The new murder trial for disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh is set for April 2027, and his pretrial hearings will take place in Lexington County, a hundred miles north of Colleton County where his wife and son were shot to death in 2021.

The location for Murdaugh’s retrial — after the S.C. Supreme Court threw out his convictions last month — has not yet been determined. But the newly appointed presiding judge, Debra McCaslin of Lexington County, said she wants to move the case toward trial at a brisk pace.

“When I set a trial date, I don't do continuances,” McCaslin said at Murdaugh’s first pretrial hearing at the Lexington County courthouse on Monday morning. “We’re going forward.”

Murdaugh, 58, attended the hearing, shackled and clad in an orange state prison jumpsuit. He smiled as police officers led him into the courtroom.

It was Murdaugh’s first public appearance in the muder case since he was sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of his wife, Maggie, and his 22-year-old son, Paul, on the family’s rural Colleton County property. 

Murdaugh pleaded not guilty to the June 7, 2021, killings. But he remains in prison, concurrently serving time for state and federal financial crimes to which he’d admitted committing as an attorney — a hard fall from grace for a former state prosecutor and member of a prominent South Carolina legal family.

Murdaugh’s defense lawyers and prosecutors with the S.C. Attorney General’s Office agreed with Judge McCaslin’s suggestion to start the trial on April 5. The trial location has not yet been decided, but the hearings leading up to it will be held at the Lexington County Judicial Center.

McCaslin, who lives in Chapin, said the size of the judicial center, which is bigger than many in the more rural parts of South Carolina, would enable the Murdaugh hearings to take place while not interfering with any unrelated courthouse proceedings. She additionally commended local authorities’ planning and security for Monday’s hearing.

But during the hour-long hearing, defense attorneys and state prosecutors disagreed more than they agreed; at least one exchange was contentious.

The lead prosecutor, Creighton Waters, took issue when defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said the state was going beyond the norm in opposing the defense team’s pretrial requests. Their court motions include asking that Murdaugh be allowed to review case files with an in-prison laptop and to appear in court unshackled, wearing civilian clothes.

“I understand it is Mr. Waters’ job to legally prejudice the defendant, but this is beyond the pale,” Harpootlian said. “I ask you to remind Mr. Waters that he has an ethical duty to make sure justice is done, not get a conviction.”

“Mr. Harpootlian knows me better than that,” Waters responded. “I have no intention of prejudicing anyone.”

More than a hundred people filled the Lexington courtroom, including dozens of reporters from media outlets around South Carolina and outside the state. The proceedings were live-streamed.

The new Colleton County clerk of court, Gary Hale, was also present. His predecessor, Rebecca Hill, was the reason for the do-over in Murdaugh’s prosecution. 

The S.C. Supreme Court ruled that Hill had prejudiced the jury with comments she’d made during Murdaugh’s trial, which took place in Walterboro over six weeks in 2023.

Murdaugh’s attorneys have asked McCaslin to move the trial outside the 14th Judicial Circuit, which includes Colleton County. Lexington County is in the 11th Judicial Circuit.

The defense team has argued that Murdaugh won’t be able to get a fair and impartial trial in the Colleton County area, where there’s been intense media coverage about him, his family and their role as local prosecutors.

The area has also been at the center of multiple books, films and TV series about the murder case, which his attorneys said “have shaped public opinion.”

Murdaugh’s jumpsuit and shackles, if present during future proceedings, could make it harder to find a jury, the defense argued.

“Potential jurors are watching this right now,” Harpootlian told the judge. “This guy is not a serial killer. He’s not, you know, Ted Bundy.” 

While Murdaugh did not speak during Monday’s hearing, he did stand up before the judge — significantly taller than many in the courtroom — showing his orange jumpsuit and restraints while Harpootlian argued that “he’s only convicted of stealing money.”

McCaslin said she will consider the request for Murdaugh to appear unshackled and in civilian clothes. 

Defense lawyers have also made a court request for independent lab testing of DNA evidence collected from underneath the fingernails of Maggie Murdaugh, 52. The State Law Enforcement Division previously tested the evidence, finding it belonged to an “unknown and unrelated male,” but police did not do further analysis, Murdaugh’s team said.

Hill, who resigned as Colleton County clerk of court in 2024, pleaded guilty last year to showing a reporter sealed court exhibits in the Murdaugh murders and then lying about it. She was sentenced to probation.

Murdaugh's next pretrial hearing is set for Aug. 14.