Defense blames wife in funeral home trial

The defense had its chance on Tuesday to try and clear a Fort Worth mortuary owner's name.

During the trial, attorneys tried to put the blame on someone else.

The defense jumped into its strategy of trying to deflect blame to Dondre Johnson's wife, Rachel Hardy, whom defense attorneys say owned the business and controlled all the money.

The defense drew mixed testimony from witnesses.

Johnson is on trial for theft, accused of leaving eight bodies to decompose after taking thousands of dollars from relatives who believed they were paying for cremations.

Instead, the bodies were discovered in a garage attached to the Johnson Family Mortuary.

The state produced testimony that some of the bodies had been there for months.

Defense attorney Alex Kim called on a woman who testified she trusted the mortuary with the funerals of four relatives, including her husband and father, and never thought they were involved in a scam as the state has suggested during the trial.

The defense still has a couple of witnesses to present Wednesday before both sides present closing arguments and the case goes to the jury.