The widow of murder victim Dr. Joseph Morrissey provided plenty of drama Tuesday as she testified in the trial of accused killer Randy Tundidor Sr.
"I don't care if I kill you," Linda Morrissey said as she recounted for the jury how an armed intruder terrorized her and her husband at their Plantation home
Morrissey steadfastly recounted the horrible details of the night of April 5, 2010. She told the jury how the intruder bound her and her husband's hands and feet with zip ties, how he made her husband hop out of the room, and how both parents were hoping their 5-year-old son, Patrick, would sleep through everything for his own safety. But he woke up.
"Joe told Patrick, please, please just pretend you're sleeping," Morrissey said.
She later heard her husband, a Nova Southeastern University science professor, begging for his life.
"He said please, please don't kill me, I have kids," Morrissey testified.
The state says Tundidor and his son, Randy Tundidor Jr., were in the house together and that Tundidor Sr. planned the crime and murdered his landlord, who was in the process of evicting him. Tundidor Sr., 45, has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and arson.
The defense says that Tundidor Jr. is the killer. Last year he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death as part of a plea deal that will have him testify against his father.
Local
Under cross examination Tuesday, Linda Morrissey said she never actually saw Tundidor Sr. in the house.
After Joseph Morrissey, 46, was killed, the Tundidors set the house on fire, prosecutors allege. Linda Morrissey says she got her son to find scissors to remove her handcuffs.
"Patrick, you have to be a big boy, help Mommy, get the scissors, and he did," she said.
Randy Tundidor Jr. is expected to testify Wednesday.
