|
| Linda Cluff, sister of Michelle MacNeill hugs friends after court was adjourned following the guilty verdict against Martin MacNeill. MacNeill was found guilty of murder and obstruction of justice early Saturday morning, Nov. 9, 2013. |
PROVO, Utah
(AP) -- The conviction of a Utah doctor in the murder of his wife was
the culmination of a yearslong pursuit of justice by the family of the
victim.
The daughters and sisters of Michele
MacNeill hounded authorities to investigate Martin MacNeill amid an
initial finding that the 2007 death was natural, possibly from heart
disease. They attended court hearings and sat in the front row of the
courtroom at a 2012 preliminary hearing holding photos of Michele
MacNeill.
They were in Provo again throughout this three-week trial,
listening intently. Several of them testified.
When
the verdict was read, they let out a loud yelp before dissolving in
tears as the jury delivered its verdict to the tense, packed courtroom.
"We're
just so happy he can't hurt anyone else," said Alexis Somers, one of
his older daughters and his main protagonist. "We miss our mom; we'll
never see her again. But that courtroom was full of so many people who
loved her."
The jury convicted MacNeill of
first-degree murder about 12 hours after getting the case, returning the
verdict after 1 a.m. He faces 15 years to life in prison when he is
sentenced Jan. 7. He also was found guilty of obstruction of justice,
which could add 1-15 years.
MacNeill, 57,
showed little emotion when the verdict was read. He hugged his lawyer
and said, "It's OK." Deputies led him back to Utah County jail.
Randy Spencer, one of his lawyers, said he was disappointed before declining further comment.
The
Utah doctor was convicted after prosecutors built a case based largely
on circumstantial evidence. He was accused of hounding his 50-year-old
wife to get a face-lift, pumping her full of drugs and helping her into a
bathtub. Prosecutors contend that MacNeill was "swapping" his wife for a
new life with a mistress without having to go through a divorce.
Gypsy
Willis' testimony was the highlight of the three-week trial. MacNeill
introduced her as a nanny within weeks of his wife's death, but his
older daughters quickly recognized her as his secret lover. They said
her mother had been arguing with her husband over the affair.
The
daughters went to work uncovering what they call their father's secret
life. They dogged county officials to open an investigation that local
police never conducted. It wasn't until MacNeill's release in July 2012
from a federal prison in Texas on charges of fraud that Utah prosecutors
moved to file charges of murder and obstruction of justice.
Willis
also served a federal sentence for using the identity of one of
MacNeill's adopted daughters to escape a debt-heavy history. That
daughter had been sent back to Ukraine, supposedly only for a summer.
For
a time, MacNeill's only family defender was his only son. Damian, a
24-year-old law student, committed suicide in January 2010, according to
his sisters, who have said he was haunted by their mother's death.
The
case shocked the Mormon community of Pleasant Grove, 35 miles south of
Salt Lake City, and captured national attention because the defendant
was a wealthy doctor and a lawyer, a father of eight in a
picture-perfect family and former bishop in his local congregation of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Defense
lawyers contend Michele MacNeill died of natural causes. They believe
she had a heart attack and fell headfirst into the tub and noted the
autopsy showed she had an enlarged heart, a narrowing of the heart
arteries and liver and kidney deterioration.
"There's
simply no proof" of homicide, Spencer said. "The prosecution has
presented to you their cherry-picked portion of the evidence."
He
called the testimony of a handful of prison inmates angling for early
release doubtful. The men who spent time behind bars with the doctor
testified he had acknowledged killing his wife - or suggested that
investigators could never prove he did it.
Their
testimony was the only direct evidence of murder, chief prosecutor Chad
Grunander said. MacNeill lawyers argued he would never admit murder to
strangers in prison.
Grunander said the
largely circumstantial case was the most difficult he ever brought to
trial and that many prosecutors wouldn't bother trying, especially with
medical examiners unable to produce a finding of homicide.
"It
was an almost perfect murder," Grunander said in his closing argument,
asserting MacNeill "pumped her full of drugs" that he knew would be
difficult to detect once she was dead.
An early mistress of MacNeill's testified he once confided he could induce a heart attack in someone that would appear natural.
Family
testimony suggested it was MacNeill who insisted his wife, a former
local beauty queen in her California hometown, get the cosmetic surgery.
Prosecutors said he used it as an excuse to mix painkillers, Valium and
sleeping pills for her supposed recovery.
"Make no mistake, the defendant's fingerprints, if you will, are all over Michele's death," Grunander said.
Prosecutors
said MacNeill might have gotten away with a perfect murder, but his
erratic behavior the day of his wife's death and shortly afterward was
"dripping with motive."
They reminded jurors
about testimony that MacNeill stood in the bathroom yelling what
prosecutors called phony grief, "Why did you do this? All because of a
stupid surgery," as paramedics tried to revive his wife.
MacNeill
was medical director of the Utah State Development Center, a
residential center for people with cognitive disorders, who moonlighted
in other medical jobs. He had a law degree but wasn't known to practice
law and has since surrendered his law and medical licenses.
Prosecutors
say MacNeill contrived a medical condition in the weeks leading up to
his wife's death, telling many around him he was dying of cancer or
multiple sclerosis to absolve him of any motive in the death. He also
made use of a cane and could be seen limping at times.
Investigators who subpoenaed MacNeill's own medical records found he was in good health.
