Colleton County Courthouse, Walterboro SC Venue and Site of the Alex Murdaugh Double Murder Trial

Colleton County has a two-hundred-year-old courthouse in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. The 1820 Greek Revival style courthouse is perhaps most famous for the 2023 double murder trial of lawyer Alex Murdaugh. The two-story courthouse is made of brick and stands out in the downtown area of Walterboro. Its “Southern” architectural style features a portico with four Tuscan columns and two staircases with ironwork railings. The magnificent courtroom on the second floor has two jury boxes, one for the grand jury and another for the petit jury (See below). The original building was substantially expanded in1939 when two wings were added.

Courthouse No. 16 Colleton County, South Carolina
Location: 101 Hampton Street, Walterboro, SC 29488
Constructed: 1820
Architect: Robert Mills  
Contractor: J. & B. Lucas, Charleston, SC
Current Use: Courthouse  
National Register of Historic Places: 1971

Today Colleton County has a population of approximately 39,000. Its largest city is Walterboro, the county seat, with a population of approximately 2200 residents. Walterboro is 48 miles west of Charleston.

The Alex Murtaugh Trial and Appeal

In a trial that captured national attention, Alex Murdaugh was charged with the June 2021 shooting death of his wife Maggie and a son Paul near the dog kennels of Moselle, the sprawling 1700 acre family farm. The murder trial of Murdaugh began in late January, and a jury convicted him of the two murders on March 2, 2023. The defendant had been the president of the South Carolina trial lawyers’ association, a political boss in Hampton County, a part-time prosecutor, and a partner in his family’s law firm. He was a third-generation Murdaugh in a firm which had the grandest building in the county.

Murdaugh took the stand in his defense and was cross examined about his fraudulent conduct with former clients as well as the murder of two family members. Within 24 hours of his conviction, he was sentenced by Judge Clifton Newman to two consecutive life prison terms. In 2024 Murdaugh was also sentenced to forty years in federal prison for his financial crimes.

 In May 2026 the South Carolina Supreme Court unanimously overturned the convictions. The justices ruled that former Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill had improperly tampered with and influenced the jury. In 2025 prosecutors charged Hill with misconduct in office, obstruction of justice and perjury. She pled guilty to four charges and was sentenced to probation.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has announced prosecutors will retry Murdaugh in late 2026 or 2027. The defendant remains incarcerated for other crimes. South Carolina Chief Justice John Kittredge has appointed Circuit Judge Debra McCaslin to assume exclusive jurisdiction over the retrial.

The Devil At His Elbow – Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty (Valerie Bauerlein)

Wall Street Journal national reporter Valerie Bauerlein has written a superb  New York Times best-selling book, The Devil At His Elbow – Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty. Now available in paperback, the book not only covers the trial of Alex Murdaugh but the history of two prior generations of his powerful family which reigned unchallenged in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.

Finally, thanks to the new Colleton County Clerk of the Court Gary Hale for the kind tour of the 1820 courthouse and second floor courtroom.