# Murdaugh's New Judge Has Sent Killers Away For Life

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-re-trial-of-alex-murdaugh-5989088/murdaugh-s-new-judge-has-sent-killers-away-for-life
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-re-trial-of-alex-murdaugh-5989088/murdaugh-s-new-judge-has-sent-killers-away-for-life.md
Podcast: [The Re-Trial Of Alex Murdaugh](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-re-trial-of-alex-murdaugh-5989088)
Published: 2026-06-12T19:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://audioboom.com/posts/8915613
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/audioboom.com/posts/8915613.mp3?modified=1781205487&sid=5097527&source=rss
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-re-trial-of-alex-murdaugh-5989088/episodes/murdaugh-s-new-judge-has-sent-killers-away-for-life
Duration seconds: 879

## Resource

For everyone who has followed the Murdaugh case with their heart in their throat — waiting, again, for a verdict that finally holds for Maggie and Paul — here is what we actually know about the woman now in charge. Judge Debra McCaslin was handed the entire Alex Murdaugh case by the South Carolina Supreme Court: every motion, every ruling, and the retrial itself. And while the internet fixates on her reported history with defense attorney Dick Harpootlian — the office she once rented from him, the praise she reportedly offered during her rise to the bench — her record tells a different story. This is a judge described as tough, fair, and impossible to rattle. A judge who has reportedly handed down life sentences in murder cases and stood with law enforcement when defense teams alleged foul play. Defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis joins us to make honest sense of both halves. He explains what one judge can truly decide in a case this size, whether the Harpootlian connection is a genuine problem or a headline, and the ruling that matters most to anyone who wants this retrial done right: how much of Murdaugh's financial-crimes evidence the next jury will hear, after the Supreme Court found the first trial crossed the line. Because the first verdict was lost to a court official's misconduct — not to doubt about the evidence. The families connected to this tragedy, and everyone who grieved with them, deserve a second trial that no court can ever take apart. Faddis lays out exactly what that requires, starting with the judge. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?…

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