MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WDHN) – A federal court case involving two brothers accused of plotting to kill and killing one of the brother’s ex-wives is nearing an end.

Last week, federal prosecutors attempted to convince a jury consisting of 13 women and 3 men that Jason paid his brother, Darin who lived in Texas, around $3,000 to kill Jason’s ex-wife Sara Starr in November of 2017.

The prosecution rested its case last Thursday, and the trial picked up Monday morning

Attorneys for Darin say that he used that money to buy and repair a 2016 Triumph motorcycle, while Jason’s attorney says it is just one brother helping another brother out in a time of need.

Joseph Montez was the previous owner of that motorcycle and he told the jury on Monday about his accident while riding it, which later turned into Montez gifting the bike to Lilani Mahler, whom the jury heard from on Thursday. He said he gave it to her because he estimated it would have cost nearly $5,000 to repair the bike, and there was still a bank loan on it that exceeded that amount. Mahler later sold the bike to Darin.

The same motorcycle that prosecutors believe was caught on a barn’s security camera driving on Coffee County Road 643 just a couple minutes from the alleged crime scene

Sara was found on the driveway of her home on County Road 647 in Chancellor with two gunshot wounds from a shotgun.

The defense is trying to prove to the jury that the bike was in real need of repair when it was purchased by Darin and that if it didn’t get the needed repairs, then Darin would not have made it home for the Thanksgiving holiday to spend time with his family.

Darin’s attorneys also called defense investigator, Cari Rountree, who looked into the deer stand near Mary Starr’s house in January of this year. Deer stand that the defense team showed pictures of to the jury, where you could see two chairs inside and it looked like somebody had definitely been inside, however, they were unable to go all the way inside, due to the stability of the structure

This has to do with text messages shown to the jury last week between the Starr brothers, where Darin texted Jason about being in the deer stand, but the deer wasn’t there yet and that he needed water. Darin later sent a message to Jason that he had sent to the wrong person and acted as if he didn’t know who he was texting.

Rountree told the jury that the deer stand is nearly 2 miles away from Sara Starr’s house and that you couldn’t see the house from where the stand was located.

Attorneys for Darin are trying to prove to the jury that he actually could have been in a deer stand and if he was then there was no way he could see Sara’s house.

There was a possibility that either Darin or Jason would take the stand, but both defense teams said that their clients chose not to.

Both defense teams rested their cases just after 1:30 p.m. on Monday.

Closing arguments in this trial are expected to take place on Tuesday morning, which will be followed by the jury getting the case and going into a room to deliberate until they reach a verdict.

Both Jason and Darin are charged with Racketeering Murder in this case, if they are found guilty it is likely that Jason, who has been out on bond, will be taken into custody almost instantly.