Judge goes before court on other side of the bench

July 22, 2011

judge pat murdoch's defense team says there are major holes in the case against him. today, they tried to get the rape and intimidation charges tossed out. cristina rodda is live from metro court with tonight's big story. today murdoch appeared here at metro court... as he faced charges for raping a prostitute. the defense is trying to get the entire case tossed out. "mr. murdoch is there any statement you'd like to make at this time sir? what's your response to the chges against you?" pat murdoch's attorneys filed a motion that the case against murdoch be dismissed. "all rise court is now in session." the judge didn't hear the motion because today was his first appearance hearing. murdoch's attorney's are questioning the fourth degree rape charge. a fourth degree charge is used when victims are between 13 and 16 years old. in the criminal complain-- it says the prostitute posed hypothetical situations about a woman making allegations against judge pat murdoch. in the motion, the defense claims that e allegation of intimidation of a witness should be thrown out because if murdoch responded-- it was about a hypothetical situation. he never threatened the prostitute. "we believe that our client judge murdoch is the victim in this case. we will have much more to say after we've had an opportunity to look at the evidence in this case. that's really all we can say at this time." the criminal complaint shows murdoch had sex with the prostitute eight times... he's accused of forcing oral sex on her twice. she recorded one of the sexual encounters. her and her boyfriend sold the d-v-d to police. regardless of the accusations -- murdh had a lot of supporters at the courthouse today. the d.a.'s office will not comment on the motion to dismiss. apd deputy chief paul feist says the court will decide if the motion is valid or not. live from metro court cristina rodda kob eyewitness news four. today judge rogers released murdoch on his own recognizance. he had previously been released on a 50-thousand- dollar bond. as we've reported -- the prostitute does not have a criminal history as far as we know. however... we found her boyfriend -- michael ellzey junior -- has a lengthy criminal history out of arizona. according to court records there -- ellzey has been arrested for things like domestic violence -- assault -- and unlawful imprisonment. he also served some time in prison for car theft. he doesn't appear to have a criminal history in new mexico.