True Crime Court Dates Tracker: Every Big Case Hearing in 2026

Verdicts end trials — they don't end cases. Appeals, parole boards, retrials, and civil suits keep every major file in motion long after the cameras leave, and knowing when the next hearing lands is half of following a case intelligently.

This is our running tracker of the biggest dates ahead, built from court schedules and official announcements. We update it as dates are set, moved, or resolved — bookmark it, or get case alerts when something big lands.

The board: what's ahead

Date	Case	What happens
UNDERWAY	Lindsay Clancy	On trial — openings July 27; verdict expected late Aug–Sept
RESOLVED July 28	Colt Gray — Apalachee High School	Pleaded guilty July 24 to all 55 counts; sentenced to life without parole
RESOLVED July 30	Colin Gray — Apalachee (father)	Sentenced to 15 years in prison (counts run concurrent)
August 3, 2026*	Sarah Grace Patrick	Trial scheduled, Carroll County, GA (*continuance ruling pending)
August 14, 2026	Alex Murdaugh	Pretrial hearing — DNA-testing, venue, and discovery motions
August 17–28, 2026	Jared Bridegan case — Mario Fernandez	Murder-for-hire trial (jury selection Aug 10–14)
September 8, 2026	Luigi Mangione	New York state trial begins
September 8, 2026	Fraser Bohm — Malibu PCH crash	Murder trial begins (pretrial motions Sept 2)
September 8–25, 2026	Jared Bridegan case — Shanna Gardner	Murder-for-hire trial (jury selection Aug 31)
September 9, 2026	Blaise Taylor	Formal sentencing after July 1 murder conviction
September 21, 2026	Delphi murders — Richard Allen	Oral arguments, Indiana Court of Appeals
September 29, 2026	Larry Millete	Sentencing — murder (25-to-life) + weapon count (pleaded guilty July 20)
October 5, 2026	Naresh Bhatt	No-body murder trial, Prince William County, VA
December 2026	Ruby Franke & Jodi Hildebrandt	First parole hearings, Utah Board of Pardons and Parole
January 5, 2027	Luigi Mangione	Federal trial — jury selection (openings Jan 25)
Late March 2027	Jared Bridegan case — Henry Tenon	Trial of the alleged gunman (withdrew his 2023 plea)
April 5, 2027	Alex Murdaugh	Retrial for the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh
Ongoing	Karen Read	O'Keefe family wrongful-death civil suit
Ongoing	Chad Daybell	Automatic capital appeals (Idaho death row)
Ongoing	Mackenzie Shirilla	Discretionary review sought, Ohio Supreme Court
Ongoing	Scott Peterson	LA Innocence Project appeal of April 2026 habeas denial

Details, context, and what's actually at stake in each — below.

UNDERWAY — the Lindsay Clancy trial

Three and a half years after the deaths of her three children in Duxbury, Massachusetts, Lindsay Clancy's first-degree murder trial is happening now. Jury selection began July 20 in Plymouth Superior Court, the 18-member panel (twelve women, six men) was seated by July 23, and opening statements landed Monday, July 27 — the prosecution telling jurors Clancy was "not in the throes of psychosis" but acted "intentionally, rationally and swiftly," the defense answering that she was overmedicated into psychosis. Her husband, Patrick Clancy, testified on days one and two, facing her in court for the first time since the killings — describing "one of her best days" with the children hours before he came home to "blood everywhere," before the defense's cross walked him through her efforts to get mental-health care.

What's at stake: Not what happened — that is largely undisputed — but criminal responsibility. A conviction means life; a not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity verdict means commitment, not release. Expect four to six weeks of testimony, putting a verdict on track for late August or September. Our full case file.

RESOLVED July 28, 2026 — Colt Gray: life without parole (Apalachee)

It went exactly as the filings signaled, and then further: on July 24, Gray entered a non-negotiated guilty plea to all 55 counts from the September 2024 Apalachee High School shooting — no deal, no agreed sentence. A full day of victim impact statements followed, most of them asking the judge for the same thing. When the hearing concluded on July 28, the judge delivered it: life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of teachers Cristina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo.

The father's sentence, July 30: Colin Gray — convicted by a jury in March 2026 for giving his son the rifle despite the warning signs — received 15 years in prison from Judge Nicholas Primm, who ran the counts concurrently and told him he was convicted because "the warning lights were flashing brighter and brighter." His paper exposure had been 180 years; the first parent in the country convicted of murder for his child's school shooting will serve a fraction of it. Our full case file.

August–September 2026 — the Bridegan murder-for-hire trials

Two murder-for-hire trials, back to back, over the 2022 ambush killing of Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan in Jacksonville Beach: Mario Fernandez Saldana (trial August 17–28, jury selection August 10–14 from a 250-person pool; at the July 27 final pretrial his defense acknowledged briefly discussing a plea deal with the state — no agreement announced) and Shanna Gardner, Bridegan's ex-wife (trial September 8–25, jury selection August 31 from a 500-person pool). Both have pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors withdrew the death penalty for both in November 2025 — with the support of Bridegan's widow — so the maximum exposure is life without parole. Alleged shooter Henry Tenon withdrew his earlier guilty plea and faces his own trial in late March 2027. Our full case hub.

What's at stake: Prosecutors allege a paid family conspiracy over custody and money. Two verdicts, six weeks apart, in the same courthouse, before the same judge.

September 8, 2026 — Luigi Mangione's state trial

The highest-profile defendant on this list goes before a New York state jury first; his federal trial was pushed to January 2027 specifically to let the state case proceed. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Reports in 2026 indicate the federal death-penalty exposure fell away when the government's murder counts were dropped, leaving federal stalking charges — and reported plea discussions in the federal case fell through, keeping both trials on the calendar.

What's at stake: The state case carries a potential life sentence. Every procedural turn of this case has moved markets of public attention — expect the verdict to be the single biggest true-crime news event of the fall.

September 8, 2026 — Fraser Bohm's murder trial (Malibu PCH crash)

The same day Mangione's jury is picked in New York, a Los Angeles County jury starts hearing the case of Fraser Bohm, charged with four counts of murder for the October 2023 crash on the Pacific Coast Highway that killed four Pepperdine seniors — Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir, and Deslyn Williams. Prosecutors allege his BMW hit roughly 104 mph in a 45 zone at "Dead Man's Curve"; on July 27, 2026, the judge denied the defense's motion to dismiss the murder counts, and pretrial motions are set for September 2. Bohm has pleaded not guilty.

What's at stake: Whether extreme speed alone can carry an implied-malice murder verdict — or whether the jury lands on the gross-negligence manslaughter counts instead. Our full case file.

September 9, 2026 — Blaise Taylor's sentencing

The ex-Titans scout was convicted July 1, 2026, on all four counts — second-degree murder of his pregnant girlfriend Jade Benning and first-degree premeditated murder of her unborn child — after roughly two hours of deliberation, with the jury returning life with the possibility of parole. The September 9 hearing formalizes the sentence across the remaining counts. Our full case file.

October 5, 2026 — Naresh Bhatt's no-body trial

Mamta Kafle Bhatt, a pediatric nurse in Manassas Park, Virginia, hasn't been seen since July 2024. Roughly fifty searches never found her. Her husband Naresh Bhatt — who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, concealment, and defiling a body — goes to trial October 5, with 25 trial days blocked. Like the Larry Millete conviction in July, it's a prosecution built without remains: blood and DNA evidence from the home, digital records, and conduct after the disappearance.

What's at stake: Whether a second 2026 jury will convict for murder with no body — and, for a missing woman's family, an answer of any kind.

September 21, 2026 — Richard Allen's appeal (Delphi)

The Indiana Court of Appeals hears oral arguments on whether the Delphi convictions stand. Allen's team is swinging at three pillars: the search warrant for his home (they say it omitted and altered key facts), his prison confessions (they say a pretrial detainee in prolonged solitary can't confess voluntarily), and the excluded alternative-perpetrator defense. The State's answer: the trial was fair, the evidence lawful, the verdict sound.

What's at stake: If any pillar falls, the remedy could range from a new trial without key evidence to full reversal. If Allen loses, expect a transfer petition to the Indiana Supreme Court. Either way, this date is the biggest appellate moment of the year in true crime. Full background: our Delphi case file.

December 2026 — Franke and Hildebrandt face the parole board

Utah sentences are indeterminate: judges set ranges, but the Board of Pardons and Parole decides actual time. Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt — each serving four consecutive 1-to-15-year terms (capped at 30 years) for aggravated child abuse — get their first board hearings in December 2026, having been ordered to complete mental-health evaluations and cognitive behavioral therapy first.

What's at stake: The board can set a release date, order another hearing years down the road, or hold them to the full 30. Given the severity findings at sentencing, an early release date would be a genuine shock — but the hearing itself will produce the first substantive public record of both women since 2024. Full background: our Ruby Franke case file.

April 5, 2027 — the Murdaugh retrial (pretrial hearing August 14, 2026)

The South Carolina Supreme Court's unanimous May 2026 ruling — that clerk of court Becky Hill "placed her fingers on the scales of justice" — vacated the double-murder convictions and reset the biggest trial of the decade to zero. On June 29, 2026, Circuit Judge Debra McCaslin set the retrial for April 5, 2027 ("When I say April 5th, we're picking a jury and going forward"). Before that, an August 14, 2026 pretrial hearing (motions due August 7) will decide the defense's request for enhanced DNA testing of unknown male DNA found under Maggie Murdaugh's fingernails — the ruling that could most plausibly move the calendar — plus change-of-venue and discovery motions.

What's at stake: A verdict do-over with one genuinely new front: the fingernail-DNA testing fight. Otherwise both sides have seen everything, every witness can be impeached with prior testimony, and the kennel video hasn't changed. Murdaugh remains imprisoned on 40-year federal and 27-year state financial sentences regardless of the outcome. Full background: our Murdaugh case file.

September 29, 2026 — Larry Millete's sentencing

Convicted July 9, 2026, of the first-degree murder of his wife Maya — whose body has never been found — Millete cleared the last obstacle to sentencing on July 20, when he pleaded guilty to the bifurcated assault-weapon count rather than have a judge decide it. Judge Enrique Camarena set sentencing on both counts for September 29, 2026. Exposure: 25 years to life on the murder, plus up to three years on the weapon. Case file.

Ongoing — the ones without a firm date

• Sarah Grace Patrick (trial date at risk). Scheduled for August 3, 2026, in Carroll County, Georgia — but her new public defender, Shawn Hoover, argued for a continuance at a mid-July hearing, citing late-surfacing material including roughly ten years of DFCS records and an investigator's supplemental report about a "hunch" the murder weapon had been pawned. Prosecutors say none of it is new or unusual. Judge Hightower said he would rule in a written order; as of July 31 — with jury selection two days out — no ruling has been publicly reported, so the August 3 date stands unless the order moves it. She has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent. Case file.
• Karen Read (civil). Acquitted criminally in June 2025, Read still faces the O'Keefe family's wrongful-death suit, where "preponderance of the evidence" — not "beyond a reasonable doubt" — is the bar. Discovery is now fully underway: key figures are sitting for depositions through the summer, Read herself among them, and on July 1 the judge admonished attorneys on both sides for releasing private information. Read's own federal lawsuit against her accusers had its first in-person hearing July 14, where members of the McCabe and Albert families asked the court to throw out parts of it. Civil discovery can also surface material the criminal juries never saw. Case file.
• Chad Daybell (capital appeals). Death sentences trigger automatic, years-long appellate review in Idaho. No execution date exists or is likely for years. Case file.
• Mackenzie Shirilla (Ohio Supreme Court). Her team has asked Ohio's highest court to take the case over the POTS/ineffective-counsel theory; the court takes only a fraction of such requests, and a denial would largely exhaust her state options. Case file.
• Bryan Kohberger — nothing. The plea waived his appeals. Barring extraordinary post-conviction filings, the Idaho case is legally over. Case file.
• Scott Peterson (California Supreme Court). After a San Mateo County judge denied all 14 claims in his habeas petition in April 2026, the LA Innocence Project said it would take the fight to a higher court — and A&E's two-night documentary on the "new evidence" (July 16–17) has put the case back at the center of the conversation. What the new evidence actually is.

How to read a court date

A quick field guide, since these get misreported constantly:

• Oral arguments ≠ decision. Appellate courts hear arguments, then rule weeks or months later. Expect the Delphi ruling well after September 21.
• Parole hearing ≠ release. A hearing is a review, not a door opening. Boards frequently order follow-up hearings years out.
• "Seeking retrial by X" ≠ trial on X. Retrial dates slip — scheduling a six-week murder trial around witness availability and court calendars is its own litigation.
• Civil timelines are elastic. Wrongful-death suits routinely settle, pause pending related proceedings, or take years to reach a jury.

We update this tracker as dates firm up, move, or resolve — and every case above has a full written file in the case files.

Dates reflect court schedules and official statements as of the last update to this page and may change. All defendants in pending or vacated proceedings are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.