MODESTO – Defense testimony begins Thursday in the case of a Central Valley preacher charged with murder and embezzlement.

On Wednesday Stanislaus County prosecutors rested their case against Howard Douglas Porter, who is accused of plunging a pickup truck into an irrigation ditch in April 2004 as part of a plot to kill an elderly rancher.

Prosecutors argue the 57-year-old Porter was trying to cover up his plan to pocket money from 85-year-old Frank Craig instead of using the rancher's millions to build an agriculture museum.

Defense attorneys will have to explain a similar, 2002 crash in which Craig was crippled with Porter behind the wheel. If convicted, Porter faces a life sentence.

Information from: The Modesto Bee, www.modbee.com