MacNeill murder trial: Did Utah doctor kill his wife?

When EMS workers arrived at the Pleasant Grove, Utah, home of Michele and Dr. Martin MacNeill, inuyasha costume   they found a tragedy.
Michele MacNeill, a mother of eight children, was unresponsive in her bathtub, and Martin MacNeill, according to law enforcement at the scene, was hysterical and angry, cursing his wife for having had a recent face-lift.
Michele MacNeill was pronounced dead later on April 11, 2007. The autopsy report determined she died of natural causes due to cardiovascular disease. But three years later, at the urging of her children, there was a new analysis of a toxicology report that changed everything.
Combinations of medications found in Michele MacNeill's system were determined to have contributed to her death. Diazepam, Oxycodone, Promethazine and Zolpidem were all found in her system. Although none of the drugs alone was at toxic levels, Dr. Todd Grey, chief medical examiner of the Utah State Medical Examiner's Office, determined that, in combination, the drugs could have led to sedation and heart arrhythmia, resulting in cardiac death.
On October 6, 2010, Michele MacNeill's cause of death was changed to "combined effects of heart disease and drug toxicity." The manner of death was changed from natural to undetermined. As investigators began to reopen the case, they realized they had a suspect: Michele MacNeill's husband.
Prosecutors paint picture of a double life
Michele and Martin MacNeill seemed to live the American dream. He a doctor and lawyer, she a former beauty queen, had raised their family in Utah. Four of their eight children were adopted. Devoted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Martin MacNeill also had taught Sunday school.
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But prosecutors say that behind closed doors, what seemed to be the perfect union was anything but.
Martin MacNeill, they say, led a double life, seeing women on the side. Legal documents state he announced to his wife and family several times in the years preceding his wife's death that he wanted out of the marriage. He never took that step, but prosecutors say that his affection for one woman in particular, Gypsy Willis, was the root of his motive for murder. Willis will be a star witness for the prosecution as Martin's trial begins in Provo, Utah. He is charged with the murder of his wife and obstruction of justice.
Martin MacNeill case: The key players
Michele MacNeill had turned 50 in 2007. She and Martin had been married nearly 30 years. Legal documents state that it was Martin MacNeill's idea in March of that year that she undergo a face-lift. Family members say Michele MacNeill pushed back, not because she was refusing, but because she wanted to lose some extra weight and wanted to control her high blood pressure. But prosecutors say Martin MacNeill was relentless, even finding a plastic surgeon who was new to town and had advertised in the local paper.
Martin MacNeill accompanied his wife on every presurgical visit to Dr. Scott Thompson. According to the affidavit for an arrest warrant, the last consultation with the plastic surgeon before the procedure took place was on April 1, 2007. Martin gave Thompson a list of medications he wanted for Michele. They included Lortab (Hydrocodone) in liquid form, Zolpidem, Valium (Diazepam), Phenergan (Promethazine) and Percocet (Oxycodone).
Martin MacNeill: Suspicious or not?
Documents state Thompson admitted that the Valium and Oxycodone "were out of my usual routine."
After the cosmetic surgery on April 3, 2007, Thompson required Michele MacNeill to spend the night at the hospital.
According to prosecutors, Martin MacNeill exchanged 24 text messages with Willis on the day of Michele's surgery. On April 4, Michele MacNeill was released to go home. Her daughter Alexis MacNeill was on spring break from medical school and attended to her mother at home. Martin told the daughter to get some sleep, and he would look after his wife through the night.
The next morning, Alexis MacNeill told investigators she found her mother unresponsive. Martin MacNeill allegedly told his daughter he may have overmedicated his wife through the night. Alexis MacNeill then took over keeping a notebook of what medications she gave to her mother and when.
Messages and medicines add to mystery
On April 5, legal documents state that Michele MacNeill told Alexis MacNeill that she believed her husband was trying to overmedicate her. Because her eyes were still bandaged from the surgery, she asked her daughter for help in identifying pills by feel. The daughter later told authorities her mother had told her that Martin MacNeill kept giving her pills, telling her to swallow. In an important pretrial ruling, Judge Derek Pullan determined that jurors will not be allowed to hear what Michele allegedly told her daughter that night: "if anything happens to me, make sure it wasn't your dad."
Prosecutors intend to show jurors the numerous text messages Martin MacNeill exchanged with Willis in the days preceding his wife's death. On April 6, Michele MacNeill confronted her husband about phone records her daughter had researched, which showed one phone number repeatedly called day after day and night after night. Prosecutors say that number belonged to Willis.
On April 10, Alexis MacNeill returned to medical school in Nevada, feeling her mother was now well  akatsuki costume  enough. The next day, April 11, her mother was dead.