Jury now deliberating fate of Ryan Duke in Tara Grinstead murder case

The fate of Ryan Duke is now in the hands of a jury.

Duke is accused of killing Tara Grinstead in 2005, burning her body and then burying her in Irwin County.

On Thursday morning, both sides gave their closing arguments in the case.

Channel 2′s Tony Thomas has covered this case from the very beginning and was inside the courtroom for the entire trial.

Thomas said Duke’s defense team came out swinging Thursday morning in closing arguments, insisting that not only was Duke not a murderer, but the blame lay directly at his former friend, Bo Dukes.

“Bo Dukes should be sitting in that chair, not Ryan. Bo Dukes should be on trial, not Ryan,” defense attorney John Merchant said.

Grinstead was a local teacher and beauty queen who vanished in 2005. The case went cold until the Georgia Bureau of Investigation zeroed in on Duke and Dukes in 2017.

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Duke’s defense attorneys painted a picture of overzealous prosecution that was light on evidence.

They insisted a glove with Duke’s DNA that was found outside Grinstead’s house, didn’t prove Duke killed her. They also insisted that Duke’s 2017 confession was a lie.

Prosecutor Brad Rigby fired back, insisting all the evidence pointed to one man — Duke.

“He is the killer of Tara Grinstead, the monster that he wants to hide,” Rigby said.

During the trial, Duke took the stand, proclaiming his innocence and insisting that what he told investigators in 2017 was actually the actions of Dukes.

“Did he tell you he killed Tara Grinstead?” defense attorneys asked Duke.

“He did,” Duke said.

When Dukes was called to the stand, he pleaded the Fifth and refused to testify. The jury must now decide which version of Duke’s statement to believe.

Duke faces six different counts and an automatic sentence of life in prison if convicted of murder. The court said the judge will let the jury decide how late to deliberate until on Thursday if no decision is reached.

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