Defense bid to dismiss case over alleged investigator misconduct pending
LEXINGTON, S.C. — Judge Debra McCaslin ruled Friday that Alex Murdaugh’s murder retrial will be moved out of the rural South Carolina county where his original trial consumed local life for six weeks in 2023, even as his lawyers pressed a separate motion to throw out the case over alleged misconduct by the lead investigators.
The motion to dismiss the prosecution entirely remains unresolved. Defense lawyers argued that the chief state investigator lied to the grand jury that returned a 2022 indictment against Murdaugh, according to the Associated Press.
The defense also told McCaslin that another main investigator on the case was fired for misconduct after taking a job at a different state agency, AP reported. Together, the two allegations underpin the request to set aside the case before any second trial begins.
The pending motion follows the South Carolina Supreme Court’s May decision to overturn Murdaugh’s murder conviction and life sentence. The justices ruled that a court clerk may have influenced the jury at the 2023 trial, AP reported.
Murdaugh was originally convicted of killing his wife and son. The murder charge generated the life sentence the Supreme Court vacated in May.
At Friday’s hearing, Murdaugh appeared in a coat and tie rather than a prison jumpsuit. McCaslin ruled he did not have to wear jail clothing because she found he did not pose a security risk, according to AP.
Murdaugh remains incarcerated on separate sentences. He is serving a 40-year federal term and a 27-year state term after pleading guilty to stealing about $12 million from clients of his family’s law firm, AP reported.
Friday’s order addressed only the venue for the retrial. The defense’s motion to dismiss the prosecution was held back for a later decision.