The new judge on Alex Murdaugh's double murder case said today that the South Carolina prison warden won't allow him to have a laptop in his cell as he prepares for his retrial next year. Murdaugh's lawyers asked Judge Debra McCaslin to allow Murdaugh, a disbarred lawyer, access to a computer at a hearing this morning (Monday, June 29) in Lexington, South Carolina, following the state Supreme Court overturning his murder convictions last month. Without a laptop "we have to go down there and take them with a banking box at a time to review documents, almost 20,000 pages of documents," said defense attorney Dick Harpootlian. "Your Honor, I gotta say this idea of bringing him in here chained up, the idea of not letting him have access to a laptop, the idea of opposing everything we're trying to do to expedite this process. I understand it's Mr. Waters' job to legally prejudice the defendant, but this is beyond the pale. This is beyond the pale. I'd ask you to remind Mr. Waters that he has an ethical duty to see that justice is done, not to get a conviction," said Harpootilian. Prosecutor Creighton Waters said Harpootilian "knows me better than that." "I don't," Harpootilian said. "Okay, we're not going to go there," said McCaslin, who took over the case last month after the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned Murdaugh's convictions for the June 7, 2021, shooting deaths of his wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and their 22-year-old son, Paul Murdaugh. McCaslin said she called the warden and "he will not allow a laptop ... for safety reasons." Murdaugh's lawyers or their law clerks can bring a computer to the prison and meet with Murdaugh in a conference room. "No other inmate has a laptop in their cell. They do have access to an iPad that has Westlaw on it," McCaslin said. "It's for safety reasons" and "out of my control," the judge said. "I think it's not only for the safety of the others at the institution, but probably, Mr. Murdaugh, for your own safety," she said. She agreed to ask the warden if prison staff can store the laptop at the prison but said she won't allow it if the warden says no.The next status conference is scheduled for August 14. Murdaugh's retrial is to begin on April 5, 2027. The South Carolina Supreme Court appointed McCaslin to preside over Murdaugh's case after overturning his convictions on May 13 in a 27-page opinion. The court said a clerk's comments to jurors, including telling them defense attorneys are "going to say things that will try to confuse you," were "improper external influences on the jury" that demanded reversal. Murdaugh, the 58-year-old scion of a family legal dynasty, still is serving 40 years for federal crimes related to his decades-long embezzlement scheme, including wire fraud and bank fraud. #law #crime #court - @meghannmcuniff