PROVO, Utah — Jurors have begun deliberating whether a Utah doctor is guilty of murder in the death of his wife after a three-week trial that featured testimony from mistresses, prison snitches, and daughters of the disgraced physician.
The case went to the jury Friday afternoon after attorneys laid out their cases for the final time during closing arguments.
Prosecutors argued that there’s a mountain of circumstantial evidence showing that Martin MacNeill, 57, pestered his wife to get a face lift, then drugged and drowned her in a bathtub six years ago to start a new life with a mistress.
A lawyer for MacNeill countered that the prosecution has cherry-picked evidence in a case full of reasonable doubt. His wife, Michele MacNeill, died in 2007 as a result of her many medical complications, not because she was killed, said attorney Randy Spencer.
‘‘The evidence doesn’t add up the way the prosecution wants it to add up,’’ he said.
Earlier, Deputy Utah County Attorney Chad Grunander said Martin MacNeill’s erratic behavior the day of his wife’s death and shortly afterward was ‘‘dripping with motive.’’
Spencer acknowledged that MacNeill had mistresses and sometimes acted oddly, but said the prosecution never proved that MacNeill drugged and drowned his wife.