Murdaugh murder trial to begin one week sooner than expected

WALTERBORO, S.C. (WCSC) - The trial of disgraced former Lowcountry attorney Alex Murdaugh has moved up one week according to court documents filed Friday.

Murdaugh, who faces two counts of murder in the deaths of his wife, 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh and their youngest son, 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh, is now set to begin on Jan. 23.

The trial was originally expected to begin on Jan. 30 until Friday’s order filed by 14th Circuit Chief Administrative Judge Bentley Price.

The date on which the trial is expected to conclude is likewise moved up one week, from Feb. 17 to Feb. 10, the order states.

“We have not received the order yet and don’t know why it has been moved,” Attorney General’s Office spokesman Robert Kittle said of the change of date. “Jan. 30 was the original date and was always what we understood the start date would be.”

A Colleton County grand jury indicted Murdaugh on two counts of murder and two counts of possessing a firearm during the commission of a violent crime in the killings. The indictments allege he allegedly used two different weapons, a rifle on his wife and a shotgun on his son.

He called 911 that night, telling investigators he had arrived at the family’s hunting property in the rural Colleton County community of Islandton and discovered the bodies.

“The evidence, in this case, is substantial and it all points to Alex Murdaugh,” Chief Attorney Creighton Waters said.

But Murdaugh pleaded not guilty to those charges. He was then denied bond, which lawyers from both sides agreed to.

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were shot to death at the family’s hunting property in rural Colleton County on June 7, 2021.

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