strong words tonight from judge pat murdoch's lawyers as the controversy continues to swirl over allegations he raped a prostitute. with his first court appearance set for tomorrow we are asking about security and how this case will be prosecuted because of an obvious conflict of interest. joe vigil is live at district court with our big story. not a surprise--- but some of judge murdoch's lawyers are coming out swinging regarding the stunning allegations. this as the judge getready to stand on the other side of the bench in a court system he has been a part of for 26 years. who could have imagined police arresting district court judge pat murdoch here--and two days later appearing here accused of raping a prostitute. in a statement from two of his lawyers-- nancy hollander and ahmad assed--- they say "judge murdoch has proudly served his community for twenty-six years. while he has great respect for the law and law enforcement he is confident that he will be vindicated once the issues surrounding this case are fully examined and decided." people are using social media to sound off too. we found this friends of pat murdoch site now set up on facebook. some people say they support the judge no matter what. some call the whole thing a set up. in a criminal complaint a prostitute claims she exchanged sexual favors for money eight times with judge murdoch. she says he forced oral sex on her--while she secretly video taped the encounter. here is another issue we explored today, how will this case proceed? "clearly all the judges here in the second judicial district would have a conflict of interest in hearing the case." so where will a judge come from? "the supreme court can appoint a judge to come in pro-tem, a retired judge, another judge from another district." because of a conflict the d-a's office won't prosecute the case and finding another district attorney's office to do it may not be that easy. "some other district attorneys may also feel that they have a conflict." this is district court---judge murdoch's arraignment is set thursday for metro court across the street. we asked about security. we were told there mostly likely wouldn't be anything extra as the court treats this just like any other case.
