10-18-2013, 06:06 PM
Opening arguments were as expected.
The prosecution says that MacNeill is guilty of killing his wife with a lethal drug cocktail and then drowning her in the tub so he could be with his mistress, whom he moved into the home under a false name (as a nanny for his youngest kids) just weeks after Michele's death.
The defense says that MacNeill is an eccentric man, guilty of odd behavior and maybe other things, but not murder. They contend Michele died of a heart condition and that's why a natural death was ruled in the original autopsy.
Today, the neighbors who were called to help get Michele out of the tub testified.
It all happened so fast," Daniels kept saying on the stand in the courtroom in Provo, Utah.
She said MacNeill asked for a male's help to get his wife out of the bathtub. At that point, Daniels said she called her husband, Doug, and told him she needed his help right away.
Doug Daniels said he arrived about 20 seconds after the call and found Michele MacNeill appearing to be "a little discolored, a little bit puffy.
"She was damp, not soaking wet," he said.
He also noticed mucus around her face and said he did not recall if her husband, who was administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, had gotten any of the mucus on himself.
However, Daniels said he remembered MacNeill having "outbursts" and that he pounded on Michele's chest with the bottom part of his hand.
It was "not real hard, but I remember thinking you wouldn't want to whack somebody like that," Daniels said. Since MacNeill is a physician, Daniels said he assumed the doctor knew what he was doing.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/martin-macneill...d=20611504
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MacNeill says his wife was completely submerged and soaking wet when his youngest daughter found her and called for him.
The neighbor says she was just damp.
I believe the neighbor. I think MacNeill drugged her up, quickly drowned her, and then started his little charade.
The prosecution says that MacNeill is guilty of killing his wife with a lethal drug cocktail and then drowning her in the tub so he could be with his mistress, whom he moved into the home under a false name (as a nanny for his youngest kids) just weeks after Michele's death.
The defense says that MacNeill is an eccentric man, guilty of odd behavior and maybe other things, but not murder. They contend Michele died of a heart condition and that's why a natural death was ruled in the original autopsy.
Today, the neighbors who were called to help get Michele out of the tub testified.
It all happened so fast," Daniels kept saying on the stand in the courtroom in Provo, Utah.
She said MacNeill asked for a male's help to get his wife out of the bathtub. At that point, Daniels said she called her husband, Doug, and told him she needed his help right away.
Doug Daniels said he arrived about 20 seconds after the call and found Michele MacNeill appearing to be "a little discolored, a little bit puffy.
"She was damp, not soaking wet," he said.
He also noticed mucus around her face and said he did not recall if her husband, who was administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, had gotten any of the mucus on himself.
However, Daniels said he remembered MacNeill having "outbursts" and that he pounded on Michele's chest with the bottom part of his hand.
It was "not real hard, but I remember thinking you wouldn't want to whack somebody like that," Daniels said. Since MacNeill is a physician, Daniels said he assumed the doctor knew what he was doing.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/martin-macneill...d=20611504
-----------------------------------------------------
MacNeill says his wife was completely submerged and soaking wet when his youngest daughter found her and called for him.
The neighbor says she was just damp.
I believe the neighbor. I think MacNeill drugged her up, quickly drowned her, and then started his little charade.