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Opening statements began in the State's case against Susan Wright. She was accused of stabbing her husband. She pleaded not guilty by reason of self-defense. The defendant admitted to the fatal stabbings. But for jurors the questions would be - was this a case of cold-blooded murder or a desperate act of self-defense?
S1, EP35 "Fiery Cross-Examination"
The lead prosecutor challenged the credibility of Susan Wright testifying for her own defense in her murder trial. During cross-examination, Kelly Siegler accused her of intentionally killing her husband, Jeff, and then covering up the crime. This fiery cross-examination challenged the defendant's claim that she had no choice but to kill her allegedly abusive husband in their bedroom that night when he supposedly came at her with a knife.
S1, EP36 "Foggy Memory Of Murder"
The lead prosecutor had more probing questions for her on the stand. The defendant admitted to lying everyone after she fatally stabbed her husband, Jeff. On the stand, Susan Wright gave a reason to the lies claiming the whole ordeal was a nightmare that she didn't fully comprehend. The defendant then claimed that after burying him in a makeshift grave in the backyard she claimed to still be afraid he was alive and would come after her.
S1, EP37 "I Am Not Lying"
Susan Wright wraps up her emotional testimony to the jury. She emphasized to jurors that she was not lying. Lead prosecutor Kelly Siegler got animated with the defendant on the stand trying to get her to admit to her alleged wrongdoing. Prosecutors believed she tied her husband on the bed by luring him for sex. Once defenseless, Wright stabbed him nearly 200 times to death. Next, the Defense brought in a crime scene reconstructionist as their last expert witness for jurors to hear.
S1, EP38 "Closing Arguments"
The last witness to testify wrapped up his testimony. He was the forensic scientist who evaluated the crime scene where Jeff Wright lost his life and concluded that there was no evidence of a premeditated murder. Later, jurors listened to closing arguments. Prosecutors began with their theory of a carefully planned out murder at home. This version of Jeff's death went against Susan's defense where they claimed that she feared for her life before stabbing her husband to death.
S1, EP34 "Distraught Killer Remembers"
More teary-eyed testimony continued with the defendant on the stand. Susan Wright gave her side of the story on how her husband, Jeff, came at her with a knife after he allegedly raped her. She wrestled the knife away from him and used to stab him multiple times while he was tied to the bed. Wright told jurors: I still hadn't grasped everything that happened in that room. Next, the defendant faced a probing cross-examination.
S1, EP33 "I Didn't Want To Die"
I didn't want to die. That's how Susan Wright emotionally recalled to the jury the alleged attack by her husband, Jeff. This was just minutes before she countered his knife attack and began stabbing him to death. Susan claimed, He was still alive after she stabbed Jeff numerous times throughout his body. She emotionally recalled to jurors that she was so scared that he was still alive even after she dumped his body in the makeshift grave in the backyard.
S1, EP32 "Testifying On The Victim's Birthday"
On the very day of Jeff Wright's Birthday, his wife took the stand in her own murder trial. In her emotional testimony, Susan told jurors that she was basically trapped in her tormenting marriage. As a stay-at-home mom of two young children she didn't have her own money and was constantly beaten up by Jeff every time he got mad. According to his wife, Jeff was a child abuser, drug addict and a wife beater, who regularly cheated on Susan and vacationed to remote places without her.
S1, EP31 "From A Love Connection To Domestic Abuse"
Jurors heard directly from Susan Wright herself. She took the stand to try to prove to them that she was a victim of domestic abuse in her marriage to Jeff and only killed him in a fight to save her life. The defendant went on to Walk the jury through the beginning of her relationship with Jeff. According to her, what began as a charming sequence of a Love attraction slowly evolved into a troubling marriage filled with torment and domestic violence.
