Jury selection began this week in David Murdock murder trial. Testimony expected Monday
Presentation of evidence and testimony in the first-degree murder trial of a Lake Wales man accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend is expected to begin Monday.
Dressed in a suit and tie and wearing a neatly trimmed grey beard, David Marshall Murdock, 65, has appeared in court in Bartow since Wednesday for jury selection.
The prosecution is seeking the death penalty if Murdock is found guilty of the murder charge. He also faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, armed burglary of a dwelling and shooting into a building.
He is accused of killing Lisa Lorraine Bunce, 56, on Jan. 5, 2019, while she was visiting friends in Florida, according to an account in a Polk County Sheriff’s Office charging affidavit.
Bunce had previously fled the state because of domestic violence and was living in Ohio. She was killed just days before she was to return to Ohio.
According to the sheriff’s report, Murdock had learned she was back in town, could not reach her by phone and shortly after 1 a.m., he went to her friend’s house at 373 Melbourne Drive in Haines City.
He parked his gray 2013 Dodge pickup near the home in the Sweetwater Golf and Tennis Community and carried a 9-mm Glock handgun to the residence, where he shot dead his ex-girlfriend and injured her friend, Sandra Andrews, now 71, according to the affidavit.
At a local hospital, Andrews later identified Murdock as the shooter. The two women had suffered bullet wounds to their heads.
Before deputies had responded to the shootings, Murdock dialed 911 at 1:12 a.m. and told the call taker he had “to get rid of the devil,” court records show.
When deputies arrived, Murdock was standing in front of the home with his hands in the air. He was then booked into the Polk County Jail and has been held there without bond since the homicide.
Prior to the proceedings this week, Murdock’s defense has argued that the Polk County jail policies and the death penalty scheme in Florida are unconstitutional.
If convicted of first-degree felony murder by a unanimous jury verdict, the jurors would also be asked during a penalty phase of the trial to deliberate on a death sentence.
What happens next has changed three times since 2016 in Florida because of state law changes and the Hurst vs. Florida U.S. Supreme Court case. This is impacting capital punishment cases pending in Bartow courtrooms as well as convictions statewide.
Currently in Murdock's case, the jury can recommend a death sentence by an 8-4 margin. By state law, the judge then must weigh the jury recommendation before imposing the sentence.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Testimony expected to begin Monday in David Murdock murder trial