Utah Doctor Convicted of Murder

[Curt James]

Utah Doctor Convicted of Murder - YouTube

Published on Nov 9, 2013
A jury convicted Dr. Martin MacNeill of murder early Saturday in the death of his wife six years ago, bringing an end to a trial that became the nation's latest true-crime cable TV obsession. (Nov. 9)

 

[Curt James]

Martin MacNeil Murder Trial: Inmate Testifies Utah Doctor Held Wife's 'Head Under Water' | Video - ABC News

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

We have a dramatic twist in the trial of the utah doctor charged with killing his wife. New claims he confessed to the murder. Aditi roy has the latest.
Reporter: The judge says he expects the case to go to the jury by tomorrow. That means the prosecution is close to wrapping up before the defense makes its case. The state's latest witnesses were two fellow inmates of martin MacNeill.
They told jurors the former utah physician made incriminating statements. His face hidden from cameras, the man known as inmate number ONE TOLD JURORS martin MacNeill made a startling confession to him about his wife. He said he had gave her some oxy and some sleeping pills.
And then, got her to get in the bathtub. Did he say what he did next. Later on, he said he had to help her get out.
And he held her head under the water for a little while. Did he use the phrase, help her out? Yes.

Reporter: Prosecutors claim that he killed his wife, michele, by giving her a fatal dose of painkillers and luring her into a tub. His motive, says prosecutors, was to continue an affair. Did you ask him to describe or why he wanted to kill his wife?
He said she was in the way. eporter: MacNEILL SAYS HE IS Innocent. Inmate number one said he befriended MacNeill while the two for in a texas prison, where MacNEILL SERVED TIME FOR AN Unrelated fraud case.
Another fellow inmate from the utah county jail, also told JURORS, MacNEILL MADE DAMNING Statements. Did martin talk to you about the relationship he had with his wife before she died? A little bit, yes.
It was going downhill. They were trying to get his money. And she was not going to let him keep cheating on her.
Did he say if he was cheating on her? Oh, yeah. Reporter: The defense tried to discredit the inmates.

You agreed to the deal that you wanted? That I wanted, no. He helped me out a little bit.
What was the help you anticipated? I wanted to have my record expunged. When they said they could help out a little bit, I said, i still want to do this.
Reporter: More dramatic testimony could come today, as MacNEILL'S PURPORTED MISTRESS, Gypsy willis, is expected to take the stand again. Dan abrams with more on this. We were talking yesterday.
The previous inmates testified against MacNeill, went up to the line of saying he confessed. But didn't cross it. This new testimony does.
That's right. If you believe this testimony, not only is he a horrible person, but he's a real idiot. You're talking about again and again and again, making incriminating statements to prisoners.

Often in these cases, you see the defense suggest my client never would have been so dumb as to blank. And in this case, it would be, my client, a very smart guy. A savvy guy.
Would never have been so dumb as to make incriminating statements to prisoner after prisoner after prisoner. And yet, we do see, in a lot of high-profile cases, that very smart people can do very dumb things. And we're only seeing a very limited defense so far.
Well, the defense is going to start possibly today. And we're expecting that it could be three witnesses. And the most important point that the defense is going to want to make here, is regard to WHETHER martin MacNeill could have lifted his wife out of the bathtub himself.
He calms 911 and says, I need help. He sends his daughter next door to get a male's help to lift the body out of the bathtub. There's a question as to whether he could have lifted her out himself.
Your wife is dying in the bathtub. You have to be able to get her out of there. He said he couldn't do it.
We expect an expert will testify that it would have been difficult for him. Real quick, does he testify? No chance.
No way. No how. The judge saying the case is going to the jury by friday.