established on the record of the same case, in the same county, on the same charges.”
The judge found that disqualification rate represented a “floor rather than a ceiling” because the original jury was selected before the reversal of Murdaugh’s convictions, Hill’s criminal convictions and the wave of renewed coverage those developments generated.
***
RELATED | Murdaugh Retrial: Key Evidence And Venue Disputes Take Shape
***
A CENTURY OF MURDAUGH INFLUENCE
McCaslin also pointed to the Murdaugh family’s deep roots within the five-county Fourteenth Judicial Circuit.
Three generations of the family served as the circuit’s elected solicitor for nearly a century, while the Murdaughs’ former law firm became one of the most prominent legal institutions in the South Carolina Lowcountry.
That history, according to the judge, makes it more likely that prospective jurors would enter the courtroom with personal, professional or inherited opinions about the family.
Some residents may associate the name with public service and respect, McCaslin noted. Others may associate it with privilege, influence or resentment.
“Either direction presents a concern because the constitutional inquiry concerns impartiality, not whether community bias favors one party over the other,” he wrote.
That concern is compounded by the size of Colleton County, which has approximately 39,000 residents and a comparatively limited jury pool.
***
THE HILL FACTOR
The most significant change since Murdaugh’s original trial is the S.C. Supreme Court’s May 13, 2026 decision overturning his convictions for the June 2021 murders of his wife, 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh, and their younger son, 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh,.
The justices concluded Hill improperly inserted herself into the jury’s deliberative process while serving as its court-appointed caretaker.
According to the court, Hill’s conduct deprived Murdaugh of his constitutional right to a fair trial before an impartial jury and “placed her fingers on the scales of justice.”
The court described Hill’s actions as a “breathtaking and disgraceful effort” to undermine the jury process — conduct it called unprecedented in South Carolina.
McCaslin found those conclusions directly relevant to the venue question.
Potential Colleton County jurors would no longer be asked only whether they had formed opinions about Murdaugh’s guilt. They could also have views about whether the county’s judicial system unfairly convicted him, whether Hill behaved corruptly, whether the defense used a technicality to overturn the verdict or whether the Supreme Court reached the correct decision.
Holding the retrial in the same courthouse where that constitutional violation occurred would also create broader concerns about public confidence in the proceedings.
“Public confidence and juror impartiality are better protected by separating the retrial … from the courthouse and local environment now inseparably associated with both the original conviction and its invalidation,” McCaslin wrote.
***
***
YEARS OF SATURATION COVERAGE
The judge also distinguished the Murdaugh saga from a typical high-profile criminal case.
Since the murders, the case has generated more than ten books, at least six podcast series, more than seven television and streaming productions, more than 20 documentary episodes and years of sustained social media attention.
National publicity alone does not necessarily require a venue change. In this case, however, the national media phenomenon has repeatedly focused on a relatively small community where the Murdaugh family was already well known.
McCaslin described it as a convergence of “national media saturation and local community familiarity.”
The judge also cited the recent decision to move the Mallory Beach wrongful death case outside the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit because of the publicity surrounding both the boat crash litigation and Murdaugh’s criminal prosecution.
***
WHAT COMES NEXT
South Carolina law offered McCaslin another option: selecting jurors in a different county and transporting them to Colleton County for the trial. The judge rejected that approach as more expensive, complicated and burdensome.
Murdaugh’s first trial lasted approximately six weeks. A retrial of similar length could require transportation, lodging, meals, security and potentially sequestration for an outside jury — expenses Colleton County would be required to bear. It also would return the case to the courthouse where the S.C. Supreme Court found Murdaugh’s constitutional right to an impartial jury was violated.
Instead, the entire proceeding will move to Sumter County, allowing jurors to serve in their home county while avoiding many of those costs and institutional concerns.
Unless the schedule changes, jury selection will begin there on April 5, 2027. Additional pretrial disputes remain pending, including questions surrounding DNA testing, evidence of Murdaugh’s financial crimes, prior testimony and references to polygraph examinations.
FITSNews will continue tracking those filings and provide additional details as the retrial approaches.
***
THE ORDER…
Subscriber-only document
This PDF is available to FITSNews subscribers. Get full access and be able to view documents like this one.
Subscribe for accessAlready a subscriber? Log in here
***
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.
***
SOUND OFF…
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
