The date is on the calendar now: jury selection in the retrial of Alex Murdaugh begins April 5, 2027. It will be the rarest kind of proceeding – a murder trial in which nearly every prospective juror has already heard a verdict.
That is precisely what makes it consequential. The first trial unfolded amid a documentary cycle, daily livestreams, and a chorus that had decided the outcome before closing arguments. The second trial starts with a reversal on the record and a defense team that has watched the State play its entire hand.
In the book I walk through what each side learned from round one: which witnesses held up, which exhibits invited the appeal, and why the DNA testimony – the day that changed my own view of this case – is likely to look very different the second time.
Whether you believe Alex Murdaugh is guilty, innocent, or something harder to name, the standard is the same: guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, proven in a courtroom. That question – not the chorus – is what April 5 is for.