In the murder-for-hire trial of a Waco attorney, the defense rested Thursday after saying no one warned the target of the alleged 2020 plot that he was in danger, apparently content with efforts to show the jury reasonable doubt while the state put on its case.

Waco attorney Seth Sutton stands trial this week on a first-degree felony charge of solicitation of murder, accused of starting a plot May 14, 2020, to kill Marcus Beaudin. Beaudin has since been indicted on an attempted indecency with a child charge involving a member of Sutton's family.

Prosecutors and Sutton's defense attorney are expected to deliver closing arguments Friday to the McLennan County jury of 10 men and 2 women, before Visiting Judge Roy Sparkman in Waco's 19th State District Court.

After the state rested, defense attorney Clint Broden, of Dallas, presented an uncontested statement of fact that no one told Beaudin he was in danger. Broden and lead prosecutor Patrick Sloane, of the Texas Attorney General’s office in Austin, both signed the statement.

Then the defense rested.

Earlier Thursday, the third day of testimony in the trial, the state called law enforcement witnesses who told the jury about evidence for search and arrest warrants against Sutton, including a firearm purchase and a string of deleted text messages.

The prosecution also presented audio of Sutton talking with an undercover detective about wiping a handgun clean of fingerprints, hiding it on a specific property and deleting text messages from phones.

The Tribune-Herald is withholding the undercover detective's name to protect his identity for future investigations.

Texas Ranger Jake Burson, who wrote the arrest warrant for Sutton, told the jury how three Waco police officials, including the undercover detective, laid out for him how Sutton had asked the detective to kill Beaudin and days later told the detective he would help him buy a gun for the purpose. The detective testified earlier in the trial about Sutton paying him $300 to buy a gun.

Under Broden’s questioning, the detective told the jury that before their May 22, 2020, arrests Sutton and Chelsea Tijerina, Beaudin's ex-wife who was accused of taking part in the plot, had not set a specific date for Beaudin’s murder, just that it would be after July 1, 2020. Tijerina died following a 2021 motorcycle crash in Hays County.

A string of 40 to 60 text messages between Tijerina and Sutton registered in Tijerina’s phone records, Waco police Sgt. Sam Key told the jury Thursday under prosecution questioning. Police Sgt. Matthew McCallister told the jury he found fewer than 10 text messages to Sutton in Tijerina’s phone.

McAllister said in his experience a string of text messages indicated in phone records but missing from the phone itself means someone deleted the text messages or they were sent from another device.