The South Carolina Supreme Court has named The Honorable Debra R. McCaslin to preside over all proceedings and the retrial of Alex Murdaugh.
Judge McCaslin is a lifelong resident of Chapin, South Carolina, and graduated from Chapin High School. She worked for Senator Strom Thurmond prior to attending the College of Charleston, where she graduated in 1990 with a degree in Political Science. Judge McCaslin continued her education, earning her Juris Doctorate from the University of South Carolina in 1993, and passed the bar the same year. She was also admitted to the U.S. District Court in November 1993, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in November 1993, and the United States Supreme Court in April 1999.
After law school, Judge McCaslin worked as a law clerk for J. Preston Strom, Jr., and in 1993 began working at Leventis Law Firm as an associate. In 1995, she opened her own legal practice, where she remained until her election by the South Carolina General Assembly to the Circuit Court, At-Large Seat 13, in February 2020.
Murdaugh, who was found guilty of the 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, petitioned the court for a new trial in October 2023 through his defense counsel, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin. The filing states, “The breathtaking and disgraceful effort of Hill to undermine the jury process is unprecedented in South Carolina.”
Hill’s actions in the Murdaugh trial have been well documented, and the defense argued that Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill placed her fingers on the scales of justice, thereby denying Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury.
Currently, Murdaugh remains incarcerated at McCormick Correctional Institution, and a date for retrial has not been set.
