The Utah doctor accused of killing his wife six years ago to be with his mistress has been convicted of murder, TIME reported.
In the high-profile homicide case, Martin MacNeill, 57, was accused of forcing Michele MacNeill to undergo plastic surgery, requesting powerful drugs from the doctor to knock her out and then letting her drown in the bathtub, where she was found dead in April 2007.
The death of Michele MacNeill, a former beauty queen who was mother to eight, was ruled an accident. But after accusations from the children, the case came to court this year.
"We're just so happy he can't hurt anyone else," said Alexis Somers, one of his older daughters. "We miss our mom; we'll never see her again. But that courtroom was full of so many people who loved her."
Martin MacNeill barely reacted after the verdict, TIME reported. The former doctor, who faces 15 years to life for first-degree murder, hugged his lawyer and said, "It's OK."
Chief prosecutor Chad Grunander called the case, which was built on mostly circumstantial evidence, one of the most difficult he has ever brought to trial.
"It was an almost perfect murder," Grunander said in his closing argument.
The jury deliberated for 11 hours before issuing the guilty verdict around 1 a.m. on Saturday. While medical examiners were unable to find proof of homicide, prosecutors were still able to build a case around Martin MacNeill's guilt. A key component was his years-long affair with Gypsy Willis, 37, a former nursing student whom he met online in 2005.
In her testimony, Willis said that Martin MacNeill once told her that he knew how to induce a heart attack that appeared natural.
Michele MacNeill's death and the murder trial rocked the Mormon community in Pleasant Grove, where the MacNeills were known as an ideal family. Martin MacNeill was formerly a bishop in his local congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as the medical director of the Utah State Development Center.
Prosecutors called Martin MacNeill's behavior around the time of his wife's death "dripping with motive." The former doctor was yelling in the bathroom when his wife's body was found. He also brought Willis into the house supposedly as a nanny for the younger children soon after his wife's death.
"Make no mistake, the defendant's fingerprints, if you will, are all over Michele's death," Grunander said.
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