Defense makes a play for Richland County courthouse for new Murdaugh murder trial

Alex Murdaugh’s defense attorney Dick Harpootlian has written state Judge Debra McCaslin saying that he now would recommend Richland County, whose courthouse is in Columbia, for Murdaugh’s retrial.

Read more Defense makes a play for Richland County courthouse for new Murdaugh murder trial

In recommending Richland, Harpootlian dropped his effort to have McCaslin move the trial to Charleston as a substitute for having the trial in Colleton County, where the 2021 killings of Murdaugh’s wife and son took place, and where the first trial was held in 2023.

“Given the court’s concern about costs imposed upon Colleton County, the defense would first recommend Richland County as a venue,” wrote Harpootlian in a letter sent via email Monday to McCaslin.

“The site of the potential jury venire (size) is on a scale comparable to Charleston, thus giving a much greater opportunity to find an impartial jury,” wrote Harpootlian. “Further, although not an absolute requirement, the racial demographics are similar to Charleston. Neither the defense nor the State would need to book hotel rooms for its attorneys, staff or SLED witnesses.”

On Friday, Judge McCaslin had indicated that the possible cost of siting the new trial in Charleston was a concern.

State Attorney General chief state grand jury prosecutor Creighton Waters had first raised the issues of high costs and traffic congestion in Charleston. Citing those issues, Waters strongly objected to Charleston’s location at a Friday hearing in Lexington County.

At that hearing, the judge noted Waters’ objections, saying his concerns about costs were “correct” — an indication perhaps that the judge was not going to choose Charleston.

McCaslin said Friday she would be issuing a ruling saying where the new trial would be. But she did not say when she would decide.

The trial is set to start April 5, wherever it may be.

In his letter, Harpootlian noted that prosecutors had expressed a concern that the Masters golf tournament would start at the same time as the trial, “but it is unlikely that witnesses will need hotel rooms during the first trial week because that week will be mostly or entirely consumed by jury selection.”

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Harpootlian also requested the judge to give “equal consideration to costs imposed upon the defense, which lacks that State’s nearly limitless resources. It was the defendant’s (Murdaugh’s) constitutional rights, not the State’s, which were violated by the intentional conduct of Becky Hill, an elected state official.” In May, when the S.C. Supreme Court overturned Murdaugh’s guilty verdicts, it ruled that jury tampering by Hill, the former Colleton County court clerk, had violated Murdaugh’s rights to a fair trial.

“It is appropriate that the Court act to protect the people of Colleton County from costs created by their own elected official’s unexpected, criminal conduct, but it would be inappropriate to do so by imposing excessive and avoidable costs on the victim of her conduct,” Harpootlian wrote.

At Friday’s hearing, Harpootlian told the judge the most important consideration in choosing a new site is having a large jury pool, to secure an unbiased jury. Waters argued that wherever the new locale is, the most important thing is to properly vet potential jurors, questioning them to see if they can live up to the juror’s oath of being fair and impartial.

In any case, a new location is needed for Murdaugh’s second trial. Judge McCaslin ruled that for numerous reasons — including pervasive publicity and the Murdaugh family’s prominence throughout much of the Lowcountry, the trial must be moved out of the five-county 14th Judicial Circuit. That circuit includes Colleton, Beaufort, Hampton, Jasper and Allendale counties.

The Richland County courthouse is located on North Main Street in downtown Columbia. Its trial courtrooms can be expanded, creating a large hall with seating for an estimated several hundred.

Murdaugh’s first trial took six weeks, going from January into March 2023.

Murdaugh, 58, is in a state prison in McCormick County, serving a 27-year sentence for financial crimes and a 40-year federal sentence for the same types of crimes.

Although Murdaugh has pleaded guilty to the financial crimes, he asserts he is innocent of killing his wife, Maggie, and son Paul at the family estate in rural Colleton County in June 2021.

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