Jurors are now in long-awaited deliberations in the murder case against accused killer Edward Holley - in one of the most high-profile murder cases in Orange County history.

Holley’s defense team, led by Paul Weber, said at the end of the nearly monthlong trial on Tuesday that they would not call any witnesses, in a sudden contrast to their original plan to question dozens of witnesses.

Weber began the hearing with closing remarks, explaining the last-minute decision, saying prosecutors, who called nearly 50 people to testify, failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Holley killed McDonald.

“Don’t fall for the parade of witnesses,” Weber said. “Which ones gave you any good reason to believe Edward Holley committed this crime?”

Holley is accused of bludgeoning McDonald, his ex-girlfriend, to death in 2003 in the Town of Walkill in a rageful attack motivated by jealousy and money. The Wawayanda man and longtime suspect was arrested in 2023 by state police who said at the time that new DNA evidence linked Holley to the murder and solved the decades-long cold case.

Weber, however, said evidence presented during a month-long trial showed police overlooked significant information that points to other suspects as the alleged killer, including DNA on a Marijuana blunt from McDonald and her ex-boyfriend, Paul Simpson, that was found in her car following her death. He said McDonald’s phone records show her final outgoing calls were to Simpson, who allegedly had a history of domestic violence with McDonald, and that Simpson offered conflicting statements during the investigation - specifically that he hadn’t seen McDonald in the weeks prior to her death, but later that he may have seen her the morning before she was last seen alive.

“Why does all that get a pass while the prosecution asks you to pick apart every single one of Holley’s words,” Weber asked the jury.

Weber also claimed testimony from John DiCaprio, an incarcerated individual at Orange County Jail, that he overheard Holley admitting to the crime to other inmates while Holley was incarcerated on a separate drug conviction, was “concocted” by DiCaprio to obtain a lesser sentence. Weber said the testimony, claiming DiCaprio overheard Holley say he beat McDonald to death inside her vehicle, was inconsistent with physical evidence and expert testimony that shows most of the fatal blows from a claw hammer were issued outside of the car.

Special prosecutor Julia Cornachio summarized the evidence she and co-special prosecutor Laura Murphy presented to the jury in her lengthy closing remarks. She relied heavily on discrepancies in statements Holley gave to state police in 2003, 2008 and 2019, noting Holley originally said he had no contact with McDonald in the days prior to her death and wasn’t at a party she attended the last night she was alive, and later admissions that he was at the party, that they were so close they’d “be married by now,” and he believed she was pregnant with his child.

An autopsy showed McDonald was not pregnant.

Cornachio said witness testimony placed Holley’s vehicle traveling with McDonald's vehicle at a Town of Wallkill apartment complex the night of her murder and questioned additional statements the defendant made to police about what he thought happened when she was murdered, as though he was there, including, “They kept hitting her, hitting her, hitting her,” and “I know she was screaming.”

DNA evidence from Holley was found in McDonald’s car and on her cellphone, which Weber said could be expected since the two had been in a romantic relationship.

A murder weapon was never found and no other DNA evidence linking Holley to the crime was discussed during the closing remarks.

McDonald’s family, including her mother, sister and brother-in-law, were present in a packed courtroom, as well as members of the NYPD Detectives’ Endowment Association, a labor union McDonald’s late father belonged to. Holley’s adult children and others were there in support of the defendant.