Alex Murdaugh will appear in court again on Monday. charges he killed his wife and son will appear at the preliminary hearing, which will likely be short in content but long in entertainment as the thrill of true crime continues to grip.
Murdo were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. upside down last month by the South Carolina Supreme Court. The sole purposes of Monday’s hearing are to set deadlines for the exchange of evidence between the defense and prosecution, as well as to set dates for other hearings and possibly next test.
Dozens of media outlets, from international outlets to local TV networks and true crime podcasters, are heading to the Lexington County Courthouse to once again record every forehead rub and quizzical glance from the once wealthy and imposing man. Southern lawyer.
It’s a rare chance to see up close how prison life has changed Murdaugh, 58, who still faces decades in a South Carolina prison after pleading guilty to stealing about $12 million from clients and his family’s law firm.
There is likely one more case before the hearing begins at 10 a.m. Monday. Even though he remains in jail, Murdaugh’s lawyers want the judge to allow him to wear civilian clothes and not have his wrists and ankles shackled at each hearing and during his retrial.
“Mr. Murdaugh’s conviction for nonviolent white-collar crimes in no way justifies presenting him to the jury as a shackled prisoner in a prison jumpsuit via video cameras at a televised preliminary hearing,” defense attorneys wrote in their request.
Murdaugh’s lawyers have already filed other pretrial motions. One of them is asking prosecutors to submit it to a private laboratory for testing of DNA found under his wife’s fingernails, which investigators say belonged to an unknown and unrelated relative.
Defense attorneys want to give Murdaugh, who was disbarred due to legal troubles, a laptop in jail without Internet access to view evidence so they don’t have to print it all out, and want to hold the next trial outside of Colleton County, where the killings took place and the first trial took place.
Admitting that he is a thief, an insurance fraudster, a liar and a bad lawyer, Murdo categorically denied shooting him to death his wife Maggie and youngest son Paul since he found their bodies outside the house in 2021.
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A jury found him guilty of two murders in 2023 and sentenced him to life in prison without parole.
But during that trial, several jurors said Colleton County court clerk, assigned to watch the evidence and the jury during the trial, told them to watch Murdaugh’s body language as he testified in his own defense and not to be fooled, confused or confused by what he might say.
The state Supreme Court ruled that this was a presumption of Murdaugh’s guilt and overturned his conviction.
The judges were also concerned that days of testimony at the murder trial focused on how Murdaugh stole from clients, many of whom were in say straits.
Brief testimony is fine, but details like how some of the people Murdo stole from were disabled or vulnerable could unfairly bias a jury against him, who should focus only on whether he killed his family, the judges said.
Murdaugh remains in a South Carolina prison as he serves a 40-year federal sentence and a 27-year state sentence for his financial crimes.