WALTERBORO, S.C. (Court TV) — Prosecutors planning to retry Alex Murdaugh on charges that he murdered his wife and son say they no longer support moving the trial out of Colleton County because, they say, the defense is being unreasonable.
Alex Murdaugh stands in the courtroom on Thursday, March 2, 2023. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier via AP, Pool)
Murdaugh’s convictions and sentence for two life terms for the murders of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and son, Paul Murdaugh, were overturned by the South Carolina Supreme Court after the justices found that the clerk of court in his first trial made inappropriate comments to the jury.
Murdaugh’s first trial in 2023 spawned documentaries and podcasts as the nation fixated on the case. In their motion asking for the retrial to be moved out of Colleton County, Murdaugh’s attorneys described the case as generating “publicity without precedent in the history of the state.” Murdaugh’s family also has deep roots in the community; his great-grandfather, grandfather and father were chief prosecuting officers in the area from 1920 to 2006. During the first trial, a portrait of Murdaugh’s grandfather had to be removed from the courthouse where the defendant stood trial.
In their memorandum supporting their request to move the retrial, Murdaugh’s defense cited Charleston as the most appropriate location. The Charleston County Judicial Center has 16 courtrooms, and Murdaugh’s attorneys said they conferred with the county’s clerk of court, who said that hosting the trial would not create any issues.
Prosecutors said in their motion opposing the defense’s request that they tried to negotiate in good faith with Murdaugh’s attorneys about where to move the trial but were unable to reach an agreement because Charleston is “the only alternative he will consider.”
“Charleston is, of course, the State’s oldest city and one of the premier cities in the nation for industry, business, the arts, and tourism. But considering logistics and expense, the ‘Holy City’ makes Charleston the most difficult county in the state to handle this particular matter. The downtown area is beautiful and historic, but traffic and parking there are already extremely difficult on a normal business day without the massive influx of jurors, witnesses, attorneys, staff, media and onlookers that this case would bring,” prosecutors said in their filing. “With the trial set to begin on Masters week, many people will go to Charleston to vacation the following week.”
Weather also presents an issue, the prosecution warned, saying that “heavy spring storms and king tides can and all too often do completely paralyze the already congested downtown area with flooding.”
Prosecutors suggested in their filing that the trial may not even be legally transferable to Charleston County, which is “both adjoining and is the media market for Colleton County.”
Murdaugh’s defense argued that media exposure itself isn’t the issue, conceding that the case drew national and international attention. “The distinction between Charleston County and the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit is not the distinction between ignorance and knowledge; it is the distinction between a community that has observed this case from a distance and a community that inhabits it,” Murdaugh’s attorneys said in their memo.
“If the only county in the entire state of South Carolina the defense is willing to consider is Charleston,” prosecutors said, “which undoubtedly would be the most expensive and logistically difficult county to pick, then the state is compelled to oppose a change of venue.”
Murdaugh is expected to appear in court with his attorneys for a hearing on Friday.
