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we have criminal defense attorney jonna spilbor to break it down coming up. >> john: fox news alert to start off this monday, the fbi arresting two people, a man and a woman, accused of trying to attack the power grid in the state of maryland. hello, welcome back to a new week of "america reports." i'm john roberts, hello monday to you. >> gillian: happy, happy monday to you, gillian turner in for sandra smith. sarah beth clendaniel of maryland and brandon clint russell of florida, they have extremist views and pose a real threat. they are to appear in federal court in the hour. >> john: david spunt is at the justice department following the breaking news. close call, david. >> very close call. the good news is no power grid disruptions in this case. this was a plot thwarted by an fbi informant. this duo, they met in separate prisons by communicating online, they were serving time for other crimes. they had since gotten out and planned to attack power grids across maryland. the plot was thwarted. 34-year-old sarah clendaniel, accused of trying to destroy multiple power stations will ap

so jonna, as you look at all of this, what makes the biggest difference?is it his testimony or something in the evidence of this trial? one way or the other whether it's a guilt or not guilty, what do jurors normally focus most on? >> this is going to be hands down alex murdaugh's testimony. a couple of reasons. number one, i think jurors always love to hear from the defendant. they want to hear from the horse's mouth. two, he is creating himself to be a very sympathetic person for the reasons explained before. number one, he is going into his opioid addiction. there isn't a person within the sound of our voice who doesn't at least know somebody who has suffered from addiction. we have to give empathy or sympathy to people like that. number two, he is admitting to all his financial misdeeds which remember have nothing to do with this murder. the prosecution is trying to make it look like that's the reason, the motive why he killed his wife and kids. that's like sticking a square peg in a round hole. if they believe murdaugh the rest doesn't matter. >> harr

jonna spillbore is here. glad to have you here.that, do you think there with two shooters based on the evidence? >> that's been a theory from the get-go. it makes sense when you just look at the fact that there's two totally different weapons in the crime, two victims, two weapons. you don't have to be an expert to assume there with two shooters, this expert made a really interesting point that nobody has brought up. that is the reason for the two shooter theory is that paul murdaugh was shot at such close range that there would have been biological blowback in to the shooter's face stunning him and perhaps injuring him. in order to shoot somebody at point blank range and put down one weapon and shoot maggie that was shot second is implausible. that was all new. if you ask me, it makes some sense. >> martha: so we know that cousin eddie was involved -- that alec hired him to shoot him. and then something went awry. alex ended up alive at the end of that scene that they set up. there's been some speculation about questions around hi

. >> well, i agree with jonna, murdaugh out lawyered the prosecutor here, he definitely practiced thatnswer. he gave it way too many times for it not to be practiced. >> all right, jonna and francen, great seeing you both. alec murdaugh claimed innocence on the stand today. he seems to be working very hard. again, it was practice. was it really a choreographed performance or a heartfelt expression or remorse for lying and saying i didn't do it. to help answer that question, we are joined by body language language, dr. lilian glass. dr. glass, you had so many experience in the trial context examining witnesses. here is how murdaugh describes finding his son's body. rp>> his head was where it wa can see his brain laying on the sidewalk - it was so bad. [ cries ] >> i was so mad. >> dr. glass, what are you seeing there? >> i see there is not a lot of authenticity. i think he practiced. it is not genuine. i don't feel those are genuine tools. they're maybe remorse for getting caught but in all honhonesty throughout the experience, you don't see a lot of tears, you see a lot of in-authentic

jonna will join us next. >> sandra: and the potential challengers lining up o n the republican slate.a lot of parties, once they settle on a nominee, they go with them. thus far he's been successful at keeping other people out of the race. we switched to liberty mutual and saved $652. they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. with the money we saved, we thought we'd try electric unicycles. whoa! careful, babe! saving was definitely easier. hey babe, i think i got it! it's actually... whooooa! ok, show-off! help! oh! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >> gillian: in over a year and a half now since his mother and brother were murdered we have not heard buster murdaugh say a single word until today. his father's defense team kicked off the full day of testimony by calling buster to the stand, testifying in support of his dad who is currently on trial for the killings. charles watson is following the story. what did the defense begin with today? >> yeah, gillian, questions about buster murdaugh's relationship with his family. h

. >> bill: he sets it up nicely for a criminal defense attorney jonna spilbor. trial continues.ick up on the last point. listen to shelly smith. the caregiver for alex murdaugh's mother. now the night of the murders he said he went to check on his mom. here is how the exchange went in court when she was on the stand. >> did alex murdaugh ask you to tell somebody how long he had been there? >> he said someone asks you i've been here. he had like a tarp you could put on a car to cover it up. a blue. >> was he holding it like this? >> yes >> when you came back the next day was it there? >> no, it was gone. >> 30 to 40 minutes. did she say how long he actually stayed there. he has time to stash clothes. >> i viewed this witness as cutting both ways. she also testified tearfully about how much she loved the murdaugh family and how much she loved her job. whether she can say that alex murdaugh was there for 20 or 30 minutes or less to me is almost less important than the fact that she didn't want to testify against him. she didn't want to be there. she loved that family. i didn't look

jonna, you are a defense attorneys and mercedes you have a prosecutor's eye. whether or not is the defense working here? >> the defense is working. it is the prosecution that is not. i just witnessed something i don't think i've ever seen before. the prosecutor turned the tables. in his case in chief he have did a good job at getting everybody i'm sure including the jury to dislike alex murdaugh. he is nothing but a liar and cheat. now i think the your -- jurey is disliking the prosecutor. when people apologize what do they do? they restore the trust in the people they are apologizing to. i think the jury is feeling sorry for alex murdaugh now and not what the prosecution wants. it's the prosecution's fault. >> bill: quick answer, mercedes? >> i love jonna. i totally agree with you many times. this is one where i say not so fast. it was so clear -- i agree maybe the prosecution asked one question too many but he confirmed that no one heard this story regarding the kennels until yesterday. months and months of discussions with law enforcement and family and dis

let's bring in jonna spilbor criminal defense attorney. why are they going to delay? more time to gather evidence to make sure there is probable cause to keep him in jail. what's unusual about this case is his attorney, i believe with the public defender's office is giving them a few weeks to do that. ordinarily when you have a defendant behind bars with charges pending, you want to hold the prosecution's feet to the fire. if they can't produce the evidence your client gets sprung. because his attorney is allowing it, i'm guessing she is focused on winning the war instead of winning the battle. brian walshe's case is unusual. he is a mouse in a maze with no cheese. no matter where he goes he will stay behind bars because he has a $5 hundred thousand bail on a previous charge in this case, a low-level lying to the police. $5 hundred thousand on that and awaiting sentencing on a federal fraud case where he could do at least 2 1/2 years likely 2 1/2 years. >> bill: let's talk about the state's evidence. they allege he bought $450 worth of cleaning supplies, a knife with

. >> bill: let's bring in jonna spilbor. you've been with us since the beginning of the trial.n this witness. did he make a good witness for the defense and for his father? >> well, i think he accomplished one very important thing. buster really humanized his dad, which look, the jury needs to know. the picture that has been painted by the prosecution is this guy is a monster who tried to detract, distract from his financial crimes by violently offing his wife and son. if you believe that, then he is not a human. buster took the stand and said what you saw about my father in the police interrogations was real. those tears were real. i was with him the night this happened and it was real. he is a human and he accomplished that and it was a good thing for the defense. >> bill: what about the clip charles played about him interrapting what his father said. he said they did them so bad. as opposed to what the state says is that i did them so bad. go ahead. >> i think that entire clip is much about nothing. if you are in the middle of this terrific, horrific homicide and you are in

fascinating to watch, day 2 as the prosecution now cross examinates alex, and what's interesting to me, jonna spilbor said the prosecutor is seemingly getting outlawyered by his own witness here. let's bring in now criminal defense attorney phil holloway to get his take on what we have seen so far, as they take a break there in south carolina. phil, you know, yesterday you said that you thought that he needed to testify. he's admitted to stealing from clients, admitted to lying repeatedly, do you still think that was a good idea? >> yes, i do, good afternoon. thanks for having me back. i think so far the defendant is doing quite well as a witness in this case and honestly this is a master class how not to conduct a cross examination. open ended questions, and even in law school in trial advocacy classes young lawyers are taught never ask an open ended question on cross examination, especially if you don't know the answer to. you ask leading questions, lead them down the primrose path using your facts, your narrative, and you're getting your message as the lawyer out to the jury. in this case,