Utah Doctor On Trial For Murdering His Wife

A doctor goes on trial for murdering his beauty queen wife, a crime that has torn his family apart. His own daughters are convinced of his guilt. They showed up at a court hearing holding photos of their beloved mother.

Nancy Grace said on CNN,"One sister called the other into a closet and they shut the door so that nobody could hear them. One says, 'I think dad killed mother.'"

Doctor Martin MacNeill is accused of drowning his wife, Michele, in the bathtub of their home near Salt Lake City.

Prosecutors say Michele couldn’t defend herself because her husband had doped her up on pain medication as she recuperated from a facelift eight days earlier.

Martin called 911 saying he found his wife in the bathtub.
 
Martin: "My wife's fallen in the bathtub."

911 Operator: "Ok, is she conscious?"

Martin: "She's not. I'm a physician. She is unconscious. She's underwater."

But prosecutors say the doctor drowned his wife so he could be with his mistress--the family nanny.

In opening statements Thursday, the prosecutor said Martin allegedly admitted what he had done to another inmate.

The prosecutor said, "He explained that he could get away with things. He stated that one of the things he could get away with was killing his wife. He was glad the bitch was dead."

Even his own lawyer made a not-so-flattering crack about her client, "He was eccentric. He is eccentric."

But she insisted the doctor did not kill his wife. She proclaimed, "Michele MacNeill died of natural causes."

The trial is certain to get a lot of attention. Nancy Grace is covering it on her HLN show.

The MacNeills have eight children, four of whom were adopted. After his wife died, Martin sent one of the adopted children back to her native Ukraine.

Grace said on CNN, "Can you believe that? Give back? Give back your children?"

INSIDE EDITION’s Jim Moret spoke with Martin’s daughter Alexis, asking, “You think he was involved?”

She said, “I know my father killed my mother. He is an evil man."

MacNeill has pleaded not guilty to all charges, but if convicted, he faces life imprisonment.