Physician/Attorney Martin MacNeill Found GUILTY of the murder of his wife Michele~ Sentenced to 15 To Life

Martin MacNeill, second-from-right, stands during his trial at the Fourth District Court in Provo on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013


Family members of Michele MacNeill listen during the trial of Martin MacNeill at the Fourth District Court in Provo on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013

Former Utah doctor Martin MacNeill had to face his oldest daughter Thursday as she cried and visibly trembled for much of her testimony against him, the man she said she once called her best friend.
Rachel MacNeill told jurors that her father moved his mistress into the family’s home within two weeks of her mother’s funeral. She also said that, in the hours after her mother, Michele MacNeill, died, her father was adamant about showing her how he found the body.
“He said that my mother was under the water. He said that her head -- that she was under the water, feet sticking out,” Rachel MacNeill said, stepping down from the witness stand and hunching over the bathtub prosecutors had hauled in the Provo, Utah, courtroom. It’s not the actual tub from the family’s home that Michele MacNeill was found in, but it's the same make and model.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Susanne Gustin pulled out a medical record stating that Rachel MacNeill suffered from "delusions and psychosis" in August 2012, and when questioned, MacNeill admitted she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

The way Rachel MacNeill said her father described the position of her mother's body in the tub conflicts with the testimony of other witnesses. Several neighbors who saw Michele MacNeill the morning of her death said she was on her back and slumped down inside the tub, not slumped over the side with her head under water in the manner Rachel MacNeill said her father depicted.

Martin MacNeill has pleaded not guilty to murder and obstruction of justice in the death of his wife, who had a powerful cocktail of drugs in her system on April 11, 2007, following face-lift surgery. His attorneys say Michele MacNeill died of natural causes, but prosecutors accuse Martin MacNeill of murdering her in order to be with his mistress, Gypsy Willis.

Rachel MacNeill told the jurors about the first time she met Willis in 2007, about a week after her mother's funeral. Willis introduced herself as "Jillian."
“My father was adamant that we go to the temple to pray about getting a nanny,” MacNeill said. Willis came up to them outside the temple, introduced herself as a nursing student and Martin MacNeill took down her phone number, Rachel MacNeill testified.

Prosecutors allege Willis and Martin MacNeill were already involved in an extramarital affair at this point.

Following that encounter outside the temple, Willis was quickly hired on as nanny and moved into the family’s basement, according to Rachel MacNeill.
“I expected her to be focused on the children,” Rachel MacNeill said. “To cook or clean or take care of the children. My dad was cooking, she was sitting there staring at my dad -- things like that. The children were taking care of themselves... there was nobody looking after the children. It was very, very different than when my mother was there.”

Rachel MacNeill also told jurors that she found a pile of her mother’s things in the family's garage, including towels, sheets, the clothing she was wearing when found dead in the bathtub and the stuffed animals the younger children had given her for her surgery. She called it a “big bloody mess” and said she pulled her mother's clothes out of the pile and showed them to her father.
“He told me, 'How dare you show me those things, get rid of it,'” said Rachel MacNeill. “I washed them. I washed my mother’s things. Put them in a bag and kept them. Then turned them over [to investigators].”

Martin MacNeill also allegedly told his daughters that he wanted an autopsy done on his wife immediately.
"It didn’t make sense to me... he specifically said to me that he was concerned there would be a police investigation -- he didn’t want anyone to think he murdered my mother," Rachel MacNeill said. "It was so shocking to me. I said, 'Why would anyone think that?'"

Rachel MacNeill also described her father's seemingly jovial behavior during a luncheon after her mother's funeral.
“He was making jokes about being single and just laughing -- made me sick. I left," she said.
On cross-examination, Gustin accused Rachel MacNeill of not telling anyone about her father's joking behavior after the funeral until today. Gustin also said that Rachel had stated in the past that her father was "distraught" the day her mother died and was also upset, in addition to smiling, at her mother's funeral.
Gustin additionally suggested that Martin MacNeill didn't accept an offer from Rachel MacNeill to be her younger siblings' nanny because of her mental state.

Another witness, Jacqueline Colledge, took the stand briefly to talk about the funeral of Michele MacNeill, whom she described as an outspoken, wonderful friend.
"I do remember him talking about how he would survive and the children would survive this terrible thing that happened to them," Colledge said. "It just had a feeling it was about him and his grief."
Colledge also testified that Martin MacNeill told her Michele MacNeill "had health problems her whole life and refused to take medication."

Friday morning, the judge will announce his decision on whether he'll allow Martin MacNeill's 12-year-old adopted daughter, Ada, to take the stand and describe how -- at age 6 -- she found Michele MacNeill's lifeless body in the tub.
Ada was adopted by the MacNeills and is also the couple's biological grandchild by daughter Vanessa MacNeill. Another one of the MacNeills' daughters, Alexis Somers, now has custody of three of her adopted sisters, including Ada. Martin MacNeill's defense attorneys have said that Ada's testimony has been tainted by Somers, who is expected to take the stand and testify against her father.

Martin MacNeill faces life in prison if convicted. His murder trial is expected to take approximately five weeks. Testimony is scheduled to resume Friday at 11:00 a.m. ET.


http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/10/24/macneill-martin-doctor-wife-murder-utah-rachel-daughter

October 25, 2013

Saying that her memories have been “tainted,” a judge has refused to allow 12-year-old Ada MacNeill to testify against her father in his murder trial.

However, 4th District Court Judge Derek Pullan did allow an initial police interview to be broadcast to the jury. Ada will then be cross-examined by the defense about it.

The ruling Friday is a blow to the prosecution’s case against Dr. Martin MacNeill, accused of killing his wife so he could continue an affair with another woman. At age 6, Ada MacNeill found her mother’s body in a bathtub inside their Pleasant Grove home.

Defense attorneys fought to keep Ada’s testimony out of trial, claiming her siblings had tainted her testimony by acting as intermediaries between investigators and the girl, asking her questions about her memories of her mother’s death.

Judge Pullan agreed. In a lengthy ruling read aloud in court Friday, the judge pointed out numerous differences between her initial recollections with police and how much more explicit her testimony became over time.

“Having considered the evidence presented, there is clear and convincing evidence that some of Ada’s memories were implanted or distorted by (older sister) Alexis’ repeated interviews with her,” the judge said.

http://fox13now.com/2013/10/25/judge-wont-let-macneill-daughter-testify-at-trial/

Oct. 28 2013


Gypsy Willis
The woman police say was the motive for a murder plot is expected back on the stand Tuesday when the trial of a former physician accused of his wife’s death resumes.

On Friday, Gypsy Willis told a 4th District Court jury her sexual relationship with Martin MacNeill began in early 2006 and remained mostly a casual relationship until early the next year.

The 37-year-old nursing student, who met MacNeill online, said he later put her up in an apartment, gave her a debit card to use and helped pay for her school expenses.

Michele MacNeill, 50, was found unconscious and submerged in water in a bathtub of her Pleasant Grove home on April 11, 2007. The Utah County Attorney’s Office began an investigation into the death in 2008 and charged her husband with her murder five years later.

A former physician and attorney, Martin MacNeill, 57, has pleaded not guilty to the crimes but could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted. The trial will enter its third week Tuesday and is expected to last until mid-November.

Prosecutors contend Martin MacNeill gave his wife a powerful cocktail of painkillers to render her unable to defend herself, then drowned her in the tub and used his skills as a physician to make it look like an accident. The drugs were prescribed to Michele MacNeill following plastic surgery a week earlier.

Prosecutors allege Martin MacNeill killed his wife so he could start a new life with Willis, with whom he exchanged nearly two dozen text messages on the day of Michele MacNeill’s funeral, four of which were sent about the same time of the service.

Willis is testifying against her former lover as part of plea deal with Utah County prosecutors that kept her out of jail despite convictions on state felony charges for identity theft. She was accused of stealing the identity of Martin MacNeill’s adopted teen daughter, a crime which also resulted in federal criminal convictions for both Willis and Martin MacNeill.

An initial autopsy by the Utah State Medical Examiner’s Office found that Michele MacNeill died of natural causes related to heart disease. An updated report by the same office in 2010 concurred but called the manner of her death suspicious and undetermined. A third examiner, who is a witness for prosecutors, found that the former California beauty queen drowned.

None of the examiners concluded the death was a homicide. Utah County authorities began investigating the death in 2008, but criminal charges in the case were not filed until 2012.

In testimony last week, a clinical pharmacologist and forensic toxicologist from Idaho said Michele MacNeill did not have a lethal combination of drugs in her system when she died.

Gary Dawson analyzed the woman's autopsy, toxicology report and a blood sample. The mix of the chemicals would not have killed the mother of eight but would have seriously impaired her ability to respond to her surroundings or a threat to her safety, he said.

On cross-examination, Dawson said he told prosecutors that “getting around” Michele MacNeill’s autopsy findings would be an uphill battle and that he could see no “smoking gun” in her medical reports.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865589305/MacNeill-mistress-expected-back-on-stand-as-murder-trial-resumes.html

October 31, 2013

Another alleged mistress of a Utah doctor who is on trial for killing his wife said Wednesday that he once explained to her how he could induce a heart attack in someone while making it appear natural.

Anna Osborne Walthall testified that she began an affair with Dr. Martin MacNeill in 2005, when he was a consultant at a laser hair removal clinic she briefly operated in Utah.

Walthall said the doctor volunteered to serve as a "liaison" between her and her estranged husband during their divorce. Their relationship turned sexual in March 2005, she said, and ended six months later when Walthall moved out of town.

She said during a "pillow talk" moment she remembered the doctor telling her there was a natural way to induce someone to have a heart attack.
"There's something you can give someone that's natural that's a heart attack that's not detectable after they have a heart attack," she quoted MacNeill as saying.

The 57-year-old physician is on trial for the April 11, 2007, death of his wife, Michele MacNeill, 50. Prosecutors allege MacNeill persuaded his wife to have plastic surgery so he could dope her up during her recovery and then drown her -- all so he could pursue a relationship with another mistress, Gypsy Willis.

The medical examiner never determined a cause of death for Michele MacNeill.

The doctor's defense attorneys tried to discredit Walthall by mentioning she had been diagnosed with disassociative identity disorder.

In the days before Michele MacNeill was found lifeless in the bathtub, one of her eldest daughters, Alexis Somers, confronted her dad about over-medicating her mom as she recovered from plastic surgery.

After Alexis Somers found her mother "very sedated" one day after she came home from the hospital on April 4, 2007, Somers, who was then a medical student, said she told her father, Dr. Martin MacNeill, "I'm taking over."

Somers testified for the second time during her father's murder trial, which is in its third of five scheduled weeks in Provo, Utah. She said her mother was a reluctant plastic surgery patient who didn't like taking all of the drugs her physician husband insisted she take during her recovery.

After taking a cocktail of pills that left her sedated, Somers said her mother told her she didn't want MacNeill to dispense her medication anymore since she couldn't see through the bandages on her face.

"She actually had me take out every single pill from the pill bottles and she wanted to feel what the pills feel like in her fingers, so if my dad tried to give her anything, she would know what he was giving her," Somers said.

On April 10, 2007, Somers said she left her family's home in Pleasant Grove, Utah, to go back to medical school in Henderson, Nev.

Somers told the court her mother "was feeling really well" when she left.

The next day, the mother of eight was found by her 6-year-old daughter unconscious in a bathtub full of brown water. Less than two hours later, Michele MacNeill was dead.


http://www.630wpro.com/common/more.php?m=58&ts=1383198602&article=54BEBBC741DB11E3B51EFEFDADE6840A&mode=2

Medical testimony continues in Martin MacNeill murder trial
By Jessica Miller | The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published 1 hour ago • Updated 53 minutes ago

As the murder trial for Pleasant Grove doctor Martin MacNeill continues Friday, two more medical experts are expected to be called to opine about his wife’s 2007 death.

The question at the heart of the trial is whether Michele MacNeill was murdered at the hands of her husband, or died from natural causes.

Martin MacNeill, 57, is accused of giving his wife a toxic combination of prescription medications after she came home to recover from plastic surgery in April 2007. However, the state medical examiner’s has never ruled the woman’s death a homicide.

After an autopsy shortly after her death, Utah assistant medical examiner Maureen Frikke — who died in 2008 — ruled the woman’s death as natural, the result of cardiovascular disease matched with high blood pressure and an inflamed heart.

But investigators claim Martin MacNeill called Frikke multiple times and gave misleading information about how her body was found in their bath tub on April 11, 2007.

In 2010, in a new investigative report, Chief Medical Examiner Todd Grey changed the cause of 50-year-old Michele MacNeill’s death to the combined effects of heart disease and drug toxicity. The manner of death was changed to "undetermined."

"I felt I did not have enough to justify the certification of homicide," Grey testified in Provo’s 4th District Court on Thursday.

Grey said he believed drug toxicity did play a role in the woman’s death, noting that four drugs were found in Michele MacNeill’s body at the time of her death: oxycodone, promethazine, diazepam and zolpidem, which is also known as Ambien.

Michele MacNeill was found unconscious in her bathtub by her 6-year-old daughter, Ada MacNeill.

Martin MacNeill is on trial for allegedly killing his wife in order to continue an extra-marital affair with 37-year-old Gypsy Willis. He is charged with first-degree felony murder and second-degree felony obstruction of justice.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57068532-78/macneill-death-martin-medical.html.csp

LIVE link to trial above.

November 04, 2013

(1.) 'If anything happens to me, make sure it wasn't your dad'

Martin MacNeill's daughter, Alexis, who now goes by her mother's maiden name Somers, said her mother expressed concerns that her husband was trying to kill her before her lifeless body was found in the family's bathtub on April 11, 2007.

Somers, who was a medical student at the time, was by Michele MacNeill's side as she recovered from face-lift surgery. She has already testified that in the days before her mother's death, her father allegedly admitted to overmedicating her mother.

When she asked her mother what happened, Somers said she told her "your dad kept giving me medication. He kept giving me things, telling me to swallow."

What the jury won't hear, however, is that Michele MacNeill also allegedly told her daughter, "If anything happens to me, make sure it wasn't your dad." The judge banned that statement after MacNeill's defense argued it was hearsay, unreliable and would compromise MacNeill's right to a fair trial.

(2.) MacNeill said he killed his brother and tried to kill his mother, according to reputed mistress

Anna Walthall has already testified about the affair she said she had with Martin MacNeill in 2005. Walthall told jurors that, ​during "pillow talk" conversations, MacNeill told her he knew how -- without being detected -- to make it look like someone had had a heart attack.

What jurors didn't hear from Walthall, however, are some additional statements she claims MacNeill made to her: That he tried to kill his mother when he was 8 years old, that he killed his brother by drowning him and that he offered to kill her husband.

The defense had wanted all of Walthall's testimony thrown out, arguing she's mentally ill. On cross-examination, Walthall admitted to being diagnosed with dissociative personality disorder and to having dreams about the case.

Prosecutors claim MacNeill killed his wife to continue his affair with another woman, Gypsy Willis.

(3.) A sexual abuse claim made by one of MacNeill's daughters

Alexis Somers accused her father of sexual abuse in October 2007 for inappropriately touching her buttocks. Martin MacNeill allegedly conceded to groping Somers but the sexual abuse charges were dismissed and the file sealed.

Somers was, at the time, embroiled in a custody fight over her four adopted sisters. She won custody of three of them -- Sabrina, Elle and Ada -- after Martin MacNeill terminated his parental rights in 2008. The fourth daughter, Giselle, was later adopted by Michele MacNeill's sister, Linda Cluff.

Martin MacNeill has pleaded not guilty to murder and obstruction of justice charges in his wife's death. Prosecutors say MacNeill drugged and drowned his wife, Michele, on April 11, 2007, to continue his affair with his mistress. MacNeill's defense says the evidence shows Michele MacNeill died of natural causes.

Martin MacNeill faces life in prison if convicted.

The prosecution is expected to wrap its case this week.

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/11/03/martin-macneill-trial-secrets-sexual-abuse

November 6, 2013

A paralegal for the Utah County Attorney’s Office had a laptop open on Wednesday morning, as attorneys were questioning a former cellmate of Dr. MacNeill’s. The laptop began playing a report of the trial.

“Shut that off!” Judge Derek Pullan shouted in the courtroom, pointing toward the gallery. “Shut it off now!”

As people in the audience looked around for the source of the noise and the judge continued shouting, the paralegal snapped the laptop shut.

After the witness was done testifying, Judge Pullan ordered the jury to disregard the outburst. As soon as they had left for lunch, he addressed the court — expressing his concern for not tainting the jury. Judge Pullan said he shouted in an attempt to mask the noise coming from the TV report.

Defense attorney Randy Spencer insisted the damage had been done.

“I think it’s prosecutorial misconduct,” he said, making a motion for a mistrial.

Prosecutors disagreed. The judge said he wanted to hear the report that was on the laptop before making a ruling on the mistrial.

After the lunch break, the report was played for the judge. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed the jury heard no more than 10 seconds of it.

“Even if the jury were to hear all of that report as recorded, it would have presented no new information,” the judge said, denying the motion for a mistrial.

The trial continued with an inmate who served time with Dr. MacNeill in Texas, testifying that he admitted to killing his wife.

“We talked and he just pretty much opened up about it,” said the man, known only as Inmate #1. “He said he gave her some oxy, and he gave her some sleeping pills. He got her in the bathtub, said he helped her out, held her head under the water for a little while.”

Jason Poirier, who served time with MacNeill in the Utah County Jail, said the doctor told him “I’m getting away with murder.”

“He said, ‘I’m getting away with murdering my wife,’” Poirier testified.

Defense attorneys attacked the inmates’ credibility, portraying them as opportunists who were offering information in exchange for better deals with prosecutors. Poirier was offered an immunity deal by prosecutors in exchange for his testimony, after he told the court he would invoke his right against self-incrimination when defense attorneys questioned him about other crimes he’s under investigation for.

“Their testimony is self-serving,” Spencer told reporters outside of court.

Inmate #1 will return to the witness stand for more cross-examination on Thursday. Dr. MacNeill’s mistress, Gypsy Willis, is slated to testify again. Prosecutors said they may rest their case Thursday afternoon.

Defense attorneys said they intended to call Jim Van Zant, a co-worker of Dr. MacNeill’s; Linda Strong, a teacher of Ada MacNeill; and Brett Besson, an ergonomics expert to testify. They refused to say if Dr. MacNeill would testify in his own defense.

The jury could begin deliberations by Friday.


http://fox13now.com/2013/11/06/defense-seeks-mistrial-in-macneill-murder-trial/

Utah doctor Martin MacNeill was found guilty of his wife's murder in a verdict read early Saturday morning.
MacNeill showed no emotion as he learned his fate, but a yell came from the section where his relatives sat.
He will be sentenced later on the charges of first-degree murder and obstruction of justice.
MacNeill had said his wife's death was an accident.

MacNeill could spend the rest of his life in prison for his convictions. He faces 15 years to life in prison for murder, and he could be sentenced to up to 15 years for obstruction of justice.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/09/justice/martin-macneill-trial-verdict/

He had a big smile after the verdict was read. Creepy.

 

samgoodwin wrote:He had a big smile after the verdict was read. Creepy.

He looked like he knew he would never get away w/it..kinda like, "well, I gave it my best shot". CREEPY!!

Thank God the jury got this one right.  Rot in hell, murderer.  They should do something about his supposed drowning of his brother, now, too.

The former mistress of Dr. Martin MacNeill, the Utah doctor who was found guilty of drugging and drowning his wife so he could allegedly continue their affair, told ABC News in an exclusive interview that she was "shocked" by the verdict and still believes MacNeill is innocent.

"I was shocked," Gypsy Willis told ABC News' Dan Abrams. "It took me a little while to pull myself together."

MacNeill, 57, was found guilty early Saturday morning of first-degree murder and obstruction of justice for the 2007 death of his wife and former beauty queen, Michele MacNeill, 50.

"I never believed that he was capable of such a thing," Willis said. "The Martin I knew and loved was not the person that he was portrayed on the stand."

Michele MacNeill's cause of death has been the main source of contention between the prosecution and defense. Prosecutors said MacNeill persuaded his wife to have plastic surgery so he could over-prescribe medication to her during her recovery and then drown her in the family's bathtub, clearing the way for his mistress, Willis, to move in to the family's home.

MacNeill's defense lawyers said the mother of eight died of heart problems, which caused her to fall into the bathtub, and that the Utah doctor was not guilty. The coroner's report had initially ruled Michele had died of natural causes. Two of the couple's daughters, Alexis Somers and Rachel MacNeill, begged county officials to open an investigation that local police never conducted, saying their father had murdered their mother.

Willis said she was never suspicious of MacNeill, and to this day, doesn't believe he killed his wife.

"I knew him before the death of Michele and I knew him after," she said. "I saw the conflict in the family and I never believed that there was a possibility that he killed Michele."

Willis said she was "absolutely horrified" when she learned prosecutors were alleging that she was MacNeill's motive for killing his wife.

"I never, ever, ever thought that it would -- it would come to such a thing," she said. "Martin had me any time he wanted. I do not believe that was any kind of incentive."

MacNeill and Willis met while chatting online, which eventually turned into an affair. Living two counties away, Willis said she and MacNeill would see each other "a couple times a month."

Willis said she found out that Michele MacNeill was dead after Martin MacNeill sent her a text message. At the time, Willis was a nursing student. She said MacNeill was distraught after his wife's death, and after she offered to help, he asked her to move into the family's home as the nanny about a week or two after his wife's funeral. Willis said she refused at first, but then eventually agreed.

"I thought that it would be better if things had -- everyone had had time to regroup and that sort of thing," she said. "He was rather insistent that he needed help and that I would be a great support to him and his life."

But now in hindsight, Willis said moving in after Michele's death was a "huge mistake."

"I only wanted to come and support the man I cared for in whatever way I could," she said. "And it was it was a bad choice."

Willis admitted that after Michele's death, she talked with Martin MacNeill about ending their relationship because she thought that it might be inappropriate. At one point, she said one of MacNeill's daughters confronted them about their relationship.

"I offered to, willingly, move out and allow things to settle, and, he said, 'No,'" Willis said.

Both Alexis and Rachel testified at their father's murder trial in Provo, Utah, saying they believed he killed their mother. Willis said she understood the animosity her former lover's children feel for her.

"I was more selfish back then, and truthfully, I was living my life for me," she said. "I did not have any intention of impacting their lives. I never thought I would be associated with Martin long term. And I'm sorry for it."

Unrelated to the first-degree murder and obstruction of justice charges that the doctor was found guilty of on Saturday, both MacNeill and Willis had been convicted of fraud in 2009 -- for using MacNeill's adopted daughter's social security number so Willis could open bank accounts under a false name in order to escape bad credit. That daughter had been sent back to Ukraine, but only for a summer.

When MacNeill was released from prison in 2012, prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder and obstruction of justice in the death of his wife.

Willis took the witness stand last week during MacNeill's trial, where she testified that she allowed their relationship to continue while they were both incarcerated, even pretended she and the doctor were a married couple, because she was lonely. But Willis said she ended their relationship during the federal fraud case.

"The relationship ended when I realized that I was being thrown into a federal case and that my association with this person had destroyed my life and career," she said.

When asked if she had any regrets, Willis said, "I regret that people were hurt."

"I loved Martin very much during the time that I was actually in a relationship with him," she continued. "Before that, I cared for him, but I knew it wasn't going anywhere, and so I was just making happy memories. But I am terribly sorry for all of the people that this has impacted."

When asked if she still loves MacNeill, Willis said, "I loved Martin. I care for him on a very, very deep soul level."

"I truly cared for him and I can't say I'm sorry I loved him but I think everyone's lives would have been better if I had not met him," she said.

http://www.wtma.com/common/more.php?m=58&ts=1384230916&article=82B444244B4D11E3B51EFEFDADE6840A&mode=2

Gypsy wrote:"I never believed that he was capable of such a thing," Willis said. "The Martin I knew and loved was not the person that he was portrayed on the stand."

Right! It was all lies. He didn't have an affair with you. He didn't kill his wife. He didn't ______. Just fill in the blanks, Gypsy!

Nov. 13 2013


Jurors Jenna, Steve, Kitty and Randy from the Martin MacNeill murder trial talk Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013, about how they came to a guilty verdict.

For one juror, it came down to three questions: Did Martin MacNeill have the motive, opportunity and capability to kill his wife Michele?
Getting to the answers — yes, yes and yes — took the five men and three women who decided MacNeill’s fate some 11 hours of deliberation, the careful consideration of a mountain of circumstantial evidence and four weeks of witness testimony, some of which the panel deemed wasn’t too credible, according to a handful of jurors who spoke Wednesday to the Deseret News.

“It was a combination of all the evidence that really got me there,” juror Stuart Lewis said of the weekend guilty verdict. “There were too many things … that shouldn’t have been that way unless he had done it.”

What added up to murder in the mind of the jury: MacNeill’s "erratic," sometimes "heartless" behavior after Michele’s April 11, 2007, death and the way his explanations of what happened to his wife changed depending on his audience. In addition, a medical examiner’s decision to alter the autopsy report three years later and prescription drugs were key to the case.

“This is a person who was thinking and calculating two or three moves down the road like a chess (player) would do,” said Randy, a juror who asked to be identified by his first name.

Jurors believed that MacNeill twice gave his wife overdose levels of medication — once after she came home from a hospital following plastic surgery on April 5 and again a few days later when she died.

“These were the two times that he was alone with her, and we know he gave her the medication the first time,” said Lewis, 28. “We believe the second time was intentional as well, absolutely.”

Randy noted it was suspicious that MacNeill said his wife’s death might have been caused by a drug overdose, well before toxicology reports revealed the number and levels of drugs in her blood.

“He knew that her were pills involved because he had something to do with it,” the juror said.

They were less swayed by the motive posited by prosecutors: MacNeill’s 18-month affair with Gypsy Willis, a 30-year-old nursing student. MacNeill hired Willis as a nanny to his young children within weeks of his wife’s death and proposed marriage just three months later.

“Having an affair is a far cry from murder,” Lewis said. “I think I felt the weight of our verdict. I don’t think it’s justified to put him in prison for life if he’s committed adultery.”

The jury handed down its verdict just after 1 a.m. Saturday in Provo’s 4th District Court. MacNeill, 57, was convicted of murder and obstruction of justice for drugging his 50-year-old wife and drowning her in the bathtub of their Pleasant Grove home.

Prosecutors said MacNeill used the plastic surgery as the cover for getting the necessary drugs and used his training as a physician to make the death seem accidental.

A onetime physician and the former director of the Utah State Developmental Center, MacNeill faces prison terms of 15 years to life on the murder conviction and one to 15 years for obstruction when sentenced in January.

Inside the jury room last Friday, the process began with an outpouring of thoughts and emotions, which by design had been bottled up because jurors are barred from discussion until the case is in their hands. Then it became both methodical and deliberate, Lewis said.

Some facts or witness testimonies were quickly set aside as either inconsequential or problematic.

The words from five jail and federal prison inmates, for example, seemed too loaded to be trusted, he said, even though one inmate said MacNeill told him that he was “getting away with murdering my wife” and another said MacNeill admitted drugging Michele and holding her head underwater so he could “help her out.”

“We actually discounted that. There was too much ulterior motive,” Lewis said, referring to the inmates' hopes for reduced sentences in exchange for their testimony. “Do I think they were telling some of the truth? Yes. But was there a real possibility that they could be embellishing? There was.”

But there was sway in the combined effect and impact of what Lewis called MacNeill’s “erratic and heartless” behavior on the day of Michele’s death and beyond.

MacNeill’s well-documented rants in front of police, paramedics and emergency workers about his wife's unnecessary surgery, the amount of medication she may have taken and professions that she must have overdosed seemed suspicious. A seemingly fake attempt at administering CPR to his wife was similarly suspicious and seemed insincere, Lewis said.

MacNeill’s directive to his son and his son’s girlfriend to count out and document the amount of medication remaining in Michele’s pill bottles and then flush the drugs down the toilet right after the death was even more distressing.

“To us, that seemed calculated and intentional,” Lewis said.

Also troubling: The use of Michele’s funeral date as a fake wedding date for MacNeill and Willis and testimony from inmates that MacNeill had said he was “glad" his wife was dead.

“There was some heartlessness there,” said Lewis, noting that his opinions about the case swung from guilty to not guilty at different times based on the testimony of the day throughout the trial.

The testimony from the state’s star witness, MacNeill’s daughter Alexis Somers, was considered factually sound but viewed by the jury through the filter of her well-stated opinions, Lewis said. Somers had said on the stand that she believed MacNeill had killed her mother.

“I knew I had to evaluate her testimony very carefully. Anything particularly damning, I wanted a second opinion on,” he said.
Randy said he felt Somers knew exactly how to answer a question without necessarily telling the whole truth.

"We didn't just buy her testimony hook, line and sinker," he said.

Jenna, another juror who did not give her last name, said text messages MacNeill and Willis exchanged shortly after Michele’s death and even during the woman’s funeral showed that MacNeill was “heartless.”

“It just showed that he had no remorse for Michele. He was just moving right on,” she said.

Jenna was also troubled by Willis’ testimony and said the woman appeared to be “unconcerned” about what she had done.

“She was cold. She didn’t want to offer any extra information,” the juror said. “It seems like she didn’t care that she’d just destroyed their whole family, and that really bothered me.”

“I definitely felt she knew more information,” a juror identified only as Steve said of Willis. “I could tell she was minimizing.”

Lewis said the jury didn’t expect MacNeill to take the stand but was disappointed by his defense. Attorneys focused too much on picking apart inconsistent testimony from witnesses and not enough explaining the former doctor’s alibi or providing a “solid argument” to the prosecutors' case.

“It didn’t lend them a very strong case,” Lewis said.

When the jurors finally reached a decision, the mood in the jury room became reflective, and Lewis said he felt simultaneously nervous and relieved.

“You realize that everybody is in agreement, so this is really going to happen,” he said.

Walking back into the courtroom and waiting for a clerk to read the verdict out loud, Lewis was overcome with the heartbreaking nature of MacNeill’s acts and avoided making any eye contact.

“It was so difficult to look at him,” the juror recalled. “He ruined so many lives. He’s ruining his own life.”

Afterward, jurors met with prosecutors, the MacNeill daughters and others from Michele’s families. Too awake to sleep, when Lewis finally got home at 2:30 a.m., he spoke briefly to a friend and then got online to pour through news coverage from the trial — something jurors weren’t allowed to do over the past month.

“It solidified that Martin had questionable character,” Lewis said. “In that respect, I’m that much more confident that he could have done it.”

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865590546/Jury-Martin-MacNeills-heartless-nature-circumstantial-evidence-added-up-to-murder.html?pg=all

The 18 Pieces Of Evidence Can Be Seen At This Link
http://www.scribd.com/collections/4385567/Martin-MacNeill-trial

Nov 13 2013
Evidence introduced during Martin MacNeill’s four-week murder trial was made available to the media this week by court officials.
Over 13 days of testimony, prosecutors and defense attorneys submitted 66 exhibits for jurors to review. Among those exhibits were:

• Photos of the bathtub where the defendant’s wife, Michele MacNeill, was found unconscious on April 11, 2007.
• A drawing by Ada MacNeill, who was 6 years old when she discovered her mother in the bathtub. The drawing shows how the young girl remembers seeing her mom on the day of her death.
• A number of medical reports for Michele MacNeill, including a toxiciology report and the original and amended autopsy reports.
• Emails exchanged between investigators and Martin MacNeill’s daughters, Rachel MacNeill and Alexis Somers, who voiced their beliefs that their father killed their mother.
• The military ID application that Martin MacNeill submitted for Gypsy Willis, where he lists the couple’s wedding date as April 14, 2007 — the same day as Michele MacNeill’s funeral.

A 4th District Court jury last week convicted Martin MacNeill, 57, of first-degree felony murder and second-degree felony obstruction of justice in the death of his 50-year-old wiartin MacNeill faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 7 by 4th District Judge Derek Pullan

Prosecutors convinced a jury that Martin MacNeill — a former doctor — gave his wife a fatal cocktail of prescription drugs, then drowned her in a bathtub at their Pleasant Grove home.

The defendant’s motive, they argued, was to continue an affair with 37-year-old Gypsy Jyll Willis.

Michele MacNeill was found unconscious in her bathtub by Ada MacNeill. The child was sent by her father to a neighbor’s house to get help, and eventually Michele MacNeill was pulled from the bathtub by a neighbor and Martin MacNeill. The two attempted CPR before medical crews arrived.

Those medical crews also attempted to perform CPR and other life-saving efforts before Michele MacNeill was taken to American Fork Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

During the trial, the jury heard from a number of witnesses, including Willis, several of Martin MacNeill’s daughters, and two inmates who claimed the defendant confessed the alleged murder to them.

Prosecutors weaved a narrative that focused on Martin MacNeill’s bad or odd behavior — including the growing seriousness of his affair with Willis; his insistence that Michele MacNeill have a face-lift, asking that extra medications be prescribed for the woman; and his over-the-top reaction to his wife’s death — claiming that it all added up to murder.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57125130-78/macneill-font-martin-scribd.html.csp

November 15, 2013

The Camden County Prosecutor’s Office is reviewing allegations that a Utah doctor convicted of drowning his wife in a bathtub may have committed a similar crime in South Jersey.

“We are looking into it,” Prosecutor Warren Faulk said Thursday of the claim that Dr. Martin MacNeill killed his brother, Rufus, several decades ago.

Faulk also said the passage of time may challenge investigators, noting the brother’s death is thought to have occurred “sometime in the late 1980s.”

McNeill, a 57-year-old Camden native, was found guilty Sunday of drugging and drowning his wife in their Pleasant Grove, Utah, home in April 2007. The crime escaped detection for years because authorities believed for some time that the victim died of natural causes.

In a court paper laying out evidence, a Utah investigator said MacNeill told a mistress he had killed his brother in South Jersey. The doctor allegedly said his brother had repeatedly attempted suicide for attention “and had become an embarrassment.”

According to the court record, MacNeill said that “he found his brother in the tub with both of his wrists bleeding, and that he pushed his brother’s head under the water, drowning him.”

The investigator, Jeff Robinson of the Utah County Attorney’s Office, said his agency “confirmed Rufus Roy MacNeill was found dead in a tub while the family lived in New Jersey.”

MacNeill’s attorney disputes that account, saying the brother died of a heroin overdose and MacNeill was in California at the time.

Robinson prepared his statement in Utah in August 2012. Faulk said his office learned of the allegations “late Tuesday.”

Faulk said the county Medical Examiner’s Office likely would have conducted an autopsy if Rufus MacNeill died from an apparent suicide or drug overdose. But he also noted his agency’s digital database does not go back to the 1980s.

“We’re trying to see if we still have (paper) files,” he said.

MacNeill already is in custody and awaiting sentencing in Utah for first-degree murder and obstructing justice. Potential prosecution of MacNeill in South Jersey “all depends on the circumstances,” Faulk said.


http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20131115/NEWS21/311140065/Allegation-against-Utah-doctor-death-brother-get-review

By Jessica Miller | The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published 5 hours ago • Updated 6 minutes ago

Provo • Eight months after Martin MacNeill was convicted of murdering his wife, the former doctor still has no date set for sentencing.

On Thursday, he was scheduled to appear in court where attorneys were supposed to argue whether the judge should arrest judgment in the case. But those arguments were delayed after prosecutors said the trial transcript would not be completed in time for Thursday’s arguments. Fourth District Judge Derek Pullan rescheduled the hearing to June 30.

Until Pullan rules on that motion — where MacNeill’s attorney argues that the conviction should be thrown out because a federal inmate lied on the stand about a possible early release — MacNeill cannot be sentenced.

MacNeill, 58, of Pleasant Grove, did appear in court on Thursday for a pretrial conference for an unrelated sex abuse case. But a scheduling conflict delayed arguments in that case as well, and the court hearing was rescheduled for Monday.

In January, MacNeill’s attorney, Randall Spencer, asked a judge for a competency evaluation in the sex abuse case, arguing that MacNeill’s mental and physical health have deteriorated while he has been on suicide watch at the Utah County jail. That evaluation stalled all court proceedings in both cases until he was deemed competent in April.

In the sex abuse case, MacNeill is charged with one count of forcible sexual abuse, stemming from allegations that in 2007 he put his hands down a woman relative’s pants.

On Nov. 9, a jury convicted MacNeill of first-degree felony murder and second-degree felony obstruction of justice in the 2007 death of his wife, Michele MacNeill.

The federal inmate testified during MacNeill’s four-week trial that the defendant confessed to him that he drugged his 50-year-old wife, then drowned her in a bathtub at their Pleasant Grove home on April 11, 2007.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/58060372-78/macneill-case-court-abuse.html.csp

WoW he looks rough!
  Wonder if Gypsy is still lusting after him ?

  

June 30, 2014

PROVO, Utah — Dr. Martin MacNeill wants a new trial after he was convicted of murdering his wife last year.

His attorneys say the prosecution made a mistake that should result in MacNeill’s release.

“There is much to consider. I’m grateful for your arguments,” said Judge Derek Pullan.

In a Provo courtroom Monday, Pullan said he needed 60 days to decide whether to grant MacNeill’s new trial, which would throw out the murder conviction or sentence him for killing his wife, Michele.

“We believe this case was entirely circumstantial. It was a very close call as to what the jury would decide,” said defense attorney Randy Spencer.

MacNeill’s defense team says the guilty verdict should be thrown out because an inmate who testified against the former doctor was let out of jail early.

The attorneys say it was a deal, which the jury should have known about.

“The standard is whether or not the undisclosed evidence could have affected the jury’s decision-making process if it had been exposed,” Spencer said.

On Nov. 9, a jury convicted MacNeill of murder and obstruction of justice in the death of his wife, Michele.

“Inmate Number 1″ testified MacNeill told him he drugged his wife and then drowned her in the bathtub at their Pleasant Grove home.

But the prosecution says that testimony didn’t make or break in the case.

“You’ve got to show that the outcome, is probable the outcome would have been different. Given the testimony from inmates 2,3 and 4 the local inmate – it’s a strong case,” said deputy county attorney Chad Grunander.

Pullan said to him this seems to be a clear error of the prosecution.

The prosecution claims in a four-week trial, errors are to be expected and it doesn’t change the verdict.

“The case law says that very thing, that no trial is a perfect trial, but as far as us not giving the defense exculpatory information, that’s false,” Grunander said.

The prosecution says they only wrote a letter for the inmate after the trial – something they were open about from the beginning.

MacNeill’s daughter, Alexis Somers, said the attack on the prosecution feels personal and she’s hopeful the murder conviction will stand.

“I believe we had a very fair jury trial and they found him guilty, and he is guilty – he’s a murderer, he murdered my mother and he needs to pay for that and we are just anxious for this to go forward,” Somers said.

http://fox13now.com/2014/06/30/maneill-seeks-new-trial-after-murder-conviction/

I say to McNeil- if you had balls enough to commit murder you need balls enough to accept your punishment and enough hiding from the inevitable.

AUGUST 29, 2014

A judge has dismissed convicted wife-killer Dr. Martin MacNeill’s request for a new trial, finding many of his claims “without merit.”

The ruling, handed down late Friday, clears the way for Dr. MacNeill to be sentenced in the murder of his wife, Michele. Fourth District Court Judge Derek Pullan ordered Dr. MacNeill’s lawyer and prosecutors to be in court next week to set a sentencing date.

MacNeill’s lawyer requested a new trial, arguing that prosecutors had cut a deal with inmate witnesses, failed to correct some testimony and didn’t properly exclude a witness. The judge rejected those claims, and denied his motion for a new trial and to arrest judgment.


http://fox13now.com/2014/08/29/judge-rejects-new-trial-request-in-martin-macneill-murder-case/

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

PROVO, Utah — Martin MacNeill, convicted of killing his wife so he could carry on an affair with another woman, was sentenced to serve up to life in prison Friday.

A judge ordered the 15-to-life sentence to be stacked on top of other crimes the former doctor committed, including obstruction of justice and forcible sex abuse. Altogether, MacNeill faces a minimum of 17-to-life behind bars and a maximum of 45-to-life.

Fourth District Court Judge Derek Pullan noted that MacNeill, at the time a respected physician, lived a “double life,” but was unwilling to give up his marriage to Michele MacNeill and his social standing for his mistress, Gypsy Willis. So he plotted his wife’s death.

The judge said MacNeill, a physician, secured the drugs to kill his wife, dosed her up as she recovered from plastic surgery, and then drowned her in a bathtub. He left his 5-year-old daughter to find Michele’s body, the judge said.

“A man who has taken an oath to do no harm only adds insult to irreparable injury,” Judge Pullan said in handing down the sentence.

The family of Michele MacNeill cried and hugged each other as the sentence was handed down. Speaking to the judge, her sister and daughters sought the maximum punishment.

“While we wept, he laughed,” said Michele’s daughter, Alexis Somers. “My father is a monster! He has never shown any remorse for his crimes.”

Rachel MacNeill sobbed as she described how her family was destroyed by her mother’s death. Her brother, Damien, killed himself and she said her father “threatened to destroy us.”

“True justice for my mother does not end with the conviction and sentencing of her murderer. It begins,” Rachel said.

Throughout sentencing, Martin MacNeill appeared to be ignoring what was going on. He laughed and chatted with his lawyer as his daughters spoke.

As she spoke to Judge Pullan, Michele’s sister, Linda Cluff, turned and faced MacNeill. They locked eyes for a brief moment as she said: “Martin, you haven’t gotten away with this.”

Outside court, Cluff told FOX 13 she saw “nothing” in his eyes.

“He was up there laughing. He showed no remorse,” she said. “I was not surprised. It’s just the Martin I’ve always known and our family has always known. Yeah, there was no emotion whatsoever. Just a cold, calculated look.”

MacNeill refused to speak at sentencing. His lawyer left the courthouse without comment.

MacNeill has already begun serving his sentence at the Utah State Prison. It will be up to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole to ultimately decide how much time he will serve.

“I think he will die in prison,” deputy Utah County Attorney Chad Grunander told reporters outside of court.

Utah Department of Corrections spokeswoman Brooke Adams told FOX 13 on Friday that MacNeill was undergoing orientation that is standard for all inmates, but was being held in “appropriate housing and is being observed, given his history.”

That history includes a suicide attempt last year at the Utah County Jail.

http://fox13now.com/2014/09/19/doctor-convicted-of-murdering-wife-to-be-sentenced-faces-15-years-to-life-in-prison/

GOOD!!!!

This miserable POS should die now and save taxpayers the money housing and feeding his sorry a**.