ME says doc’s wife may have drowned in tub
Oct 31, 2013, 7:53 PM
PROVO, Utah (AP) – A medical examiner has testified that the wife of a Utah doctor on trial for murder may have died from drug toxicity combined with heart disease.
Todd Gray says one of his subordinates originally ruled Michele MacNeill’s death was natural from heart disease.
But Gray says investigative findings prompted him to change the autopsy finding to “undetermined” _ and to add that drug toxicity may have played a role. That led the way for criminal charges against the doctor.
Gray’s testimony came Thursday as prosecutors try to prove that Martin MacNeill held his heavily sedated wife under water in a bathtub. They say he hounded her to have a face-lift as a pretext for knocking her out with painkillers and other drugs.
Defense lawyers argue she had a heart attack and fell into the tub.
Gray says he couldn’t confirm that she drowned, but that it was possible.
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