By PAUL FOY
Martin MacNeill listens to Gypsy Willis testify during his murder trial in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah Thursday Nov. 7, 2013. MacNeill is charged with murder for allegedly killing his wife Michele MacNeill in 2007. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool)
Doctors Wife Death
Ergonomics expert Brett Besser testifies at Martin MacNeill’s murder trial in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, Thursday Nov. 7, 2013. He testified about the stress to lower back and difficulty in lifting a heavy weight from a bathtub. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool)
Doctors Wife Death
Ergonomics expert Brett Besser, center, testifies at Martin MacNeill’s murder trial in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013. He explains to defense lawyer Randy Spencer, left, stress to lower back and difficulty in lifting a heavy weight from a bathtub. Judge Derek Pullan watches the demonstration. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool )
Martin MacNeill, Gypsy Willis
Gypsy Willis who had an affair with Martin MacNeill, looks towards MacNeill from the witness stand during a recess in his murder trial in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, Thursday Nov. 7, 2013. Willis was called back to the stand by prosecutors trying to show she was MacNeill’s motive for killing his wife. MacNeill is charged with murder for allegedly killing his wife Michele MacNeill in 2007. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool)
Martin MacNeill
Martin MacNeill huddles with a member of his defense team in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, Thursday Nov. 7, 2013. MacNeill is charged with murder for allegedly killing his wife Michele MacNeill in 2007. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool)
Gypsy Willis
Gypsy Willis testifies during Martin MacNeill’s murder trial in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah Thursday Nov. 7, 2013. MacNeill is charged with murder for allegedly killing his wife Michele MacNeill in 2007. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool)
Martin MacNeill, Gypsy Willis
Gypsy Willis, who carried on an affair with Martin MacNeill, passes by him on her way to the witness stand to testify again in his murder trial in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013. Willis was called back to the stand by prosecutors trying to show she was MacNeill’s motive for killing his wife. MacNeill is charged with murder for allegedly killing his wife Michele MacNeill in 2007. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool)
Martin MacNeill
Martin MacNeill speaks to his attorney Susanne Gustin during a recess at the Fourth District Court in Provo Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. MacNeill is charged with murder for allegedly killing his wife Michele MacNeill in 2007. (AP Photo/Daily Herald, Pool, Mark Johnston, Pool)
Martin MacNeill
Utah County Prosecuter Sam Pead, right, has Gypsy Willis read love letters exchanged with Martin MacNeill while both were in federal prison for document fraud, as Willis took the witness stand again, Thursday Nov. 7, 2013 to testify in Martin MacNeill’s murder trial in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah. MacNeill is charged with murder for allegedly killing his wife Michele MacNeill in 2007. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool)
Gypsy Willis
Gypsy Willis enters 4th District Court in Provo, Utah to testify in Martin MacNeill’s murder trial on Thursday Nov. 7, 2013. Willis, mistress of MacNeill, testified Thursday that she and Martin MacNeill pretended to be married and traded love letters while both served prison terms for fraud charges. MacNeill is charged with murder for allegedly killing his wife Michele MacNeill in 2007. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool)
Chad Grunader
Utah County Prosecuter Chad Grunader sits in 4th District Court in Provo Utah, after prosecutors rested their case against Martin MacNeill on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013. MacNeill is charged with murder for allegedly killing his wife Michele MacNeill in 2007. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool)
Jim Vanzant
Jim Vanzant, a nurse pracitioner who worked with Martin MacNeill at the Utah State Developmental Center, testifies in Macneill’s murder trial in 4th District Court in Provo Utah Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013. MacNeill is charged with murder for allegedly killing his wife Michele MacNeill in 2007. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool)
Tami Black
Tami Black, with Utah Adult Probation and Parole, testifies during Martin MacNeill’s murder trial in 4th District Court in Provo Utah Thursday Nov. 7, 2013. MacNeill is charged with murder for allegedly killing his wife Michele MacNeill in 2007. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Al Hartmann, Pool)
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PROVO, Utah (AP) — A prosecutor told jurors Friday in the trial of a Utah doctor that there’s a mountain of circumstantial evidence showing he pestered his wife to get a face lift, and then drugged and drowned her in a bathtub to start a new life with a mistress.
During a 90-minute closing argument, Deputy Utah County Attorney Chad Grunander said Martin MacNeill’s erratic behavior the day of his wife’s 2007 death and shortly afterward was “dripping with motive.”
He reminded jurors about testimony that MacNeill, 57, who is charged with murder, stood in the bathroom yelling, “Why did you do this? All because of a stupid surgery,” as paramedics tried to revive his wife.
“He’s putting on an act in front of people to deflect suspicion away from him,” Grunander said.
Defense lawyers were set to give their closing argument Friday after a short court recess. They contend Michele MacNeill had a heart attack and fell into the tub.
Grunander addressed that theory in his closing argument.
“Martin MacNeill murdered his wife, Michele. Her death was not the result of an accident, and certainly not the result of a heart condition,” Grunander said. “Make no mistake, the defendant’s fingerprints, if you will, are all over Michele’s death.”
Grunander highlighted how quickly MacNeill moved on to a life with his mistress, Gypsy Willis, hiring her as a nanny and proposing marriage within weeks of his wife’s death.
He ridiculed Willis’ explanation that their relationship was only casual, noting MacNeill set her up in a duplex, issued her a debit card for expenses and helped pay for her schooling as a nurse.
“She testified about the death like it was just another day. It was offensive,” Grunander said. “Don’t be fooled by her act.”
During the three-week trial, prosecutors have portrayed Martin MacNeill as a lying adulterer who persuaded his wife’s plastic surgeon to prescribe a mix of potentially lethal pills for her recovery.
Medical examiners couldn’t determine the cause of death and never ruled it a homicide.
It was “almost perfect murder,” Grunander said, except for the way MacNeill “left a number of clues that point to him as the murderer.”
