Here’s when and where Alex Murdaugh will get a bond hearing on murder charges

A time and place have been set for Alex Murdaugh’s bond hearing on two new murder charges announced Thursday.

Attorneys will gather at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro for the hearing at 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 20, the S.C. Attorney General’s Office announced late Thursday.

Judge Clifton Newman will decide whether Murdaugh will receive a bond after being charged in the murder of his wife Maggie and son Paul at the family’s Colleton County estate in June 2021. The Attorney General’s Office confirmed that Murdaugh will appear in court in person for the hearing.

After a 13-month investigation into the high profile killings, Murdaugh was indicted by a grand jury on Thursday. The high-profile attorney from a family that has produced three generations of chief Lowcountry prosecutors was formally charged with the shooting deaths of his 52-year-old wife and 22-year-old son, whose bodies were found by the dog kennels of the 1,700-acre property.

Murdaugh reported that he was away from the house at the time of the killings visiting his mother, and he reported the deaths to police when he returned and found the bodies. Through a statement, Murdaugh’s attorneys Jim Griffin and Dick Harpootlian maintained Murdaugh’s innocence after the indictments were issued.

Whatever the judge decides Wednesday, Murdaugh is unlikely to leave a jail cell anytime soon. He has been held at Richland County’s Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on a $7 million bond since last November, when he was indicted on charges he stole millions of dollars from clients and associates over the years, apparently to feed a drug habit, prosecutors say.

This story was originally published July 14, 2022 at 4:09 PM.

Bristow Marchant

The State

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Bristow Marchant covers local government, schools and community in Lexington County for The State. He graduated from the College of Charleston in 2007. He has almost 20 years of experience covering South Carolina at the Clinton Chronicle, Sumter Item and Rock Hill Herald. He joined The State in 2016. Bristow has won numerous awards, most recently the S.C. Press Association’s 2024 education reporting award.  Support my work with a digital subscription